Joseph Chamberlain Gallery

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.

LAUNCH OF THE JOSEPH CHAMBERLIN

Northern Daily Mail June 25/10
    
As was reported in our last edition last night, the s.s. Joseph Chamberlain was yesterday afternoon launched from Messrs. William Gray and Co’s Old Yard. The vessel has been built for Messrs. J. and R. O.  Sanderson, West Hartlepool and Cardiff; and amongst those who witnessed the launching ceremony, which was  performed by Mrs. John Sanderson were  the Mayor and Mayoress of West Hartlepool (Councillor and Mrs. Johnson), Mr. And Mrs. O.R. Sanderson, Mr.  John Sanderson, the Rev. F. C. and Mrs. Macdonald, F. B. and Mrs. Bevan, Mr. And Mrs. Arthur Jones, Mrs. Sarginson, Miss Gobat, Miss Witherington, Mr. Geo. Jones, J. P. (Managing director of Messrs.  Gray and Co), Mr. A. McGlashan, J.P., and Mr. C. P. Sanderson (superintendent engineer).
    
The launch was in every aspect most successful, and as the vessel left the ways there was a hearty cheer from the workmen and others assembled. It was noticed that some of the men had printed in chalk on the keel of the ship “Tariff Reform ship” .
    
After the launch the company partook of light refreshments at the offices.
    
Mr George Jones proposed the toast of “Success to the Joseph Chamberlain and the new firm of Messrs. J. and R. O.  Sanderson” In doing so he congratulated Messrs. Sanderson upon the foresight in having given the order for the steamer at the date they did, prices having since gone up very materially. They had, in fact, given their order at the cheapest time for many years. Mr. Jones, having further expressed the hope that Messrs. Sanderson might be very successful in their venture, concluded by presenting Mrs. John Sanderson with a beautiful gold necklace as a memento of the occasion. Mr. R.O. Sanderson, in replying to the toast, expressed his own and his brothers thanks to Mr. Jones, and in remarking that amongst other auspicious circumstances that day was the King’s official birthday and also the birthday of Lord Kitchener, he observed that if these facts could be taken as an augury they could, he thought, look forward with confidence to the success of the steamer that had just been put into the water, and also of the newly-constituted firm for which she had been built.
    
Referring to the name with which the vessel had been christened, Mr. Sanderson said it stood in his estimation for the future progress of our empire and the extension of our commerce. “Ships” he continued, “are the great missionaries of empire, and Britain must always remain a sea power-predominant with her navy and her mercantile marine. And it is especially necessary at this moment, not only for those who are directing the destinies of the country, but for the ship owners also, to hold a steady rudder”. (Hear, Hear.)   
    
The Mayor then proposed a toast to “Messrs. William Gray and Co.,” coupling it with the name of Mr George Jones. He remarked that sometimes they forgot that there were quite as many, and as important, personages who might be called captains in the industrial army as there were officers in the King’s Army and Navy. And West Hartlepool had produced some of the best and greatest and wisest captains of industry in the country. Amongst these he instanced first the late Sir Wm Gray, referring at some length to his life’s work and to the huge business he built up, and which his Worship might long flourish. (Hear, Hear.)

“I do not think it will be amiss” he continued, “if on this occasion I remark that the captains of industry are very often rewarded by the Government and by their fellow-men. Sir Wm Gray was honoured with a knighthood, and our other big captain of industry, Sir Christopher Furness, was also similarly honoured.

“Today we find that a bigger honour has been conferred upon him, that he has, in fact, been raised to the Peerage of the realm. I think it is not only a great honour to Sir Christopher Furness himself, but it is of great honour to the county borough of West Hartlepool, because you cannot honour one of it’s principal citizens without honouring the town to which he belongs” (Hear, Hear.)
“We hope and trust,” added the Mayor, “that in the near future we shall see another, if not more, of our captains of industry honoured in the same way.”
    
Mentioning Mr. Wm. Gray, the Mayor expressed the hope that in the years to come that gentleman might take an increasingly active part in the affairs of the town and also of the nation. (Hear, Hear.)
    
Mr Geo. Jones in replying to the toast, mentioned that since his connection with that firm, which has extended over a period of 34 years, Messrs. Gray and Co. had built 640 vessels. The 786th ship which the firm had constructed, he added, was at the moment on the stocks. On three occasions they had carried off the blue riband in the shipping world, and, he ventured to say, they had a good position in the shipbuilding returns almost every year. They had at times paid something like half a million pounds a year in wages, and in the 34 years of his connection with the firm they had never had the yards wholly empty.
    
After expressing the hope that the improvement in the shipbuilding trade might continue, Mr. Jones referred to the increasing tendency towards combination both amongst masters and men, and re3marked that on the whole he believed it made for peace.  Certainly at the present time it did not do to fritter away money for strikes and the employers were just as anxious as the men that work should continue without interruption. (Hear, Hear.)
    
                                                DESCRIPTION OF THE STEAMER

The Joseph Chamberlain is a handsome steel screw steamer.  She will take the highest class in Lloyd’s register, and is of the following dimensions : Length over all, 361ft. 6in.; breadth, 50ft., and depth, 25ft. 11in, with long bridge, poop, and top-gallant forecastle.
    
