HQS Wellington
HMS Wellington (launched Devonport, 1934) is a Grimsby-class sloop, formerly of the Royal Navy. During the Second World War,
she served as a convoy escort ship in the North Atlantic. She is now moored alongside the Victoria Embankment, at Temple Pier, on
the River Thames in London as the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners where she is known as
HQS Wellington. It was always the ambition of the founding members of the company to have a livery hall. Up to the outbreak of
war in 1939, various proposals were examined, including the purchase of a sailing ship, the Archibald Russell.
After the war, it became apparent that the possibility of building a hall in the City of London had been rendered very remote. In
1947, the Grimsby-class sloop Wellington was made available by the Admiralty. The company decided to buy her with money
subscribed by the members and convert her to a floating livery hall - an appropriate home for a company of seafarers.
Before the Second World War HMS Wellington served in the Pacific mainly on
station in New Zealand and China. As built, Wellington mounted two 4.7 inch guns
and one 3-inch gun. Additionally, anti-aircraft guns were fitted for self-defence.
Depth charges for use against submarines were carried. Wellington served
primarily in the North Atlantic on convoy escort duties. She shared in the
destruction of one enemy U-boat and was involved in Operation Dynamo, the
evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. A fuller account of Wellington’s war service has
been written by Captain A. D. Munro in his book HMS/HQS Wellington.
During
1943 she was briefly commanded by Captain John Treasure Jones, at that time a
lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy Reserve, who would later be the last
captain of RMS Queen Mary.
The Grimsby-class anti-submarine sloops of 1933-36, which included HMS Wellington, were the predecessors of the famous Black
Swan sloops of 1939, including HMS Starling which sank 14 U-boats, and HMS Amethyst, the hero of the 1949 Yangste Incident.
These wartime sloops further evolved during the Battle of the Atlantic into the River and Loch-class ASW frigate types.
HMS President is moored near Wellington on the Embankment. This ship, built as HMS Saxifrage in 1918, was a Flower-class anti-
submarine Q-Ship, and is one of the last three surviving warships of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. President was
one of the first types of warship built specifically for anti-submarine warfare. Wellington and President together represent the first
and second generation ancestors of modern frigates, which are the most numerous type of front-line warship in today's navy.
In naval fiction.
After the War, she was converted from being His Majesty’s Ship Wellington to
"Head Quarters Ship" HQS Wellington at Chatham Dockyard. The cost of this
conversion was met by an appeal to which Lloyd's, Shipping Companies,
Livery Companies and many other benefactors generously contributed. It
included the installation of a grand wooden staircase taken from the 1906 Isle
of Man ferry SS Viper, which was being broken up at the same time.
Wellington arrived at her Victoria Embankment berth in December 1948 to
continue service as the floating livery hall of the Honourable Company of
Master Mariners.
In 1991, HQS Wellington was dry-docked at Sheerness for three months during which, apart from extensive steelwork repairs and
complete external painting, she received a major refurbishment which included the refitting of all toilet facilities, offices and
accommodation areas. For the first time, Wellington was fully fitted with custom-made carpet, and displays were installed of the
Company’s marine paintings and artefacts, gold and silver plate, ship models and newly discovered very early 18th century charts.
HQS Wellington as she is today
Post-war
HMS Wellington in April 1942
Naval Service
The Wellington Trust
On the 1st of July 2005 ownership of the Wellington was transferred from the Honourable
Company to the Wellington Trust, a charitable trust established to ensure the preservation of
this historic ship.
Moored opposite Temple Underground Station, HQS
Wellington is centrally located straddling the boundary
between The City and Westminster. It is very popular for
lunches, dinners, and conferences for parties up to 250
people. Wellington is a unique London venue for any
functions which benefit from the backdrop of its
wonderful collection of marine antiques, including
priceless paintings and model ships.
Flexibility is key to the attraction of this venue with a range of rooms available, from small
meetings in a boardroom to a whole ship event. The ship is also a licensed venue for holding
weddings.
