Creteboom was launched at Shoreham-by-Sea in 1919, the year before her younger sister, Cretegaff. She had 5 sister Tugs and 6 sister Barges. John ver Mehr was the most prolific of all Crete ship builders and the book "The Life and Times of The Crete Fleet' will track down every one of these concrete ships. Hopefully.

Shoreham-by-Sea is at the mouth of the River Adur and shipbuilding on the river goes back to at least Saxon times where a large port was established at Steyning , The order for 6 Crete Tugs and 6 Crete Barges brought something of a revival to shipbuilding at Shoreham-by-Sea and in particular at the John Ver Mehr & Co shipyard. 

Creteboom followed the standard specification of the Crete Tugs and was powered by a 750 i.h.p (Indicated Horsepower) triple-expansion steam engine built in Bradford by Newton Bean & Mitchell. The coal bunker capacity to fuel the steam engine was 80 tonnes. She consumed 10 tons of coal a day steaming at 10 knots.

In 1922, Creteboom, like her sisters and cousins,  was sold on to the newly formed Crete Shipping Company of Sunderland, the company founded by Stelp & Leighton Ltd of London. Her primary purpose in life was to carry coal from the North East of England to the South of England and to other areas that her A1 classification allowed. It is said that she travelled to the Baltic. 

Cold there in the Winter 

After being tied up on the Tyne for a long time, in 1935, Creteboom was sold to the South Stockton Shipbreaking Company on Teeside where she was stripped bare.  In 1937, the 'hulk' was then sold on to the Ballina Harbour Commissioners in County Mayo. One purpose mooted as to why she was bought is that she was there to ‘train’ the River Moy so as to improve its flow, mitigate flooding & reduce silting. Unfortunately, she sprang a leak on her voyage that worsened whilst being maneuvered in to position and hence she had to be abandoned where she then lay.

In 1974 she was briefly refloated and moved to the position she is found in today. That's 47 years and counting. If she could be refloated then, why not now ?

I make no secret of the fact that I believe with a lot of imagination and probably not a huge amount of money, Creteboom could be saved, salvaged, refloated, renovated, put to constructive use. Having been inside Cretegaff I can tell you that the hold is huge. I don't think anyone realistic thinks that the Tug should be restored, with a steam engine and all - but there were quite a few solid ideas put forward for Cretegaff's re-incarnation. 

If she is left abandoned and unloved for another half a century, my guess, she'll still be there. Sooner or later, someone will step in with an offer and a plan to salvage her. I hope.

A longer version of the Creteboom story is published at

 https://www.northmayo.ie/guest-post-the-life-and-times-of-creteboom-by-richard-lewis/

“If only ships could talk, the Crete Fleet could tell quite a story. They cannot, so I am trying to tell their story for them. I hope that over time, a lot more can be discovered about “The Life and Times of The Crete Fleet ”

Cretehawser was launched at Southwick on 15 March 1919 having been built by the Wear Concrete Building Company Ltd.

Cretehawser followed the standard Crete Tug specifications : Overall length was 125 feet, Beam 27 feet 6 inches and Draught 13 feet six inches with a Gross Registered Tonnage of 262 tonnes.

She was fitted with a screw driven, 3-cylinder triple expansion 720 hp steam engine from Central Marine Engine Works, West Hartlepool.  Two other concrete tugs, Cretecable and Creterope, were also completed by the shipyard in 1919. 

In 1922, Cretehawser was one of the Crete Fleet sold to Stelp & Leighton Ltd of London to join the ‘Crete Fleet’ in Sunderland. Cretehawser was listed in the 1926 Mercantile Navy List of British Registered Steam Vessels as being registered to Crete Shipping Co. Ltd until 1935 when she was re-registered to Samuel Levy of South Shields. In the same year it is noted as having been sold on again to the South Stockton Shipbuilding Company of Stockton for ‘breaking’, 

Cretehawser,along with a second Crete Tug, Cretestem, were then bought by the River Wear Commissioners for use as emergency breakwaters. Cretehawser and Cretestem were moored in the South Dock, Sunderland where they were tied up safely until they were needed. 

1942, Cretehawser was holed during a German bombing raid. She was then towed up the River Wear and beached opposite the old Hylton Colliery, very close to where she was first built and where she stands today. 

A year later in 1943, Cretestem was completely destroyed in another German air raid. 

Just after the turn of the millennium, it is reported that Sunderland City Council considered removing Cretehawser from the riverbank and scrapping her, but eventually decided against it.

In the view 'The Captain' at 'The Crete Fleet' ie me, these concrete ships are important examples of the ingenuity of the human race and valuable examples of our industrial archaeology and heritage. So much of our heritage has been lost.  If Cretegaff could be salvaged and repurposed, why not Cretehawser ? I hope that during my lifetime to see Cretehawser salvaged. 

