Court Line - the company and its ships

Arlington Court (1)

 

Court Line has used the name Arlington Court for three ships:

· Arlington Court (1) - a cargo ship launched in 1905

· Arlington Court (2) - a cargo ship launched in 1924

· Arlington Court (3) - a cargo ship launched in 1962

 

Arlington Court (1) was Haldenstein & Co. Ltd.'s first tramp steamer. She survived being torpedoed in WW1, was in service for 28 years and finally scrapped in 1933.

Basic Data

Type: Cargo ship

Registered owners,managers and operators:

Court Line Ltd.

Managers Haldinstien and Co

Builders: R. Stephenson & Co. Ltd.

Yard: Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Country: UK

Yard number: 94

Registry: N/K

Official number: 120632

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: GJDB (Essex Knoll)

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 4,346

Net tonnage: 2,833

Deadweight: N/K

Length: 355 ft

Breadth: 50 ft

Depth: 26.5 ft

Draught: N/K

Engines: 3 cylinder triple-expansion steam engine

Engine builders: Blair & Co. Ltd.

Works: Stockton-on-Tees

Country: Uk

Power: 358 nhp

Propulsion: N/K

Speed: 9 knots

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: N/K

War Service in WW1

 

Arlington Court (1) was used to transport various cargoes during the war:

 

· As RN Collier from 28/9/14 - 22/12/14

· Transportation of sugar and coal from 7/11/15 -13/12/15

· Timber transport 11/3/16 till 2/9/16

· As RN Collier again until 8/9/18

· Transport of wheat from USA. and Australia till mid 1919.

 

Ext. Ref. #7 provides the following information:

 

Arlington Court (1) was ordered to proceed to Abrolhos Rocks off the coast of Brazil to rendezvous with the South Atlantic fleet under Admiral Craddock. She arrived there on 27 October 1914, but the fleet was far away engaging a German squadron at Coronel off Chile, She waited until 6 November when orders were received to proceed to an anchorage 3 miles outside the English Bank lighthouse in the Plate. Here the loss of the British warships was learnt, and the Hain Line tramp Tregurno advised them to move back to Abrolhos to bunker the auxiliary cruiser Orama. The ships were made fast to each other while bunkering was taking place, but the rough sea made them roll heavily with frequent small collisions under water. No leaks were found on the tramp and she set sail for the Falklands to bunker the battlecruiser Invincible - a member of the victorious British squadron at the Battle of the Falklands.

 

She then came off charter and voyaged to Karachi to load wheat. She was given an 12-pounder as defence against submarines but due to the shortage of these guns it was taken off at Gibraltar and a 3-pounder substituted. Her speed was down to 5.75 knots due to marine growth, and when a periscope was sighted travelling along the port side of the tramp only 200 yards away the worst was feared as the 3-pounder could not be depressed sufficiently to take aim. Amazingly no attack was made and Liverpool was safely reached early in 1916. Later that year on 30 October she was chased by a U-boat 50 miles SW of Cape St. Vincent but used her gun to good effect to escape. However she was torpedoed on 14 May 1917 off SW Ireland but was towed in and repaired. She was shortly afterwards sole to the Mitchell Steamship Co. Ltd. with W.J. Williams as manager and renamed Penylan after a suburb of Cardiff

 

 

Service Post-WW1

 

 

Currently little information is known about her usage between the end of WW1 and her being scrapped in 1933, but as can be seen from the Career Highlights section above, she changed hands and name several times.

Service Pre-WW1

 

 

According to Ext. Ref. #7, Arlington Court (1) sailed on her maiden voyage under Captain S.H. Jones:

 

She traded worldwide under Captain Robert Rooks throughout 1914 when taken on six months time-charter by the German Gans Line to carry cotton from New Orleans and Mobile to Europe. She then loaded coal in the Tyne for Marseilles in early July, and was requisitioned at Cardiff on her return.

 

No further information about her pre-war service is currently known.

Images

 

Currently I have been unable to locate any images of Arlington Court (1).