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SS Royston Grange (1959)

January 01, 1970

SS Royston Grange was a Houlder Line refrigerated cargo liner steamship that was built in England in 1959. In 1972 she collided with the tanker Tien Chee in the Río de la Plata. The resulting fire killed all 74 people aboard Royston Grange and eight people aboard Tien Chee. Royston Grange's burnt-out hulk was scrapped in Spain in 1979.

History
United Kingdom
NameRoyston Grange
NamesakeRoyston Grange, Ballidon
OwnerHoulder Line Ltd
OperatorHoulder Bros & Co Ltd
Port of registryLondon
RouteGreat Britain – Río de la Plata
BuilderHawthorn, Leslie & Co, Hebburn
Yard number736
Launched23 June 1959
CompletedDecember 1959
Out of service11 May 1972
Identification
FateDestroyed by fire after collision 11 May 1972. Scrapped 1979.
General characteristics
Typerefrigerated cargo liner
Tonnage10,262 GRT, 5,726 NRT, 10,385 DWT
Length489.0 ft (149.0 m)
Beam65.7 ft (20.0 m)
Depth29.0 ft (8.8 m)
Installed power8,500 shp
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity12 passengers
Crew61
Notessister ship: Hardwicke Grange

Royston or Roystone Grange is an 18th-century farmstead next to the site of a medieval monastic grange at Ballidon in Derbyshire, England.[1][2][3] Houlder Line had named ships after several English granges, including Royston, since the 1890s. This ship was the company's fifth and last Royston Grange.[4]

Building edit

Hawthorn Leslie (Shipbuilders) Ltd. built Royston Grange in 1959, launching her on 23 June and completing her that December. She was 489.0 ft (149.0 m) long, her beam was 65.7 ft (20.0 m) and her depth was 29.0 ft (8.8 m). She had a single screw, driven by two steam turbines via reduction gearing. Between them the two turbines developed 8,500 shp and gave her a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h).[5]

Royston Grange's holds were refrigerated to carry perishable cargo such as meat and dairy products.[5] Her refrigeration system was electrically powered and its refrigerant was freon gas. Her refrigeration room was at the starboard side of her engine room. The gas was compressed, then cooled and injected into a large evaporation cylinder which then supercooled brine that was circulated through the evaporator. The supercooled brine was pumped at three temperature levels to the various cargo holds where the brine circulated through fan blown radiators to cool the cargo.[citation needed]

Royston Grange's superstructure was in two separate parts.[6] Her bridge was amidships, above accommodation for her deck officers and 12 passengers. Accommodation for her crew and engineering officers was slightly aft, and also included her four lifeboats. The hatch to one of her holds separated the two parts of her accommodation.[6] Such a division of the superstructure was not unique for ships of her era, e.g. Royal Mail Lines' Magdalena[7] and "Three Graces"[8] Amazon (1959), Aragon (1959) and Arlanza (1960).[9] But it was very unusual for a Houlder Line ship.

Hawthorn Leslie built a sister ship and running mate, Hardwicke Grange. She was launched on 21 October 1960 and completed in March 1961.[10] The two ships carried chilled and frozen produce from the River Plate ports of Argentina and Uruguay to London, Liverpool and ports in the Bristol Channel.[11]

Collision and disaster edit

In May 1972 Royston Grange loaded a cargo of chilled and frozen beef and butter in Buenos Aires. She embarked 12 passengers, including six women and a five-year-old child, and left port bound for London. At 0540 hrs on 11 May Royston Grange was in the Punta Indio Channel, 35 nautical miles (65 km) southwest of Montevideo, Uruguay, under the direction of an Argentine maritime pilot, in dense fog.[6]

Also in the Punta Indio channel, inbound to the River Plate, was the Liberian-registered tanker Tien Chee carrying 20,000 tons of crude oil. Tien Chee was also under the direction of an Argentine pilot.[6]

According to maritime rules, the two ships should have passed each other's port sides. But Royston Grange's bow struck Tien Chee's port side, rupturing the tanker's number seven wing tank. Tien Chee's cargo caught fire, which almost instantly spread to Royston Grange, and the butter in the latter's cargo contributed to the intensity of the fire.[6] The collision also ruptured Royston Grange's refrigeration tanks.[citation needed]

Royston Grange's passengers and many of her crew would have been asleep. The effects of the fire killed all 61 of her crew, all 12 passengers and her Argentine pilot, and also eight Chinese members of Tien Chee's crew. Argentine Naval Prefecture cutters rescued from Tien Chee 32 surviving members of her crew and her Argentine pilot.[6] The majority of the crew and half the passengers in Royston Grange were British nationals, exceptions being a Dutch boatswain and an American able seaman from the crew, an Australian, a New Zealander, two Germans and two Argentine passengers.[12]

The collision swung Tien Chee across the channel, grounding her and blocking all traffic in or out of Buenos Aires.[6] Uruguayan tugs with water hoses doused the fire aboard both ships.

