Swiftpool Gallery

Founded in 1874 by Robert Ropner, the company owned, managed & built ships.

Steamship Swiftpool.

THE s.s. SWIFTPOOL.

Vessel Which Is to use Powdered Fuel.

LAUNCHED BY MESSERS. GRAY.

Northern Daily Mail. 30/5/29.

Messrs. William Gray and Co., Ltd., yesterday launched from their Central Shipyard. West Hartlepool, the handsome steel screw steamer Swiftpool, which is being built to the order of Sir R. Ropner and Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool.

The vessel which will take the highest class in Lloyd’s Register, and is of the following dimensions: Length overall 434ft. 4in.; breadth, 54ft. 3in., depth moulded to upper deck, 30ft. 1 in.; with long bridge, poop, and forecastle.

The Swiftpool represents an advance on the ordinary type of cargo carrying steamer, and shows commendable enterprise on the part of the owners, as she is the first to be fitted with a complete installation of the Brand powdered fuel system.

This experiment has already attracted a great deal of attention, and the results which will be of considerable importance to ship owners and shipbuilders, and also to the coal industry, will be awaited with interest, as the vessel will be engaged in general trading, thus affording exhaustive
opportunities for showing the capacity of the powdered fuel system under varying temperatures and
with differing qualities of coal.

                                            A FIRST-CLASS CARGO STEAMER

The Swiftpool is constructed on the cellular double bottom principle, with fore and aft peaks, for water ballast, the framing being of the deep channel type, she has seven watertight bulkheads, together with a steel centre line bulkhead and wood shifting boards dividing the holds for grain carrying.

Spacious accommodation for the officers is arranged in a steel house amidships. The engineers will be berthed in large steel houses alongside casing, and the crew in cubicles in the forecastle, with separate mess rooms.

For the quick handling of cargo, ten powerful steam winches are provided which work 12 derricks. A
direct-acting steam windlass forward and steam steering gear amidships are also fitted.

The topmasts are telescopic, lowering to a height suitable for the Manchester Canal Bridges.

The Swiftpool will be completed in all respects as a first-class cargo steamer, her equipment including an efficient wireless installation and electric light throughout.

                                                THE MACHINERY

Triple-expansion engines having cylinders 26 ½ -44 -73 inches diameter by 48 inches stroke and three large boilers working at a pressure of 180lbs. per square inch, will be supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders. A number of auxiliaries of the “CMEW” type, will be installed, including a winch condenser with duplex circulating pump, combined drain and scum tank, centrifugal circulating pump, evaporator, general service pump, ballast pump.

The ship and machinery are being built under the supervision of Mr. J. B. Nicol on behalf of the owners, and the ceremony of naming the steamer Swiftpool was gracefully performed by Mrs. W. Guy Ropner, of Hartdale, West Hartlepool. The owners were represented by Mr. W. Guy Ropner, (director), and the builders by Sir Wm Gray, Bart, (chairman), Messrs. Mr. A. McGlashan, (director), Mr. T. S. Simpson (general manager), and Mr. W. Hird (Yard Manager).

Amongst those present were Lady Gray, Squadron Leader Stevenson, Capt. Havelock Davies, Mr. W. Allen, and Mr. J. R. Dippie, representing Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.



Master: 1941 Harry Raymond Clark.

In convoy SL-81 on a voyage from Pepel for Freetown & Middlesbrough with a cargo of ore & a total complement of 44 Swiftpool was torpedoed by German submarine U-372 (Heinz-Joachim Neumann) & sank west of Ireland in the North Atlantic on 5 August 1941. 2 survivors were picked up by HMS Bluebell. 5 gunners, the master & 36 of the crew lost.

Lives lost August 1941: Anderson, Magnus, carpenter, 63; Arnold, William Henry, chief officer, 46, Low Fell, Gateshead; Bain, Alexander, chief engineer, 41; Benton, George Ernest, able seaman (Royal Navy) aged 26, Lewisham, London; Bones, Harry, ordinary seaman, 33, Crookes, Sheffield; Burden, Cyril Harris, ordinary seaman (RCNVR) aged 20, New Brunswick, Canada; Chapple, Norman James, chief steward, 24, Beer, Devon; Clark, Harry Raymond, master, 50, Shiptonthorpe, Yorks.; Craven, Owen, fireman/trimmer, 33, Birkenhead; Cusworth, Alfred Ernest, 4^th engineer, 25; Cutajar, John, greaser, 35; Daycock, Robert Walker, 3^rd officer, 21; Donald, James, gunner (Royal Artillery) aged 30, Alyth, Perthshire; Farrugia, Nicholas, fireman/trimmer, 30, St Paul’s Bay, Malta; Fawcett, John Richard, sailor, 21, Scarborough, Yorks; Fielding, Cyril, 2^nd officer, 24; Galasso, Albert Herbert, able seaman, 22, Walton, Liverpool; Girling, Albert Charles, 3^rd engineer, 44; Hall, Frank, fireman/trimmer, 26, Preston, Lancashire.; Hanneth, Charles Leonard, ordinary seaman, 16, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire; Hartling, Harold, fireman, Canada; Heatley, Reginald Andrew, 2^nd engineer, 60, Albany, West Australia; Heffy, Herbert Anthony, mess room boy, 16, Walton, Liverpool; Hogan, Gerard, ordinary seaman, 18, Liverpool; Kelly, William, able seaman, 49; Loftus, James, assistant cook, 20, Speke, Liverpool; McCrorie, Henry, greaser, 34 ; McLaughlin, John, able seaman, 20, Co. Donegal, Ireland; Maddocks, John, assistant steward, 27; Montigo, Philip Anthony, able seaman, 20, Liverpool; Munroe, Allan, fireman/trimmer, Canada; Murphy, Michael, fireman/trimmer, 51; Reynolds, Ernest, able seaman, 23; Richardson, William, boatswain, 37, Scarborough; Richmond, Jack Fred, gunner (Royal Artillery) aged 27, Oldham, Lancashire; Roach, Sydney, able seaman (Royal Navy); Rogan, Thomas, fireman/trimmer, 36; Sidaway, Alwyn, 1^st radio officer, 30; Tasker, Arthur William, fireman/trimmer, 35, Hull; Taylor, Eric Peter, 2^nd radio officer, 19, Crouch End, Middlesex; Williams, Thomas James, fireman/trimmer, 30; Zenophon, Demetrius, donkeyman, 56 (may have been named Xenophon).