Canadian Database of Sunderland Ships

An unexpected Christmas present for the project has been contact from Peter Searle of Toronto, Canada. Peter runs an information rich website on Sunderland ships which includes a reference to the T R Thompson. The index to the database can be accessed from HERE. From the index you can either navigate to Page 55 "1st of 2 pages re Short Brothers" or go straight on Page 55 by clicking HERE, Section / Paragraph 25 of that page refers to the T R Thompson.

Peter has done a good job trawling for a huge amount of information on Sunderland ships and his linked references are very useful. I was pleased to see the T R Thompson ship's plans on his site, I recognise the distinctively scanned image, it appears on several other websites which is good as it shows the T R Thompson project blog is used by many enthusiasts, which is exactly what our project brief to the NAS said. Success!

From Peter's website there is a link to the Miramar site which amongst a treasure trove of other information gives a list of Short Brothers ships. Click HERE to view that list.

Ship Specifications ~ All that for £32,000!

T R Thompson: Port No 10, Date 3/5/1897, Built Sunderland. Builder Short Brothers of Pallion, Yard No 258, Launched 5/3/1897.

A steel screw steamer , one deck, two mast , schooner rigged, Elliptical sterned Clincher built. Fitted with a Billet head, L360', B47.2' D 24.6' Tonnage underdeck 3306.22, Poop 88.42, Forcastle 47.45, Bridge space Port 19.67, Starborad side House 22.49, lockers two on bridge space 2.62, chart house 10.31, Excess to Hatchway 41.00, Gross Tonnage 3538.18, deductions per contra 1277.12, Registered tonnage 2261.06, Engine builder John Dickinson of Sunderland. Tri Compound Dia of Cylinders 24.5,40, 66, 45 HP 300 WHP 1HP 1500 Two Boiles 1601PS. Length of engine room 47.7' Purchase Price £32,000, named after the companys agent and large shareholder in Westolls Ships. Owner James Westoll of 13 john Street, Sunderland. Designated Managing Owner . Advice under his own hand, received 3/6/97

Mr Thomas Roe Thompson

T R Thompson

The Barry Dock & Railways Company

Directors of the Barry Dock & Railways Company at time of opening of Barry No1 Dock 18th July 1889:-

Lord Windsor - Chairman
David DAvies - Deputy Chairman
J Corey
E Davies
P L Davies
L Gurrett
A Hood
J W Insole
E W Perks
J H Thomas
T R Thompson
E H Watts

In 1891 the Barry Dock and Railways Company changed it's name to the Barry Railway Company.

Source

On Thursday 18th July 1889 the new Barry Dock was opened for traffic. Mrs Lewis Davis of Ferndale performed the task of opening the dock by cutting the ribbon. The first vessel to enter the dock was the SS Arno (Sunderland) in tow of the tug Levant and steered by T R Thompson one of the Directors.