The saloon, staterooms, captain’s, officers’ and engineers’ etc, will be fitted up in 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, seven 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, boats on deck overhead and all requirements for a first class cargo steamer

Triple-expansion engines are being supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 25in., 40 ½ in., and 67in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 45in., 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. C. P. Sanderson on behalf of the owners.
    

TRIAL TRIP OF THE s. S. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN

Northern Daily Mail August 5/10

On Saturday, the handsome steel screw steamer Joseph Chamberlain, built by Messrs. William Gray and Co., Limited, for Messrs. J. and R. O.  Sanderson, West Hartlepool and Cardiff, was taken for her trial trip.

The vessel has been built to Lloyd’s highest class, and is of the following dimensions : Length over all, 361ft. 6in.; breadth, 50ft., and depth, 25ft. 11in, description of the steamer has already been given.

Triple-expansion engines have been supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 25in., 40 ½ in., and 67in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 45in., and two large steel boilers for a working pressure of 180lbs. per square inch.

Those onboard Messrs. John Sanderson, R.O. Sanderson, Frank Sanderson, Mrs. John Sanderson, Misses H. and K. Sanderson, and Mrs. H. Robinson; Alderman Butterwick, Messrs. G. And H. Coverdale, Mr. H. Middleton, and Mr. Thos. Trechmann; Messrs. C. P. Sanderson and Oliver, who have superintended the construction of the ship and machinery; Mr. James Innes represented Lloyd’s Registry, Captain J. E. Murrell, the shipbuilders, and Mr. J. B. Williams, the engine builders.

The trial was a highly satisfactory one, a mean speed of 11 ½ knots being registered.

Owners: 1910 John & Robert Oliver Sanderson, West Hartlepool: 1917 W. & C.T. Jones S.S. Co. Ltd., Cardiff

Masters: 1913-16 FM Tyson: 1917 J.R. Kidson

Lives lost 18 September 1917:

Cavanagh, Felix, fireman, 36, b. Liverpool; Daley, Patrick, donkeyman, 38, b. Bootle; Forsyth, HG, wireless operator, 18, b. Gourock; Goodwin, James Murray, boatswain, 46, Liverpool; Gwynne, John Francis, ship’s cook, 35, b. Cardiff; Haley, William, seaman, 25, b. Preston; Hickton, Frederick, seaman, 33, b. Stafford; Lewis, James, donkeyman, 33, b. Manchester, resided Liverpool; McCallum, Norman Stewart, 1^st engineer, 26, Cardiff; Morgan, Albert, assistant cook, 24, Penarth, Glamorgan; Muldoon, John Horace, fireman, 37, b. Manchester; Phillips, Thomas John, steward, 40, Cardiff; Pound, William Charles, 2^nd mate, 39, b. Chulmleigh, Devon; Quinn, William, fireman, 26, Liverpool; Riley, Thomas, fireman, 20; Scanlon, Patrick, fireman/trimmer, 39, Liverpool; Uriel, Patrick, able seaman, 22, Liverpool; Watson, Albert Sidney, 3^rd engineer, 39, b. Islington, London.

J. & R.O. Sanderson; Sanderson Bros. & Jones

The Sanderson brothers were native to the Hartlepools, although their roots were in North Yorkshire. Robert Oliver Sanderson was the leading light in the company. In 1894 he moved to Cardiff and initially opened an office as a shipbroker, later expanding the business with his brother John operating the West Hartlepool office.

On June 25th, 1910, they moved into shipowning, with the launch of the Joseph Chamberlain from the William Gray shipyard. The launching ceremony was performed by Mrs. John Sanderson, who was given a gold necklace as a memento. The ship ran her trials on August 15th, achieving a speed of 11.5 knots.

In 1912, in partnership with Messrs. Jones of Cardiff, they bought a second-hand ship, the Frank Coverdale, from local Hartlepool shipowners Coverdales, and renamed her Arthur Balfour.
The two ships were engaged in the tramp trade until the outbreak of the First World War. In 1917 both ships were sold, the Joseph Chamberlain going to Messrs. Jones for £25,000 (nearly £2million at todays values), and the Arthur Balfour to S. Instone & Co., of Cardiff (price unknown).

This brought to an end the Sanderson's shipowning business, and the Hartlepool office closed soon afterwards. Robert Sanderson continued with his shipbroking business in Cardiff, becoming Chairman of a number of organistaions, including the Cardiff & Bristol Channel Shipowners Association, and in 1919 was elected President of the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce.

Compiled by Mr. Bert Spaldin.

Family History:

John James Sanderson was born at Hartlepool in about 1855 to parents John and Sarah (nee Hind). He began his working life as a shipowner’s clerk. John married Annie Robson at Hartlepool in 1881. In 1891 and 1901 they were living at 42 South Road, West Hartlepool with their two sons and two daughters.  By 1911 the couple were living at 74 Clifton Avenue with one son and two daughters.

John died aged 89 at Hartlepool on 16 July 1944 leaving effects of £40,131.

Robert Oliver Sanderson was born at Hartlepool in 1862 to parents John and Sarah (nee Hind).  He also began his working life as a clerk. John married Bertha Henderson at Sunderland in 1889 and by 1891 the couple were living at Conway Road, Cardiff. By 1911 they were living at  Cathedral Road, Cardiff with their son.

Robert died aged 67 at Cardiff on 1 January 1930 leaving effects of £1045.