# SS Eastern Prince and Hughes Bolckow



## bryan henderson (May 26, 2008)

An aunt of mine has a piece of teak furniture with a metal plate on it that says "Made by the Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company Ltd Blyth, Northumberland, of teak taken from S.S. Eastern Prince."

I have been trying to find out which Eastern Prince this was and when it was broken up. Does anyone here know anything about the connection between Hughes Bolckow and the Eastern Prince? 

There have been at least 5 ships of that name, two were sunk by torpedos and the fourth was scapped at Faslane as far as I can tell. The fifth is too young so perhaps it was the first one.


----------



## spartan (Jan 20, 2006)

Hello Bryan,this is somewhat of a mystery looking through Battleship Wharf by Horace White which is a comprehensive history of Hughes Bolkows, and subsequent lists there is no record of an Eastern Prince broken up by Hughes Bolkows either at Blyth or when they operated on the Tyne.
Cheers
Spartan


----------



## bryan henderson (May 26, 2008)

spartan said:


> Hello Bryan,this is somewhat of a mystery looking through Battleship Wharf by Horace White which is a comprehensive history of Hughes Bolkows, and subsequent lists there is no record of an Eastern Prince broken up by Hughes Bolkows either at Blyth or when they operated on the Tyne.
> Cheers
> Spartan


It appears they didn't break the ship up. The first SS Eastern Prince was built in 1887 for Prince Line, Newcastle and sold as Vespasian in 1908. Finally scrapped in 1914 at Newcastle, so Hughes Bolckow must have bought the teak.

This is amazing as the teak table is still quite sound. The teak wood being potentially up to around 120 years old depending on whether it was the original teak on the ship or not.


----------



## Rhabdoman (Sep 2, 2012)

*SS Eastern Prince*

Reply to Bryan Henderson

In 1949, I was an AC1 in the RAF en route to Singapore aboard a troopship called Eastern Prince which sailed from Southampton in August that year.
She was ceded to the Uk from Germany at the end of the 1939-45 hostilities as part of the reparations payment to compensate for shipping losses to enemy submarines etc.
I recollect the brass plate giving details of its construction in Germany but after all these years, cannot recall details.
It is possible that the scrap yard records list its German name and builder, not the UK name.


----------



## A.D.FROST (Sep 1, 2008)

Rhabdoman said:


> Reply to Bryan Henderson
> 
> In 1949, I was an AC1 in the RAF en route to Singapore aboard a troopship called Eastern Prince which sailed from Southampton in August that year.
> She was ceded to the Uk from Germany at the end of the 1939-45 hostilities as part of the reparations payment to compensate for shipping losses to enemy submarines etc.
> ...


EASTERN PRINCE bt.1929 (Prince Line) r/n EMPIRE MEDWAY(MOWT) mgd.Prince Line.b/u Faslane.You have got the wrong ship(too many to choose from to name ex.German Prize/Troop ships)it could have been EMPIRE FOWEY(ex.POTSDAM)but you've got me shot down on this one(?HUH)Scrapped ships are always recorded with their last known name some companys even change the name just for the journey to the breakers.
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum Ships/Old Ships E/slides/Empire Medway-01.html
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum Ships/Old Ships E/slides/Empire Fowey-05.html


----------

