| SS Glentworth | |
|---|---|
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | SS Glentworth[1] |
| Owner: |
Dalgliesh Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., Newcastle-upon-Tyne[2] |
| Port of registry: |
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne[2] |
| Builder: | Hawthorn Leslie & Co, Newcastle-upon-Tyne[2] |
| Yard number: | 490[1] |
| Launched: | 1920 |
| Completed: | November 1920[2] |
| Out of service: | 1934[1] |
| Identification: |
UK official number 144931[2] code letters KHCD[2]     |
| Fate: | Sold[1] |
| Career | |
| Name: | SS Box Hill[1] |
| Namesake: | Box Hill, Surrey |
| Owner: | Surrey Hill Steamship Co. Ltd.[3] |
| Operator: | Counties Ship Management Co Ltd, London[1] |
| Port of registry: |
London[3] |
| Acquired: | 1934[1] |
| Out of service: | 31 December 1939[1] |
| Identification: |
UK official number 144931[2] call sign GDWN[3]    |
| Fate: | Sunk by mine |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | cargo ship[1] |
| Tonnage: |
5,677 GRT tonnage under deck 5,310 3,510 NRT[2] |
| Length: | 450.0 ft (137.2 m)[2] p/p |
| Beam: | 55.0 ft (16.8 m)[2] |
| Draught: | 25 feet 6 1⁄4 inches (7.78 m)[2] |
| Depth: | 26.4 ft (8.0 m)[2] |
| Installed power: |
620 NHP (as built);[2] 586 NHP (after 1934)[3] |
| Propulsion: |
Hawthorn Leslie reduction-geared turbine (as built);[2] Hawthorn Leslie 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine (after 1934)[3] |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h)[1] |
| Crew: | 20 or 22[1] |
SS Glentworth was a shelter deck cargo steamship built in 1920 by Hawthorn Leslie & Co. in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England for R.S. Dalgliesh and Dalgliesh Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., also of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[1] After the Great Depression affected UK merchant shipping in the first years of the 1930s, Dalgliesh sold Glentworth to a company controlled by Counties Ship Management (an offshoot of the Rethymnis & Kulukundis shipbroking company of London[4]) who renamed her SS Box Hill.[1]
The ship was equipped with direction finding equipment and radio.[2] Her stokehold had 12 corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of 214 square feet (20 m2).[2] They heated three 200 lbf/in2 single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 8,655 square feet (804 m2).[2][3] She was built as a turbine steamer: two steam turbines with a combined power output of 620 NHP drove the shaft to the single propellor by reduction gearing.[2] However, when she changed hands in 1934 she was re-engined with a Hawthorn Leslie 586 NHP three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine.[3] The conversion retained her original boilers, but her furnaces were converted to oil burning.[3]
Late in 1939 Box Hill sailed from St John, New Brunswick bound for Hull with a cargo of 8,452 tons wheat.[1] On New Year's Eve she was in the North Sea 9 nautical miles (17 km) off the Humber lightship when she struck a German mine.[1] The explosion broke her back and she sank almost immediately with the loss of all hands.[1]
Box Hill was Counties Ship Management's first loss of the Second World War. CSM's losses continued until just a week before the surrender of Japan in August 1945, by which time the company had lost a total of 13 ships.
Both sections of Box Hill's wreck were a hazard to shipping and showed above the water.[1] In 1952 the Royal Navy dispersed her remains with high explosive and Admiralty charts now mark her position as a "foul" ground.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Lettens, Jan; Racey, Carl (30 December 2010). "SS Box Hill [+1939"]. The Wreck Site. http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?68499. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 Lloyd's Register of Shipping. London: Lloyd's Register. 1933. http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=33b0356.pdf. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Lloyd's Register of Shipping. London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. http://www.plimsollshipdata.org/pdffile.php?name=34b0945.pdf. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
- ↑ Fenton, Roy (2006). "Counties Ship Management 1934–2007". LOF–News. p. 1. http://www.lof-news.co.uk/CountiesHistory/Counties1.htm. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
Sources & further reading[]
- Sedgwick, Stanley (1993) [1992]. Kinnaird, Mark; O'Donoghue, K.J. eds. London & Overseas Freighters, 1948–92: A Short History. World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-68-1.
- Sedgwick, Stanley; Sprake, R.F. (1977). London & Overseas Freighters Limited 1949–1977. World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-01-0.
The original article can be found at SS Glentworth and the edit history here.