Carperby Gallery

Steamship Carperby.

LAUNCHES ON THE WEAR AND AT WEST HARTLEPOOL

Northern Echo 7/5/28

The monitor ship Rio Diamante, which has been constructed by William Gray and Co., of West Hartlepool, successfully completed her official sea trials on Saturday. The vessel is one of comparatively few monitor ships constructed in this country, their peculiarity being a series of corrugations which run from end to end of the ship. Their purpose is to minimise rolling, provide more cargo space, and obtain the maximum thrust from the screw. In the trials of the Rio Diamante the absence of roll was most noticeable, and the vibrations from the engines were also distinctly minimised.
 
Messrs. William Gray and Co., Ltd., have launched from their Central Shipyard, West Hartlepool, the s.s. Carperby, another fine addition to the Ropner Shipping Co., Ltd., of West Hartlepool. She is 418ftft. in length, 53ft 6in. broad, and 29ft. 6in. in depth. Triple expansion engines will be supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders.

The christening ceremony was performed by Miss Clare A. MacGregor, daughter of Dr A. V. MacGregor, of West Hartlepool.

FOR ROPNER FLEET
 
ANOTHER FINE VESSEL LAUNCHED
 
Northern Daily Mail. 5/5/28

Yesterday Messrs. Wm Gray and Co., Ltd., launched from their Central Shipyards West Hartlepool,  the handsome steel screw steamer Carperby, which is being built to the order of the Ropner Shipping Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool.

The vessel will take the highest class in Lloyd’s Register, and is of the following dimensions: Length overall 418ft.; breadth, 53ft. 6in., depth moulded to upper deck, 29ft. 5 ½  in., with long bridge, poop, and forecastle.

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 six watertight bulkheads, together with a steel centre line bulkhead, and wood shifting boards dividing the holds for grain carrying.

                EQUIPMENT

Spacious accommodation for the officers is arranged in a steel house amidships. The engineers will be berthed in large steel houses alongside the 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 to work 12 derricks. A direct-acting steam windlass forward and steam steering gear amidships are also to be fitted.

The topmasts will be telescopic, lowering to a height suitable for the Manchester Ship Canal Bridges.

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

Triple-expansion engines having cylinders 26in., 43in., and 71 inches dia. x 48 in. stroke, and three boilers working at a pressure of 180lbs., will be supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, and a number of auxiliaries of the “C.M.E.W.” type, will be installed.
 
                NAMING CEREMONY

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 Carperby was gracefully performed by Miss Clare A. Macgregor, daughter of Dr. A. V.  Mcgregor, of Durham House, West Hartlepool. The owners were represented by Mr. William Guy Ropner and Mr. J. Ropner. The builders were represented by Sir William Gray, Bart. (chairman), Mr. F. C. Pyman (managing director), Mr. A. McGlashan and Mr. J. H. Farmer, (directors), and Mr. T. S. Simpson (general manager).

Amongst those present at the launch were Dr. and Mrs. Mcgregor, Mrs. Wm Guy Ropner, Mrs. F. C. Pyman, Mrs. A. C. Waddy, Mrs. J. H. Farmer, and Mr. R. S. Stroyan, also Dr. A. Pickworth, and Mr. A. Daintith (representing Lloyd’s Register of Shipping).

Master: 1942 Frederick Gardiner.

On a voyage from the Tyne for St Vincent & Buenos Aires with a cargo of coal & coke & a total complement of 40 Carperby dispersed from convoy ON-66 & was torpedoed by German submarine U-588 (Victor Vogel) & sank about 450 miles south of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic on 1 March 1942. All 40 lives lost.

Lives lost March 1942: Barker, Robert Coulson, steward, 37, West Hartlepool; Bennett, John Alfred, ordinary seaman, 18, Bethnal Green, London; Black, James, able seaman, 22, Jarrow (son of Alexander E & Elizabeth); Bradley, John, 3^rd engineer, 26, Hebburn, Co. Durham; Brown, Joseph, fireman/trimmer, 43; Bull, John, fireman/trimmer, 39, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Burnett, Harry, 2^nd radio officer, 29, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire; Cole, Sonny Michael, headman, 37; Copeland, Robert, able seaman, 38, Clydebank, Dumbartonshire; Fairley, Isaac, cook, 22 (son of Isaac & Annie); Farmer, Joseph, fireman/trimmer, 40; Freeman, William, fireman/trimmer, 32; Gardiner, Frederick, master, 31, Crosby, Lancashire; Gibbons, Albert Matthew James, galley boy, 16, Southall, Middlesex; Gordon, Phillip Ralph, able seaman, 18; Harding, Charles, able seaman, 31; Henderson, John, 3^rd radio officer, 17, Cleadon; Hicklin, George Thomas, able seaman; Hulme, George Harry, gunner (Royal Artillery) aged 23; Johnson, William, fireman/trimmer, 35, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Kenworthy, Joseph, chief officer, 55; Knowles, Bryan, carpenter, 32; Larsen, Niels Henry, sailor, 28; Lloyd, William, 4^th engineer, 30, South Shields; Logan, Patrick, cabin boy, 19, South Shields; McNally, Michael, donkeyman, 27, Jarrow; Maidment, Harold, mess room boy, 17, Carshalton, Surrey; Manney, James, fireman/trimmer, 44; Massalley, Joe, fireman/trimmer, 37; Mendi, Joe, fireman/trimmer, 45, South Shields; Mendi Abu, fireman/trimmer, 44; Mugeridge, Victor, sailor, 22; Muirhead, James, 2^nd engineer, 51; Pook, Walter, deck boy, 17, Carshalton, Surrey; Ryce, Leonard, able seaman, 24, Chesham, Buckinghamshire; Scarth, William, 2^nd officer, 26, Hetton, le, Hole, Co. Durham; Smith, James, assistant cook, 18; Taylor, George, donkeyman, 34, Raynes Park, Surrey; Terrell, Herbert Edward, 3^rd officer, 26; Thompson, Robert Henry, deck boy, 16, Middlesex; Vilenskis, Joseph, donkeyman, 49, Lithuania; Weisberg, Roman, boatswain, 39; Williams, Richard Edwards, chief engineer, 57.

FOR ROPNER LINE
 
s.s. Carperby Undergoes Sea Tests.

Northern Daily Mail. 8/6/28

The screw steamer Carperby, built by Messrs. William Gray and Co., Ltd., to the order of the Ropner Shipping Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool, successfully ran her official sea trials on Thursday.

The vessel is complete in all respects as a first-class cargo steamer, the equipment including an efficient wireless installation and electric light throughout.

The propelling machinery, supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, consists of triple-expansion engines having cylinders 26 x 43 x 71 inches dia. x 48 in. stroke, three boilers working at a pressure of 180lbs., per square inch. A number of auxiliaries of the “C.M.E.W.” type, also made by the Central Marine Engineering Works are fitted.

The owners were represented on the trial by Mr. J. B. Nicol, superintendent engineer.

Carperby Yardbook pages

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