#savethecretehawser

“If only ships could talk, the Crete Fleet could tell quite a story. They cannot, so I am trying to tell their story for them. I hope that over time, a lot more can be discovered about “The Life and Times of The Crete Fleet ”

The very first Crete barge launched by The Aberdeen Concrete Shipbuilding Co. Ltd was Cretetree in December 1918, a month after WW1 had ended. The Aberdeen Concrete Shipbuilding Co built three vessels for the Crete Fleet. Crete Tug Cretehatch and Crete Barges Cretetorrent and Cretetree.

Cretetree is one of the very few remaining Crete Barges that exist today, lying beached in the North harbour of the Isle of Scalpay near Tarbert, Harris, Scotland and used as a storeroom facility by the local fisherman - you can see this from the photo kindly provided by Marc Calhoun, a Western Isles explorer and travel blogger https://marccalhoun.blogspot.com

Cretetree went into by the British Government ownership on completion and  was transferred to the Crete Shipping Co. in 1922 along with many of her peers. By June 1924 she had been sold and re-registered to John W Robertson, a Shetland Islands entrepreneur who used her to supply coal to 'steam drifters'. It is quite possible that she was utilized for a much more interesting purpose that will be revealed in my forthcoming book !

In 1929 she was sold on to W A Bruce of Stornoway and used as a coal store through to 1948. During her voyage from Lerwick to Stornaway, there was an incident that eventually attracted national coverage and the attention of the King of England. ALL WILL BE REVEALED when I publish the book !! I do have children to feed...

By 1955 she had been hulked and around 1961, towed to her current resting place on the Isle of of Scalpay ‘to be used as a fishing gear store’. Is this true I wonder ? Researching Cretetree, I couldn’t help but think, ‘why on earth anyone would you drag a 180 foot long, 711 ton concrete barge to the Isle of Scalpay to use it as a fishing net store’ ?.  In the book 'The Life and Times of The Crete Fleet' I shall reveal why Cretetree was towed to Scalpay and what happened next . . . .

I had mused as to whether it MIGHT be possible to put in an offer that the Isle of Scalpay fishermen couldn't refuse to salvage Cretetree but in 2021, the cost of the insurance for a towing operation makes such an idea absolutely cost-prohibitive, unless of course the book sells so well that it makes me rich. Somehow, I doubt it !

I do appreciate that this section has become a tad 'book sales orientated' . Sorry.

Four of the Crete Barges were built at Warrenpoint, Co. Down (across Carlingford Lough from Carlingford Marina) by the J & R Thompson shipyard. They were named Creteforge, Cretefield, Creteforest and Cretefarm. 

A major beneficiary of four of the individual barge contracts was a small shipyard in Warrenpoint, J&R Thompson.  They didn’t build the barges alone - they were assisted by  McLoughlin & Harvey of Belfast, established 1853. Now a major international engineering and construction company and 100+ years ago they  instrumental in the building of the four concrete barges at Warrenpoint.  Such an unusual ship building material required expertise in concrete, not just in ships. The concrete itself required innovative new techniques and an advanced knowledge of concrete chemistry.

Cretefarm  was the first to be built at Warrenpoint and was launched on 18th December 1918. She was registered at Lloyd’s on 1st May 1919 , Reg.No. 143180, and was completed in June 2019. 

Since all the barges were the same 180 feet long, 31 feet 5 inches wide and 16 feet and 4 inches deep, they would all have looked the same apart from having their individual names on the stern. 

She was side-launched into Carlingford Lough, according to The Northern Whig reports, a “system most suitable to the building site and the facilities which the lough offers in its immediate vicinity The launch brought of the first Crete barge to be launched at Warrenpoint attracted a great deal of interest and there were other similar reports in a number of Irish newspapers. 

The launch was followed by luncheon at The Great Northern Hotel at Rostrevor with Mr W. H. Mc Laughlin presiding over a celebratory lunch with Champagne. The speeches heralded the co-operation between J&R Thompson and McLoughlin & Harvey that delivered the vessel Cretefarm and others to follow. A breakthrough in shipbuilding technology.

In July 1930, Cretefarm was sunk at Candás harbour in Asturias, Northern Spain

Creteforge  - PD71 - was launched on 5th March 1919, registered on 7th May 2019,  Reg. No. 143194, and also completed in the June of that year. All 4 barges were launched within 7 months of each other and were registered under the name of ‘The Shipping Controller’. 

In 1922, most of ‘The Crete Fleet’  were transferred to Crete Shipping Company which subsequently failed and by 1924 they were mothballed on the Tyne. 

