# Blyth Ship Launch Mishap



## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

Hi, I wonder if anyone out there can help me. Blyth Northumberland is my home town (sadly I'm no longer there) and I have been doing some research about the staithes, Hughes Bolckow and all that. I was born after they were demolished. Anyway I digress. My question is, which ship when launched from Cowpen Quay (Blyth Shipyard) was it that ran away and crossed the River Blyth hitting the North Blyth staithe? Apparently not enough drag chains had been fitted to it to prevent it from happening. There is a photo that shows evidence of the damage.

Hope someone out there has the info.

Philip


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## Billieboy (May 18, 2009)

I remember talking about this, at sea one night, my mate the second Engineer was telling me about it and the fact that the next ship that was launched, from that slipway, had so many drag chains on, that she only just got off the slip and nearly pulled some plates off.


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## christy (Oct 10, 2005)

I have often wondered how they calculate the amount (weight) of drag chains they need to attach to the hull. Is there a formulae for this, or is it just experience?


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## Shandy (Aug 6, 2008)

Hi Philip

Have a look at this web site http://www.aboutblyth.co.uk/ it has quite a bit of information that may interest you. It was built by a chap at Blyth Power Station some years ago. 

Shandy


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

Billieboy said:


> I remember talking about this, at sea one night, my mate the second Engineer was telling me about it and the fact that the next ship that was launched, from that slipway, had so many drag chains on, that she only just got off the slip and nearly pulled some plates off.


Thanks Billieboy, can you remember the approximate year? Long shot I know but it might help narrow things down a bit to ships launched within a few years. It would be great to know.

Shandy, thanks for the link (==D) it has just made me REALLY home sick and to the pit of my stomach. I never wanted to leave Blyth as child.... but you know how parents get job transfers and promotions......... they always get in the way of a great childhood. Still, memories eh! Perhaps if I had stayed then my life would not be as good as it is (Thumb) (POP). I always stop by the old homestead when I get the opportunity. I will now be going I think regardless of the inconvenience. Perhaps even specially!

Cheers all

Philip


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## Billieboy (May 18, 2009)

Sorry Philip, can't remember the year, but assume that it was between 1930 and 1950.

As for calculating the weight of drag chains, this is a secret known only to foreman shipwrights, there can't be many left in the UK these days.


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

I have new info on this mishap. I have been informed via an apprentice at the ship builders yard after the event happened that it was the Nusken built for a Norwegian company. He remembers the chaps there talking about it. Apparently one of the main chains snapped and when that happened the drag chains got left behind and the ship was free to go where it fancied. The chains were 60 years old at the time of the launch, so no surprise in them snapping.

So the next question is, when was the Nusken launched at Blyth? I have tried googling the ship but come up with nothing thus far.

Cheers

Philip


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

Well, after some digging I am getting there bit by bit. I have found a vessel called the Hamno that seemingly was named the Nusken when built in Blyth 1948.

http://kauppalaiva.nba.fi/card.php?id=954&lang=en

Is there anyone here that can help clarify that I have the correct vessel?

Philip


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## Tony Breach (Jun 15, 2005)

Hi Philip,

Lloyds Register 1956 confirms the information from the Finnish list with year of name change 1955. Managers were Gustaf Erikson who still had an office at Mariehamn few years ago. There is also an excellent maritime museum at Mariehamn which may have more info.

Tony


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

I have found out a bit more from an unlikely source, stamp collecting!

http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7501

Nice bit of history. Still need a launch date though.

Thanks for your input Tony.

Philip


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

Nusken also held another identity that has become apparent here the Arion;

http://www.hma.org.il/Museum/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=2&TMID=84&FID=1316&PID=3768

Includes a nice big picture of her too.

Philip


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

I found out in the last few days that Nusken went for sea trials in February 1948, I even found an old advertisment which features the vessel at sea. Still no idea what date she was actually launched though. Any offers?


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## spartan (Jan 20, 2006)

Hi ,launch date was 30th September 1947
Spartan


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## Union Jack (Jul 22, 2009)

Well done, Spartan! Intrigued as to how you might have known the answer, I had a really good chuckle at your splendid profile - it's a very infectious "disease" for which there is no known cure.k:

Jack

PS Glad to hear that you are not leading too "Spartan" an existence


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## shipmate17 (Jun 1, 2005)

Hi,
NUSKEN id 5141419. Built 1948 by Blyth DD & SB Co. Cowpen Quay. grt 2431. ex 1955 HAMNO. 1966 ARION. 1967 DOLPHIN. 1967 DOLPHIN II. Fire at Porto Marghera 26/12/71. Scrapped Brodospas 19/3/72.
Cheers.


