To the left ... A newspaper clipping reporting on Northumberland Shipbuilding Company's latest vessel, the SS Monte Nevoso.

Circumstances of loss ... On route from La Plata in Argentina for Hull in England and loaded with a cargo of 8600 tons of Wheat, Maize and Linsead, the Monte Nevoso, whilst steaming North along the Norfolk coastline found herself on the wrong side of the South Middle Haisborough light. In realising his predicament and that he should have been on the opposite side of the bouy in order to gain safe passage past Haisborough Sands, the Captain gave the order to turn hard to port. No sooner had he given the order than he was informed that the vessel would not respond to the helm. At this point the gravity of the vessels situation was realised, the Monte Nevoso had run aground on the sands. For the next 4-5 hours the Captain and his crew tried in vain to free the vessel from the clutches of Haisborough Sands.

At 8:00 am Captain Solvatore sent a message to the Humber radio station asking for assistance of a tug. At 9:30 am the Gorleston coastguard informed the Cromer Lifeboat of the situation and the H F Bailey was launched. By Noon the lifeboat arrived at the incident. Also now in attendance was a Dutch tug Noordzee of L. Smit & Co., which was based in Great Yarmouth. Coxswain Henry Blogg boarded the Monte Nevoso along with the Captain of the tug. The two men tried to persuade Captain Solvatore to allow the tug to pull his ship to safety. It was 4:30 pm before the captain reluctantly agreed to the assistance, mainly due to the fact that the Captain of the tug had spotted a fracture appearing on the deck over the ships bunker and Blogg had warned that the weather was to change for the worse.

Captain Martin Van der Hidde of the Dutch salvage tug Noordzee, with the assistance of the Lifeboat attached a line to the stern of the Monte Nevoso and started to tow. Along with the engines of the ship and the tow of the tug the ship did not move. Captain Van der Hidde called for the further assistance of five more Tugs. The Scotsman, Irishman, Hermies, Gelezee and the Yorkshireman arrived and the lifeboat coupled them to the Monte Nevoso. In the late afternoon the six tugs and the ship’s engines made a united attempt to break the ship free but without success. At nightfall all attempts had failed. The north westerly wind had reached gale force by 5:00 am and by daybreak two of the tugs, the Irishman and Yorkshireman had lost their lines. Another of the tugs, the Scotsman, had to be cut free for safety and by 8:00 am the other tugs were cast off as the Monte Nevoso showed signs that she was beginning to break up. Coxswain Blogg received the signal to take off the crew. After on hour the lifeboat had saved 29 members of the Monte Nevoso’s crew along with the Dutch Captain Martin Van der Hidde.

To the left ... The Cromer Lifeboat H. F. Bailey alongside the stricken SS Monte Navoso.

Captain Solvatore, the Chief mate, Chief Engineer and the Wireless Operator refused to leave the Monte Nevoso. Coxswain Blogg tried in vain to get the men to leave but they refused. The Cromer lifeboat set off to Great Yarmouth with the rescued men. At 2:00 pm, after obtaining dry clothes and fuel the H F Bailey set off with its weary crew back to the Monte Nevoso, their work not yet completed. By 4:45 pm the H F Bailey was back with the ship but the Captain still refused to leave the ship saying My radio is all right, if I need assistance I will send for you. Once more the lifeboat returned to Great Yarmouth. Coxswain Blogg informed the coastguard of the situation and arranged for his crew to stay at the Mariners’ Refuge and eat their first hot meal for twenty seven hours. By 5:00am on Sunday no further SOS had been heard from the Monte Nevoso and so Coxswain Blogg and his crew put to sea. By 8:00am they had reached the vessel but could find no sign of the missing four men. They had in fact taken to one of the ship's motor boats when the ship had broken in two, losing her wireless mast. At 6:00am a Lowestoft trawler called Gleam had spotted a flare and had picked up the four men from their motor boat.

