|
May I suggest that you navigate the site via the
index on page 001. PRIOR PAGE / NEXT PAGE
Do you want to make a comment? A site guestbook is here.
Test.
An incomplete summary of the content of this page:-
| 1 |
A fine article
about James Westoll written by 'Blue Peter'. 'Blue Peter' was the name by which J. W.
(Bill) Smith, of Gateshead, was known. While I know very little
about 'Blue Peter', he was, I understand, a noted expert on the
subject of 19th century North-East shipping & certainly was one of the two authors of 'Where Ships Are Born'.
I am advised that he passed away a great many years ago. But his knowledge
of the Westolls at least can survive him via this page. The article was, it is
believed, originally published in a 'WSS, Newcastle branch news letter'
& the editor's comments (also below) at the foot of the article are
interesting reading also.
Does any site visitor know the date on which 'Blue
Peter' passed away? If so, do consider being in touch
with the webmaster.
|
| 2 |
A list of the vessels that were owned by 'Westoll' over their many years of operation.
|
| 3 |
Another 'James Westoll' article of unknown origin. Dating from the early 1900s perhaps?
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| 4 |
A 'Blue Peter' article about the Westoll fleet vessels - "Memories Of The White
Swans Of The Black Sea", originally published in the Sunderland Echo (whom we
thank!) on Jan. 11, 1963.
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| 5 |
Such data as we have about Captain Robert Eggleton, who served Westoll Line for over 40 years.
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In due course what else will
the page contain?
A question impossible of answer today. If YOU have data
about any aspect of the Westoll history, you are invited to be in touch.
To search for specific text on this page, just press 'CTRL +
F' & then enter your search term. A general site search facility is here.
This page is a bit of a departure from the site's previous practice - a page
about one of the famous names in Sunderland shipping ownership - James Westoll &
the James Westoll Line. Why?
 |
The webmaster
has, on many occasions, tried to find WWW data about 'Westoll'
for use in on-site vessel listings, but found
that very little data seems to be WWW available.
Many if not most of the 'Westoll'
ships were built in Sunderland, by a number of builders, but most particularly by Short
Brothers.
Hence this page, to remedy the apparent WWW deficiency, assembled
initially from data kindly provided by Clive Ketley.
|
From what I can see, James Westoll really did not own a shipping company or any ship per
se. The ships for a great many years were owned in 1/64 shares by a variety of
individual owners, and managed by James Westoll, who was the major 'shareholder'
& is correctly then best described as the managing owner. That situation would seem to have
changed later on, when what would appear to be a limited company was formed to
own the vessels - Westwick Steamship Company ('Westwick'). In the rest of the site however
there are ships noted as being owned by names not referred to in 'Blue Peter's
article below - 'James Westoll
(London) Ltd.', as an example.
A little list of the enterprises. Partial
& most probably inaccurate. Can you help tidy it up?
Westoll Steamships
Limited
Westwick Steamship Company Ltd. (1916/1941)
James Westoll (London) Ltd. (1917/?)
James Westoll Ltd.
(or likely Limited) (1929/). may not be quite fair on his predecessors saying he founded the shipping
business. His grandfather was George Westoll (also of Sunderland) who was
described as a ship owner in the record of his will.
It would seem, thanks to Iain Hill's guestbook message, that
the will of George Westoll of Sunderland, grandfather of James Westoll #1
(1829/1895), states that George was a ship owner. So when I have been stating here that James Westoll #1
founded the Westoll group, that would seem not to really have been so. James Westoll
# 1 was followed into the business
by his son, also James Westoll, herein #2. There may well have been more & later James
Westoll's also! The names of the family members who ran Westwick at present
elude me. It would not surprise me to find that the name 'James' continued to be
used in the family. (There was indeed another James, born about 1889, the son of
#2) Anyway, next are, at left, James Westoll #1 (1829/1895)
and at right, his son, James Westoll #2 (1860/1929).
The webmaster has read, in Google 'snippets', in a 1929
reference, 'Mr. James Westoll, a prominent North of England ship owner, died on
Sunday morning at his residence, Coniscliffe Hall, near Darlington. Mr.
Westoll was 69 years of age, and was a son of the late Mr. James' Westoll. And in a 1930
reference, 'Mr.
