Details about Mcdonald Cameron
The following information has been compiled by Mr. Bert Spaldin:
K. McDonald Cameron
Kenneth McDonald Cameron was the son of Alexander Cameron, a draper from Stockton-on-Tees. He came to West Hartlepool to work and was soon able to set up as a shipbroker at No.20, Church Street. His interest soon turned to ship-owning, and he was able to place an order with local shipbuilder Irvine’s Shipbuilding & Dry Docks Co., for a 5,000 ton spar deck steamer.
On July 18th, 1905, his wife named this vessel Cameron at the launch. Among the other guests present were Alderman & Mrs. Cameron of Stockton, a Dr. Cameron, and Mr. J. Cameron.
On August 22nd the Cameron ran her trials, achieving a speed of 11½ knots, and following which she sailed for the White Sea to load her first cargo.
She arrived back in Hartlepool on September 30th, 1905, with a record cargo of 1,450 fathoms of pit-props for local importer C.A. Forslind & Co., which she had loaded at Orega. The vessel continued tramping in the years that followed and in 1910 a ‘paper’ change was made when she was registered under the ownership of the Cameron Steam Ship Co. Ltd., with Kenneth Cameron as Manager.
Five years later she was sold to C. Salvesen for £34,000. As a measure of the inflated prices paid for ships after the First World War, she was sold again in 1919 to J. Harrison, for £85,000, and then again later that same year to the Glynn Shipping Co. Ltd., of London, for £115,000.
In 1922, as the Woldingham, she was taken as part-payment of a debt by the West Hartlepool Steam Navigation Co., before being sold to Greek owners in 1924 for £18,000. Renamed Stylianos Coutsodontis, she was eventually sold for scrap and broken-up at Spezia, Italy in 1934.
Cameron