Whilst on a final search of the Monte Nevoso some of the crew of H F Bailey heard whimpering from one of the cabins. After forcing the door Henry Blogg found two dogs, one a large St. Bernard the other a small terrier. The terrier, which had been terrified ran away, deep into the wreckage of the ship, never to be seen again. The St Bernard was carefully carried down a rope ladder to the safety of H F Bailey. In another cabin the lifeboat men found several cage-birds and these were also rescued. The H F Bailey returned to its berthing at the shed at the end of Cromer Pier. The lifeboat arrived at 1:00pm on 16 October, nearly fifty two hours after she had first launched from Cromer. Lifeboat H F Bailey had travelled a total distance of seventy miles on the Rescue. The rescued St Bernard was taken by the Police and placed in quarantine for six months. A grateful Captain Solvatore presented the dog to Henry Blogg after the quarantine period. Henry Blogg christened the dog Monte and Blogg became deeply attached to his first and only dog. Monte died in 1935 but his memory lives on as he is the mascot and corporate symbol at the Henry Blogg Lifeboat Museum in Cromer, Norfolk.

For his part in the rescue of the crew of the Monte Nevoso, Henry Blogg was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal together with a copy of the vote inscribed on vellum. Blogg was also awarded a Silver Medal by the Canine Defence League for his part in the rescue of the St Bernard Monte. The Italian Government also awarded Henry Blogg a Silver Medal. Each of the crew of H F Bailey were awarded a Bronze Medal from the Italian Government, along with the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum. References... (Wikipedia)

To the left .... A shares certificate for the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company dated the 26th April 1920, this being the year the Monte Nevoso was built.

Northumberland Shipbuilding Company (builders of the Monte Nevoso) ... Was established by Harry S. Edwards in Howdon in 1883. Following the death of the Edwards the company was purchased by Rowland Hodge in 1898, Hodge being a former yard manager for C. S. Swan and Hunter. Hodge transfered ownership to his new company bearing the Northumberland name. A West Hartlepool ship owner by the name of Sir Christopher Furness took a controlling interest in the company, with 34% of all vessels built prior to WW1 being for the Furness group. In 1918 the Furness group sold the yard to R. A. Workman of Workman, Clark & Co of Belfast who were associated with the London merchant bankers, Sperling & Company. Sperling used the Northumberland company  to create a shipbuilding combine, this becoming the biggest in the UK and in turn acquired controlling interests in William Doxford & Sons, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Workman, Clark and Company, Blythswood Shipbuilding Company, Monmouth Shipbuilding Company and the Lancashire Iron and Steel Company. Following a severe drop in demand and over-ordering of materials the business went into receivership in 1926. It briefly re-opened under new ownership in 1927 but closed again in 1930.

Wallsend Slipway & Engineerig Company, builders of the Monte Nevoso's engine. The Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company, formerly an independent company located on the River Tyne  near Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, this being about a mile downstream from the Swan Hunter shipyard, with which it later merged. On the 2nd October 1871 a new company was registered, its name being The Wallsend Slipway Company.

In1873  the company built its first compound marine engine. Then later followed by the building of triple and quadruple expansion steam engines.

In1874 William Boyd, having left Thompson, Boyd and Co, was appointed managing director and it was Boyd who introduced marine engine building to the firm - this becoming over the next decade its most important activity - which brought the words 'Engineering' into the full title of the firm which then became The Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Co Ltd.

1903 saw William Boyd retire and a majority share holding  taken by the newly-formed Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson.

1904 Boiler making shop extended to accommodate the gigantic boilers of the RMS Mauretania. The company was making all types of boiler: cylindrical, locomotive, and water-tube (particularly useful for warships). The Company constructed all four turbines of 70,000 s.h.p for the Mauretania.

1915 First oil engine was fitted to Abelia owned by Marcus Samuel.

The company manufactured Parsons turbines under license for ships including the famous RMS Mauretania and numerous British warships.

1977 the yard was taken over by the British Shipbuilders Corporation.

Today, the site is owned by AMEC, who operated it as an offshore facility until placing it in mothballs in January 2005. It was announced in June 2005 that the site was to be sold, probably for redevelopment. References ... (Graces Guide)