James Westoll, JP, of The
Hall, Coniscliffe,
Darlington, and of Sunderland, ship owner, lately chairman of Messrs. James
Westoll, Ltd., of the
Middle Dock and Engineering Co., Ltd., ...' Both of which are of interest since
there was a vessel in the Westoll fleet named Coniscliffe.
I now see that there is extensive data about James Westoll #2 at
this fine
web page.
 |
Also of
interest was a Feb. 2010 e-Bay item. The image, modified by the webmaster, is at left
-
'posted in 1909'. 'Frank', who bought the card, advises that the card may have been written by a
servant. It says 'this is the Westolls house', meaning that the Westolls lived
there.
So it would seem almost certain that the photograph
at left is of the house/estate where James Westoll #2 lived, i.e. Coniscliffe
Hall, near Darlington.
Can anybody tell us what later happened to the house? |
Martin Natland has kindly been in touch - in Apl. 2013. And advises as follows:- I am a distant relative of James Westoll of Coniscliffe Hall near
Darlington. My grandmother's sister was Lavinia Preston,
who married James & lived at the Hall. When James died, about 1930, Lavinia
moved away & the Hall was taken over by the army and converted into barracks
and a hospital for soldiers. Through careless treatment, the Hall burned down
and was left to go back to nature. I visited the site with a grandson in about 1990
&
saw what was left – not much. James's son, also James, went to
Cumbria, bought a hunt lodge that
belonged to the Graham estate on the river Esk. He added greatly to it and
called it Glingerbank. It is near Longtown, & Westoll family members still live on
the property.
|
JAMES WESTOLL OF SUNDERLAND
by 'Blue Peter'
Although the
name James Westoll will have little significance to the younger generation, the
elderly - and especially those reared on a diet of ships and the sea - will
doubtless have memories of a fleet of merchantmen whose steamers were known as
the 'Swans of the Orient' or the 'Black Sea yachts'. these were the Westoll
ships, one of the largest fleets of ships ever owned in the North East and its
fame over the years was world-wide.
James Westoll was born in 1829
and, in October 1868 at the age of 39, set up in business as a shipbroker at
213, High Street, Sunderland. Very soon he was 'dabbling' in ships and during
the next few years he acquired shares in the ZEALOUS, AUBURN and ADVENT,
which were small sailing ships, each around 500 tons deadweight and under the
ownership of Adamson's of Sunderland.
Theirs
was a family business, old in the craft of shipbuilding and of shipowning
because the oldest Adamson yards dated back to 1809. Their building activities
terminated when wood was replaced by iron, but in shipowning they continued
until 1890 when members of the family were registered with the barques MARY ANN
and STANFIELD.
James Westoll took over the management of some of the
barques in the late 'sixties and fixed them for trading voyages to the West
Indies and to the Far East. He was, however, much more interested in 'steam'
and acquired the small iron steamer NATALIAN which had a comparatively short
career. She was homeward bound in December 1872 when her engines broke down and
she was taken in tow off Whitby by one of her sisters, the WEAR. When the
towline broke the NATALIAN set all sail - steamers were all well equipped in
those days - and she made good progress on her way to Sunderland.
Unfortunately she drifted on to rocks on the East side of Hendon Dock and
rapidly broke up. The crew of 17 getting ashore by rocket apparatus.
It
is difficult to establish the sequence of events in the early build up of the
Westoll fleet as iron steamers were bought second hand and others added new
from the launching ways. One of the oldest was the UNITED SERVICE, built in
1865 at the old Haswell yard, (now the site of the Austin & Pickersgill
'Bartram' yard at the South Dock). Her original owner was William Gray, of
London and she was bought by Westoll in 1871. Oddly enough, the UNITED SERVICE
was equipped with a propeller which could be unshipped when the wind was
favourable and probably there were times when she made better speed under sail.
This was certainly a ship with a history. She was sold to Norway in 1895 and
was renamed NEREUS and, four years later along with Westoll's MERCATOR, became
the nucleus of the Witherington & Everett fleet. Both these ships were
eventually broken up.
The WEAR (1865) - already mentioned - and the
PYRRAHA (1869) were products of the Oswald yard, once famous at Pallion on the
Wear. From the 'seventies however, the bulk of the Westoll ships came from
the building berths of another Pallion yard, Short Brothers. From here 46
steamers were built for the line. Some of the Westoll ships bore family names
like JAMES WESTOLL, LAVINIA WESTOLL and LIZZIE WESTOLL.
