South Shields Scenes 2

These pictures will illustrate that the seaside at South Shields is not always the picture of tranquillity that it appears to be, it can have it's wilder moments also 

On Sunday 20 January, 1963, 23 men and a puppy were rescued by breeches bouy from the Lebanese registered cargo steamer, Adelfotis II  after it ran aground at South Shields North Foreshore. This thirty four year old ship (6224tons) had left Middlesborough bound for Antwerp on the previous day in order to pick up a cargo of steel coils for delivery to Spain. However on travelling southbound down the coast past Whitby, she encountered force 9 North Sea gales, problems ensued, and by 04-00 hours on Sunday morning the Adelfotis II found herself north of where she had started from, at the mouth of the Tyne.

Captain Nicolas Leonardis recognized the harbour from a previous visit six weeks earlier, and decided to run for shelter in the Tyne. At the wheel was 28 year old second officer Leondaras Papaskeys. They negotiated the Tyne piers without a pilot on board as the weather was too bad to take one on, but the Adelfotis II veered starboard and struck the Black Midden Rocks at Tynemouth, the scene of many a shipwreck. She rebounded and was swept across the mile wide harbour, going aground at Herd Sands, South Shields     

The huge waves drove her 300 yards along the sands during the next seven hours. In danger of capsizing, her radio call for assistance was answered by the South Shields and Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigades. Tugs could not get near, and a line was shot onto the ship. Within two hours all of the 23 greek crew were rescued , also Manuella a two month old smooth haired terrier, brought ashore tucked in the jacket of third engineer, John Politis. None of the crew were injured, but all suffered from exposure having been immersed several times in the stormy sea.

South Shields hospitality was as expected, about a hundred people turned out to help. Hot tea was provided by the local people throughout the rescue. Mrs Elly Tearney of Grotto Gardens got an unexpected early morning call from the local police asking for her help. Mrs. Tearney, a native of Northern Greece was asked if she couls act as translator, and was whisked away to the Ingham Infirmary to meet the rescued crewmen. On her arrival there were already seven Greek seamen at the Infirmary, and Mrs, Tearney did a splendid job of traslating their accounts of what happened.  

There were many subsequent attempts to refloat her including digging a big wide trench all around her using bulldozers,(at low tide she was totally high and dry and you could walk all around her) the idea of the trench was that at high tide the trench would flood and the ship would float off the beach, it never happened and none of the attempts were successful. From then the ship lay for months and was a great tourist attraction until the decision was taken that she would be scrapped where she lay on the beach and a local contractor was awarded the contract. this created quite a spectacle for a few months more and credit given where credit is due, when the job was completed it was vey difficult to even imagine that a ship had ever lain there. A sad end to a brave ship !