Hindpool - a general History

Northern Daily Mail, April 20^th, 1928
FOR THE POOL LINE. FINE STEAMER LAUNCHED AT WEST HARTLEPOOL 
On Thursday Messrs. Wm Gray and Co., Ltd., launched from their dockyard the handsome steel screw steamer Hindpool, which is being built to the order of the Pool Shipping Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool.
The vessel will take the highest class in Lloyd’s Register, and is of the following dimensions: Length overall 418ft.; breadth, 53ft. 6in., depth moulded to upper deck, 29ft. 5 ½  in., with long bridge, poop, and forecastle. 

Constructed on the cellular double bottom principle, with fore and aft peaks, for water ballast, the framing being of the deep channel type, she has six watertight bulkheads, together with a steel centre line bulkheads, and wood shifting boards dividing the holds for grain carrying.
Spacious accommodation for the officers is arranged in a steel house amidships. The engineers will be berthed in large steel houses alongside casing, and the crew in cubicles in the forecastle, with separate mess rooms.
EQUIPMENT. For the quick handling of cargo, ten powerful steam winches are provided to work 12 derricks. A direct-acting steam windlass forward and steam steering gear amidships are also fitted.
The topmasts will be telescopic, lowering to a height suitable for the Manchester Canal Bridges.

The Hindpool will be completed in all respects as a first-class cargo steamer, her equipment including an efficient wireless installation and electric light throughout.
Triple-expansion engines having cylinders 26in., 43in., and 71 inches diameter and 48 inches stroke, and three boilers working at a pressure of 180lbs., will be supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, and a number of auxiliaries of the “C.M.E.W.” type, will be installed 
                
THE CEREMONY. The ship and machinery are being built under the supervision of Mr. J. B. Nicol on behalf of the owners, and the ceremony of naming the steamer Rockpool was gracefully performed by Lady Ropner, of Skutterskelfe Hall, Hutton Rudby, Yorks. The owners were represented by Sir J. H. Ropner, Bt., Mr. W.  Guy Ropner and Mr. J. R. Ropner. The builders were represented by Mr. F. C. Pyman (managing director), Mr. A. McGlashan and Mr. J. H. Farmer, (directors), and Mr. T. S. Simpson (general manager), and Mr. J. Young (yard manager).

Amongst those present at the launch were Mrs. William Guy Ropner, Messrs. J. P. And R. Wrightson, Dr. and Miss Mcgregor, Mrs. F. C. Pyman, and Mrs. J. H. Farmer and Mrs. A. C. Waddy, Dr. Pickworth, and Mr. A. Daintith (representing Lloyd’s Register of Shipping).

Northern Daily Mail, May 24th, 1928:
LOCAL TRIAL TRIP. Successful Tests of s.s. Hindpool
The steamer Hindpool, built by Messrs. Wm Gray and Co., Ltd., to the order of Messrs. The Pool Shipping Co., Ltd., West Hartlepool, successfully ran her official sea trials on Wednesday.

The vessel is built to  the highest class in Lloyd’s Register, and is of the following dimensions: Length overall 418ft.; breadth, 53ft. 6in., depth moulded to upper deck, 29ft. 5 ½ in., with long bridge, poop, and forecastle. 
For the quick handling of cargo, 10 powerful steam winches are provided which work 12 derricks. A direct-acting steam windlass forward and steam steering gear amidships are also fitted.

The vessel is complete in all respects as a first-class cargo steamer, her equipment including an efficient wireless installation and electric light throughout.
The propelling machinery, supplied by the Central Marine Engineering Works of the builders, consists of triple-expansion engines having cylinders 26in., 43in., and 71 inches diameter by 48in. stroke, and three boilers working at a pressure of 180lbs. per square inch, 

A number of auxiliaries of the “C.M.E.W.” type, also made by the Central Marine Engineering Works are fitted including an evaporator, general service pump, ballast pump, combined drain and scumming tank, winch condenser with duplex circulating pump, surface feed water heater and singlex feed pump.
The owners were represented on the trial by Mr. J. B. Nicol, superintendent engineer.

Master: 1941 Malcolm Vernon Allt Tinnock.

In convoy SL-67 on a voyage from Pepel for Freetown and Middlesbrough with a cargo of iron-ore and a total complement of 40 Hindpool was torpedoed by German submarine (U-124 George-Wilhelm Schultz) & sank about 500 miles west of Cape Blanco, West Africa on 8 March 1941. Survivors were picked up by the HMS Faulknor & Guido. 28 lives were lost.

Lives lost March 1941: Ashton, Thomas Donald, 1^st radio officer, 39, Statfield, Lossiemouth; Duncan, William, greaser, 47, Winlaton; Dunn, William, sailor, 19, North Shields, Northumberland; Ferguson, Thomas Richardson, 3^rd engineer, 45, West Hartlepool (husband of Margaret Lizzie); Finlay, George, boy, 16; Gale, Leonard Harold, mess room boy, 17; Green, William Hall, boy, 20; Irvin, George, chief engineer, 59; Jensen, Olaf, fireman/trimmer, 28; Lewis, William Douglas, 2^nd engineer, 28, West Hartlepool; MacLean, John, fireman/trimmer, 42, Oban, Argyllshire; McDonald, Joseph Gray, 25, Preston, North Shields; Mallen, Edward, greaser, 41, Sunderland; Matthews, Harold, 2^nd officer, 22, Winton, Lancs.; Mooney, Henry, able seaman, 25, West Chirton, North Shields; O’Donovan, Jeremiah David Joseph, 3^rd officer, 28; Power, P, donkeyman, Canada; Regnell, John Edwin, boatswain, 47; Rodgers, David, sailor, 19; Rutherford, George Allen Henry, able seaman, 24; Slater, Percival, fireman/trimmer, 23 (son of John Richard & Bessie); Smith, John William, able seaman, 21; Smith, Robert Whalen, carpenter, 23, North Shields; Smith, William, fireman/trimmer, 26, North Shields; Tinnock, Malcolm Vernon Allt, master, 30, Torquay, Devon; Tozer, Cyril, fireman/trimmer, 40, Mallaig, Inverness-shire; Webber, Walter Richard, fireman/trimmer, 40, North Shields; Yelland, Enoch, ordinary seaman, 19, North Shields.

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