Others were named
after prominent shareholders such as JAMES CAMERON, THOMAS PARKER, W. B.
FERGUSON, WILLIAM ADAMSON, JOHN ADAMSON and
ROBERT ADAMSON. Then there were
two ships with shipyard connections, the J. Y. SHORT and
the MARY ADA SHORT.
A
few were named after master mariners who became shareholders, among them
Magnus Mail, whose sponsor was a Shetlander who obtained his master's
certificate in 1868 and commanded several of the Adamson barques before coming
to Westoll. In the fleet were a host of '.. ent' steamers, which followed a
naming system evolved in the 'seventies and retained almost to the end of the
company history through the collier BENIFICENT,
lost during the second World
War. Strangely enough all the '. . ent' titles had a meaning and could be
found in a standard dictionary, yet when new ships were coming along,
sometimes at the rate of four a year, there were those who believed that the
Company employed a man specially to invent new names! There was certainly a
modicum of reason in such thinking and no doubt a dictionary was used in the
office to check such names as REFULGENT, VIRENT, EIDENT, LUCENT and GERENT, all
of them Westoll steamers.
That many of the masters were shareholders
and became men of affluence is not surprising, because the owner was generous
and not averse to granting his captains a limited hold space for their own
profit. Indeed it was often said in Sunderland that Westoll skippers bought a
street of homes at the end of every voyage!
Although most of the ships
carried coal cargoes in their time, they could not by any stretch of the
imagination be regarded as colliers. For something like half a century there
were contacts for coal and patent fuel outward to most of the ports in Italy
and Egypt, then on to the Black Sea for grain homeward. This was the set
pattern in the lives of the James Westoll seafarers year after year. After
loading coal and again after discharging these ships were cleaned up until
their vast areas of white paintwork gleamed. They were smart ships, especially
some of the late Victorian products which were fitted with bowsprits and
adorned with fine scroll-work around the bows. One, the J. Y. SHORT (1887)
had animals carved around the stern with a carved inscription which read "Safe
within the ark forever".
Many of the steamers were broken up or
sold abroad, but many others were the subject of disaster headlines. The ARNO
(1870) went down in a gale off Southsea with the loss of 13 men. The NEWENT
(1882) was posted missing in March 1899 (Webmaster: correctly Feb. 1909) on a passage from Southampton to Blyth.
Could such a thing happen to-day? The JAMES CAMERON (1882) sank in a blizzard
of snow following a collision off Hartlepool with the collier BEAMISH. Last
sight of her she was steaming towards the coast with all lights burning. Her
crew thankfully were safe on board the BEAMISH. The COGENT (1884) was further afield when she struck rocks and went down near Cape Finisterre. Her master was
Captain Cook, grandfather of Mr. Kenneth Black, one time director of the Albyn
Line of Sunderland.
The JAMES WESTOLL (1884) sank following a collision
with a Dutch tug. It is interesting to note that the novelist Joseph Conrad,
as a youth, admired this vessel when he sailed as a passenger with the
Marseilles pilots and he records the events in his writings. The second
DILIGENT (1888) sank following a collision and there were no survivors when the
GEORGE ROYLE (1892) was driven ashore on Sherringham Shoal. The WILLIAM
MIDDLETON (1893) went down in a gale off the North East coast whilst the PRESIDENT of 1907, interned in Germany during
the Great War was wrecked at Eyemouth in 1928. One of the last ships to be built for the fleet, the AMENT
(launched in December 1929) had the shortest career of all for she was wrecked
in the Thames estuary in the following year.
The record of losses in
the first World War is colossal. Twenty ships were destroyed by mines, torpedo
and gunfire and the Westoll Line never recovered. Many lives were lost,
amongst them masters and engineers with long service in the ships. Those of us
now 'long in the tooth', but happily rich in memories will always remember
the great days of the Westoll ships and the masters and engineers who sailed
in them, men like Caldicott (Note),
Dobbing, Kircaldy, Muir, Rendall, Ramshaw,
McLaren, Proom, Robertson, Savage, Pettinger, Knill and so many more. They
came from the towns and villages of the North East and were a credit to that
profession of the sea.
