Brooklet Gallery

LAUNCH AT WEST HARTLEPOOL

Northern Daily Mail, 23/6/11

Yesterday, Messrs. William Gray and Co., Limited, launched the handsome steel screw steamer Brooklet for Messrs. Needham Bros., West Hartlepool.

She will take the highest class in Lloyd’s register, and is of the following dimensions, viz. : Length over all, 346ft. 6in.; breadth, 47ft. 6in.; and depth, 25ft. 7 ½ in., with long bridge, poop, and top-gallant forecastle.

The saloon, staterooms, captain’s, officers, and engineers’ rooms, etc., will be fitted up with houses on the bridge deck, and the crew’s berths in the forecastle.

The hull is built with deep frames, cellular double bottom, and large aft peak ballast tank, six steam winches, steam steering gear amidships, hand screw gear aft, patent direct steam windlass, large horizontal multitubular donkey boiler, shifting boards throughout, stockless anchors, telescopic masts, with fore and aft rig, and all requirements for a first class cargo steamer. The holds, bunkers,
and top sides are coated with Siderosthen solution to prevent corrosion.

Triple-expansion engines are being supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 25in., 40in., and 65in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 42in., and two large steel boilers for a working pressure of 180lbs. per square inch.

The ship and machinery have been built under the superintendence of Mr. Donald Ross and Mr. John Needham on behalf of the owners, and the ceremony of naming the steamer Brooklet was gracefully performed by Mrs. D. Needham, West Hartlepool.



TRIAL TRIP OF THE s.s. BROOKLET

Northern Daily Mail, July 22/11

Yesterday, the handsome steel screw steamer Brooklet, built by Messrs. William Gray and
Co., Ltd, for Messrs. Needham Bros., West Hartlepool, had her trial trip.

The vessel has been built to Lloyd’s highest class and her principal dimensions are: Length over all, 346ft. 6in.; breadth, 47ft. 6in.; and depth, 25ft. 7 ½ in. She has long bridge, poop, and top-gallant forecastle. The saloon, staterooms, captain’s, officers, and engineers’ rooms, etc., will be fitted up with houses on the bridge deck, and the crew’s berths in the forecastle.

Her engines are of the triple-expansion type, supplied from the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 25in., 40in., and 65in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 42in.,
and two large steel boilers for a working pressure of 180lbs. per square inch.

The vessel was put through the usual manoeuvring to test her capabilities, and the running of the engines with very satisfactory results.



Owners: 1911 Brooklet SS Co (Needham Bros) West Hartlepool: 1915 R Harrowing & Co, Whitby 1918-renamed Ethelinda

Masters: 1913-15 J Horn: 1918 A Cuthbert.

On a voyage from Bilbao to Barry with a cargo of iron-ore the defensively armed merchant steamer Ethelinda was torpedoed without warning  by German submarine (U-103 Claus Rucker) & sank 15 miles NW of the Skerries, Anglesey on 29 January 1918. 26 lives were lost including the master

Lives lost January 1918: Ali Abdullah, fireman/trimmer, India; Ali Muhammad, fireman/trimmer, India; Ali Muhammad, fireman/trimmer, India; Ashford, William, 2^nd cook, 15, b. Sunderland, resided South Shields; Ching, LL, ship’s cook; Cuthbert, A, master, 39, Grosvenor Place, North Shields; Davey, Walter Ernest Rose, seaman, 43, Snape; Ikitoni, K, 3^rd engineer, Japan ; Inskuchi, N, donkeyman, 31, b. Kobe; Kingston, Robert, 1^st engineer, 43, Lansdowne Rd. Hartlepool; McKean, James, wireless operator, 17, Alexandria, Dumbarton; Morgan, Morgan, apprentice, 19, Oxbridge Lane, Stockton-on-Tees; Muhammad Ali, fireman/trimmer, India; Nagi Hasan, fireman/trimmer, India; Nyland, Waldemar, sailor, b. Russia; Pallo, able seaman, 32, b. Riga, Latvia; Rundle, William Middleton, 1^st mate, 52, Cardiff; Sakomoto, K, steward, 26, b. Nagasaki, Japan; Saleh Ali, fireman/trimmer, India; Sandys, Ed, able seaman, 40, b. St Johns, Newfoundland; Severs, James, 2^nd engineer, 45, b. Gleasby, Darlington; Tilley, John Edward, 2^nd mate, 65, b. Whitstable; Zachler, Paul, sailor, 37, b. USA.

In this section you will find information, photographs and stories relating to more than 260 Hartlepool seamen who lost their lives during during the First World War, and of the ships they served on.
To find a particular crewman, simply type his Surname in the Search Box at the top of the page.

This section will, in time, contain the stories of more than 450 merchant ships built or owned in the Hartlepools, and which were lost during the First World War. As an illustration of the truly global nature of shipbuilding, these ships were owned by companies from 22 different countries, including more than 30 sailing under the German flag at the outbreak of war.

This company was formed by David and William Thomas Needham when, in 1903, William Gray built the steamship Mariner for them. In 1890 their father Thomas, a shipwright, had shares in several local ships and in 1892, David, a clerk of 22, York Road, West Hartlepool, had shares in Coverdale's ship Mennythorpe.

Their office in 1914 was in Exeter Street and all four of the ships that they owned were built by William Gray, three being built for them and the fourth, the Cresswell, being purchased from Jones & Prosser, of London. She was renamed Rivulet but did not serve the company for very long as she was lost in December 1914.

The other three ships also became war losses, though by then they had been sold to other owners. With the sale of the Brooklet in 1915, no doubt at an advantageous price, the company ceased shipowning. At that time their address was 36 Exeter Street, West Hartlepool.

Compiled by Mr. Bert Spaldin.

Family History:

William Thomas Needham was born at Hartlepool on 27 April 1859 to parents Thomas, a shipwright, and Elizabeth (nee Spence). William married Sarah Harrison in 1887. By 1901 the family were living at 18 York Road.

William died at Hartlepool aged 75 on 5 May 1934 leaving effects of £1,085.

David Needham was born at Hartlepool in 1867 to parents Thomas, a shipwright, and Elizabeth (nee Spence). David married Mary Ward at Sedgefield in 1893. By 1911 the family were living in Park Road, Hartlepool.

David died at Hartlepool aged 60 on 17 February 1927 leaving effects of £29,103.