Images(28)

Photograph of construction of steam tug 'Howard Smith'

Photograph of steam tug 'Howard Smith' under way at sea

HOWARD SMITH

Shipbuildervessel built by Hall, Russell & Company, Limited (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)

Date14 December 1952

Object NameTUG

MediumSTEEL

ClassificationsShip

Dimensionslength 126' x breadth 32' x depth 15'
Gross Tonnage: 499 ton

Object numberABDSHIP002522

Keywords

Aberdeen Built Ships

About MeYard: Hall, Russell & Co.
Yard Number: 830
Official Number: 177228
Subsequent Names: MELBOURNE (1969)

Fate: capsized and sank after collision with s/s NIEUW HOLLAND in Port Phillip Bay, 9 August 1972. 1973 raised and stripped. 1979 Scuttled in Moreton Bay.

Propulsion: Steam
Description: Tug, screw, steel.

Owners:
1952: Australian Steamships Pty. Ltd, Melbourne,
1964: Owners retitled Howard Smith Industries Pty. Ltd., Melbourne.
1973: Engwirda Salvage Pty., Ltd., Melbourne.

General History:
08/12/1950: Tender sent.
22/12/1950: Contract placed.
30/07/1951: Keel aid on Berth No. 3
14/12/1951: Launched. Named by Mrs C. S. Watts, wife of McIlwraith, McEacharn’s manager.
19/03/1951: Dock trials in Victoria Dock.
26/03/1952: Sea trials in Aberdeen Bay and handed over.
31/03/1952: Sailed from Aberdeen after a delay due to bad weather.
01/07/1952: Registered at Melbourne.
1953: Converted to oil fired -
This [oil firing] era commenced in the early 1950s when the powerful Howard Smith tug HOWARD SMITH arrived brand new from the builders in the United Kingdom as a coal burner, and the Unions decided that she should have been an oil burner to make life easier, refusing to man her unless she was converted.
In mid-1953 she was taken in hand by Hobson’s Dry Dock & Engineering Company to be converted. As a result, the very similar BATMAN which was building at Mort’s Dock in Sydney also for Melbourne owners, was hastily changed to burn oil fuel.
A useful spin-off from these two conversions was that it was subsequently found they could both sustain their full bollard pull using only one boiler. Consequently, and in order to save oil fuel, they henceforth only used one of their two boilers, alternating them periodically and leaving the spare boiler pressed up full of water to preserve it and to keep the tug down to its marks.
The text also contains a photograph similar to, but not the same as, the view below.
(Mike Richards (1987), “Workhorses in Australian Waters”, (Turton & Armstrong, Australia), p. 188)

1969: Renamed MELBOURNE.
09/08/1972: Capsized and sank after collision with SS NIEUW HOLLAND in Port Phillip.
1973: Raised and stripped by Engwirda Salvage Pty., Ltd.
01/1979: Scuttled in Moreton Bay.

Notes:
Steam by screw, inverted, surface condensing, triple expansion engine, 17” x 28½” x 47” with 33” stroke, 1,320 i.h.p. @ 118 r.p.m. H.R. Engine No. 8/50.
Boilers by D. Rowan, No. B564.
Boiler: 2 single boilers; heating area (ft^2) 4508 total; diamter 14' 0"; length 11' 6"; furnaces 2 x 3 Deighton 3’ 4” diameter; pressure (p.s.i.) 200
Propeller: 12’ 0” diameter, 4-bladed manganese bronze in “Kort” nozzle.

See also:
History (CS): - http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=52175&vessel=HOWARD+SMITH
History (FA): - http://www.flotilla-australia.com/2hsmith.htm

Queenscliffe Maritime Museum, Melbourne, have a 12’ propeller on display which is identified as belonging to the HOWARD SMITH, but it is listed as cast iron and must be presumed to have been a spare propeller.

3 pictures: - http://www.shf.org.au/DavidsonFiles/FerriesWThumb.html
Pictures in Aberdeen Archive: - See HR/2/7/178, 401/2, 436/1/1 to /10, 436/2/1 to /10, 458/5, /9, /28, /32 to /39 and 483/1 to /24.