Aftermath edit

 
Royston Grange headstone in the British Cemetery Montevideo

Houlder Line flew 130 relatives of the victims to Uruguay for a mass funeral of the victims. On 20 May 1972 their remains, mostly little more than ashes and charred bones, were buried in six urns in two communal graves in The British Cemetery Montevideo.[13] The funeral was followed by a memorial service in London on 8 June at the parish church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower.[14] One of the windows of All Hallows now includes a stained glass panel commemorating all who died aboard Royston Grange.[6]

 
Window in All Hallows-by-the-Tower, with the Royston Grange panel in the lower part of the centre light

Royston Grange was initially towed to Montevideo.[15] The recovery of her smouldering hull by the Uruguayan Navy led to confrontation with the Argentine patrol boats ARA King and ARA Murature, which had been ordered to tow the wreck to Buenos Aires.[16][17] This was one of a series of maritime incidents that prompted the governments of Argentina and Uruguay to negotiate a new treaty on their maritime frontier, which was concluded the following year.[17]

In March 1974, Royston Grange was towed to Barcelona,[18] where her scrapping began on 20 May 1979.[19] Tien Chee was scrapped at Buenos Aires in August 1976.[20]

Investigations edit

Argentina, Liberia and the United Kingdom all investigated the disaster.[21] Argentina initially detained Tien Chee's master, pending the outcome of its investigation.[22]

The Liberian inquiry concluded that Tien Chee's master and pilot, in an attempt to get enough water for her deep draught, had probably navigated too far to the south side of the channel, forcing Royston Grange farther south onto the shelf that formed its southern boundary. The bank deflected Royston Grange, causing her to shear to port and strike Tien Chee.[23]

The officers of Royston Grange, it concluded, were probably not to blame, although there may have been some human error in trying to avoid the collision. The master and pilot of Tien Chee probably should not have entered the channel in the first place in the tidal conditions prevailing at the time. The report severely criticised the lack of maintenance of the channel.[23]

In 1972 the United Kingdom held a preliminary inquiry under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894.[21] In 1973 the UK's National Physical Laboratory also conducted tank tests to understand the technical circumstances that led to the collision.[24]

In June 1973 in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, opposition MP John Prescott claimed that Argentina did not comply with an IMCO recommendation that interested parties should be allowed to attend the inquiry into the disaster. The Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping, Michael Heseltine, stated that UK inspectors were not allowed access to Tien Chee or to take statements from witnesses pending the holding of the judicial inquiry, but were later shown a record of the proceedings and given a report of the inquiry. They were also invited to attend the final stages of the administrative tribunal.[25] Heseltine also said he was "favourably impressed by the quality of the Liberian Board's findings", and considered that a further inquiry by the United Kingdom would be unlikely to reach different conclusions.[25]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Historic England. "Roystone Grange farmhouse and barn (Grade II) (1109347)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  2. ^ Historic England. "Medieval grange and field system, 200m south of Royston Grange (1018088)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Roystone Grange in Derbyshire". Derbyshire and Peak District Visitor Guide. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  4. ^ Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie (18 January 2006). "Houlder Line / Alexander SS Co". TheShipsList. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Royston Grange". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h JCB (9 January 2012). "The Royston Grange Tragedy". The Pilot. United Kingdom Maritime Pilots' Association. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  7. ^ Nicol 2001, p. 186.
  8. ^ Nicol 2001, p. 194.
  9. ^ Nicol 2001, pp. 198–199.
  10. ^ "Hardwicke Grange". Tyne Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  11. ^ Harnack 1964, p. 537.
  12. ^ "Royston Grange y Tien Chee". Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Burial of River Plate collision victims". The Times. No. 58484. London. 22 May 1972. p. 7.
  14. ^ Dickin, Ian (May 2012). "Royston Grange" (PDF). Newsletter. The British Society in Uruguay. p. 7. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  15. ^ Burrell 1992, p. 161.
  16. ^ Fiueroa, Gustavo (2007). "El Royston Grange y el Tien-Chee". Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Academia Uruguaya de Historia Marítima y Fluvial. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  17. ^ a b Castillo-Laborde, Lilian del (2008). The Río de la Plata and its Maritime Front Legal Regime (English ed.). Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff. p. 38. ISBN 978-9004163447.
  18. ^ "Synd 31-3-74 Freighter "Royston Grange" towed across the Atlantic". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021 – via YouTube.
  19. ^ "5301502". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  20. ^ "5086293". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  21. ^ a b Michael Noble, Minister for Trade (26 May 1972). ""Royston Grange" (Collision)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 542W. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  22. ^ Michael Heseltine, Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping (26 October 1972). "S.S. "Royston Grange" (Sinking)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 436W. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  23. ^ a b Michael Heseltine, Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping (16 May 1973). ""Royston Grange" (Liberian Inquiry)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 348W–349W. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  24. ^ Michael Heseltine, Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping (5 April 1973). ""Royston Grange"". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 149W. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  25. ^ a b Michael Heseltine, Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping (28 June 1973). ""Royston Grange"". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 405W–407W. Retrieved 2 February 2021.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

