Atlantic Duchess

The following notes on dockyard ship movements were made at the time by Mr. Thomas W. Withers, of South Crescent, Hartlepool:

1950 – Atlantic Duchess – No.1237

June 18^th – Attending launch
June 29^th – From Shipyard to Slag Island
From Slag Island to Shipyard
July 3^rd – From Shipyard to Slag Island
From Slag Island to Shipyard
July 14^th – From Shipyard to Hydraulics (?)
From Hydraulics to Shipyard
July 26^th – From Shipyard to CMEW
Sep. 6^th – 1 tide attendance
Sep. 7^th – From CMEW to Shipyard
Sep. 15^th – From Shipyard to Slag Island
From Slag Island to Shipyard
Sep. 27^th – From Shipyard to CMEW
Sep. 28^th – From CMEW to Shipyard
Oct 10^th – 1 tide attendance
Oct. 11^th – From Shipyard to Slag Island
From Slag Island to Shipyard
Oct. 26^th – From Shipyard to Graythorpe

Motor tanker Atlantic Duchess.

This 'Noticeboard' contains snippets of information about the ship drawn from a wide range of personal and documentary sources and is updated as and when new material is received:

Derek Hinds remembers the Atlantic Duchess returning to Hartlepool for repairs after the devastating explosion in Swansea Docks on February 2nd, 1951- "The remaining sections were brought back to Graythorp for repair. The aft section was put into the drydock first to clean up the raggy plates from the explosion. She was put into the dock the ‘wrong way around’ to how ships were normally drydocked. When the aft section was ready the dock was refilled and the forward section was floated in. Set up in the correct position and the dock emptied. A new mid-section had to be constructed to join the ship back together again."

From Mr. Stan Lithgo: "After the vessel was repaired and rejoined, my Uncle Arnold Lithgo was Pilot to sail the ship out. The ship's owner, Mr. Livanos, was there and helped the Foyboatmen unmoor her to get her on her way to Corpus Christi."

The following has been compiled from a number of different sources:

On November 30^th, 1950, the Atlantic Duchess sailed on her maiden voyage from West Hartlepool to Abadan, Iran, to load a cargo of 12,000 tons of crude oil for the National Oil Refineries Ltd., Llandarcy, Swansea. The vessel arrived at Swansea on the night of January 29^th, 1951, berthing at No.2 Jetty just before 5 o’clock the following morning. Discharging the oil began shortly afterwards, being completed by the early hours of February 2^nd.

At around 5.00am, there was a massive explosion aboard the ship, which killed seven men, started fires in the midships accommodation area, and broke the back of the tanker. A second explosion ripped through the ship just before 10.30am,, injuring a further six fire-fighters. After raging for several hours, crews from shore-based fire appliances and the fire-fighting tugs Kingforth and Queenforth, eventually brought the fires under control.

The two halves of the vessel were later towed to the Graythorp Yard in Hartlepool and following major repairs, the ship was put back into service.

The launch of the 'Atlantic Duchess'.