Sailing ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl being guided past a buoy by tugs. Tug Stranton is to the front

Three masted sailing ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl previously Grossherzog Friedrich August built in 1914 as a training ship for the German Merchant Marine. Here she is in the River Tees having been escorted by the Hartlepool tug Stranton.

Steam Tug Greatham. Part of the Hartlepool fleet of tugs.

Steam fishing boat 'Elizabeth Fowley' or 'Longscar' alongside steam tug 'George Robinson' in Hartlepool Docks.

The following extracts are from 1913 and 1915 issues of the North Eastern Railway Magazine:

1913: Exciting scenes were witnessed at West Hartlepool on the night of May 8^th, when the Swedish barquentine Meda, bound from Vastervik with a cargo of pit-props, broke her tow rope and, drifting towards the south pier, grounded to become a total wreck. The vessel has since been dismantled and her cargo sold.

The tug-boat engaged was the Stranton, belonging to the N.E.R. Company, the crew of which made a gallant effort to throw another rope to the helpless sailing ship. Ere this could be done however, another mishap occurred. The Stranton’s twin propellors coming into contact with some obstacle were almost stripped and rendered useless. It was now the Stranton’s turn to drift and it also stranded, about 600 yards from the Middleton beach. The crews of both vessels were taken off by lifeboat, but a second visit had to be paid to the Stranton before the men could be induced to leave and then they only did so on the advice of Captain Standing, Assistant Dockmaster, who accompanied the lifeboat.

Captain J. Whales of the Stranton elected to remain on board and did so despite the danger. The Hartlepool Life-Saving Brigade took up a position on the Middleton pier and fired a rocket across the ttug-boat but happily their services were not required. The Stranton drifted further on to the beach and when the tide receded next day was left “high and dry”. It has since been refloated and at the time of writing is undergoing repairs at Newcastle.

1915: On 8 May 1913, Stranton went to the aid of a Swedish barque Meda which had broken free from her mooring ropes at Hartlepool docks and grounded where it looked like she would surely be wrecked. Whilst the Meda was drifting, the North Eastern Railway crew of the Stranton made many attempts to throw lines to the helpless crew. Then the two propellers of the Stranton struck an unknown obstacle, almost entirely stripping them and making Stranton just as useless as Meda, and she began to drift too, the would-be rescuer now in need of rescue herself. Hartlepool’s RNLI lifeboat arrived on scene and took off the crew of both the Meda and the Stranton, however not without difficulty;

A second visit had to be made to the ‘Stranton’ before the men could be induced to leave and then they only did so on the advice of Captain Standing, Assistant Dock Master, who accompanied the Lifeboat. Captain J Whales, of the Stranton, elected to remain on board and did so despite the danger. Eventually the Stranton drifted up Middleton Beach and when the tide receded was left clear out of the water, the severe damage to her propellers becoming apparent.  The Stranton was floated soon after and towed to Newcastle where she was repaired and re-entered service at West Hartlepool. 

The N.E.R. tug Stranton ashore on Middleton beach, May 8th, 1913.

Tug 'Sandex' in Union Dock, Hartlepool.

Tug 'West Dock' at West Hartlepool in 1850. From a woodcut in Cuthbert Sharp's 'History of Hartlepool'.

Tug Aiolos, a Norwegian vessel, in the Deep Water Berth, Hartlepool.

Tug Avenger leaving Victoria Dock, Hartlepool.

Docked for attention at the Dockyard. Banbury Cross was built in in 1958 & was owned by Tees Towing Co Ltd.

Picture taken in the 1940s of a tug boat crew in Hartlepool. On the far right is John O'Donnell, one of the officers. None of the others are known.

Tug Dunfinch used to be based in Hartlepool.

Tug Earl of Beaconsfield. Built in 1889 it used to be based in Hartlepool.

Tug Greatham Cross leaving Hartlepool.

Tug Indefatigable in the Deep Water Berth, Hartlepool. Owned by Alexandra Towing Co.

Tug Irving Cedar & Barge Irving Carrier in the Deep Water Berth, Hartlepool.

Dutch Tug Kamsar entering Hartlepool.

Tug Leopardo Grande at Victoria Dock, Hartlepool.

Tug Marton Cross leaving Hartlepool.

Tug Njord entering Hartlepool. Owned by the Heerema Group.

Tug Sandtex in the Jackson Dock, Hartlepool. It was later converted into a houseboat.

Tug Steel. A former Hartlepool steam paddle tug working at Blyth at the time of the picture.

Tug Stranton off Hartlepool.

Tug Stranton leaving Hartlepool.

Tug Wellington towing a barge out of Hartlepool.

The paddle steamer tug Titan offshore from Seaton Carew in 1888.

Tug boat skipper Norman Henry Wise (seated, front left), and the other members of his crew. It is likely the tug is tied up at the seaward end of Union Dock, in the small cut adjacent to the Docks Engineers Base in Middleton Road. Just along the quay wall can be seen the cut which led into the Central Dock.

Skipper Norman Henry Wise (centre, in uniform), and other crew members aboard their tug. This photograph may have been taken from the Dock Head on the Headland, close to the Fish Quay.
The tugs in service used to tie up at the end of the Fish Quay. The buildings may be in the area where Heerema is today. The engine room skylights suggest this a steam driven vessel, possibly one of the old NER steam tugs Nos. 2; 3; 4; or 6; or even the William Gray.

The vessel in the centre background of the image is the steam drifter Happy Days (LT 185), which was owned by Stranton Drifters (R.H. Davison), of Hartlepool, between 1919 and 1926.

The tug Cleveland Cross escorting a ship out of harbour.

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Tugs Seaton & Throston returning to their Hartlepool base.

Picture over exposed.

North Eastern Railway Tugs No.4 & No.6. undocking HMS Orsoles. FW Ainsley & Company's premises in background

The Deep-sea tug Husky towing a completed North Sea Oil Platform out to sea. In the background is one of the THPA tugs, either the Stranton or Hart.

A slightly grainy image of an unidentified tug in Union Dock in 1950.

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Unnamed small tug alongside a barge in the docks.