Dunmore Head

The following article has been transcribed from an un-named magazine and written by an un-named author, so apologies to both - we will, of course, be happy to correct these omissions if anyone can supply us with the relevant details. 

The Ups and Downs of Baron Vernon
The steamer was launched on 18^th October 1921 by Irvine’s shipbuilding and Dry Docks Co Ltd., West Hartlepool as the Dunmore Head for the Ulster Steamship Co. Ltd.  Whilst still on the builders’ hands, in February 1922 she was bought for the bargain price of £40,000 by Hugh Hogarth and Sons, who had her completed as Baron Vernon, registered as usual for this fleet in Ardrossan.

At 9.30pm on the 25^th May 1923 the Baron Vernon was off Dumbarton during the last stage of the voyage from Bilbao to Glasgow with ore and esparto grass when she collided with the Canadian Pacific Metagama (12,420/1914), outward bound for Quebec with 1,100 passengers.  Holed below the waterline and with her port bow stove in, the ore-laden Baron Vernon sank at Puddle Deep near Langbank.  She posed a danger to navigation, and the very next day the British Marine Salvage company began to discharge her cargo reporting that the hull had sunk three feet further into the mud despite the lightening operation.  With further settling, and the hull showing signs of strain, the salvage company abandoned operations on 6^th June.

The Clyde Navigation Trust sat on their hands for a while, and not until 28^th June did they invite tenders for raising or removing the wreck from the fairway.  In contracts dated 19^th and 24^th July, salvage contractors Thomas Ensor & Son of Queenstown undertook the job for £28,000 on a ‘no cure, no pay’ basis.  Ensors were to bitterly regret this contract, as salvage proved to be the ‘most arduous and difficult operation’.

After nine months work, Ensors reported on 30th April 1924 that the Baron Vernon’s back was broken.  Nevertheless, on 8^th May they were able to lift the wreck sufficiently to move it about 20 feet towards shore and out of the navigation channel.  A further attempt to lift her on 25^th May was hampered by the remains of the esparto grass cargo clogging the pumps.  On 24^th June the wreck was raised sufficiently to allow strengthening work to be carried out on the deck.  Not until 15^th July – almost 14 months after she sank – was Baron Vernon completely raised and taken to no. 3 Graving Dock at Govan.  The cost of the salvage operation had well exceeded the £28,000 paid by the Clyde Navigation Trust and helped put Thomas Ensor & Sons out of business.

On 23^rd July the wreck was sold by auction, a David Dawson succeeding in buying her for £5,500.  Her remaining cargo of about 1,400 tons of ore fetched a further £260.
On 2^nd August 1924 the Baron Vernon was moved to Berth 25 of Princess Dock.
On 14^th August Baron Vernon returned to the Govan dry dock, presumably to be made fit for towing to Rotterdam, where Dawson had arranged to have her repaired.  She was in dock for a further 4 days, and on 21^st August left in tow of the Dutch tug Humber (519/1907).  In Holland the hull was refurbished and lengthened to 326 feet, its gross tonnage becoming 2.743, and she emerged as Dowanhill, registered in the ownership of Dawson Shipping Co. Ltd. (Dawson Brothers & Rowan, manager), Glasgow.  In 1927 she was sold to French owners as Monceau, but returned to Britain in 1927 when bought by Constants (South Wales) Ltd. and renamed Hawkinge.  She was on passage from Lisbon to Bilbao in ballast, Hawkinge was wrecked near Cape Finisterre.

A lot had been packed into a comparatively short career: five owners, five names, two serious accidents, a major expense to the Clyde Navigation Trust, and the bankrupting of her salvor.