Blythwoode Technical Specification

Completed August 1870: Official No. 63620: Code Letters JSDN.

Owners: 1870 Watts, Milburn & Co, London: 1879 Watts, Ward & Co, London: 1892 H Briggs, South Shields: 1899 Aktiebol Gustafsbergs Fabriks Intressenter (OW Odelberg) Sweden-renamed Gustafsberg; 1911 A/B Sune, Halmstad, Sweden-renamed Gustaf.

Masters: 1876 Miller: 1882 Thomas: 1883-87 Broker: 1887-89 J Tait: 1890-91 W Gibson: 1891H Thompson: 1892 T Twizell: 1895 H Thompson: 1896-98 AA Dowden: 1899-1908 CE Lutteman: 1911-3 JK Johansson.

Blythewood left Nicolaieff with a cargo of wheat on 16 November 1876 bound for Gibraltar for orders. After crossing the bar at Otchakoff she was piloted by a Russian naval officer to avoid torpedoes in the narrow channel until she reached Kilburn. She struck ground in the channel but was refloated after her cargo was lightened.

Voyages: 17 April 1877 passed Gibraltar bound from Colombo for Boadicea: 1 December 1887 arrived at Deal from Oran: January 1889 arrived at Port Said: 29 September 1889 arrived at Cardiff from Decido: 14 June 1897 arrived at Liverpool from Huelva: 11 January 1898 arrived at Liverpool from Cardiff: 23 January 1899 arrived at Gravesend from Brussels.

Bound from Burntisland for Halmstad with a cargo of coal the Gustaf was wrecked at Morups Tange on 5 April 1915.

This section will, in time, contain the stories of more than 450 merchant ships built or owned in the Hartlepools, and which were lost during the First World War. As an illustration of the truly global nature of shipbuilding, these ships were owned by companies from 22 different countries, including more than 30 sailing under the German flag at the outbreak of war.