PORTWEY - THE STORY OF A WEST COUNTRY STEAM TUG

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2021 :: RMTnews PORTWEY - THE STORY OF A WEST COUNTRY STEAM TUG The history of the coal- powered steam tug Portwey, named after The Portland & Weymouth Coaling Company it was made for, is fascinating as well as intriguing. The company placed an order with the shipbuilders Harland & Wolff (H&W) in 1926 for a twin screw steam tug. H&W was famous for its engineering excellence, building the liner class ships Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. However, Portwey would not be built in its Belfast shipyard but on the river Clyde at Govan near Glasgow. The bunkers on each side of the vessel hold 15 tonnes of coal each. She was also fitted with an auxiliary pump to intake and discharge water which made her a very good salvage vessel. When completed she was 80 foot in length, with an 18 foot beam, a nine feet draft and gross tonnage of 94 tonnes. She set sail on April 24 1928 from Govan and arrived in Portland four days later to start her working life. Her working routine was to take the coal barges from the quayside to the hulks, old vessels with decks removed until just the hull is left, and the larger ships could be replenished from there. She would also take coal to isolated communities as well as assisting vessels in distress. In 1938 the Portwey was sold to HG Collins & Co Ltd of Dartmouth doing the same work that she did before as well as working over to the quay at Kingswear where the Great Western Railway would bring coal by rail to be unloaded into barges that Portwey would take away again for the bunkering trade. In 1942 Portwey was placed on Admiralty service for the war effort and came under the naval control of Plymouth Command. In April 1944 Portwey rescued damaged US vessels from the Slapton Sands disaster. The US forces had been practising D-Day landing exercises on the sandy beaches of south Devon. The Germans found out about the exercises and a force of torpedo boats were sent over and decimated US forces. Bn 1945 she was again being used as a harbour tug at Dartmouth, plus taking supplies and drinking water out to other vessels and continuing to ferry Channel pilots out to the large ships. In May 1947 a large fire broke out at the Queen`s Hotel Dartmouth. The fire services turned up in minutes but they had trouble getting enough water through their hoses as the joins leaked. Portwey was berthed on the south embankment and soon her large pump was in use with hoses connected and pumping 8,000 gallons of water onto the fire. She can pump 17,900 gallons of water an hour. In 1951 Portwey was sold by GH Collins Ltd to the Falmouth Dock & Engineering RMT member Stephen Loeber tells the story of a vessel still going strong along the Thames after 93 years Portwey on her trails on the Clyde 1928