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Oil on paper portrait of the tug SEA ALARM. Port view at sea. Signed and dated on reverse.

The Sea Alarm is typical of the many steam tugs which worked in the South Wales ports and plied up and down the Bristol Channel. Indeed, the tugs used today are basically very similar and differ only in that they are powered by diesel instead of steam engines. Her tall, narrow stack suggests that she is an old vessel, but, in fact, she was built as recently as 1941. Constructed by John Crown and Sons of Sunderland for the Ministry of War Transport, and christened Empire Ash, she was acquired by the Clyde Shipping Company in 1946 and remained on the Clyde under a new name, the Flying Fulmar. Ten years later she was bought by C.J. King of Bristol and became the Sea Alarm. She remained in the Bristol Channel, coaling regularly at Barry, until she was acquired by the Museum in 1973 at the end of her working life.

The tug's steam engine is of the triple-expansion type. It appears to be a large engine in relation to the size of the tug itself, but it should be remembered that the tug had to manoeuvre ships of up to 10,000 gross tons whereas her own weight is only some 260 gross tons. The engine is typical of the types that powered the majority of the world's ships for nearly half a century, but which have now disappeared entirely.

Source: Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum Guidebook, 1984

SEA ALARM. Built in 1941. Constructed by John Crown and Sons of Sunderland for the Ministry of War Transport, and christened EMPIRE ASH, she was acquired by the Clyde Shipping Company in 1946 and remained on the Clyde under a new name, the FLYING FULMAR. Ten years later she was bought by C.J. King of Bristol and became the SEA ALARM. She remained in the Bristol Channel, coaling regularly at Barry, until she was acquired by the Museum in 1973 at the end of her working life.