Founder of the line, James Westoll, died in
1895 and was succeeded by James Westoll the second who died in 1929. Some
years earlier, in 1916, the Westwick Steamship Company was formed under
Westoll management and this firm controlled the last of the ships. When only
one remained, the WESTBURN (No 2) dating from 1929 was taken over by a new
venture, the Vedra Shipping Company Ltd., formed out of James Westoll Ltd.,
with Mr. J. Weston Adamson, a long serving Westoll director as principal
shareholder. A long and in the end a somewhat complicated shipowning history
was terminated in 1959 when this ship, now renamed ELDRA was sold to Greek
owners after a long sojourn at the buoys, ending one of the most interesting
and important chapters in North East maritime history. o o o
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Thanks are due to our good friend 'Bill' Smith for this
interesting story written under his famous 'nom-de-plume' of BLUE PETER. It
tells only a part of the Westoll's influence on the Sunderland shipping scene.
Not mentioned here, for instance, are the family connections with both the
Austin and the Pickersgill shipbuilding companies which culminated in the
present members of the family serving as directors of the Austin & Pickersgill
Ltd. firm when it was formed in 1954. By then they had transferred their
residence to the Longtown area of Cumberland and their business interests to
farming. When A & P were taken over by the London Overseas Freighters company
a few years later they resigned thus severing active ties with the Wear gong
back nearly 100 years . . . . . . but that is another story, Blue Peter?
|
A 'WESTOLL LINE' FLEET LIST
 |
At left some 'Westoll'
uniform buttons! Ex e-Bay.
While I have tried to make the list below both complete & accurate, errors can easily 'creep
in' when you access multiple sources for data. Corrections (or additions) are invited. |
There are 44 vessels listed below built by Short Brothers. 'Blue Peter' stated above
that
there were a total of 46 ships built for Westoll by Short Brothers.
So there may be 2 more 'Short' ships to identify & add into the following list.
1) VESSELS BUILT AT SUNDERLAND
|
# |
Name |
Built |
Gross |
Built by |
Years in fleet |
Disposition |
1 |
Roecliff |
1860 |
146 |
William Adamson |
2 days only? |
Reverted to Adamson |
2 |
Zealous |
1863 |
292 |
Gardner |
1863/1875 |
Burned 1875 |
3 |
Advance - a limited history is here |
1864 |
608 |
T. R. Oswald |
1864/1870 |
Went missing 1870 |
4 |
Natalian - a limited history is here |
1865 |
620 |
George Haswell |
1869/1872 |
Lost 1872 |
5 |
United Service |
1865 |
910 |
George Haswell |
1871/1895 |
Sold to Norwegian owners |
6 |
Wear |
1865 |
699 |
T. R. Oswald |
1865/1898 |
Collided & sank 1898 |
7 |
Ardent |
1867 |
358 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1867/1879 |
Sold |
8 |
Auburn |
1867 |
346 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1867/1880 |
Sold |
9 |
Mariner |
1868 |
355 |
R. Thompson |
1868/1878 |
Sold |
10 |
Pyrrha |
1869 |
1089 |
T. R. Oswald |
1869/1890 |
Wrecked Dec. 1890 |
11 |
Abana |
1871 |
725 |
James Laing |
1871/1906 |
Sold |
12 |
Arno |
1871 |
1083 |
James Laing |
1871/1898 |
Foundered 1898 |
13 |
Mercator |
1871 |
1099 |
James Laing |
1871/1899 |
Sold to Witherington & Everett |
14 |
Tabor |
1871 |
811 |
Short Brothers |
1871/1881 |
Went missing 1881 |
15 |
Thomas Parker |
1871 |
1152 |
Short Brothers |
1871/1879 |
Sold to Russian owners |
16 |
John Adamson |
1872 |
1685 |
Short Brothers |
1872/1900 |
Sold to Spanish owners |
17 |