The Barry Dock and Engineering Co. Limited 1891

The Barry Dock And Engineering Co., Limited(INCORPORATED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT) CAPITAL, £ 110,000, in 11,000 £10 Shares of which 10,000 have been issued and fully paid up, and the remaining shares are unallotted and reserved for future requirements. DEBENTURES, £50,000, bearing interest at the rate of 41/2per cent. Per annum, having been subscribed for.
The UNDERTAKING consists of a Graving Dock, with all its equipment, at Barry, constructed on about 4 1/2 acres of land, which has been leased to the Company by the Barry Dock and Railways Company, for the term of 99 years, at a ground rent of £750 per annum. The DOCK is one of the largest in Great Britain, being 732 feet in length and 113 feet 7 inches in width, with a width at the entrance of 60 feet, and can be divided by means of a caisson into two parts, so that four or more ships can be accommodated at once.
The UNDERTAKING is equipped in the most complete manner with large and substantial repairing and fitting shops, with all the most modem and efficient machinery, so as to enable the company to carry on every branch of Shipbuilding, Shiprepairing, and Foundry Work under conditions unsurpassed by any similar Company. The only Graving Dock accommodation yet provided for the shipping frequenting Barry is that provided by this Company.
The Directors are the sole holders of four fifths of the shares issued, and they are under covenant neither directly or indirectly to interest themselves in any similar undertaking in Barry. Mortgage Debentures have been issued upon the Undertaking to the extent of £50,000, bearing interest at the rate of 41/2per cent. Per annum
Directors :
T.R.THOMPSON, Shipowner, Cardiff
L. WOOD. Colliery Proprietor, Cardiff.
E.C.BREGEON, Shipowner, Cardiff.
J.R.CHRISTIE. Shipowner, Cardiff,
L. GUERET. Shipowner, Cardiff.
EDMUND HANDCOCK, Shipowner, Cardiff.
THOMAS MOREL, J.P. Shipowner, Cardiff.
JAMES WARE, J.P. Shipowner, Cardiff.
JOHN GUTHRIE, LP. Shipowner, Cardiff.
MARK MORDEY, Ship and Dry Dock Owner, Newport.
BankersCOUNTY OF GLOUCESTER BANK LTD., BARRY dock.
SolicitorsMessrs. DOWNING & HANDCOCK, Cardiff
SecretaryJ.D.WOOD.
Barry Dock.General ManagerJOHN LOWDON,
C.E First Published In : Barry Dock & Time Table Year BookCompiled by Lewis Lewis 1891

Source

Thomas Roe Thompson ~ Final Resting Place

A picture of St Dochdwy's Church in Penarth, the final resting place of Thomas Roe Thompson , shareholder in the SS T R Thompson and likely to be the person that the ship is named after.

Thompson One Name Study

The TRT Project blog posting of May 31st 2004 (see archives) refers to work undertaken by Michael Thompson the great great great grandson of Matthew Thompson who was born in 1816 and died in 1864.

The Thompson One Name Study is now available HERE!

Plenty of useful information on the link, such as:-

Thomas Roe Thompson was born on 6 February 1846 in Sunderland and died on 13 April 1919 of senile decay. He married Mary Elizabeth Evans who died 25 May 1906. Both are buried at St Dochdwy's, Llandough, Penarth. He was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1899 and was a Justice of the Peace as well as a Ship Owner

Home:
1881: 3 church Road, Penarth
1919: 123 Stanwell Road Penarth (Click Here to Google Map View)

Family details:-
His father: was Matthew Thompson went to Cardiff from Sunderland in 1856 and set up business as a shipbroker.

His wife was Mary Elizabeth Evans. (b.circa 1846. d 25/5/1906)

Children were :-
Florence Dorbon Thompson, b. circa
Amy Thompson,
Lavinia Thompson, b, circa 1869
Emily Thompson, b. circa 1871
Gwendoline Mary Thompson, b. circa 1873
Bertha Thompson, b. circa 1876
Thomas (Tom) Roe Thompson, b.circa 1878, m. 24/9/1908 Dorethea Hancock (b.11/11/1879) their son was Graeme Thomas Roe (b. 31.8.1909 d. 21.10.68). Graeme Thomas Roe married Dora Bridget Gladstone (b.31 Aug 1907 d.11 July 1993) on 16/7/1932
Dorothy Thompson , b circa 1880

Thompson Street, Barry Docks

The Project Team are indebted to Simon Wales for the loan of two books by Brian C Luxton on the history of Barry, South Wales. One of these books contains a print of Thompson Street, Barry Docks with the text :-

"General view of Thompson Street looking towards junction with Holton Road . The Street was named after Thomas Roe Thompson (d.1919) a native of Sunderland who was a director of the Barry Dock & Railway Company. Demolished 1972, it's heyday was prior to the Great War"

Click HERE for Google Map

T R Thompson ~ Descriptive Data

Built in 1897 by Short Brothers Sunderland
Registered - Sunderland , Official Number 106417
Makers No. 258
Gross Tonnage 3538
Net Tonnage 2261
Length 360ft
Width 47.2ft
Draught 24.6ft
No of Decks 1
No of Masts 2
Schooner Rigged
Stern elliptical

Steel Single Screw
Length of engine room 47.7ft
Triple expansion engine, 3 boilers with diamteres of 24in,40in,66in.
301 NHP
Length of stroke 45ft
Engines built by John Dickinson & Sons , Sunderland
Built to carry a crew of 43
1st Captain - R Eggleton
Owned by J Westoll , 13 John Street, Sunderland
Signal Letters PQRN

Info via Andy N , some is shown elsewhere on this blog.

