SS Glentworth was a shelter deck cargo steamship built in 1920 by Hawthorn Leslie & Co. in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England for R.S. Dalgliesh and Dalgliesh Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., also of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[2] After the Great Depression affected UK merchant shipping in the first years of the 1930s, Dalgliesh sold Glentworth to a company controlled by Counties Ship Management (an offshoot of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking company of London[4]) who renamed her SS Box Hill.[2]
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | SS Glentworth[2] |
| Owner |
|
| Port of registry |  Newcastle-upon-Tyne[1] |
| Builder | Hawthorn Leslie & Co, Newcastle-upon-Tyne[1] |
| Yard number | 490[2] |
| Launched | 15 July 1920 |
| Completed | November 1920[1] |
| Out of service | 1934[2] |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sold[2] |
| Name | SS Box Hill[2] |
| Namesake | Box Hill, Surrey |
| Owner | Surrey Hill Steamship Co. Ltd.[3] |
| Operator | Counties Ship Management Co Ltd, London[2] |
| Port of registry | London[3] |
| Acquired | 1934[2] |
| Out of service | 31 December 1939[2] |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk by mine |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Cargo ship[2] |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 450.0 ft (137.2 m)[1] p/p |
| Beam | 55.0 ft (16.8 m)[1] |
| Draught | 25 feet 6+1⁄4 inches (7.78 m)[1] |
| Depth | 26.4 ft (8.0 m)[1] |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion | Hawthorn Leslie reduction-geared turbine (as built);[1] Hawthorn Leslie 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine (after 1934)[3] |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h)[2] |
| Crew | 20 or 22[2] |
Details edit
The ship's stokehold had 12 corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 214 square feet (20 m2).[1] They heated three 200 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 8,655 square feet (804 m2).[1][3] She was built as a turbine steamer: two steam turbines with a combined power output of 620 NHP drove the shaft to the single propeller by reduction gearing.[1] However, when she changed hands in 1934 she was re-engined with a Hawthorn Leslie 586 NHP three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine.[3] The conversion retained her original boilers, but her furnaces were converted to oil burning.[3]
The ship was equipped with direction finding equipment and radio.[1]
Loss edit
Late in 1939 Box Hill sailed from Saint John, New Brunswick bound for Hull with a cargo of 8,452 tons wheat.[2] On New Year's Eve she was in the North Sea 9 nautical miles (17 km) off the Humber lightship when she struck a German mine.[2] The explosion broke her back and she sank almost immediately with the loss of over half its crew.[2]
Box Hill was Counties Ship Management's first loss of the Second World War. CSM's losses continued until just a week before the surrender of Japan in August 1945, by which time the company had lost a total of 13 ships.
Both sections of Box Hill's wreck were a hazard to shipping and showed above the water.[2] In 1952 the Royal Navy dispersed her remains with high explosive and Admiralty charts now mark her position as a "foul" ground.[2]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lloyd's Register of Shipping (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lettens, Jan; Racey, Carl (30 December 2010). "SS Box Hill [+1939]". The Wreck Site. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lloyd's Register of Shipping (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ^ Fenton, Roy (2006). "Counties Ship Management 1934–2007". LOF–News. p. 1. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
Sources & further reading edit
- Sedgwick, Stanley (1993) [1992]. Kinnaird, Mark; O'Donoghue, K.J (eds.). London & Overseas Freighters, 1948–92: A Short History. World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-68-1.
- Sedgwick, Stanley; Sprake, R.F. (1977). London & Overseas Freighters Limited 1949–1977. World Ship Society. ISBN 0905617037.