# Applegarth Tug



## Jan bannister

Hello, many thanks for new member join. 

I joined the group to see if I could find some information about a tugboat ‘Applegarth. My dad has a painting of the applegarth , he thinks the painting is circa 1977 and of birkenhead regatta. Whereas my current search seems to believe the applegarth was sunk 60’s .... so I’m a bit confused . (==D)


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## D1566

Jan bannister said:


> Hello, many thanks for new member join.
> 
> I joined the group to see if I could find some information about a tugboat ‘Applegarth. My dad has a painting of the applegarth , he thinks the painting is circa 1977 and of birkenhead regatta. Whereas my current search seems to believe the applegarth was sunk 60’s .... so I’m a bit confused . (==D)


Pretty sure I can remember seeing Applegarth newly built at Appledore in the late 1960s, so maybe it was a replacement?


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## BillH

APPLEGARTH (1951 - 1971)
O.N. 183807. 231g. 103'1" x 24'8" x 11'10"oa.
T.3-cyl. (16", 25" & 42" x 30") by the shipbuilder. 1,120 ihp. 13 tons bollard pull.10 kts.
28.12.1950: Launched by A. Hall & Co. Ltd., Aberdeen (Yard No. 739) for Rea Towing Co. Ltd., Liverpool. 
24.4.1951: Completed. 
28.4.1951: Registered at Liverpool; Vessel No. 12 of 1951. 
19.8.1954: Left Canning Dry Dock, Liverpool after overhaul and was found to be filling with water, subsequently sinking in the Canning Dock. 
22.8.1954: Raised and returned for repair. 
9.1956: Converted to burn oil fuel. 
13.1.1960: Sank with the loss of her entire crew, whilst assisting PERTHSHIRE (10,496g. /36). 
28.1.1960: Raised and sent for repairs which lasted 6 months. 
1971: Sold to Holyhead Towing Ltd., Anglesey, and renamed AFON CEFNI. Registered at Beaumaris.
1973: Sold to Maritime Commercial Enterprises, Greece, and renamed ACHILLES. 
1975: Sold to Nikolas E. Vernicos Shipping Company, Greece and renamed VERNICOS CHRISTINA. 
1980: Sold to Kyriakou Brothers and Goutis, Greece for demolition at Perama. 
10.1980: Work commenced.


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## Bamse

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2069874


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## Chris Isaac

At 8.15pm on the evening of 13th January 1960 the Rea Tug APPLEGARTH was rammed and sunk by the Scottish Shire liner PERTHSHIRE off the Alfred Locks at Birkenhead. The entire crew of seven of the APPLEGARTH was lost.

"Seaforth Radio, 13th January 1960.

Following received from British steamer PERTHSHIRE (Glasgow for Beira) at 8.13pm GMT: Just sank tug APPLEGARTH south of Woodside in River Mersey"

The loss of the APPLEGARTH, with the seven men aboard her, is remembered around Merseyside to this day. Over fifty years since it happened, I would allude to the bare, bleached bones of it, and often the person I was talking to would straightaway say the name APPLEGARTH. In the Maritime Museum on the Albert Dock in Liverpool, I read this account of the sinking: 'During the long history of the Mersey towage service, casualties of a similar nature have occurred from time to time, but the loss of the APPLEGARTH ranks as one of the worst disasters of its kind on the river and came as a grievous shock to everyone associated with the shipping of the port of Liverpool'.

On 13th January 1960, the 10,496-ton cargo liner PERTHSHIRE was putting into port in Birkenhead, a stop on her voyage from Glasgow to Beira in Mozambique. It was a cold, cloudy night on the river; one Fleet Street newspaper talked about a 'murky darkness'. The river was running at three to four knots. Three tugboats were guiding the PERTHSHIRE; her speed was between four and five knots. The lead tug was the 231-ton APPLEGARTH, standing off the liner's bow. She had a line aboard the PERTHSHIRE, ready to tow her.