Supernal |
1873 |
1186 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1873/1904 |
Sold to Swedish owners |
18 |
Advent |
1876 |
895 |
Short Brothers |
1876/1905 |
Sold |
19 |
Fervent |
1876 |
901 |
Short Brothers |
1876/1883 |
Went missing 1883 |
20 |
Britannia |
1877 |
973 |
Short Brothers |
1877/1920 |
Foundered |
21 |
Prudent |
1877 |
1428 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1877/1895 |
Sold to Norwegian owners |
22 |
Diligent |
1878 |
1414 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1878/1878 |
Sunk in collision |
23 |
Ambient |
1879 |
1033 |
Short Brothers |
1879/1891 |
Collision & sank |
24 |
Consent |
1879 |
1478 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1879/1912 |
Sold |
25 |
Lucent |
1879 |
1478 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1879/1917 |
Sunk by gunfire 1917 |
26 |
Salient |
1879 |
1432 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1872/1891 |
Wrecked Mar. 09, 1891 |
27 |
Eident |
1880 |
1624 |
Short Brothers |
1880/1902 |
Sunk |
28 |
Virent (an iron steamer) a partial history of the vessel is here |
1880 |
1725 |
Short Brothers |
1880/1890 |
Wrecked Mar. 22, 1890 |
29 |
Beneficent |
1881 |
2024 |
Short Brothers |
1881/1917 |
Hit mine 1917 |
30 |
Refulgent |
1881 |
991 |
Short Brothers |
1881/1901 |
Sunk |
31 |
Birch |
1882 |
1807 |
Strand Slipway |
1899/1910 |
Collision & sank |
32 |
James Cameron |
1882 |
1807 |
Short Brothers |
1887/1910 |
Collision & sank |
33 |
Newent
(an iron steamship) |
1882 |
994 |
Short Brothers |
1882/1909 |
1909 collision & sank |
34 |
Obedient |
1882 |
1051 |
Short Brothers |
1882/1898 |
Collision & sank |
35 |
Cogent |
1883 |
2051 |
Short Brothers |
1883/1919 |
WW1 interned. To Spanish owners in 1919 |
36 |
W. B. Ferguson |
1883 |
1612 |
Short Brothers |
1883/1897 |
Wrecked |
37 |
James Westoll |
1884 |
1990 |
Short Brothers |
1884/1911 |
Broken up after collision |
38 |
William Adamson |
1884 |
1986 |
Short Brothers |
1884/1910 |
Sold to French owners |
39 |
J. M. Smith |
1885 |
2055 |
Short Brothers |
1885/1907 |
Collision & sank |
40 |
J. Y. Short |
1887 |
2217 |
Short Brothers |
1887/1916 |
Sunk by U-43 |
41 |
Diligent |
1888 |
2184 |
Short Brothers |
1888/1917 |
Collision & sank |
42 |
Gerent |
1888 |
2283 |
Short Brothers |
1888/1928 |
Broken up in 1928 |
43 |
Magnus Mail |
1889 |
2317 |
Short Brothers |
1889/1916 |
Sold |
44 |
George Allen |
1890 |
2309 |
Short Brothers |
1890/1917 |
Sold |
45 |
Joseph Davis |
1890 |
2282 |
Short Brothers |
1890/1919 |
Sank off Ushant in 1919 |
46 |
Robert Eggleton |
1890 |
2308 |
Short Brothers |
1890/1917 |
Torpedoed by U-91 in 1917 |
47 |
F. D. Lambert |
1892 |
2214 |
Short Brothers |
1892/1917 |
Torpedoed |
48 |
George Royle |
1892 |
2540 |
Short Brothers |
1892/1915 |
Foundered in 1915 |
49 |
John Fothergill |
1892 |
2730 |
Short Brothers |
1892/1908 |
Collision & sank in 1908 |
50 |
Munificent
|
1892 |
3273 |
Short Brothers |
1892/1917 |
Sunk by mine or torpedo |
51 |
Westburn |
1893 |
3320 |
Short Brothers |
1893/1916 |
Sunk by Möwe prize crew in 1916 |
52 |
William Middleton |
1893 |
2539 |
Short Brothers |
1893/1927 |
Sold to Italian owners |
53 |
Gladys Royle |
1894 |
3287 |
Short Brothers |
1894/1917 |
Sunk by Seeadler in 1917 |
54 |
Maggie Macnair |
1894 |
3265 |
Short Brothers |
1894/1899 |
Collision & sank |
55 |
Roecliffe |
1894 |
3265 |
Short Brothers |
1894/1897 |
Collision & sank |
56 |
Lavinia Westoll |
1895 |
3151 |
Short Brothers |
1895/1916 |
Hit mine & sank |
57 |
Lizzie Westoll |
1895 |
2858 |
Short Brothers |
1895/1917 |
