King City (1)
Comments from the forum - 1
I have my grandfather, Horace Jewell's Continuous Certificate of Discharge which shows him to be crew on 4 engagements on S.S. Quarrydene between 12th April 1918 and 11th February 1919. This was initially as 2nd Mate then as 1st Mate. On 14th February 1919 he is recorded as Master.
Interestingly the vessel is referred to as "Quarrydene" throughout and not
as "King City" to which it was reportedly renamed in 1918. Jon Sowell. Posted on forum 16 November 2010.
The documents I have for the voyage of 31/12/18 to 12/2/19 show Quarrydene's registered owner as W. R. Smith and Sons of Cardiff.
The last entry in Grandad's certificate of discharge is a pair of ditto marks under Quarrydene from the previous entry, followed by the date, Cardiff 14/2/19, and the word Master. I have no further information on what either he or the vessel did next. Jon Sowell. Posted on forum 17 November 2010.
Thanks Mike, yes two good photos of the Quarrydene/King City. In the second one approaching the wharf in Hamburg, you can just make out the top part of the distinctive "swan" bow that as we know was a feature of the Pyman ships at the time, its a pity that the frame of the dock crane is just hiding most of it. Never mind as you say good photos of our RSL heritage. Graham Mapplebeck. Posted on forum 18 November 2010.
Came across more information on the King City ex-Quarrydene from "The Pyman Story, fleet and family history" by P.Hogg and H.Apppleyard, which adds to and confirms Mike's detailed research above, thanks Mike.
According to that book she was built at Bartram's Sunderland in 1905, 2883 gross tons, bought by the St. Just S.S. Co in 1917 for £70,000 and renamed King City as we know.
Interestingly her original owners were the London & Northern SS Co (Pyman, Watsons) as Mike says above, with registered office in London up to 3 April 1917, but then on 4 April 1917 and up to 14 October 1920, the registered office of that company is listed as Cardiff. I wonder if 4 April 1917 was this the actual date the ships were sold to St.Just SS? King City then sold in 1927 to Greek owners for £15,850 (new name not given). Finally sunk by an Italian submarine on 2.12.1940 sadly with the loss of 18 of the crew. There were 10 survivors who were then taken prisoner.
The book names a few of the Pyman Masters here and there but obviously not all, Horace Jewell is not listed, so sorry its still not conclusive on that point. Graham Mapplebeck. Posted on forum 19 November 2010.
Graham. Makes sense, and sounds about right for the date of purchase of the Quarrydene and the other Pyman ships. After you told me some time back, that you had the Hogg/Appleyard book on the Pymans, I looked around online for a copy, and the cheapest I could find was £60! So I guess you can be the resident librarian, in that respect!
Many of those shipping book histories, with a single, small print, do appear to be quite expensive. Heatons goes for quite price.
I have made several attempts to contact Harold Appleyard. He has a very good collection of old ship photographs, including several of the early Smiths ships, and it would be good to have his permission to use them. I shall continue trying.
From the detail that Jon gives us about Horace Jewell, and the fact that the King City left Newport around October 1919, it would seem likely that she changed her name sometime between February and then. There was a lot going on in the world in those years.
When the King City was sold in 1927, she was renamed Anastasia, purchased by Livanos Bros, who were a Greek company very much on the up. Mike Jones. Posted on forum 19 November 2010.
Disclaimer: The statements on this page are the views of the person who posted them on the forum. The events took place many years ago and in most cases rely on those people's memories, and so we cannot guarantee the accuracy although every effort is made to check it.
King City. Page [1] [2]Memories from RSL staff. Page No. [1] [2]