Collections Online

Copy of photograph showing a ¾ Starboard bow view of S.S. WILLODALE.

One of Cardiff’s two surviving shipping firms is Charles M. Willie & Co. (Shipping) Ltd., formed in 1913. The company did not own their ships until 1929 when the 1,774 gross ton Willodale, built at Sunderland in 1909, was acquired. This photograph of her was taken as she left Bordeaux with a cargo of pit wood, c. 1936. The Willodale was lost off the estuary of the Gironde on 4 April 1947.

Source: Shipping at Cardiff: Photographs from the Hansen Collection 1920-1975 by David Jenkins, 1993.

Built 1909 by Robert Thompson & Son Ltd., Southwick, Sunderland as LEVERSONS for Gordon Steamship Co., London. She was captured by the Germans in 1914 but returned in 1919 to her original owners. 1919 – Sold to Wm.France, Fenwick & Co. and renamed BRAYWOOD 1927 – Sold to Constants Ltd,, Cardiff, and renamed IGHTHAM 1929 – Sold to Bromage Shipping Co. Ltd., of Cardiff and renamed WILLODALE. She collided with HMS BLENCATHRA on 15 August 1945 (?). WILLODALE sank on 4 April 1947 after listing heavily in bad weather in the Bay of Biscay while carrying an unstable cargo of pitwood from Bordeaux to Cardiff. From her complement of 21 crew, twelve members including the master, chef engineer and chief officer, lost their lives. (Various scources)