Durham Castle

VNRH

DURHAM CASTLE was built in 1904 by Fairfield Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 8217grt, a length of 475ft 5in, a beam of 56ft 8in and a service speed of 14 knots.

Sister of the Dover Castle she was initially deployed as an Intermediate steamship but was transferred to the Cape - Mombasa run in 1910.

During the First World War she remained on commercial service but often acted as a troopship on the northbound passage..

In 1931 she was deployed on the East Africa via the Suez Canal service and in 1939 was put up for disposal after being replaced by the Pretoria Castle and was acquired by the Admiralty for war service as HMS Durham Castle.  

On 26th January 1940, while being towed to Scapa Flow for use as a base accommodation ship, she was mined off Cromarty.

The German U-boat U-57 claimed her as her victim and as the HMS Durham Castle was clear of the British mine fields the claim is probably correct.

Master

From

To

R E Becher

2/1904

6/1905

F P Whitehead

9/1904

12/1904

F J Moseley

7/1905

6/1909

S Henderson

6/1909

8/1909

H M Cruise

9/1909

11/1909

F P Whitehead

12/1909

2/1910

T Chope

2/1910

10/1912

B A Bryan

10/1912

10/1912

T C Clinock

10/1912

6/1913

T Chope

6/1913

9/1913

W W Verrall

9/1913

12/1913

B A Bryan

12/1913

2/1914

W W Verrall

2/1914

10/1915

B Burt

11/1915

8/1917

T H Wilford

8/1917

10/1918

W W Verrall

10/1918

2/1919

W B Dyer

2/1919

4/1920

D Samuel

7/1920

10/1922

C R Jackson

11/1922

10/1926

H B Harvey

2/1927

6/1927

R G Shilston

6/1927

4/1928

G J Whitfield

5/1928

7/1928

R A Barron

8/1928

6/1929

W Goodacre

7/1929

10/1929

A H Hutchings

11/1929

11/1929

H Linklater

11/1929

8/1931

D Nicoll

2/1930


R W Goodacre

5/1931


H R Northwood

8/1931

11/1931

C Le Brocq

12/1931

10/1932

W S Colbourne

7/1932


H Schofield

10/1932

7/1933

W Weller

7/1933


H R Northwood

8/1933

1/1934

E H Thornton

10/1933

3/1934

E A Comley

3/1934

3/1936

C J Lovegrove

9/1935


G H Fogden

3/1936

6/1936

Laid up

F A Smyth

10/1936

8/1937

S F Newdigate

8/1937

10/1937

J C Brown

11/1937

8/1938

At anchor at Mombasa

Rock Dodging in 1934 by Capt Jack Trayner

In 1934 I was proimoted to 2nd Officer of Durham Castle.

Captain E A Comley  was the skipper and the Chief Officer was Astley Race. We were engaged on the Round Africa Service, out via the Cape and home via Suez and The Mediterranean.

On my last voyage on her we left Durban one day about noon and at 0700 the next morning we hit an outlying peak just North of Cape St Lucia. The ship started to make water sp the skipper turned around ran back to Durban and stayed there a week in dry dock.

He was a bit of a rock scraper was Capt Comley: One night going up the East Coast I thought we were too close in. I called the Captain and told him “We are too close in Sir, I can see the breakers.” He replied “Let me know when you can hear the blighters.” I went back to the bridge and hauled her out a point.

he Aghulas ran fast down the SE African Coast and the idea was to get between it and the shore where there was a chance of avoiding it and perhaps even picking up a Northerly eddy, but the main thing was to keep the ship off the putty.

When we left Durban after the grounding he asked me to work out his pension, saying “I’m bound to be bowler hatted over this.” But he wasn’t and stayed to get his full pension at 65.

Reproduced from Capt Jack Trayner’s autobiography with permission from his family

Cape St Lucia

Agulhas Current

3 - 5 knots

Vessel

Built

Tonnage

Official No

Ship Builder

Engine Builder

Engine Type

HP

Screws

Durham Castle

1904

8217

118387

Fairfield

Glasgow

Fairfield

Glasgow

2 x Quadruple Expansion Steam

5200 IHP

2

Career Summary

Union-Castle Home Page
Home PagePrevious PageNext Page
Union-Castle Home Page