Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Volume Ten - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Even more aspects - The Lloyd's Register at Penarth Dock . . .

s.s. 'Hockwold'

s.s. 'Hockwold' - The vessel was launched during January 1911 at the Bishopwearmouth, Wear Dockyard of S. P. Austin and Son Limited for Wm. Cory & Son Limited of Cardiff and London. She was a steel hulles, single steamer, intended as a coastal collier and was of 1,472 gross and 854 net register tons. Her vital statistics were 245.0 ft. length x 36.2 ft. breath x 15.9 ft. depth. Her triple expansion engines provided 170 n.h.p. In April 1916 she was transferred to Cory Colliers and the following year she collided with s.s. 'Intent' off the Lizard in Cornwall and was lost on the 8th September 1917. She was serving as Admiralty collier No. 661 and on passage from Penarth to Dover with a cargo of coal. Sadly ten crew members were lost, including the Captain, L. H. Albert. [843] [799]

Collision Off the Lizard s.s. Hockwold Sunk - Captain Lost - ' News reached Cardiff on Monday of a serious collision near the Lizard, on Saturday night, between the outward-bound steamer Hockwold and another steamer. The Hockwold, which had a cargo of coal, was sunk. Two members of her crew were rescued and taken on board the other steamer and landed at Cardiff, but the Captain and nine men were reported missing. It was thought that they may have been picked up and landed elsewhere; but unfortunately Captain Jones was drowned, and his remains have been sent to London. His funeral takes place today at Plaistow Cemetery' - The East End News - London Shipping Chronicle [901] 14th September 1917.

	'A little-known First World War accident led to the death of teenage Silsden mariner Willie Atkinson. In 1917 Ordinary Seaman Atkinson was a 19-year-old gunner on collier transport s.s. Hockwold when it was carrying coal from Cardiff to Dover. Passing the Lizard, at the tip of the Cornish coast, the Hockwold collided with the s.s. Intent and Willie, along with nine fellow crew members, drowned in the surging Atlantic waters. William had been born in 1897 and grew up in Silsden, West Riding of Yorkshire, with three siblings. (30 Skipton Rd., Silsden, Keighley) He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1916, and following basic training at Chatham he trained as a gunner. The Times newspaper of September 7, 1917 reported that after the fateful collision, 10 crew members from cargo steamer Hockwold were rescued by the Intent. The Times said the captain and nine of the men were reported missing and speculated they might be picked up and landed elsewhere. But this was not to be. Little consolation for Willie’s widowed mother Margaret Ann, but the owners of the Intent, found guilty of improper navigation, were ordered to pay £21,876 damages, £15 for every registered ton.' - The Keighley News [902] 17th November 2017.