  • "Royston Grange y Tien Chee". Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Fundación Histarmar. – photographs of Royston Grange before and after the collision

January 01, 1970
royston, grange, 1959, royston, grange, houlder, line, refrigerated, cargo, liner, steamship, that, built, england, 1959, 1972, collided, with, tanker, tien, chee, río, plata, resulting, fire, killed, people, aboard, royston, grange, eight, people, aboard, tie. SS Royston Grange was a Houlder Line refrigerated cargo liner steamship that was built in England in 1959 In 1972 she collided with the tanker Tien Chee in the Rio de la Plata The resulting fire killed all 74 people aboard Royston Grange and eight people aboard Tien Chee Royston Grange s burnt out hulk was scrapped in Spain in 1979 History United Kingdom NameRoyston Grange NamesakeRoyston Grange Ballidon OwnerHoulder Line Ltd OperatorHoulder Bros amp Co Ltd Port of registryLondon RouteGreat Britain Rio de la Plata BuilderHawthorn Leslie amp Co Hebburn Yard number736 Launched23 June 1959 CompletedDecember 1959 Out of service11 May 1972 IdentificationUK official number 301035 IMO number 5301502 FateDestroyed by fire after collision 11 May 1972 Scrapped 1979 General characteristics Typerefrigerated cargo liner Tonnage10 262 GRT 5 726 NRT 10 385 DWT Length489 0 ft 149 0 m Beam65 7 ft 20 0 m Depth29 0 ft 8 8 m Installed power8 500 shp Propulsion2 steam turbines 1 shaft Speed16 knots 30 km h Capacity12 passengers Crew61 Notessister ship Hardwicke Grange Royston or Roystone Grange is an 18th century farmstead next to the site of a medieval monastic grange at Ballidon in Derbyshire England 1 2 3 Houlder Line had named ships after several English granges including Royston since the 1890s This ship was the company s fifth and last Royston Grange 4 Contents 1 Building 2 Collision and disaster 3 Aftermath 4 Investigations 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External linksBuilding editHawthorn Leslie Shipbuilders Ltd built Royston Grange in 1959 launching her on 23 June and completing her that December She was 489 0 ft 149 0 m long her beam was 65 7 ft 20 0 m and her depth was 29 0 ft 8 8 m She had a single screw driven by two steam turbines via reduction gearing Between them the two turbines developed 8 500 shp and gave her a speed of 16 knots 30 km h 5 Royston Grange s holds were refrigerated to carry perishable cargo such as meat and dairy products 5 Her refrigeration system was electrically powered and its refrigerant was freon gas Her refrigeration room was at the starboard side of her engine room The gas was compressed then cooled and injected into a large evaporation cylinder which then supercooled brine that was circulated through the evaporator The supercooled brine was pumped at three temperature levels to the various cargo holds where the brine circulated through fan blown radiators to cool the cargo citation needed Royston Grange s superstructure was in two separate parts 6 Her bridge was amidships above accommodation for her deck officers and 12 passengers Accommodation for her crew and engineering officers was slightly aft and also included her four lifeboats The hatch to one of her holds separated the two parts of her accommodation 6 Such a division of the superstructure was not unique for ships of her era e g Royal Mail Lines Magdalena 7 and Three Graces 8 Amazon 1959 Aragon 1959 and Arlanza 1960 9 But it was very unusual for a Houlder Line ship Hawthorn Leslie built a sister ship and running mate Hardwicke Grange She was launched on 21 October 1960 and completed in March 1961 10 The two ships carried chilled and frozen produce from the River Plate ports of Argentina and Uruguay to London Liverpool and ports in the Bristol Channel 11 Collision and disaster editIn May 1972 Royston Grange loaded a cargo of chilled and frozen beef and butter in Buenos Aires She embarked 12 passengers including six women and a five year old child and left port bound for London At 0540 hrs on 11 May Royston Grange was in the Punta Indio Channel 35 nautical miles 65 km southwest of Montevideo Uruguay under the direction of an Argentine maritime pilot