Cordene SS

CORDENE SS

Sister ship to the SS Corduff
Type ... Cargo (Well deck). Long raised quarter deck, x4 holds, engines midships, plumb bow, counter stern. Poop deck 20ft, Long raised quarter deck 164ft, forecastle 26ft.

Position ... 52 59 941 N / 001 49 171 E
Built ... 1924
Construction ... Steel
Official number ... 147668
Tonnage ... 2345grt
Dimensions ... 86.7 x 12.8 x 5.9mtrs
Double bottom ... Yes
Engine ... x1 three cylinder triple expansion engine (Single shaft) 21, 34 & 56 x 39 inches
Engine ... Revolutions per minute ... 80 / Nominal horse power 247
Propeller diameter ... 15 feet
Speed ... 12 knots
Boilers ... x2 Scotch type boilers / 6 Deighton corrugated furnaces in total, ie x3 per boiler
Boiler shell material ... Steel / John Spencer Steel Company, Leeds Forge
Boiler dimensions ... Diameter 15 feet 3 inches / Length 10 feet 6 inches
Working pressure of boilers ... 184 lbs
Power ... 247hp
Speed ... 12 knots
Builder ... Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend
Yard number ... 1229
Engine and boiler builder  ... George T. Grey & Co Ltd, South Shields
Owner at time of loss ... Cory Colliers Ltd, London
Lost ... 9th August 1941
Cause ... Air attack
Depth ... 28 mtrs

Below ... A model of the SS Cordene held at the Muckleburgh Military Collection at Weybourne Norfolk

History and loss
The Steamship Cordene was one of the last midship engined colliers built for William Cory & Son Ltd. Launched on the 30th April 1924 and completed in June of the same year. Whilst travelling in ballast as part of convoy FN 503 (Southend to Methil), the Cordene was bombed and destroyed by German aircraft on the 9th August 1941. All the crew members were rescued.
UKHO
1941 ... Lies on an even keel. Mast shows 8ft above low water. General depth 74ft = 22.4mtrs
1948 ... Dispersed and swept clear to 46ft General depth 81ft = 24.5mtrs
1992 ... Swept clear at 20mtrs, foul at 20.3mtrs. General depth 26.5mtrs. Length 110mtrs, width 4.5mtrs, height 1.3mtrs.
Below ... General arrangement of the SS Cordene

Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd (Wallsend) Builders of the SS Cordene.

 In 1903 C. S. Swan and Hunter merged with Wigham Richardson in an effort to win the prestigious contract to build the Mauretania for Cunard. Their bid was successful, and the new company, Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson was born. Based in the Wallsend Shipyard, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the 20th century, most famously the RMS Mauretania which held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing, and the RMS Carpathia which rescued the survivors of the RMS Titanic. In 1966 Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson merged with the Smiths Dock Company to form Associated Shipbuilders, which later became the Swan Hunter Group.

Deighton's Patent Flue and Tube Company ...   Makers of the Cordene's boiler furnaces. The design of the corrugated furnace is to be attributed to Samson Fox who in turn patented his design in 1877. Prior to the use of corrugated furnaces the surface of the furnace was plain in design. The benefits displayed in the corrugated design were that it offered a greater external heating surface via its corrugation, plus it offered far greater strength and resistance to the high external pressures put upon it from within the boiler, ie it was less susceptible to being crushed or forming flat spots on its surface that would then in turn make it more susceptible to being crushed under pressure. The use of corrugated furnaces allowed for safer usage of the high pressures required to run compounding engines.

Double Bottom  as incorporated in the Cordene's design... A double bottom is a method of construction where the bottom of the ship has two separate layers of watertight hull floor. The outer layer forms the outer hull and the inner layer, ie the floor forms a watertight barrier should the outer hull be breached. Up until 2007, double bottomed vessels were allowed to utilise their DB's for fuel storage. In addition the DB can also be used for the storage of ballast water.

Advantage of long raised quarter deck with engines midships as in the Cordene's build

With the engines located midships, this meant the prop shaft and in turn the shaft tunnel ran a great deal of length along the bottom of the ships hull to arrive at the stern. The disadvantage of this was that it took up a great deal of potential hold space astern of the engines. A solution to this was to raise the height of the deck above the area of the shaft tunnel, this in turn increasing the hold space available, this being known as a long raised quarter deck, the raised quarter deck would also include the bridge. Note ... From the photograph of the Rose Marie at the head of this page the two holds astern of the funnel are higher than the two forward of the funnel. This in turn increasing the hold space that would have been reduced due to the accommodation of the shaft tunnel.


George T. Grey & Co, Builders of the SS Cordene's engine. 
Company established by George Thomas Grey at the Holborn Engineering works, South Shields, 1882
Below ... The house flag of Cory Colliers (W. M. Cory & Sons) London.

Cory Colliers Ltd (W. M. Cory & Sons) London, owners of the Cordene. The house flag of Cory Colliers Ltd, London. A red, rectangular flag with a white diamond in the centre. Cory Colliers were a branch of William Cory and Son. Originally in the coal trade, they became tug operators, taking over several other companies. In 1985 they were consolidated under the control of Cory Towage Limited, and the flag emblem was altered from a white diamond to a blue one edged white. They were taken over and absorbed by Bureau Wijsmuller in February 2000.
The Cordene today
Awaiting divers report
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