Hardwicke Grange

[Mike Hall]

Wow I would love to get a couple of hours in there John. It must be a gold mine of info and probably equipment. Isn't it sad how these places are abandoned and left to rot when there is so much history inside them still. Off hand not sure which other Houlder's ships that I sailed on were actually built there. I must do a little research as I intend making more models assuming this one doesn't end up looking like a pigs ear. Thanks for the info mate.

and me in there,i would salvage every drawing possible.just to make them available for everyone.
what a shame they are all going to waste.

[John Arton]

Not strictly to do with the Hardwicke Grange but the Hawthorn Leslie yard that built her was a innovator from the word go.
When it was first built the owner picked that spot on the tyne as he used the slope of the bank to provide a flow through system where raw steel came in at the top of the bank, was blasted and painted, passed down the bank to the cutting shop, then further down the bank to the assembly halls. The end result they could build large sections of ships without the need for huge tall cranes.
Talking to the guy who told me about the state of the offices now he reckons its just like one night everybody finished work, put down their pens and paper, locked up for the night and never returned. Its aLmost eerie, like a ghost town.
I went round the yard in the 70's when I was doing 2nd mates in shields, they were going flat out then building tankers for, I think, Russian interests. It was a fascinating tour and we were able to view some of the latest tech. in welding and cutting methods together with the building in modular sections of ships. Even years later after being in many shipyards round the world that tour sticks in my mind with the way that they used the natural slope of the river bank to create what was most likely a world first through-flow ship building yard.
rgds
Capt. John Arton (ret'd)