Revised 28 January 2004
TEESSHIPS
A
FAVOURITE SHIP
PINJARRA
PINJARRA sailing from the Tees. (WSS Teesside Branch Weller Collection)
PINJARRA: P&O Steam Nav. Co. Ltd., 9892gt. 25.2.1944 launched by Sir J. Laing & Sons Ltd., Sunderland, as EMPIRE PARAGON for Ministry of War Transport (Ellerman's Wilson Line Ltd. - managers), 7.1944 completed, 3.7.1946 purchased by P&O and renamed PINJARRA, 22.6.1962 sold and renamed HONGKONG IMPORTER (Bahamas), 26.12.1969 arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to be broken up.
Looking up her career in the P&O history (WSS) confirmed the vague memory I had that she had at some stage run aground at the mouth of the Tees. That was in January 1962 as a photo in the book shows.
An early success in ship recognition: It must have been the summer holidays of 1961, a glorious sunny day on Redcar beach (remember them, George?). Busy building sandcastles with my younger siblings (there were three of them!) when shining brightly in the sunlight along came a ship heading north to enter the Tees. Although she would be a few miles off I said to myself - that's the PINJARRA. She really was so distinctive as, in a way, were her P&O colours.
That talent (?!) then faded rapidly!!!!!
**********
This photograph of the PINJARRA featured in a supplement to Tees Packet (journal of the Teesside Branch WSS) which accompanied a display by the British Maritime League at Kirkleatham Hall Museum, Redcar, during August 1986.
My accompanying write-up seems worth repeating now:
WARTIME STANDARD FAST CARGO-LINERS
The majority of EMPIRE ships built during WW2 were freighters of a fairly austere and purely functional design. However, as on the outbreak of war many cargo-liners with higher speeds had been requisitioned by the Admiralty for rapid conversion to merchant cruisers, hospital and depot ships, etc., there soon became apparent a growing need for a fast cargo-liner type of vessel with facilities for carrying heavy and awkwardly shaped war equipment.
With shipyards working at full capacity in other directions it was not until the end of 1941 that closer attention could be given to this problem. Of greatest interest to Teessiders is that it was the Furness Shipbuilding Co. at Haverton Hill which, from Ministerial instructions and an outline design, produced detailed plans for a 15 knot ship which resulted in the building of 12 EMPIRE ships of this class at six different yards throughout the U.K.
The PINJARRA, photographed sailing from the Tees, c1960-62, was, as the EMPIRE PARAGON, the only one of the group built by Sir J. Laing & Son Ltd. at Sunderland, but three others were built on the Wear by J.L. Thompson & Sons Ltd.
The two ships completed at Haverton Hill in October and November 1943 were the first of the class to appear. The EMPIRE CHIEFTAIN went on to serve Royal Mail Lines for 14 years as the LOCH RYAN from 1946 to 1960 but the second of their products, in particular , demonstrates the high regard in which these ships were held by British owners in peace-time conditions, and of their adaptability for various trades. The EMPIRE REGENT was placed under management by Brocklebank's for the duration of the war and was then sold to a Furness Withy subsidiary for which she operated as the BLACK PRINCE from 1946 to 1949 on Prince Line services. 1949 to 1952 found her chartered to Shaw Savill as the ZEALANDIC followed by eight years to 1960 in ownership by Canadian Pacific Steamships as their BEAVERLODGE. Her last ten years under the British flag were spent with Ben Line as the BENHAINT. She was then sold to Cyprus owners and renamed VENUS in 1970, being scrapped in Taiwan during the following year.
(The source for much of this information would be the first edition of EMPIRE SHIPS)
28.01.04: While browsing through old newspaper cuttings for something else, I found these:
From the EVENING GAZETTE - 9 January 1962
... and the next day:
