Collections Online

Starboard broadside view of S.S. GARRYALE and tug, c.1936.

The 3,908 gross ton Garryvale was one of the numerous turret-deck steamers built by William Doxford & Sons of Sunderland between 1892 and 1911. This peculiar design imparted a number of advantages such as increased longitudinal strength and greater deadweight capacity in relation to net tonnage. Built in 1907 for A. Crawford, Barr & Co. of Glasgow, she was owned by Kristian Hansen of Helsingfors, Finland, when this photograph was taken, c. 1936.

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

S.S. GARRYVALE (3908gt). Laid down at Doxford's yard at Sunderland as WESTRA (for Japp & Kirby of Liverpool) but completed in May 1907 and launched as GARRYVALE for the Vale Steamship Co. (managed by Crawford, Barr), Glasgow. While retaining her original name, she went through a series of different ownerships for the next 20 years : - 1916 - 1920 : Dawson Bros & Rowan,Glasgow. 1920 - 1923 : British Transoceanic SS Co Ltd, Glasgow. 1923 - 1929 : Suomen Valtamerentakainen Kauppa Oy, Helsinki. 1929 - 1939 : Rederi Ab Garryvale, Helsinki. On the 30th January 1939, she was stranded 2 miles southeast of the South Gare, River Tees while on a voyage bringing iron ore from Narvik to Teeside. She was subsequently refloated but in April of that year came to T.W.Ward's at Inverkeithing for breaking.