Then, without warning, the PERTHSHIRE was bearing down on the APPLEGARTH fast. On the deck of the liner the tow-rope went slack around the windlass. The bow of the PERTHSHIRE was as high as a house. No one on the liner could see the tug by now. But the crew of the APPLEGARTH must have made out the bulk of the liner behind them and heard her avalanching towards them; at least three of them were on deck. They felt a violent lurch and heard a deafening buckling noise. The PERTHSHIRE had rammed the APPLEGARTH, her bow plating battering the starboard quarter of the tug. The APPLEGARTH listed to port, canting towards the bow of the liner. This was the first collision but not the decisive one. Not everyone aboard the liner even felt the impact.

If it had taken the crew of the tug unawares, they recognised danger now. As the tug scraped down the bow of the PERTHSHIRE, the order was given to go full ahead. It seems the master of the APPLEGARTH intended to slip out from beneath the overhang of the PERTHSHIRE's bow, to outrun the danger. But however fast its engines raced, the tug was sucked back against the liner's bow as the water beneath the tug rushed to replace the eleven thousand tons displaced by the PERTHSHIRE. The acceleration only propelled the tug along the plating of the PERTHSHIRE until she was directly in front of the liner. The PERTHSHIRE's bow struck the APPLEGARTH broadside on, tipping her port bulwark under water, where it met the irresistable flow of the river. Men watching from the APPLEGARTH's sister tugs said she seemed to hang there for two or three seconds, pinioned between the liner and the current.

The PERTHSHIRE couldn't stop. The tug rolled to port, and under the freezing Mersey. The APPLEGARTH was small, but she was solid, dense. She had her hatches open - this wasn't open sea, after all, but the river, barely a hundred yards from a landing stage where office workers caught the ferry to Liverpool every morning - and her companionways, her cabin and her galley filled with water.

By now everyone on the scene, even those on the bridge of the PERTHSHIRE, realised that something terrible was happening. They could here cries from the river. They could see the light of the tug's wheelhouse, the wrong way up and under water.

The last sight they had of the APPLEGARTH from the PERTHSHIRE, she was drifting away upside down on their starboard side. The master of another Rea tug, the THROSTLEGARTH, who had been looking on in horror, realised that the APPLEGARTH was now making straight for his boat. "I swung THROSTLEGARTH hard to starboard," he said later, "and went full astern to avoid collision with the wreck." (In the blunt and practical language of seafaring, the APPLEGARTH had already become a 'wreck'). Another skipper, out on the Mersey that night, would later describe looking at the APPLEGARTH from his wheelhouse, looking away, looking back again - and seeing that she'd gone. She sank in ten seconds. Someone spotted what appeared to be a coat in the water: when it was recovered it was found to be the APPLEGARTH's mate, Ernest Perry, drenched in diesel and dead. Four more bodies were discovered in the wreck after it was salvaged a fortnight later. It was four months later, in May 1960, before the two remaining members of the crew were washed up and identified


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## Frank P

Was there ever an inquiry into the loss of the Tug and her crew?

Frank


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## bluemoon

Just a thought, but having seen the last few posts I suspect some people may have read the name of this topic as "GALLERY" and not "GALLEY".


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## Jan bannister

Chris Isaac said:


> At 8.15pm on the evening of 13th January 1960 the Rea Tug APPLEGARTH was rammed and sunk by the Scottish Shire liner PERTHSHIRE off the Alfred Locks at Birkenhead. The entire crew of seven of the APPLEGARTH was lost.
> 
> "Seaforth Radio, 13th January 1960.
> 
> Following received from British steamer PERTHSHIRE (Glasgow for Beira) at 8.13pm GMT: Just sank tug APPLEGARTH south of Woodside in River Mersey"
> 
> The loss of the APPLEGARTH, with the seven men aboard her, is remembered around Merseyside to this day. Over fifty years since it happened, I would allude to the bare, bleached bones of it, and often the person I was talking to would straightaway say the name APPLEGARTH. In the Maritime Museum on the Albert Dock in Liverpool, I read this account of the sinking: 'During the long history of the Mersey towage service, casualties of a similar nature have occurred from time to time, but the loss of the APPLEGARTH ranks as one of the worst disasters of its kind on the river and came as a grievous shock to everyone associated with the shipping of the port of Liverpool'.
> 
> On 13th January 1960, the 10,496-ton cargo liner PERTHSHIRE was putting into port in Birkenhead, a stop on her voyage from Glasgow to Beira in Mozambique. It was a cold, cloudy night on the river; one Fleet Street newspaper talked about a 'murky darkness'. The river was running at three to four knots. Three tugboats were guiding the PERTHSHIRE; her speed was between four and five knots. The lead tug was the 231-ton APPLEGARTH, standing off the liner's bow. She had a line aboard the PERTHSHIRE, ready to tow her.
> 
> Then, without warning, the PERTHSHIRE was bearing down on the APPLEGARTH fast. On the deck of the liner the tow-rope went slack around the windlass. The bow of the PERTHSHIRE was as high as a house. No one on the liner could see the tug by now. But the crew of the APPLEGARTH must have made out the bulk of the liner behind them and heard her avalanching towards them; at least three of them were on deck. They felt a violent lurch and heard a deafening buckling noise. The PERTHSHIRE had rammed the APPLEGARTH, her bow plating battering the starboard quarter of the tug. The APPLEGARTH listed to port, canting towards the bow of the liner. This was the first collision but not the decisive one. Not everyone aboard the liner even felt the impact.
> 
> If it had taken the crew of the tug unawares, they recognised danger now. As the tug scraped down the bow of the PERTHSHIRE, the order was given to go full ahead. It seems the master of the APPLEGARTH intended to slip out from beneath the overhang of the PERTHSHIRE's bow, to outrun the danger. But however fast its engines raced, the tug was sucked back against the liner's bow as the water beneath the tug rushed to replace the eleven thousand tons displaced by the PERTHSHIRE. The acceleration only propelled the tug along the plating of the PERTHSHIRE until she was directly in front of the liner. The PERTHSHIRE's bow struck the APPLEGARTH broadside on, tipping her port bulwark under water, where it met the irresistable flow of the river. Men watching from the APPLEGARTH's sister tugs said she seemed to hang there for two or three seconds, pinioned between the liner and the current.
> 
> The PERTHSHIRE couldn't stop. The tug rolled to port, and under the freezing Mersey. The APPLEGARTH was small, but she was solid, dense. She had her hatches open - this wasn't open sea, after all, but the river, barely a hundred yards from a landing stage where office workers caught the ferry to Liverpool every morning - and her companionways, her cabin and her galley filled with water.
> 
> By now everyone on the scene, even those on the bridge of the PERTHSHIRE, realised that something terrible was happening. They could here cries from the river. They could see the light of the tug's wheelhouse, the wrong way up and under water.
> 
> The last sight they had of the APPLEGARTH from the PERTHSHIRE, she was drifting away upside down on their starboard side. The master of another Rea tug, the THROSTLEGARTH, who had been looking on in horror, realised that the APPLEGARTH was now making straight for his boat. "I swung THROSTLEGARTH hard to starboard," he said later, "and went full astern to avoid collision with the wreck." (In the blunt and practical language of seafaring, the APPLEGARTH had already become a 'wreck'). Another skipper, out on the Mersey that night, would later describe looking at the APPLEGARTH from his wheelhouse, looking away, looking back again - and seeing that she'd gone. She sank in ten seconds. Someone spotted what appeared to be a coat in the water: when it was recovered it was found to be the APPLEGARTH's mate, Ernest Perry, drenched in diesel and dead. Four more bodies were discovered in the wreck after it was salvaged a fortnight later. It was four months later, in May 1960, before the two remaining members of the crew were washed up and identified


 many thanks Chris


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## Jan bannister

Many thanks for taking the time to supply such an informed reply Chris.


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## childsgrandaughter

Chris Isaac said:


> At 8.15pm on the evening of 13th January 1960 the Rea Tug APPLEGARTH was rammed and sunk by the Scottish Shire liner PERTHSHIRE off the Alfred Locks at Birkenhead. The entire crew of seven of the APPLEGARTH was lost.
> 
> "Seaforth Radio, 13th January 1960.
> 
> Following received from British steamer PERTHSHIRE (Glasgow for Beira) at 8.13pm GMT: Just sank tug APPLEGARTH south of Woodside in River Mersey"
> 
> The loss of the APPLEGARTH, with the seven men aboard her, is remembered around Merseyside to this day. Over fifty years since it happened, I would allude to the bare, bleached bones of it, and often the person I was talking to would straightaway say the name APPLEGARTH. In the Maritime Museum on the Albert Dock in Liverpool, I read this account of the sinking: 'During the long history of the Mersey towage service, casualties of a similar nature have occurred from time to time, but the loss of the APPLEGARTH ranks as one of the worst disasters of its kind on the river and came as a grievous shock to everyone associated with the shipping of the port of Liverpool'.
> 
> On 13th January 1960, the 10,496-ton cargo liner PERTHSHIRE was putting into port in Birkenhead, a stop on her voyage from Glasgow to Beira in Mozambique. It was a cold, cloudy night on the river; one Fleet Street newspaper talked about a 'murky darkness'. The river was running at three to four knots. Three tugboats were guiding the PERTHSHIRE; her speed was between four and five knots. The lead tug was the 231-ton APPLEGARTH, standing off the liner's bow. She had a line aboard the PERTHSHIRE, ready to tow her.
> 
> Then, without warning, the PERTHSHIRE was bearing down on the APPLEGARTH fast. On the deck of the liner the tow-rope went slack around the windlass. The bow of the PERTHSHIRE was as high as a house. No one on the liner could see the tug by now. But the crew of the APPLEGARTH must have made out the bulk of the liner behind them and heard her avalanching towards them; at least three of them were on deck. They felt a violent lurch and heard a deafening buckling noise. The PERTHSHIRE had rammed the APPLEGARTH, her bow plating battering the starboard quarter of the tug. The APPLEGARTH listed to port, canting towards the bow of the liner. This was the first collision but not the decisive one. Not everyone aboard the liner even felt the impact.
> 
> If it had taken the crew of the tug unawares, they recognised danger now. As the tug scraped down the bow of the PERTHSHIRE, the order was given to go full ahead. It seems the master of the APPLEGARTH intended to slip out from beneath the overhang of the PERTHSHIRE's bow, to outrun the danger. But however fast its engines raced, the tug was sucked back against the liner's bow as the water beneath the tug rushed to replace the eleven thousand tons displaced by the PERTHSHIRE. The acceleration only propelled the tug along the plating of the PERTHSHIRE until she was directly in front of the liner. The PERTHSHIRE's bow struck the APPLEGARTH broadside on, tipping her port bulwark under water, where it met the irresistable flow of the river. Men watching from the APPLEGARTH's sister tugs said she seemed to hang there for two or three seconds, pinioned between the liner and the current.
> 
> The PERTHSHIRE couldn't stop. The tug rolled to port, and under the freezing Mersey. The APPLEGARTH was small, but she was solid, dense. She had her hatches open - this wasn't open sea, after all, but the river, barely a hundred yards from a landing stage where office workers caught the ferry to Liverpool every morning - and her companionways, her cabin and her galley filled with water.
> 
> By now everyone on the scene, even those on the bridge of the PERTHSHIRE, realised that something terrible was happening. They could here cries from the river. They could see the light of the tug's wheelhouse, the wrong way up and under water.
> 
> The last sight they had of the APPLEGARTH from the PERTHSHIRE, she was drifting away upside down on their starboard side. The master of another Rea tug, the THROSTLEGARTH, who had been looking on in horror, realised that the APPLEGARTH was now making straight for his boat. "I swung THROSTLEGARTH hard to starboard," he said later, "and went full astern to avoid collision with the wreck." (In the blunt and practical language of seafaring, the APPLEGARTH had already become a 'wreck'). Another skipper, out on the Mersey that night, would later describe looking at the APPLEGARTH from his wheelhouse, looking away, looking back again - and seeing that she'd gone. She sank in ten seconds. Someone spotted what appeared to be a coat in the water: when it was recovered it was found to be the APPLEGARTH's mate, Ernest Perry, drenched in diesel and dead. Four more bodies were discovered in the wreck after it was salvaged a fortnight later. It was four months later, in May 1960, before the two remaining members of the crew were washed up and identified


My grandad on my mother’s side was the stoker on the Applegarth. She was 10 when he died. John Childs was the stoker the night the Applegarth was sunk. He went to work and never came home. Very sad day for all of the families.


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