SS Whintown

Above ... The Whintown under her former name of the Dalwhinnie

Type .. Cargo, long raised quarter deck, well deck, bridge midships, engine aft, plumb bow, counter stern

SS WHINTOWN

Position ... 52 54 904 N / 001 37 298 E

Official number ... 146289

Port ... Glasgow

Built ... 1919

Builder ... N V Scheepsbouwwerf de Merwede of Hardinxveld (Netherlands, province of South Holland)

Dimensions (feet) ... 180.2 x 21.8 x 12.4

Long raised quarter deck 103 ft / Forecastle 23 ft

Tonnage ... Grt 734 / Under deck 518 / Net 338

Engine ... Triple expansion

Engine builder ... Machinefabriek Schippers & Van Dongen of Geertruidenburg

Boiler ... x2 single ended cylindrical fire tube boilers

Lost ... 7th December 1939

Cause ... Collision

Depth ... 33mtrs

Below ... Double bottom as incorporated in the Whintown's build. Of note the Whintown's double bottom did not run the entire length of the vessel. The length of the DB incorporated into the Whintown's design was 102 feet 6 inches in length and had a water ballast capacity of 176 tons. The DB was not present beneath the boilers, engine and thereafter to the stern.

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.

Left ...Single ended cylindrical fire tube boiler as fitted in the Whintown. The Whintown was fitted with a pair of these, each being fitted with two corrugated furnaces.

Dimensions ... Diameter 10 feet 6 inches, length 10 feet 1 inch

Working pressure 176 lbs

Corrugated furnace .. 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.

Ownership history

Built as the Begonia is 1919 by N V Scheepsbouwwerf de Merwede of Hardinxveld for Frans Borjesson as the Begonia.

1919 - 1922 - Frans Borjesson (Begonia)

1922 - 1924 - Rederiaktieb Actic (F. Borjesson, manager). Name change to Dalwhinnie

1924 - 1939 -Leith, Hull & Hamburg Steam Packet Company. Name change to Whintown

1939 - Brook Shipping Company Ltd, London. Name change to Whintown

Circumstances of loss

On the 7th December 1939 whilst en route from London to the Tyne in Ballast the Whintown was in collision with the steam Trawler Leo. Below is a newspaper article reporting the loss of the Whintown and the rescue of her crew.

Below ... The steam trawler Leo. GY 36

Leo ... Built in 1904 by Cochrane & Sons of Selby for Grimsby & North Sea Fishing Co Ltd of Grimsby
Registered 04/01/1905 as GY 36
29/05/1917 Requisitioned for the Fishery Reserve
1919 Returned
08/1921 Bought by the Lindsey Steam Fishing Co Ltd Grimsby
11/1939 Requisitioned as an APV
02/1940 Returned to Owners
29/12/1942 On A North sea trip she left Scrabster for Grimsby and was last seen 6.00pm NE by N of Kinnaird Head in a whole NN-E gale and snow

All of the eleven crew perished

The Whintown today (2026) Awaiting divers report.