How deep is the River Wear at Sunderland?

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Tuono said:
The width and bends in the river limited the size of ship that could be built on the Wear, I don't think depth was a problem.
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J.L. Thompsons (North Sands) - were pretty much unlimited to the size of ship that was built there.
Laings at Deptford could build Panamax size vessels no bother - but the topsides for them were added at the fitting out quay after going under the town bridge.
Pallion/Doxfords and Pickies could still build decent size vessels - the SD14 for instance was the mainstay of Pickies - getting them down the river was achieved.
 
Butcher's Coat said:
J.L. Thompsons (North Sands) - were pretty much unlimited to the size of ship that was built there.
Laings at Deptford could build Panamax size vessels no bother - but the topsides for them were added at the fitting out quay after going under the town bridge.
Pallion/Doxfords and Pickies could still build decent size vessels - the SD14 for instance was the mainstay of Pickies - getting them down the river was achieved.
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There’s a cracking photo of a hull just going under the town bridge without the bridge/ topsides installed.
Crying shame we don’t do this anymore.
 
Found what I was looking for. Vedra was the dredger, Wear Hopper No1 was one of the barges that took the sludge out to sea. Seeing the tugboat Dunelm brought back more memories anarl.

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It's disgusting the way any traces of shipbuilding have been erased from Wearside.
 
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Apart from dredging the depth of the Wear depends upon whether the tide if coming in or going out
Tuono said:
The width and bends in the river limited the size of ship that could be built on the Wear, I don't think depth was a problem.
Bigger ship were built on Tyneside.
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The bigger ships (super tankers) almost all ended up in fjords rusting away whereas the smaller ship (SD14) served the merchant fleets of the world years.Over a 20 year period (1968-88) Sunderland built on average just under 150,000 tons of SD14's a year at A & P and Bartrams. That's 3 million tons of SD14's in 20 years
 
I believe SD14's were also build under licence in shipyards around the world. That must have earned a few bob for British Shipbuilders or what ever they were called then, didn't stop them from closing down the Sunderland shipyards though.
 
Jap Stammer said:
It' a f@@king eyesore mate - should be bulldozed and all the rotting boats taken away for scrap.

The original owner justified towing that rusty old barge up the river by saying he was going to turn it into a floating dock/marina for river boats. FFS.

It was a fantastic pub at one time - I had my eighteenth birthday party in there. Last owners really ran it into the ground - didn't care about it and mad no effort to make it an attractive place to visit. It's on a riverside walk, has stone floors, and they wouldn't let dogs in, ffs.
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It is crap when one bad owner can run a long established pub into the ground so quickly. There was a big hotel pub near where I lived as student, really popular, good food, number of different rooms, good for locals and students. Even saw the Gabbiadini brothers in there a couple of times. Then a new owner took over. Prices went up, ranges of beers went down and he ran it as a place to have a laugh with his mates. They knew the owner so would throw their weight around. Queue at the bar for your turn, but then a landlord mate would come over and the staff were under orders to always serve them first. Want a table? Not if the landlord mates wanted it. Stick your 50p on the pool table. No chance of a fair turn if the landlord mates fancied a pool night, etc etc. Food went from being decent to microwave stuff. The customers moved elsewhere, the landlord realised his half dozen mates could not sustain it, and it closed within 2 years. Now it is a set of apartments :(
 
monkeytassle said:
That's the rub. Good pub but getting to and from it was a disaster. No reason not to have a footbridge down there tbh. Not like anything larger than a dinghy goes by now.
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Something like the one at Cox Green wold be ideal.

Could even be funded by a joint venture between the owners of The Golden Lion and The Shipwrights - mutually beneficial.
Silkyces said:
Pic is about a year old.
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Can't see the picture - won't open - but the 'North Hylton Marina' is about two hundred yards East of The Shipwrights. It's largely hidden from view on the North side but is viewable in all it's 'glory' from the South side of the river.
 
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Jap Stammer said:
Can't see the picture - won't open - but the 'North Hylton Marina' is about two hundred yards East of The Shipwrights. It's largely hidden from view on the North side but is viewable in all it's 'glory' from the South side of the river.
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I passed this a few weeks ago on the bike. The hulls have been there for many years and I could imagine at the time they had a value. Looking at the state of the place now, there will be residual scrap value, but unless is recovered at that location, it’ll cost them to have it removed so has been allowed to go into disrepair.
 
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Kevj said:
I passed this a few weeks ago on the bike. The bulls have been there for many years and I could imagine at the time they had a value. Looking at the state of the place now, there will be residual scrap value, but unless is recovered at that location, it’ll cost them to have it removed so has been allowed to go into disrepair.
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It's a disgrace i was ever allowed to get that way in the first place - the Council should have told him to get the stuff shifted years ago and took him to court if he refused. Assuming it comes under their responsibilities and it's not something to do with waterways and rivers, or something like that.
 
Jap Stammer said:
Something like the one at Cox Green wold be ideal.

Could even be funded by a joint venture between the owners of The Golden Lion and The Shipwrights - mutually beneficial.

Can't see the picture - won't open - but the 'North Hylton Marina' is about two hundred yards East of The Shipwrights. It's largely hidden from view on the North side but is viewable in all it's 'glory' from the South side of the river.
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Why is it so f***ing hard to post pics on here? Sorry it won't open but i know where it is as i just live up from the Rowing Clubhouse. How did the council let it get into such an eyesore?
 
DaveH said:
It is crap when one bad owner can run a long established pub into the ground so quickly. There was a big hotel pub near where I lived as student, really popular, good food, number of different rooms, good for locals and students. Even saw the Gabbiadini brothers in there a couple of times. Then a new owner took over. Prices went up, ranges of beers went down and he ran it as a place to have a laugh with his mates. They knew the owner so would throw their weight around. Queue at the bar for your turn, but then a landlord mate would come over and the staff were under orders to always serve them first. Want a table? Not if the landlord mates wanted it. Stick your 50p on the pool table. No chance of a fair turn if the landlord mates fancied a pool night, etc etc. Food went from being decent to microwave stuff. The customers moved elsewhere, the landlord realised his half dozen mates could not sustain it, and it closed within 2 years. Now it is a set of apartments :(
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What a shame.
 
cornish mackem said:
There’s still deep water quays on the south side at grenwells and corp quay but they had to dredge for the tall ships. It’s been neglected for decades
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Corp Quay has a draft of 8.5m and is a cracking length 323m. Greenwell’s official draft is given as 6.5m which is quite restrictive, I believe part of it is deeper but there is a stone “step” on the riverbed which restricts the draft.
MrOompapa said:
Random question I know, but I am wondering about the capacity of the river in the size of the ships it can handle.

I was reading that the Tyne often regularly undergoes dredging activities to make it deeper (and remove sediment) for big ships and to keep up its "competitiveness" as a river.

But I don't ever recall seeing that happen here, which is unusual given we want to promote our port. I suppose size will always put as at a disadvantage on this.
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If you have any specific questions, I’ll be happy to answer.
 
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Tuono said:
The width and bends in the river limited the size of ship that could be built on the Wear, I don't think depth was a problem.
Bigger ship were built on Tyneside.
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Really, ah well I have been under a misapprehension for years.
So when it was the shipbuilding capital of the world, presumably that was just the sheer number of vessels rather than the size.
 
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