Registration number 445
Status National Historic Fleet
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ELSWICK. In store

Details

Function Cargo Vessel
Subfunction Lighter
Location County Durham
Vessel type Tyne Wherry
Current use None
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No
Info required Yes
Web address http://www.twmuseums.org.uk

Construction

Built in 1913
Hull material Wood
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Towed
Primary engine type None
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
23.64 feet (7.21m)
Length: Overall
56.95 feet (17.37m)

History

The Wherry was built by RB Harrison and Co Ltd at Bill Quay and launched on 16th August1939. A report in the Evening Chronicle on 19th August 1939 said the launch was the first for 25 years. She was owned by Vickers Armstrongs Ltd of Newcastle who sold her to N Keedy and Sons of South Shields around 1950 and was in service on the Tyne with them until the early 1970s. Keedy's donated the wherry to the Maritime Trust based at South Shields and she was transferred to Tyne and Wear Museums in 1976. After a proposal for a maritime museum at the former Leslie's Hebburn Shipyard fell through in the 1990s the wherry was moved to the Tyne and Wear Museum's store at Beamish Museum where she still remains not on public display. 

Although this vessel is on the National Historic Fleet, we are currently lacking information on this particular vessel. If you have any information on this vessel past or present, please contact us.

Key dates

  • 1913

    Built at Bill Quay, Tyne
  • 1913

    Launched as a dumb (towing) wherry but soon fitted with a motor engine
  • 1981

    Withdrawn from service
  • 1982

    Purchased by the Merseyside Maritime Museum and maintained afloat in Princes Dock Liverpool
  • 1984

    Kept at Tyne Dock before she was moved to Hebburn and then to the store at Beamish. 

     
  • 1986

    Entered on the National Register of Historic Vessels

Sources

Brouwer, Norman J, International Register of Historic Ships, Anthony Nelson, pp148, Edition 2, 1993 
The last Tyne wherry - Elswick No. 2 Information Sheet

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk