Metcalf Motor Coasters Ltd. began as part of C. Crawley Ltd. of Gravesend, which was founded in 1893 by Charles Crawley as Thames barge and small coaster owners. In 1905, the company was managed by Thomas J. Metcalf, who after World War I purchased five ‘X’ lighters which had been used in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 as landing craft. In 1924, Thomas renamed these five ‘X’ craft as Daniel M, David M, Francis M and James M after family members, with the remaining ‘X’ craft becoming the water carrier Aqua 130/1915 for C. Crawley Ltd. Thomas J. Metcalf and his wife Mrs. Ellen Metcalf owned three vessels registered under C. Crawley Ltd. in Aqua, which was broken up in 1984 after a career of almost seventy years, Fountain built in 1915 and broken up in 1950, and Aquarium built in 1895 and broken up in 1966. The connection between C. Crawley Ltd. and Metcalf Motor Coasters continued into the post World War II years, and a total of over twenty barges and coasters were registered under C. Crawley Ltd.

The Metcalf Motor Coasters Ltd. fleet grew from five coasters in 1924, to twelve coasters on the outbreak of war in September 1939, to eighteen coasters in 1950, 22 coasters in 1958, and on takeover by Booker Line in 1972 and merger with S. William Coe & Company coaster fleet of Liverpool to a fleet of 26 coasters and deep-sea ships, and finally on takeover by James Fisher & Sons Ltd. in 1984 to a large fleet of 35 coasters and deep-sea ships including six managed ships used for the transport of irradiated nuclear fuel.

Thomas J. Metcalf lived at ‘The Moorings’ in Overcliffe near Gravesend when he first became a shipowner in 1924, but later moved his office to 370, Commercial Road in Stepney in East London. The ‘X’ craft were a large class of 250 landing craft that were ordered by the British Government initially for an aborted landing on the German Baltic coast, and then for the ill-fated landings at Gallipoli in Turkey. The shipyard of James Pollock & Sons Ltd. at Faversham acted as agents for the purchase of the gas engines from the Swedish Bolinders firm, but built none of the class. Four of the five ‘X’ craft that were purchased by Thomas J. Metcalf came from the Sunderland shipyards of Doxford, Thompson, Blumer and the Sunderland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. with dimensions of length 105.7 feet by moulded beam of 21.1 feet, and depth of 7.1 feet. They were powered by four cylinder Bolinders gas engines, with Francis M differing in being twin screw, while Aqua came from the Selby yard of Cochrane & Sons and was powered by a two cylinder engine by the Campbell Gas Engines Co. Ltd.

Thomas J. Metcalf soon began to order larger engines aft coasters in the late 1920s in Holland with coastal tanker Frank M of 231 grt completed in October 1929 by J. Koster Hzn Scheepswerf ‘Gideon’ at Groningen on dimensions of 114.0 feet by 22.5 feet by 8.0 feet and fitted with a four cylinder Deutz diesel by Koln A.G. Ellen M of 264 grt in October 1930 and Thomas M of 310 grt in November 1931 followed from the same yard, and all with short quaterdecks. A much larger coaster building programme from the Dutch yards of Koster ‘Gideon’, J. Pattje of Waterhuizen and the Van Diepen Brothers of Waterhuizen produced David M 350/1933, John M 500/1937, Paul M 492/1937, Polly M 360/1937 and Ellen M 498/1938, in addition to the coastal tanker Eileen M 323/1938, and all fitted with four or six cylinder 4SCSA Humboldt Deutz Motoren diesel engines. The larger dry cargo coasters of John M, Paul M and Ellen M had dimensions of length 157.5 feet, moulded beam of 27.4 feet and depth of 9.8 feet, with a short fo’c’stle of length 18.0 feet, quarterdeck of length 54.0 feet and poop of length 37.0 feet.

The Burntisland yard on the Firth of Forth launched Charles M of 403 grt on 20th December 1934 and completed her in January 1935, and launched her sister Daniel M of 448 grt on 23rd January 1936 and completed her in February 1936 on dimensions of length 150.0 feet, moulded beam of 26.0 feet, and depth of 10.9 feet, and equipped with a six cylinder Humboldt Deutz diesel engine. The coastal tanker Lido of 160 grt, completed in August 1926, was purchased from the Union Lighterage Co. Ltd. of London in 1936, and renamed Ann M in 1940. She was a barge type with a short fo’c’stle and quarterdeck, and her middle longitudinal bulkhead was not considered oil tight.

World War II

Metcalf Motor Casters Ltd. had a fleet of twelve motor coasters on the outbreak of war in September 1939, their previous coasting voyages in British and Irish waters, and in the waters between Brest and Hamburg, now changed by war. Ellen M sailed from Immingham on 1st February 1940 with a cargo of coal and was torpedoed off Lowestoft by U59 without warning at 2044 hours later that day. She was considered as being ‘Lost Without Trace’ by the Admiralty as no bodies or wreckage was ever recovered. The entire crew of seven plus two DEMS gunners were lost.

Thomas M became a war loss on 24th November 1940 when mined and sunk 1.5 miles off the entrance to Great Yarmouth harbour on a bearing of 135 degrees with the loss of two lives, the remaining seven crew being rescued. She was replaced in the fleet by the new coaster Empire Crag of 332 grt in 1941 from the yard of J. Pollock & Sons Ltd. of Faversham, powered by a six cylinder 2SCSA Crossley diesel engine made in Manchester. The motor coaster Benguela 534/1936 built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd. was purchased in 1943 to bring the Metcalf fleet back up to a strength of a dozen coasters, and was renamed Ellen (2) in 1946. The coastal tanker Empire Coast 320/1943 built by the Pimblott yard at Northwich and equipped with a five cylinder oil engine also joined the Metcalf fleet for management in 1943, and was sold for ‘Esso’ coastal duties in 1946 as Esso Ottawa.

The Thames spritsail barge Ardwina of 66 gross tons had been built back in 1909 by the yard of Orvis and Fuller of Ipswich, and was purchased by Thomas J. Metcalf in 1938. She was put to good use during the war in the loading and unloading of deep-sea ships in the Royal Docks in London and distributing hard won cargoes from the British Empire around the Thames and Medway estuaries. Ardwina continued her time honoured trade for Metcalf after the end of the war until her sale in 1951 to Daniels Brothers (Whitstable) Ltd., and is still afloat today and moored among many small craft at St. Katherine Dock.

Post-War Trading

The coastal fleet of Metcalf Motor Coasters was used in many trades in post-war years, including the bulk fertiliser trade northwards from Immingham to Perth for Fisons Ltd., the Thames to Norwich mills grain trade and the North East Coast trade from Blyth to Norwich with coal, the empty barrels trade from the Metcalf yard at Greenhithe to Lossiemouth near Elgin for the Speyside whisky trade, and the oil distribution trades from refineries. The fleet was bolstered by the addition between 1946 and 1949 of four dry cargo and three coastal tankers.

The coastal tankers were all German prizes, including the bridge ‘midships engines aft twin masted Liselotte Essberger of 1,623 grt built in 1935 and requisitioned by the German Navy in 1940 and captured at Trondheim in May 1945 and renamed Empire Tegyika by the Ministry of War Transport. She was transferred to the Admiralty in 1947 and renamed Thornol and used for Royal Fleet Auxiliary duties but was not R.F.A. manned. She was purchased by Metcalf on 5th June 1948 and renamed Caroline M, receiving new oil engines in 1958, and gave eighteen years of service before her sale in 1966 to Greek Diamantis family owners to become Kyllini and served until scrapped at Salamis Island in December 1980 after a career of 45 years. Shortly before her sale she had collided on 4th March 1966 with the sand dredger Sand Star in Southampton Water, which sank with her crew rescued by Caroline M.

The coastal tanker Anthony M of 465 grt had been built in 1944 at Beidenfleth in Germany as Gohren for the German Navy and became Empire Tigity after capture as a prize. She joined Metcalf in 1947 and was given new oil engines in 1953, and served for 23 years until becoming the effluent tanker Kinder in 1970. She was scrapped at Garston in April 1983. The coastal tanker Peter M of 972 grt and 1,400 dwt with bridge ‘midships and engines aft had been built as Algol in 1937 by the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg for Swedish owners and came into the Essberger fleet in 1941 for service with the German Navy. She was taken in prize at Arendal in Norway in May 1945 and renamed Empire Tigaven. She gave seventeen years of service to Metcalf from 1947 before her sale to Greek owners in 1964, and was broken up in March 1972 at Perama.

The dry cargo coaster Empire Bank of 402 grt and 480 dwt from the Henry Scarr yard at Hessle in 1941 was purchased in 1946 and renamed Rose-Julie M and gave twenty years of service until broken up at Queenborough in Kent in 1966. Jim M of 410 grt was laid down as Chant 34 at Goole in 1944 but completed as Empire Farnham, and purchased by Metcalf in 1946 and given a new oil engine in 1959 and served until scrapped at Grays in Essex in January 1965. Two American built engines ‘midships USMC standard design N3-S-A1 or ‘Jeep’ types of 2,905 dwt were purchased in 1949 as Freeman Hatch and Waldo Hill, and were renamed Charles M (2) and Andrew M. This pair were steamers and part of three dozen ‘Jeep’ types delivered to the U.K. from across the Atlantic between December 1942 and May 1945, and were equipped with triple expansion engines built by manufacturers in the Great Lakes. Charles M (2) replaced the first motor coaster of that name that was sunk by collision on 31st March 1949 with the Dutch motor vessel Atlas off Dungeness, although taken in tow by the Dutch motor vessel Westereems, she sank the next day three nautical miles off Beachy Head.

The Metcalf fleet in 1950 consisted of eighteen dry cargo and coastal tankers in Andrew M built in 1943, Ann M built in 1926, Anthony M built in 1944, Charles M built in 1943, Caroline M built in 1935, Daniel M built in 1936, David M built in 1933, Eileen M built in 1938, Ellen M (2) built in 1936, Frank M built in 1929, Jim M built in 1944, John M built in 1937, Paul M built in 1937, Peter M built in 1937, Polly M built in 1937, Rose-Julie M built in 1941, Thomas M (2) the former Ngakoa purchased in 1946 and built in 1938, and the water carrier Aqua built in 1915.

The Metcalf fleet was expanded during the 1950s decade by one second-hand coaster, and seven newbuild coasters, with coasters also registered under two Glasgow based companies of Mac Shipping Co. Ltd. and Wimaisia Shipping Co. Ltd., both companies purchased in 1952. The second-hand vessel was Paul M (2) 479/38 built as Hawk for Jakob van der Laan of Groningen by the Van Diepen Brothers yard at Waterhuizen and used by the Kriegsmarine during the war as Sperrbrecher 146. She was purchased from Dutch owners as Hollendrecht and made her maiden voyage for Metcalf with empty barrels from Greenhithe to Lossiemouth in July 1952, followed by loading coal at Blyth. She served Metcalf for thirteen years until she arrived at Grays in Essex on 13th August 1965 for breaking up. The newbuild coasters were Lisbeth M 939/1953, Marian M 694/1955, Michael M 691/1955, Melissa M 1,089/1956, Christopher M 1,035/1956, