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Description:
9,035 grt; 10,385 dwt; 12 passengers.
Built 1959 by Hawthorn Leslie & Co Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne. Yard no. 736
Propulsion: single-screw with 2 x Hawthorn Leslie steam turbines of 8,500 shp (total). Speed: 16 knots.
11th May 1972-on fire after collision in fog with tanker TIEN CHEE in River Plate near Montevideo, Uruguay. No survivors from the 61 crew and 12 passengers aboard Royston Grange. All were killed by the fire. The ship did not sink and, in 1974, the wreck was towed to breakers at Barcelona, Spain.
Photographed in 1971, heading for London's Royal Docks.
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General cargo ships built 1950-1959 (Over 3000gt) - 5 photos
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The STV Royston Grange was a British cargo liner which was destroyed by fire after a collision in the Rio de la Plata on 11 May 1972. She had been built in 1959 and was owned by the Houlder Line. She was the first British ship to be lost with all hands since 1951.
The 7,113 ton Royston Grange, carrying 61 crew, 12 passengers (including six women and a five-year-old child), and an Argentinian harbour pilot, was bound from Buenos Aires to London with a cargo of chilled and frozen beef and butter. As she traversed the Punta Indio Channel, 35 miles from Montevideo, Uruguay, in dense fog at 5.40 a.m. she collided with the Liberian-registered tanker Tien Chee, carrying 20,000 tons of crude oil. The Tien Chee immediately burst into flames and a series of explosions rapidly carried the flames to the Royston Grange, which burned particularly hot due to the cargo of butter and the oil escaping from the Tien Chee. Most of the crew and passengers were asleep. Although the Royston Grange did not sink, every person on board was killed in the fire, most of them probably by carbon monoxide fumes emanating from the refrigeration tanks, which burst in the collision.
The Tien Chee subsequently ran aground, blocking all traffic in and out of the port of Buenos Aires. Eight of her 40 crew, who were mostly Chinese, also died, but the remainder along with the Argentinian pilot managed to abandon ship and were picked up by cutters of the Argentine Naval Prefecture.
The Royston Grange was towed to Montevideo, and then to Spain, where her hulk was scrapped at Barcelona on 20 May 1979. The Tien Chee was also scrapped at Buenos Aires in August 1976.
Regards
Tomi.
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Three trips down to BA & Monte. Great times
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Such a tragic end for so many.
I remember seeing a lovely memorial in the offices of Furness-Withy to those who lost their lives.
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Allan
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Gerolf
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