Concrete Ships

[Bill Morrison]

Post #1. Hi Vic. A few threads on concrete ships on the site. I was almost sure I had come across them being built in Aberdeen around the 1920's. Have found this on the internet they were being built all over the country. It takes a bit of navigating but worth a look.
Bill.
https://docslib.org/doc/3052301/aber...n-1918-to-1920

[Robert Barrett]

There were several concrete barges moored near the Vindicatrix in 1953.
R603245

[Jack Kelly]

In 1955 i was on a small oil tanker belonging to FT Everard and called the Averity and unless i got it wrong she was a concrete made ship.

[Keith Adams]

Hello again guys … Still plugging away here in Northern California.
We have a wrecked late WWI Concrete ship laying in three sections off the Sea Cliff State Park beach. Until the 2022/23 winter heavy weather storms damaged it beyond repair there was a wooden pier running to the ship. What remained of the pier was completely removed this past summer. Ship was built and launched in 1918 but too late for service as the war was over before she completed trials on San Francisco Bay. Was actually an oil tanker named ss “Palo Alto” but fitted out to resemble a regular cargo ship with bridge and engine room amidships in. An attempt to foil German submarines. Was immediately laid up, sold privately and towed to Sea Cliff beach and moored stern first to the tip of the purposely built pier to become a dance hall type party ship. She broke in two during a winter storm, As late as the early 1970’s one could walk down onto the ship, all the way to the focsle but over the years gradually broke into pieces with the Park gradually closing off each broken section for safety reasons. Is now a haven for seals, cormorants, pelicans and sea gulls. Talk of rebuilding the very popular pier but I doubt that will happen.

[Austin Carl Largan]

#5

Before the Brits closed the tax loophole for the Irish building site laborers in the late 60’s, Wimpey was a jocular acronym for………We Import More Paddies Every Year.

Austin

[Austin Carl Largan]

#14

Now that she has become a wildlife sanctuary I bet that on a calm day, ‘when the wind wouldn’t blow and the ship wouldn’t go’……..I bet the stench from the guano is most uncommonly awe inspiring. When I worked out of Punta Arenas in Chile we used to moore not far from an old disused pier which had been taken over by the 'shytawks'……Gawd help me but the smell would bring tears to my eyes.

Austin

[Austin Carl Largan]

#7

I believe the original logo for the back of the jacket was "Stolen from Wimpey's", but the higher up's were talked out of it by the politically correct brigade.......

Do you know what was stamped on the bottom of a pair of Wimpey wellies?.......L (left foot) and R (right foot).......that was until the higher up's were made aware of the fact that this was too confusing.

Austin

[Austin Carl Largan]

Two Wimpey hod carriers having breakfast.......

Pat and Mick always had breakfast together during their morning break. Pat always had two boiled eggs and Mick a bacon sangwich. One day Pat only pulls out one egg for his breakfast and Mick, perplexed by this says....."Pat, we've been having breakfast together since the start of this job and you always have two boiled eggs for breakfast, today you only have one, what happened?" And Pat replied....."I got up late"

Austin

[happy daze john in oz]

To be sure it was Wimpey's, then came the Wimpys hamburger no connection.
But both vanished when Golden Arches arrived.

[j.sabourn]

What about the Wimpey Sea Lab. Could have just been a bad spelling mistake and was supposed to be the Wimpey Sea Lav. JS