in dense fog 6 Also in the Punta Indio channel inbound to the River Plate was the Liberian registered tanker Tien Chee carrying 20 000 tons of crude oil Tien Chee was also under the direction of an Argentine pilot 6 According to maritime rules the two ships should have passed each other s port sides But Royston Grange s bow struck Tien Chee s port side rupturing the tanker s number seven wing tank Tien Chee s cargo caught fire which almost instantly spread to Royston Grange and the butter in the latter s cargo contributed to the intensity of the fire 6 The collision also ruptured Royston Grange s refrigeration tanks citation needed Royston Grange s passengers and many of her crew would have been asleep The effects of the fire killed all 61 of her crew all 12 passengers and her Argentine pilot and also eight Chinese members of Tien Chee s crew Argentine Naval Prefecture cutters rescued from Tien Chee 32 surviving members of her crew and her Argentine pilot 6 The majority of the crew and half the passengers in Royston Grange were British nationals exceptions being a Dutch boatswain and an American able seaman from the crew an Australian a New Zealander two Germans and two Argentine passengers 12 The collision swung Tien Chee across the channel grounding her and blocking all traffic in or out of Buenos Aires 6 Uruguayan tugs with water hoses doused the fire aboard both ships Aftermath edit nbsp Royston Grange headstone in the British Cemetery Montevideo Houlder Line flew 130 relatives of the victims to Uruguay for a mass funeral of the victims On 20 May 1972 their remains mostly little more than ashes and charred bones were buried in six urns in two communal graves in The British Cemetery Montevideo 13 The funeral was followed by a memorial service in London on 8 June at the parish church of All Hallows by the Tower 14 One of the windows of All Hallows now includes a stained glass panel commemorating all who died aboard Royston Grange 6 nbsp Window in All Hallows by the Tower with the Royston Grange panel in the lower part of the centre light Royston Grange was initially towed to Montevideo 15 The recovery of her smouldering hull by the Uruguayan Navy led to confrontation with the Argentine patrol boats ARA King and ARA Murature which had been ordered to tow the wreck to Buenos Aires 16 17 This was one of a series of maritime incidents that prompted the governments of Argentina and Uruguay to negotiate a new treaty on their maritime frontier which was concluded the following year 17 In March 1974 Royston Grange was towed to Barcelona 18 where her scrapping began on 20 May 1979 19 Tien Chee was scrapped at Buenos Aires in August 1976 20 Investigations editArgentina Liberia and the United Kingdom all investigated the disaster 21 Argentina initially detained Tien Chee s master pending the outcome of its investigation 22 The Liberian inquiry concluded that Tien Chee s master and pilot in an attempt to get enough water for her deep draught had probably navigated too far to the south side of the channel forcing Royston Grange farther south onto the shelf that formed its southern boundary The bank deflected Royston Grange causing her to shear to port and strike Tien Chee 23 The officers of Royston Grange it concluded were probably not to blame although there may have been some human error in trying to avoid the collision The master and pilot of Tien Chee probably should not have entered the channel in the first place in the tidal conditions prevailing at the time The report severely criticised the lack of maintenance of the channel 23 In 1972 the United Kingdom held a preliminary inquiry under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 21 In 1973 the UK s National Physical Laboratory also conducted tank tests to understand the technical circumstances that led to the collision 24 In June 1973 in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom opposition MP John Prescott claimed that Argentina did not comply with an IMCO recommendation that interested parties should be allowed to attend the inquiry into the disaster The Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping Michael Heseltine stated that UK inspectors were not allowed access to Tien Chee or to take statements from witnesses pending the holding of the judicial inquiry but were later shown a record of the proceedings and given a report of the inquiry They were also invited to attend the final stages of the administrative tribunal 25 Heseltine also said he was favourably impressed by the quality of the Liberian Board s findings and considered that a further inquiry by the United Kingdom would be unlikely to reach different conclusions 25 See also editMV Derbyshire Dona PazReferences edit Historic England Roystone Grange farmhouse and barn Grade II 1109347 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 2 February 2021 Historic England Medieval grange and field system 200m south of Royston Grange 1018088 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 2 February 2021 Roystone Grange in Derbyshire Derbyshire and Peak District Visitor Guide Retrieved 2 February 2021 Swiggum Susan Kohli Marjorie 18 January 2006 Houlder Line Alexander SS Co TheShipsList Retrieved 2 February 2021 a b Royston Grange Tyne Built Ships Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust Retrieved 2 February 2021 a b c d e f g h JCB 9 January 2012 The Royston Grange Tragedy The Pilot United Kingdom Maritime Pilots Association Retrieved 2 February 2021 Nicol 2001 p 186 Nicol 2001 p 194 Nicol 2001 pp 198 199 Hardwicke Grange Tyne Built Ships Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust Retrieved 2 February 2021 Harnack 1964 p 537 Royston Grange y Tien Chee Historia y Arqueologia Maritima in Spanish Retrieved 14 May 2021 Burial of River Plate collision victims The Times No 58484 London 22 May 1972 p 7 Dickin Ian May 2012 Royston Grange PDF Newsletter The British Society in Uruguay p 7 Retrieved 10 March 2021 Burrell 1992 p 161 Fiueroa Gustavo 2007 El Royston Grange y el Tien Chee Historia y Arqueologia Maritima in Spanish Academia Uruguaya de Historia Maritima y Fluvial Retrieved 19 July 2021 a b Castillo Laborde Lilian del 2008 The Rio de la Plata and its Maritime Front Legal Regime English ed Leiden Martinus Nijhoff p 38 ISBN 978 9004163447 Synd 31 3 74 Freighter Royston Grange towed across the Atlantic Associated Press Archived from the original on 18 December 2021 Retrieved 2 February 2021 via YouTube 5301502 Miramar Ship Index Retrieved 21 December 2009 5086293 Miramar Ship Index Retrieved 21 December 2009 a b Michael Noble Minister for Trade 26 May 1972 Royston Grange Collision Parliamentary Debates Hansard United Kingdom House of Commons col 542W Retrieved 2 February 2021 Michael Heseltine Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping 26 October 1972 S S Royston Grange Sinking Parliamentary Debates Hansard United Kingdom House of Commons col 436W Retrieved 2 February 2021 a b Michael Heseltine Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping 16 May 1973 Royston Grange Liberian Inquiry Parliamentary Debates Hansard United Kingdom House of Commons col 348W 349W Retrieved 2 February 2021 Michael Heseltine Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping 5 April 1973 Royston Grange Parliamentary Debates Hansard United Kingdom House of Commons col 149W Retrieved 2 February 2021 a b Michael Heseltine Minister of State for Aerospace and Shipping 28 June 1973 Royston Grange Parliamentary Debates Hansard United Kingdom House of Commons col 405W 407W Retrieved 2 February 2021 Bibliography editBurrell David 1992 Furness Withy 1891 1991 Kendal World Ship Society ISBN 0 905617 70 3 Harnack Edwin P 1964 1903 All About Ships amp Shipping 11th ed London Faber and Faber Nicol Stuart 2001 MacQueen s Legacy Ships of the Royal Mail Line Vol Two Brimscombe Port and Charleston SC Tempus Publishing ISBN 0 7524 2119 0 External links edit Royston Grange y Tien Chee Historia y Arqueologia Maritima in Spanish Fundacion Histarmar photographs of Royston Grange before and after the collision Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title SS Royston Grange 1959 amp oldid 1219800684, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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