Craig, Taylor & Co Ltd, builders of the Rose Marie. The yard was opened in 1836 by Irving, Lane & Co. In 1884 the yard was purchased by Craig, Taylor. In 1905 Craig, Taylor's became a limited company. At the companies peak they had in the region of 1,300 employees, this being circa 1914. During WW1 the company built various tramp steamers and cargo liners. Post WW1 the company, along with many other ship builders of the time experienced a sharp down turn in business. Between the years of 1920 and 1930 the yard only completed 16 vessels. In 1930 the yard was taken over by the National Shipbuilders Security. All the yard's contents were in turn sold off and the yard demolished.
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SS ROSE MARIE
Type ... Cargo, Plumb bow, Counter stern, x4 holds, Long raised quarter deck, Well deck, Machinery midships.
Position ... 52 57 426 N / 001 36 205 E
Built ... 1910
Lost ... 11/12/1923 (Cause collision)
Built by ... Craig Taylor & Co Ltd, Stockton - On - Tees
Engine and boilers built by ... North Eastern Marine Engineering Company
Tonnage ... 1579 grt
Dimensions ... 74.7 x 11.3 x 5.2 mtrs
Long raised quarter deck 145 feet / Forecastle 28 feet
Official number ... 31700
Holds ... x4 = x2 forward and x2 aft of midships
Double bottom ... Yes
Engine ... Three cylinder direct acting triple expansion. Cylinders Hp 19, ip 31, Lp 51 x 36 inch stroke
Boilers ... x2 single ended fire tube drum type. x2 Deighton corrugated furnaces per boiler. Working pressure 184lbs
Boiler dimensions ... Diameter 12 feet 9 inches, Length 10 feet. Shell material steel, Provided by John Spencer & Sons
Screw ... Diameter 13 feet 9 inches, blades x4
The launch of the Ashtree.
Below a newspaper article reporting on the launch of the Ashtree.
Ownership history
Built as the Ashtree in 1909 by Craig Taylor & Co Ltd of Stockton-On-Tees for the Tree Shipping Company (Howard, Jones and King). In 1916 (WW1) the Ashtree was requisitioned by the Admiralty for the purpose of using her as a store carrier. In 1919 the Ashtree was returned to her owners the Tree Shipping Company who in the same year sold the Ashtree to the Pelton Steam Shipping Company, who in turn renamed her Spero. During 1919 the Spero was to change hands again when she was sold to the Rodney Steam Shipping Company . Her new owners renamed the Spero to that of the Rose Marie. The Rodney Steamship Company retained ownership of the Rose Marie up until the time of her loss.
Circumstances of loss
Whilst en route from the Tyne to London with a cargo of coal the Rose Marie was in collision with the steamer Livorno of hull. The collision was to prove fatal for the Rose Marie. All the crew of the Rose Marie were safely taken aboard the Livorno.
Below ... Link to information on the National Shipbuilders Security and in turn the demise of many of Britain's shipbuilders.
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Below ... Double bottom as incorporated in the Rose Marie's design... A double bottom is a method of construction where the bottom of the ship has two separate layers of watertight hull floor. The outer layer forms the outer hull and the inner layer, ie the floor forms a watertight barrier should the outer hull be breached. Up until 2007, double bottomed vessels were allowed to utilise their DB's for fuel storage. In addition the DB can also be used for the storage of ballast water.
Advantage of long raised quarter deck with engines midships.
With the engines located midships, this meant the prop shaft and in turn the shaft tunnel ran a great deal of length along the bottom of the ships hull to arrive at the stern. The disadvantage of this was that it took up a great deal of potential hold space astern of the engines. A solution to this was to raise the height of the deck above the area of the shaft tunnel, this in turn increasing the hold space available, this being known as a long raised quarter deck, the raised quarter deck would also include the bridge. Note ... From the photograph of the Rose Marie at the head of this page the two holds astern of the funnel are higher than the two forward of the funnel. This in turn increasing the hold space that would have been reduced due to the accommodation of the shaft tunnel.
Nort Eastern Marine, builders of the Rose Marie's engine and boilers. Formed in 1867 by John Frederick Spencer, the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company were Marine engine builders of Sunderland. In 1882, the Northumberland engine works and forge were established by the company at Wallsend. In 1889, the combined efforts of both the Sunderland works and the Wallsend works had supplied in the region of 100 triple expansion engines to various ship builders. In 1909 the company were the first to install an electrically operated cantilever crane in the North East. In 1938, N.E.M was, along with George Clark, another engineering company aquired by Richardson Westgarth and Co and became George Clark & NEM Ltd, this in turn becoming part of the Richardson Westgarth Group.
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Deighton's Patent Flue & Tube Company ... Makers of the Rose Marie's boiler furnaces. The design of the corrugated furnace is to be attributed to Samson Fox who in turn patented his design in 1877. Prior to the use of corrugated furnaces the surface of the furnace was plain in design. The benefits displayed in the corrugated design were that it offered a greater external heating surface via its corrugation, plus it offered far greater strength and resistance to the high external pressures put upon it from within the boiler, ie it was less susceptible to being crushed or forming flat spots on its surface that would then in turn make it more susceptible to being crushed under pressure. The use of corrugated furnaces allowed for safer usage of the high pressures required to run compounding engines.
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The Rose Marie today (Awaiting divers report)