T R Thompson Shareholders

In May 1897 there were 64 shares in the TRT , these were held by:-

35 James Westoll
16 Thomas Roe Thompson
6 John Young Short (of Short Brothers)
2 James Addison
2 Cuthbert Hutchinson
2 George Alan (Minister of the Gospel)
1 Magnus Miles (Maritime Surveyor)

Info via Andy N - Source not recorded.

Meeting With James Westoll Line Expert

With all the work on the T.R.Thompson project recently I had been put in contact with a gentleman called Alf Rodenby (above) . Alf is an expert on the James Westoll Line the owners of the T R Thompson. Today I had a chance to meet him and his wife at their home in Leicestershire. I was given a tour of his extensive collection of photos paintings and research. Alf has a wide knowledge not just of the Westoll Line but all Sunderland owned ships and has offered his help where he can with our project.

I will give a full report of our meeting at the next MD bash .

Tad

Relatives Contacts 2 & 3

I have just got off the phone from a relative of two of the survivors of the T R Thompson sinking after the BBC had forwarded the family details to Meridian Divers.

The relatives Great Grand Father and Great Great Grand Father both managed to escape the ship along with one other crew member as the ship went down. They survived by holding on the part of the wreckage that was left floating after the ship was sunk and were saved by a trawler who arrived on the scene later.

I have put this relative in contact with our other original contact and will be speaking to him again in a few days time.

I now have also been in contact with a gentleman who has written a book on the Westoll Line and happens to know everything there is to know about the company and its ships including the T.R.Thompson and also has personal commections with the company.

It is also happens that next week I am at a meeting in Leicestershire 3 miles from where this gentleman lives so have made arrangements to visit him. Will feed back afterwards.

The project is growing by the day.

Tad

UB57 Shipyard & Sinking

Just found this info on a website called U-Boat finder.
I know we have most of the info on UB 57 but I had a scan through the T.R.T archives and there are a couple of references that havent been logged so logging it all again


Shipyard
A.G. Weser, Bremen (Werk 269)
Ordered 20 May, 1916
Laid down 13 Sep, 1916
Launched 20 Jun, 1917
Commissioned 30 Jul, 1917
Commanders 3 Jul, 1917 - 1 Jan, 1918 Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck
2 Jan, 1918 - 14 Aug, 1918 Oblt. Johannes Lohs
Career 11 patrols 20 Sep, 1917 - 14 Aug, 1918 Flandern I Flotilla

Successes 48 ships sunk for a total of 130.890 tons.10 ships damaged for a total of 58.990 tons.
Fate 14 Aug, 1918 - Mined off the Flanders coast on August 14, 1918. 34 dead (all hands lost).

The bodies of Lohs and several other crewmembers washed ashore on August 22, 1918.
Previously recorded fateThe commonly listed loss position of 51.56N, 02.02E is incorrect.

Tad

UB57 Shipyard ~ A G Weser

Founded on 8 November 1843 as the Eisengiesserei und Maschinenfabrik Waltjen und Leonhard, becoming Waltjen & Co in 1849 this firm only started very slowly in ship construction.

The Roland in 1846, the Falcke in 1865. On 26th March 1873 the activities and firm became part of the AG Weser and the very first important order came from the Kaiserliche Marine.

During the First World War they constructed small cruisers and U-boats. D’Equevilley, who worked before at the Germaniawerft yard, was asked by the AG Weser to construct a new U-boat in 1912. As they now had their own U-Bootkonstruktionsbüro they immediately became part of the Ms Type U-boat program of the Marine-Amt. The first U-boats constructed over there were however not of the Ms Type but were UB I class subs, the UB 9-UB 15 series. Also UC I series and UB and UC II series were constructed at Weser.

By 1917 most of the work went into the construction of the UB III class. Three UC III were ordered in 1917 also but never got finished. 14 more UB III’s ordered in June 1918 were never started.

Also three U-boats for the Austrian-Hungarian navy were constructed over there, the U15-U17 series at Pola.

AG Weser was also responsible for the plans of the U 27-U 32 series and the U 40 that were constructed at Pola and Fiume for the Austrian-Hungarian navy and they also gave a licence for construction of three U-boats in Sweden, the Bävern was constructed at Kockums at Malmö and the Illern and Uttern at the state naval shipyard of Karlskrona.

UB 57 Shipyard & Patrol Info

Some information on UB57 :

Shipyard :
A G Wesser , Bremmen (Werk 269)
Ordered 20 May, 1916
Laid down 13 Sep, 1916
Launched 20 Jun, 1917
Commissioned 30 Jul, 1917

Commanders:
3 Jul, 1917 - 1 Jan, 1918 : Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck
2 Jan, 1918 - 14 Aug, 1918 : Johannes Lohs

Career :
11 patrols
20 Sep, 1917 - 14 Aug, 1918 Flandern I Flotilla
Successes 53 ships sunk for a total of 153.150 tons (warships excluded).
Fate 14 Aug, 1918 - Mined off the Flanders coast on August 14, 1918. 34 dead (all hands lost).

Source : http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=UB+57

Ships Owners ~ Westoll Line

Been doing some more research to while away the hours and annoy the wife... seems we might possibly be woofing up some incorrect timber with our old mate Mr Thompson.

I found a copy of "Lloyds Shipwreck Index Of The British Isles Vol 2 - Hampshire, IOW, Sussex & Kent" sitting in Newhaven library... now it's Lloyds list-based so it ought to be legit and at £54 a copy I'd trust it!

T'book says she was owned by Westoll Line (not Thompsons) and that the Captain was one Thomas Knill.

Further to this it says that the gun was a 12 pdr 12 cwt (info here:
http://www.warships1.com/Weapons/WNBR_3-40_mk1.htm )

Plus, and this is the bit that really gave me some hope that we might get some cracking information... A lot of J Westoll's information and Short books and plans seem to be stored on Tyneside...

http://www.thenortheast.com/archives/guides.html

And it seems we need Guides 5 and 6 to really get cracking on... 'cos there's crew lists and all sorts of stuff!

Who's been a Busy Hector then?

Owners and Shipwrights Possibly

Hi People

Below is some information I got from an Internet site. I reckon we still need more information to correlate with this to confirm that this article does relate to the TR Thompson that we are researching....if that makes sense. I'd hate to be barking up the wrong tree!! Perhaps this information will help others?

There are photos on the website but they would not reproduce here.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2249/trt.html

Best wishes

Mike Daniels


THOMAS ROE THOMPSON J.P.
Steamship Owner, Shipbroker, and Agent
1846 - 1919
Updated: 11 August, 1998

[ Up ] [ SS Drummond Castle Sinking ]


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Matthew Thompson, ropemaker and shipowner of Monkwearmouth, Sunderland c. 1860, father of Thomas Roe Thompson

Thomas Roe Thompson was born on 6 February 1846 at 10 Dundas Street, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, on the north shore of the river Wear, the second son and fourth child of Matthew and Celia (née Roe) Thompson, ropemaker and shipowner

Little is known about young Thomas Roe Thompson until he moved with his father, Matthew Thompson, and his uncle, John Thompson, to South Wales in 1858 at the age of 12.

According to the "History of the Barry Railway Company 1921-24", he joined his father in the business of Matthew Thompson and later, in conjunction with Captain John Cory, he embarked into the enterprise of ship owning.

From his earliest acquaintance with Cardiff, he made himself thoroughly conversant with the requirements of the port there. Previous to this, he was placed in the office of a Courtier Maritime at Nantes, where beside learning all there was to know of ship-broking, he also acquired a very thorough knowledge of the French language which was to serve him well in later life.