Torpedoed by UC-42 in 1917 |
58 |
Robert Adamson |
1895 |
2992 |
Short Brothers |
1905/1916 |
Sunk by UB-16 in 1916 |
59 |
Mary Ada Short |
1896 |
3605 |
Short Brothers |
1896/1915 |
Sunk by Prinz Eitel Friedrich in 1915 |
60 |
T. R. Thompson |
1897 |
3538 |
Short Brothers |
1897/1918 |
Sunk by UB-57 in 1918 |
61 |
Roker |
1898 |
3499 |
Short Brothers |
1898/1933 |
Broken up in 1933 |
62 |
Coniscliffe |
1901 |
3920 |
Short Brothers |
1901/1912 |
Stranded & wrecked in 1912 |
63 |
Virent 1, 2,
Note
3
|
1902 |
3771 |
Osbourne & Graham |
1902/1918 |
Torpedoed |
64 |
Regent |
1903 |
3281 |
Bartram Haswell & Company |
1903/1928 |
Sold to J. Freymann of Riga, Latvia |
65 |
Ambient |
1904 |
1517 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1904/1917 |
Hit mine & sank in 1917 |
66 |
Salient |
1905 |
3879 |
Short Brothers |
1905/1936 |
Sold to be broken up |
67 |
Barnby |
1906 |
3838 |
Sir J. Priestman & Co. |
1910/1911 |
Wrecked |
68 |
Excellent |
1907 |
1944 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1907/1917 |
Sunk by gunfire |
69 |
President |
1907 |
1945 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1907/1921 & 1924/28 |
Sank in 1928 |
70 |
Fulgent |
1910 |
2008 |
Short Brothers |
1910/1915 |
Sunk by submarine |
71 |
Fluent |
1911 |
3659 |
Sir J. Priestman & Co. |
1911/1917 |
Torpedoed or hit mine 1917 |
72 |
Intent |
1911 |
1564 |
William Pickersgill & Sons Limited |
1911/1918 |
Torpedoed 1918 |
73 |
Rudmore |
1911 |
969 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1911/1937 |
Sold in 1937 |
74 |
Westcove |
1912 |
2734 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1927/1940 |
Sunk |
75 |
Nascent
(a steamer) a partial history of the vessel is here |
1915 |
3720 |
Sir J. Priestman & Co. |
1915/1917 |
Torpedoed 1917 |
76 |
Okement |
1915 |
4349 |
William Pickersgill & Sons Limited |
1915/1917 |
Torpedoed 1917 |
77 |
Westwick |
1916 |
5694 |
William Pickersgill & Sons Limited |
1916/1918 |
Hit mine & sank |
78 |
Westhope |
1918 |
5705 |
William Pickersgill & Sons Limited |
1918/1935 |
Sold in 1935 |
79 |
Lys |
1920 |
1830 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1923/1935 |
Sold in 1935 |
80 |
Andelle |
1922 |
1832 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1925/1945 |
Broken up in 1945 |
81 |
Westburn |
1929 |
2874 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1929/1957 |
Sold |
82 |
Westavon |
1929 |
2842 |
S. P. Austin & Son Ltd. |
1929/1941 |
Hit mine & sank |
83 |
Ament |
1930 |
2798 |
William Pickersgill & Sons Limited |
1930/1930 |
Wrecked 1930 |
84 |
Beneficent |
1931 |
2944 |
William Pickersgill & Sons Limited |
1931/1940 |
Hit mine & sank on Dec. 17, 1940 |
2) VESSELS NOT BUILT AT SUNDERLAND
|
# |
Name |
Built |
Gross |
Built by |
Years in fleet |
Disposition |
1 |
Aldworth
|
1893 |
3369 |
William Gray & Co., West Hartlepool |
1897/1928 |
Broken up |
2 |
Alette |
1896 |
2769 |
William Gray & Co., West Hartlepool |
1898/1900 |
Wrecked |
3 |
Sir Walter Scott |
1908 |
1465 |
Blyth Shipbuilding Co., Blyth, Northumberland |
1912/1936 |
Sold |
4 |
Barmoor |
1909 |
2225 |
Wood Skinner Co., Newcastle |
1923/1936 |
Sold |
5 |
May Scott |
1909 |
1465 |
Blyth Shipbuilding Co., Blyth, Northumberland |
1912/1918 |
Sold. Some addl. info is
here. |
A 'Blue Peter' article, thanks to John
E. Caldecott Nicholson of North Yorkshire.
"Memories Of The "White Swans Of
The Black Sea" - about the Westoll fleet - published in the Sunderland
Echo on Jan. 11, 1963. We hope that the article's inclusion on this non-profit &
educational site will prove to be acceptable.