In 1929, Creteforge and Cretefam were sold to 'Banco de Crédito Gijonés' who were the bankers behind the development of a harbour at Candás, a small fishing village in Asturias in the north of Spain. Their last trip in tow would have been from Sunderland to Candás, around 900 nautical miles.

Lloyd’s register shows that Creteforge and Cretefarm were registered under the Spanish flag by 1930. Due to the Spanish Civil War and other factors, it was not until 17th August 1935 that Creteforge was sunk at Candás  

Since 2001, neither barge has been visible as they are deeply embedded in the extended harbour facility.

Cretefarm and Creteforge were born of the same shipyard and managed to stay together for eternity as both are now buried in the harbour wall of Candás, I will visit - but mainly for the seafood.

Having followed the familiar path of The Shipping Controller and then Crete Shipping Co., Creteforest was acquired in 1924 by Hughes Bolckow & Co. Ltd of Blythe a well known ship-breaking company .  She was used in the dismantling of HMS Lion.

She was only in her youth in 1924 and it is reasonable to assume that there was a much greater supply of concrete ships for sale after the failure of the Crete Shipping Company than there was demand  Having been dismantled in Blyth in 1925, the hull was towed out and ‘deposited’ in the North Sea off the coast from Blyth. 

Cretefield – PD72 – followed a similar path of launch, The Shipping Controller, Crete Shipping and then abandoned, unloved and unwanted. 

In 1922 she was acquired by a Waterford Coal Merchant and was moored just above the bridge at Gratton Quay. Around 1974 she was moved down river to Belview and acted as a pontoon at the CAP facility. In 1990 she was acquired by Carlingford Marina and towed to her final resting place. 

This final resting place is within 20 metres of her illustrious 1st cousin Gretegaff in the Carlingford Marina breakwater. Unlike Cretegaff, which floats and is in fine condition considering her age, Cretefield is only visible at very low tides. She is only around 4 miles from where she was built. I just wish to point out that visiting Cretefield is not possible - she is on private land and EXTREMELY DANGEROUS to walk on. 

The R&J Thompson shipyard closed down in the inter-war years but in WWII reopened as Warrenpoint Shipyard Company to build steel landings craft – LCTs – for the war effort. I have read that the shipyard employed over a 1000 men at that time and built more than 20 LCTs.

So here endeth the (summarized) story of the 4 Crete barges that were built in Warrenpoint. 

One is in Carlingford, one is in the depths of the North Sea off Blyth and the two are in Northern Spain, never to be seen again but, thanks to www.thecretefleet.com, never to be forgotten !

Below is a potted history of ‘Violette’, with mention of her older sister, ‘Molliette’, both built by James Pollock, Sons and Company Ltd at Faversham.

James Pollock, Sons and Company Ltd

The company was founded in 1875 and established a shipyard at Faversham Creek in 1917 to construct reinforced concrete vessels. They built two ferro-concrete coasters, ‘Molliette’ and ‘Violette’, both three masted schooners with a loaded displacement of 640 tons. 

When ‘Molliette’ launched in November 1918, after World War I had ended, the Faversham News ran an article on 23rd November 1918 explaining that the Borough and Port of Faversham had gained distinction when ‘the first powered vessel of reinforced concrete built in the British Isles was launched from the newly established shipyard of Messrs Pollock Sons & Co., Ltd.’

The company carried on after their foray into ferro-concrete ships, building steel motor coasters along with tugs, coastal tankers and motor barges and in 1924 they were appointed sole concessionaires for the British Empire for the Star Contra-Propellor Co. This work took the company through to World War II and they constructed 826 during the twenty-two years between 1916 to 1938. 

After World War II, the yard carried on building ships specialising in river and coastal tankers, coasters, tugs and lighters before finally closing on 15th April 1976.

‘Molliette’

Work on ‘Molliette’ commenced on 2nd September 1918 at Yard 889 and she was launched, broadside, on 19th November 1918. She was 125’6” long, 25’ wide and 10’4” moulded depth with a 293 GRT and 160 NRT.

Her hold capacity was 17,320 cubic feet and her hull weighed 290 tons. ‘Molliette’ had a centrally situated 120 b.h.p., two-cylinder Bolinders Type M engine running at 225-250 revolutions per minute on crude oil, sufficient to achieve a speed of 7 knots without the use of sails. 

She commenced sea trials on 17th January 1919 and on 13th February 1919, she was registered to Bernard Oppenheimer of London, Lloyd’s Registration No. 143032. Later that month she left for France in ballast to pick up redundant munitions for return to UK.

