Discover the history of Concrete Ships

My name is Richard Lewis. I live in Ireland and I am half of 'The Crete Fleet' team. 

I was intrigued by the presence of a concrete ship in Carlingford Marina, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. and started a personal research project to learn more about her, and about British built World War I era concrete ships. My first question was "How does it float ?". My second question was "Why did they make ships out of concrete?". It all started there for me. By the time I had satisfied my initial curiosity, I came to realise that there was relatively little actually published on the topic and that the information available was 'sparse' at best.

In 2019, I created this website and social media pages, and started to publish my discoveries. I ended up giving a virtual talk, having newspaper articles and appearing on the radio (I have a face for radio). I wrote my first manuscript - 'The Life & Times of The Crete Fleet' with the initial aim too creating awareness of the unique fleet of 64 concrete ships that were commissioned by the British Government during World War I and actually launched between 1918 and 1920. I then discovered 9 other British concrete ships of differing designs, built in the same era, so obviously I had to research them too ! My initial manuscript on these 73 ships runs to 360 pages and 160,000 words !

It was from a social media post that I first made the acquaintance of Erlend Bonderud of Norway. He commented on one of my early posts that I had misidentified a particular barge. This was the beginning of a collaboration between two European concrete ship enthusiasts that has helped build an unrivalled body of knowledge about the concrete ships built between 1848 and 1972. 

Erlend has spent over a decade, researching concrete ships and the draft of his manuscript 'Concrete Shipbuilding 1848 -1972' has over 1,500 pages and 200,000 words. It truly is the most extensive encyclopedia of the concrete ships of the world that has ever been written.

Bitten by a bug, when I had finished the manuscript of my first book, I felt compelled to undertake the research on the Ferro-Concrete Barges built during World War II. There were rather more of these to discover, since 294 Open Barges and 201 Petrol Barges were built between 1940 and 1945. I finished that manuscript too. Erlend helped me, we are collaborators and friends that share an interest. Well, an obsession. That book on World War II British Ferro Concrete Barges runs to 265 pages and 150,000 words.

Having finished my research on British concrete vessels of both World Wars, I obtained a First Edition, signed copy, of Nicolay Fougner's 1922 book 'Seagoing and Other Concrete Ships'. When I discovered that Fougner had built a concrete ship in the U.S., I  felt compelled to launch into the research about the U.S. built concrete ships of World War I. It's a massive topic, but, Erlend Bonderud, had already gathered most the facts for his 'Concrete Shipbuilding 1848 - 1972' so we collaborated, researched and searched for these ships, one ship at a time. Not just the easy ones, the 12 ocean-going ships of the U.S.S.B Emergency Fleet, but the much less known ones, like the concrete car floats and the Fougner oil barges. We have published our findings and discoveries on this website.

Having finished researching and writing about the U.S. World War I concrete ships, the focus then turned to the concrete ships built in the U.S. during World War II. The base research again had already been done by Erlend and so my job is to enrich that research and write the stories that we then publish on this website, on our own social media and in social media history groups around the World 

Well will it all lead ? It's not entirely clear. I am on my fourth manuscript now and well over half a million words.. Our website that you are reading is, without boasting, simply the best website on the subject of concrete ships that has ever been produced. We have busted myths, corrected misconceptions and freely shared the history we have gathered. Even if it ends there, we have made an unrivalled contribution to the body of knowledge about concrete ships. 

Whilst on our concrete ship research journey, we became acutely aware that the Internet is literally littered with Urban Myths, half truths, fantasy and fiction about Concrete Ships. I might as well have my usual pop at Wikipedia. . 

I tried to correct the nonsense written on the appalling Wikipedia page 'Concrete Ship', only to find myself 'Indefinitely Blocked' from updating Wikipedia. Their grounds were that by citing referenceable facts from this website, I was 'self-promoting' apparently. Self promoting history ? History that has been meticulously researched and is completely free to access ? I then had the audacity to argue with one of the tinpot dictators that run Wikipedia such that I was banned from 'Talk' as well. Closed minds, fake history. This is only important because when you research anything, Wikipedia comes out top. The text then gets repeated ad nauseam. That's the problem...the nonsense on Wikipedia is extrapolated and propagated many times over. For everyone that reads this, a hundred will read Wikipedia and attach what is written to their photo or video. This fact alone means that there is a responsibility on Wikipedia - one that they take extremely lightly - to ensure that statements have adequate and reputable citations. Wikipedia is not a source, Wikipedia is never a source

 I guess the irony is that should I ever manage to publish my manuscripts, and they become authoritative works on the subject, someone that buys the work will be able to reference them !

We are under no illusions that we are extremely, compulsively and rather eccentrically, obsessed with this subject matter.  Erlend doesn't help one bit to keep me sane, but rather feeds the compulsion. Erlend speaks a number of languages and this contributes s immeasurably with the difficult research, that involving language skills in particular. Erlend can say 'concrete ship' in many, many languages. 

So, that's what this site is all about, sharing knowledge about concrete ships built between the mid 19th century through to 1972. We hope you enjoy the information presented and that you follow us on our social media, particularly Facebook, where we announce every new Blog we write.

Richard & Erlend

A unique fleet of 64 British concrete ships launched and completed between 1918 and 1920 called 'The Crete Fleet'. They are christened 'The Crete Fleet' because their names were prefixed with 'Crete' and suffixed with a noun.

 As we developed our research, it was  decided that every concrete ship ever built is also a member of 'The Crete Fleet', and that it is a catchy enough title for a webpage, probably even a book...or two..or ten. 

If anyone can think of a better collective noun for over 1,600 concrete vessels built around the world, we are open to suggestions...! "A spalling of Concrete ships" perhaps...

The beauty in the photo is named 'Creteboom' and she rests on the River Boy at Ballina, Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland. 

You can read all about British World War I Concrete Ships by clicking the button below

"Probably the best Ferro Concrete Barge in the World"  With 495 built during World War II, that's quite an accolade !

From a design and ergonomic point of view, this was a truly imaginative use of a surplus Ferro Concrete Barge, I'm sure you will agree

We spent a couple of years tracking down World War II Ferro-Concrete Barges built in the U.K. There were 495 to find, and two thirds of them have been tracked down, many still existing today, eight decades later. 

There's a section on this website all about the British built Ferro-Concrete Barges of World War II. Just click the button to take you there !