Normanby Voyage History

Norwich City left Melbourne on 17 November 1929 in ballast & with a crew of 35, 9 of whom were Arab firemen, on a voyage for Honolulu & Vancouver. On the evening of 29 November there was unusual weather & heavy currents. It appears that she was pushed off course & about 11pm she ran aground on the reef of Gardner Island, Phoenix Group, 80 miles W by S of Honolulu.  In the early hours of 30 November the vessel burst into flames. Signals for assistance were sent but by the time a radio message was sent giving confirmation that help was on the way all crew had abandoned ship. One of the lifeboats had been torn from its davit sending the master overboard. The crew took to the remaining lifeboat but it capsized in the surf. 11 men, 5 Europeans & 6 Arabs were lost, either by drowning, of injuries or shark attacks. The other 23 crew, cut & bruised from the sharp coral, managed to get to shore & found that the master had already managed to reach the beach. The steward died on the beach & bodies of the carpenter, a fireman & one other were washed ashore & all were buried on the beach. No further bodies were ever recovered. On 3 & 4 December the survivors were taken off by the skilful navigation through the dangerous waters by native boatmen in surf boats. 11 lives lost.

Lives lost November 1929: Ahmed Hassan, fireman; Ali Hassan, fireman; Ayed Naif, fireman; Horne, JW, 3^rd engineer; Jones, JL, steward; Leslie, JJ, carpenter; Redman Yousef, fireman; Said Metanna, fireman; Saleb Ragee, fireman; Scott, TE, 4^th engineer; Sumner, F, ordinary seaman.

Survivors November 1929: Abdul Hassin, fireman; Abdul Wahab, fireman; Bradshaw, G, galley boy; Coldcleugh, CO, 3^rd officer; Clarke, T, wireless operator; Durant, C, cabin boy; Hamer, Daniel, master, 38, Barry; Harkness, DF, apprentice; Harrison, JR, boatswain; Hassan, Cassim, donkeyman; Hitchcock, JC, able seaman; sbestes, G, able seaman; Leiper, A, able seaman; Lott, Henry Cleveland, 2^nd officer, Folkestone; Mohamed Noss, fireman; O’Brien, GB, apprentice; Pearson, H, mess room boy; Ross, DT, apprentice; Rowland, H, 2^nd engineer; Stephenson, TG, apprentice; Stckbridge, P, cook; Thomas, J, chief officer; Walker, A, able seaman; Willis, W, chief engineer.

LAUNCH AT WEST HARTLEPOOL

Northern Daily Mail, July 13/11

Messrs. William Gray and Company, Ltd, yesterday, launched the handsome steel screw steamer Normanby which they have built for the London and Northern Steamship Company Limited, Messrs. Pyman Brothers, London, managers.

The vessel is of the shelter deck type, and will take the highest class in Lloyd’s register. Her dimensions are: Length over all, 408ft. 6in.; breadth, 53ft. 6in.; and depth, 25ft. 5 ½ in. The saloon, staterooms, captain’s, officers, and engineers’ rooms, etc., will be fitted up with houses on the bridge deck, and the crew’s accommodation forward.

The hull is built with deep bulb-angle frames, dispensing with hold beams, and leaving large clear holds, cellular double bottom, and fore and aft peak ballast tanks, ten steam winches, derrick tables and outriggers, double derricks at each hatch, steam steering gear amidships, hand screw gear aft, patent direct steam windlass, fresh water distiller, steel grain divisions, stockless anchors, telescopic masts, boats on deck overhead, and all requirements for a first class cargo steamer.

Triple-expansion engines are being supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, having cylinders 26in., 42 in., and 70in. diameter, with a piston stroke of 48in., and three large steel boilers for a working pressure of 180lbs. per square inch.

The ship and machinery have been built under the superintendence of Mr. R. T. Rutherford on behalf of the owners, and the ceremony of naming the steamer Normanby was gracefully performed by the Honourable Miss M. E. Kitson, in the presence of Lord Airedale (chairman of the London and Northern Steamship Company Ltd.) Lady Airedale, the Honourable Miss S. Kitson, Mr W. H. S. Pyman, J.P., D. L., Miss Dorothy Pyman, Mrs W. Pyman (Enfield) Miss E. Pyman (Whitby), Mr Creswell Pyman, Mr McGlashan, Mr and Mrs. G. H. Bains, Rev J. Farmer, and others.