Mersea Museum has an article written by Pat Zierold telling of the various calamities that befell her but having returned from France whilst waiting to unload at Erith, the steamer ‘Prince Charles’ ran into her and on her first trip into the Pool of London, she rammed Tower Bridge and later ran into a trot of moored lighters. She also ran aground on numerous occasions. By February 1922, ‘Molliette’ suffered damage to her engines, which could not be repaired and were removed. 

She was then sold in 1922 to a Captain Gray, who took her to St Lawrence Bay on the River Blackwater to use as a houseboat, selling her on in 1925 to a Captain Davies, who moved her to Mersea and moored her opposite the ‘Victory’, fitting her out as a houseboat. 

In 1931, the West Mersea Yacht Club rented part of ‘Moliette’ as their clubhouse, taking her over completely in 1932. In 1934, ’Molliette’ was vacated by the West Mersea Yacht Club after a dispute over rent. Even today however, the annual publication of the West Mersea Yacht Club is called ‘Molliette’.

By 1935, ‘Molliette’ was converted into the ‘Quarters Club’ nightclub. On 30th September 1935, the club was raided by the police for ‘after hours drinking’ ! Around this time, she broke her back whilst being moved from her berth and obviously became uninhabitable, due to flooding.

In 1939, she was ‘patched up’ sufficiently for her to float again with a view to her being an observation post. In 1943 she was taken over by the American Air Force and used as a floating target for planes and for machine guns and rockets. They were clearly fairly accurate as ‘Molliette’ was reduced to a skeleton of a wreck 

That can be seen on spring low tides at 51°46'07.8"N 0°59'31.2”E, marked by beacon on Cocum Hills.

The photographs are kindly provided by Jim Pullen and the West Mersea Museum.

Violette

The building of  ‘Violette’ started on 14th March 1919 at Yard No. 891 and the engine was installed on 16th May 1919. She was launched on 22nd May 1919.  The Mercantile Navy List of 1920 lists ‘Violette’, Lloyd’s Registration No. 143421 as 125’6” long and 25’ wide with a draft of 10’4”. 

‘Violette’ started sea trials on 5th August 1919 but was not accepted by the owners, Bernard Oppenheimer. She was subsequently loaded with hardcore at Erith and laid at anchor at Cory’s Wharf. She was first registered on 18th September 1919 and sailed for Rochester.

 In 1920, she was re-registered to James Pollock, Sons & Co. Ltd who had essentially ‘taken her back’.

She proved to be even more calamitous than her sister and on 18th January 1921, she broke from her mooring in a gale and crashed into Southend Pier, causing massive damage to 50 yards of the pier and isolating the bandstand from the rest of the pier. ‘Violette’ was declared a ‘write off’ herself. The photographs show the aftermath.

Pollock's later bought the wreck and, after temporary repairs, towed her to Faversham, arriving at the yard on 23rd April 1921. Her engine was removed  and installed in the coastal tanker ‘Stourgate’. She was then effectively dumped on the beach at Seasalter, near Whitstable.

On 14th July 1923, The Whitstable Times and Tankerton Press announced an auction, ‘By Order of the Sheriff of Kent’: -

‘Messrs. J. T. Reeves & Son have received instructions to Sell By Auction …on Tuesday July 17th 1923 at 12.30 p.m. precisely, the Hull of the Reinforced Concrete Barge formerly known as “Violette” of London, Together with the Mast, Deck Houses and Steel Rudder. As they now lie off the shore at Seasalter, near the old Coastguard Station. The Hull appears to be in good condition and useful for many purposes. It will be pumped out before the Sale. The Anchors and Chains used for moorings are not included in the Sale, The Purchaser shall, before the 15th day of August next, remove the Vessel from its present position to some place of safety off the foreshore, either at Seasalter or elsewhere, and must sign an undertaking to that effect’.

Having been sold, she was moved close to Sun Pier, Chatham, fitted with tanks and used as a refuelling lighter for the New Medway Steam Packet Company. By 1975, she had become a ‘mooring hulk’ at Hoo, at what is now Whitton Marine.

 She is still there although I understand from the owners of the marina, in a different position from where she first lay.

You can see her at 51°24'43.1"N 0°34'09.2”E on Google Earth and the photographs were taken by me when I visited her in December 2022. 

Sources :-

Patricia O-Driscoll,, East Coast Digest: Indestructible Ships, pp12-18, February Volume 5, Edition 1, 1976  

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

https://www.merseamuseum.org.uk/

https://www.lrfoundation.org.uk/en/

Merchant Ships of the World 1910-1929 in Colour - Laurence Dunn

https://www.facebook.com/MerseaIsland

Mersea Island - Jim Pullen https://youtu.be/AVGI_mn4ntk

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/southend-on-sea/

https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/716/violette