TYNE TUGS AND TUG BUILDERS
A history of Tyne Tugs, their builders and owners

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Above: Select the required shipyard by using the initial letter of the Surname eg: Eltringham, Hepple or Rennoldson.
KEY BELOW: D / H / P (D = basic dimensions are shown; H = a history is given; P = one or more photographs are available)

Shipbuilder: Readhead, Softley & Co

In 1865 John Softley, General Manager for Marshalls at Willington Quay and John Readhead, Engineering Manager for the same firm decided to start a small shipbuilding business of their own. With £2,860 of capital they set up in a yard vacated by their former employers at Pilot Street, South Shields. The yard was close to the river mouth and below the Lawe Top, between the entrance to Wapping Street and the present-day Groyne. They were quite successful for a time, building some 87 vessels in a period of seven years, but after a great trade depression in the early years of the 1870s, the partnership was dissolved in 1872.

Yd No Year Ship Name D / H / P
2 1865 Contest D / H / P
3 1866 Pilot D / H / P
4 1866 Great Emperor D / H
6 1866 Gladiateur D / H
7 1866 Guiding Star D / H
8 1866 Lord Lyon D / H
9 1866 Unione D / H
10 1866 Storm King D / H
14 1867 Advance D / H
15 1867 Pride o' the Tay D / H
16 1867 Joseph Locke D / H
18 1867 Oscar D / H
19 1867 Susan Gibbs D / H
21 1867 Henry Wright D / H
22 1867 Hellespont D / H / P
23 1867 George Peabody D / H / P
27 1868 John Smart D / H
28 1868 Stanley D / H
30 1868 Twist D / H
31 1868 Marion D / H
32 1868 Orcadia D / H / P
33 1868 Pauline D / H
34 1868 Pera D / H
35 1868 Milo D / H
36 1868 Lord Warden D / H / P
38 1868 King Fisher D / H
39 1868 Caterina D / H
44 1869 Cosmopolitan D / H
46 1869 Bosphorus D / H
47 1869 Leinster D / H
48 1869 Gauntlet D / H
50 1869 Restless D / H / P
1869 Charles XII D / H
53 1870 Caterina D / H
54 1870 Fiery Dragon D / H
56 1870 Cruiser D / H
58 1870 Washington D / H / P
60 1870 George Peabody D / H
62 1870 Hetton D / H
64 1870 Penelope D / H
65 1870 Malta D / H
66 1870 Danube D / H / P
70 1871 Warrior D / H / P
71 1871 Elena D / H
72 1871 Peter Dixon D / H
74 1872 Charles Dickens D / H / P
75 1872 Agamemnon D / H / P
1871 Pilot D / H / P
1872 Leading Star D / H
1872 Sussex D / H / P
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