The Day The City Split In Two / A River Full Of Stories
By Richard Lewis The Copenhagen Connection In 1947 and 1948, 17 Open Barges built in Hull by Tarran Industries between 1944 and 1945 were sold to a Danish towage company, Det Forenede Bugserselskab A/S. of Copenhagen. Once in their ownership, they were confusingly prefixed F.B., which denoted ‘Forenede Bugserselskab’, but with new numbers. When built … Continue reading Hull’s World War II Concrete Barges Part 3
The caption to the photograph above by Bernard Sharp reads: Humber Estuary, 1985. Visible at low tide at Marfleet Growths, the wreck of the concrete-hulled 'Crete Street' was built circa 1915. In the background is the Salt End jetty. We forwarded the image and caption to Richard Lewis at http://www.thecretefleet.com who sent us the following … Continue reading Cretestreet By Richard Lewis
By Richard Lewis Ferro-Concrete Barge Building in Hull – Tarran Industries In September 1943, the Ministry of War Transport placed an order for 40 Stem-head Open Barges to be built by Tarran Industries of Hull. The founder and Managing Director of Tarran Industries was Robert Tarran who had had been born in Kingston upon Hull … Continue reading Hull’s World War II Concrete Barges Part 2
By Richard Lewis The History of Concrete Shipbuilding In 1848, Frenchman, Joseph-Louis Lambot built a ‘ferro-cement’ dinghy. A second one following in 1849 and ‘Ferciment’, the methodologies and materials used to build his concrete boats, was patented, and presented at the 1855 ‘Exposition Universelle’ in Paris. His ‘Bateau Ciment’ dinghies were still afloat in 1901 and … Continue reading Hull’s World War II Concrete Barges Part 1