The library onboard the Wellington contains numerous publications on a variety of maritime subjects, ranging from the complete
works of Joseph Conrad to Lloyd’s Register of ships. In addition, there are many ship’s log books, first hand accounts of seafaring
and empirical research papers. The library also contains a large collection of sextants, chronometers and other maritime
instruments and artefacts. Of particular importance is a rare Listor & Martins Berlin circular sextant made in Germany in the mid
19th Century and a French Chronometer built by Berthoud and dating from the 1850s.
The Wellington houses a wide range of beautiful and historic artefacts and treasures onboard, including a large collection of ship
models, which include a large model of HMS Victory, an exquisitely detailed model of the Cutty Sark and a model of a whaler made
from whale bone. In 2005, the Honourable Company lent a number of artefacts to the Museum of Garden History for an exhibition
on Captain (later Vice Admiral) Bligh’s epic voyage 3618 mile voyage, following the mutiny onboard the HMAV Bounty
Medals won by a number of Company members are also displayed. These include two George Cross’ won by Captains GP
Stronach and DM Mason and one Victoria Cross won by Captain RB Stanard RN.
The ship is open to visitors on occasions throughout the year and group tours can also be arranged at a nominal cost, to include
refreshments. The ship is located just across the road from Temple tube station (on the District / Circle Lines), a 10 minute walk
from either Charing Cross or Blackfriars mainline stations, or 15-20 minutes across the Thames from Waterloo.
As HQS Wellington is a working environment, it is not open to the public except on specified days, but students of maritime history
and those interested in the sea are most welcome to visit us by appointment;
For further information visit: http://www.thewellingtontrust.com
The SS Shieldhall was laid down in October 1954, launched on 7th July 1955 and entered service in October of that year. Built by
Lobnitz & Co., of Renfrew on the River Clyde to a specification determined by the Glasgow Corporation, she was required to carry
her “cargo” as well as passengers housed in a spacious saloon in her daily trips “doon the watter”.
Shieldhall was operated by Glasgow Corporation to transport treated sewage sludge down the river Clyde to be dumped at sea. She
continued a tradition, dating back to the First World War, that Glasgow's sludge vessels carried organised parties of passengers
when operating during the summer months. Thus Shieldhall was built with accommodation for 80 passengers.
In 1976, after 21 years of faithful service on the Clyde, Shieldhall was laid up. Shieldhall was purchased by the Southern Water
Authority in 1977. For five years, from 1980, she carried sludge from Marchwood, Millbrook and Woolston in Southampton to an area
south of the Isle of Wight. It was when she was suddenly withdrawn from service in July 1985, due to rising fuel prices, that active
preservation began.
As a result of an initiative by the Southampton City's Museum Services, a preservation society was formed and "Shieldhall" was
purchased from Southern Water in 1988, for £20,000. The Society is registered as an Industrial and Provident Society as The
Solent Steam Packet Limited and operates as a charity.
All work associated with the Society and "Shieldhall" is carried out by unpaid volunteers. Much work has been done on the ship by
these volunteers in order to keep her in sea-going condition. The saloon has been restored and the galley brought up-to-date.
Crewed by volunteers, "Shieldhall" is a frequent sight around the Solent running excursions and such like. She has been to Holland
for the Dordrecht Steam Festival and she has been an attendee at each of the International Festivals of the Sea at Bristol and
Portsmouth.
During the summer months, various excursions are run in the Solent area and during the course of these voyages, passengers are
encouraged to visit the Bridge and machinery spaces.
“Shieldhall” is unique as a time capsule providing a working example of steamship machinery both above and below deck, typical of
the cargo and passenger ships that plied the oceans of the world from the 1870s until the mid 1960s, by which time they were all but
extinct.
The ship is of special interest as she is built on the classical lines of a 1920s steamer with a traditional wheelhouse; the hull is of
riveted and welded construction and this unusual feature is representative of the transitional phase in British shipbuilding when
welding took over from riveted practice. The hull has a slightly raked bow and cruiser stern. The teak decks and emergency steering
position aft add to the classic effect. Shieldhall was effectively obsolete mechanically at the time of her launch having steam
machinery representative of the late 19th century at a time when the diesel engine was coming into its own. She is now believed to
be the largest working steam ship in Northern Europe.
For further information visit: http://www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk
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