Family myth says that he spent part of his early life in Bordeaux, Southern France but this may have been confused with his time in Nantes.

Thomas Roe Thompson as High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1899

After his father, Matthew Thompson died in 1864, Thomas traded as T.R. Thompson & Co at 2 Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff and amongst the ships he owned there were:

SS Alacrity (1182 gross tons) built at Milford Haven
SS Alaska (2112 tons) built by Shorts of Sunderland
SS Advance (1391 tons)
SS Alert (1382 tons) built by Palmer & Co of Jarrow
SS Dinas (712 tons) built by Schlezinger & Davis of Newcastle upon Tyne.

He promoted the construction of Barry Docks to provide facilities more suitable for modern larger shipping than had been provided by Lord Bute in Cardiff. His name was in the first list of Promoters and he represented the ship owning side of Cardiff Commerce. He attained fame as a Parliamentary witness during the 1880s both in the House of Commons and the House of Lords during the Parliamentary Procedures needed to pass a law so that the Barry Docks could be constructed. It was said that his knowledge of Pilotage was unrivalled and he was a master of statistics when a Parliamentary witness.

He gave evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee in favour of the building of Barry Dock on 11 and 12 April 1883, and to the House of Lords on 6 June 1883. This first attempt to obtain parliamentary approval failed but he and his colleagues were more successful in a second attempt a year later, so that the construction of the Docks was able to commence on 14 November 1884.


Cutting the First Sod of No.1 Dock by the late Earl of Plymouth Lord Windsor on November 14, 1884


As an aside, the legal costs in promoting the two Bills exceeded £150,000 and the cost of construction of the dock and railway up to the time of opening the undertaking exceeded £2,000,000 (Western Mail Barry and District Directory 1897-8).

Thompson himself put up several thousands of pounds towards the enterprise.

He was on the bridge of the first ship to enter the new Barry dock, the Steam Ship Arno at the opening of the docks in 1889.



Opening Ceremony at Barry Dock - 1889


Thomas Roe Thompson was a County Magistrate for the Division of Dinan Powis and was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1899. It is said within the family that he was offered a baronetcy by the Government of the time, for a payment. Rightly, he turned this down, saying that if he merited such an honour, it should be given to him without payment. How many would refuse today!

There is a street named after him, Thompson Street, which is not far from the Public Library in the centre of Barry.



Thompson Street, Barry (photographed in 1995)


Thomas Roe Thompson built a public house in Vere Street, Barry, called the Wenvoe Arms, now called The Admiral Inn, in which he placed one David Thompson. The reason behind this is somewhat of a mystery and it is not known whether David Thompson, a native of Forfar in Scotland, was a distant relative.



Thomas Roe Thompson senior

Thomas Roe Thompson married Mary Elizabeth Davis of Sundridge in Kent on 16 December 1864 at the age of 18.

They lived at Erw'r Delyn on Sully Road near Llandough, and had eight children of which only one child, the seventh, was a son, also called Thomas Roe Thompson (junior) although more commonly called Tom. Within the family, he was known as "Tappa". Erw'r Delyn is now a rather dilapidated building converted into flats.

Thomas Roe Thompson, senior, died on 13 April 1919, in Penarth, the death certificate stating that he had died of "senile decay". He was a widower, his wife having died very much earlier, in 1906. He is buried in the churchyard at Llandough.

There is an inscription on the side of his memorial commemorating the death of his daughter Emily and her husband John Gethin together with their two children, Lorna and Jack, who died in the wreck of the Union Castle liner Drummond Castle on the night of 16 June 1896.





Thomas Roe Thompson's Memorial at the entrance to Llandough churchyard. The Church overlooks Cardiff Bay.


My thanks go to the Local Studies Section of Barry Public Library who were most helpful in providing much of the information above.

My appreciation goes also to my late brother, Brian Gladstone Roe Thompson, who made the initial contact with Barry Public Library on my behalf. He died suddenly on 11 July 1997, one day short of his 64th birthday.

Michael Thompson July 1997