Click on the image below to see the rearranged but complete text in a larger size.
In the
article 'Blue Peter' refers to the histories of many of the Westoll fleet vessels
including William Middleton, Mary Ada Short, J. Y. Short, George Allen, two vessels named Diligent, James Cameron,
United Service, Arno, Roker, Andelle, Westavon
& Westburn. And of a moment in time when 43 of the then 45 Westoll fleet vessels were all lying
in the Sea of Azov (Russia, Black Sea). 'Probably... the greatest gathering
ever of the Black Sea yachts.'
CAPTAIN ROBERT EGGLETON
A number of the above fleet vessels link to detailed listings
in the various shipbuilder pages. Those listings in many cases refer to Captain
Robert Eggleton, & indeed, one of the fleet vessels was named Robert Eggleton.
Stephen Crunkhorn,
of Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, advises (thanks!) that Robert Eggleton, was his great
great uncle. And that Patricia Jakes, his aunt who recently passed away, was most
interested in Eggleton family history with a particular interest in Robert Eggleton.
Do read the touching story about Patricia Jakes & the Westburn coal here. Her records about the Captain have
been the source & inspiration for Stephen's search for more data about his
distinguished ancestor. And for the data next presented.
What do we know about Robert Eggleton?
Robert Eggleton
(Born Wisbech, Nov. 11, 1833 was his date of baptism Note/Jan. 15, 1902) worked with & for Westoll's for over 40 years, &, likely in his
later years, was a shareholder in a number of the fleet ships. He
was in Westoll's employ while studying to become a Master Mariner, became a ship's Captain &
commanded many of the fleet vessels over his long career at sea. He died in harness, if you will. He suffered from diabetes
& in 1902, when
Captain of Coniscliffe,
he died of the disease when that ship was at Odessa, (Ukraine, Black Sea). As is
confirmed in this contemporary newspaper article. He is, I
understand, buried in the British Cemetery at Odessa.
The following, as
best can be determined, is a summary of his commands of Westoll fleet ships.
What an amazing record of service! List modified with additional data provided (thanks!)
by John Oliver.
If you can add more data about Captain Robert Eggleton, do please be in touch.
JAMES WESTOLL LIMITED LETTERHEAD
May I suggest that you navigate the site via the
index on page 001.PRIOR PAGE / NEXT PAGE
To Thomas M. M. Hemy Data Page
41. All
of the other Thomas Hemy pages, including image pages, are accessible though the index on
Thomas Hemy page
05.
[ ] £
To the
Special Pages Index.
| A SITE SEARCH FACILITY
THE GUEST BOOK - GO
HERE
|
|
May Scott
Linda Gowans advises (thanks!) that May Scott (ON 125461) was captured in Hamburg,
Germany, in Aug. 1914 at
the outbreak of WW1 & the entire crew were taken prisoner. As per this
prisoner record.
Linda adds that J. T. Mellentin of Sunderland, the vessel's Master, was still
held as a prisoner in 1918.
The 1465 gross ton (net 884 tons) steamship, built in 1909 by Blyth Shipbuilding & Dry Docks Company Ltd. of Blyth,
Northumberland, was 245.0 ft. long, with 180 or 181 HP engines by North Eastern
Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. of Newcastle. It was initially owned,
per the Mercantile Navy List, by 'The May
Scott Steam Ship Co. Ltd.' of Newcastle, with John O. Scott the vessel's
manager. It then was owned by 'Westoll' for a number of years. By 1920 the vessel was owned by 'Aldershot
Steam Ship Co. Ltd.', of London. Who still owned the vessel in 1927 when the
vessel's registry was closed.
The image below, of May Scott at Delfzijl,
north-east Netherlands, on Mar. 25, 1922, was kindly provided by Gijsbert Hesselink.
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