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

The problem of launching vessel's in restricted water is only made possible by drag's, piles of chain, or steel plates attached to the ship by cables or steel wire ropes which are of such a length(s) that they become taught when the vessel nears the way end's and thereafter tow the weight of the drag's over the surface of the Yard and create a resistance which slow's and stop's the vessel. The problem for the builder is the proportion of the weight of drags to the weight of the vessel and declivity of launch and to determine the position's at which they will come into action so that the resistance of the drags is withheld until the vessel clear's the slipway. As Billy has indicated it is not an exact science and is based on data collected from previous launches, even sister ship's do not launch the same, however if there is a chance of a vessel hitting the opposite bank it is usual for for some or all the chain's to be attached to one side of the ship so that it end's up parallel to the centreline of the waterway. There are indeed equation's for the launching of various types of vessel's based on their weight, total fall of her Cof G and the weight of the drag's by the distance they are moved. There was also a "machine" for recording launching velocities which gave a reading on a strip of paper by means of a pens, bit's of string and an electric current known as the Fairfield travel measurer. I would suggest that the vessel being launched had more drag on one side than the other and either a mis-calculation by the launching party or an equipment failure because of age would cause the incident as the same equipment is used time and time again to keep cost's down.


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## hhodgetts (Dec 18, 2009)

Many thanks for completing the info about the Nusken. Here is the advertisement that she featured in back in 1948. I have no idea which publication the ad appeared in.

What a way to begin and end a working life by collision and then fire. Perhaps she was doomed from the start! (POP)

Thanks again for your help.

P


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## TonyAllen (Aug 6, 2008)

hhodgetts said:


> Many thanks for completing the info about the Nusken. Here is the advertisement that she featured in back in 1948. I have no idea which publication the ad appeared in.
> 
> What a way to begin and end a working life by collision and then fire. Perhaps she was doomed from the start! (POP)
> 
> ...


HI, as they say up your way she looks a canny little boat Tony


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## Harley Crossley (May 2, 2006)

Similar thing happened at Thornycrofts Woolston (Southampton) yard in the 1950s. A ship hull built for Fred Olsen was launched and crossed the river Itchen before crashing into a timber jetty on the Southampton side, as a youngster I remember it well, I was stood on the end of the jetty at the time and had to be rescued.
I think the ship was named Balmoral.
She was towed from Thornycrofts to be finished elsewhere.


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

Although the launch of a ship and the determination of the weight of drag is in the main based on the experience of former launches there is a calculation which can be used in regards to the work done by the vessel from start to finish of her motion which is proportional to her weight ^ and to the total fall h of her centre of gravity, while the work expended in the moving of the drags will more or less vary as a product of their weight D by the distance m over which they are moved. the ratio's of Dm might reasonably be expected to be fairly constant but in reality they were not, even for sister ships, the average for a merchant ship was found to be .25. So yes is the answer as to launch calculation's being known which is as follow's;

Merchant Ship, Dm=1.5(^h)1.2 plus or minus 25%
(40)


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## spartan (Jan 20, 2006)

Union Jack,thanks for your kind words re profile.In answer to how I found the information , It was mentioned in the Archives of the North East
Spartan


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## Gerald B (Oct 17, 2008)

Hi Blyth Spirit and others, This is my first post on Ship Nostalgia however I can offer the following info. As a small boy in 1948 to about 1955 I used to spend my school holidays at Blyth in the company of Charlie Holgeth of J.W. Colpitts, Low Quay visiting various ships that Colpitts were carrying out repairs on. They had a launch with a mobile welder fitted in order to work on ships moored at the North Staithes inaccessible by road. I spent many happy hours on Blyth river and got to know many of the ships that were regulars there. However round about 1949 I was taken by Colpitt,s office typist, Sheila Moore (later to become Mrs Tommy Davidson) to see a ship launched from Blyth Shipyard. We crossed by the pedestrian only Low ?? Ferry to North Blyth where we found a somewhere to watch the launch. There was much talk at the time of the ship that had recently hit the staithes during the launch. I reckon that dates mentioned in other posts are fairly accurate.
Are there any former Colpitts staff out there or anyone who remembers Charlie or Sheila. ?
Cheers, Gerald B.


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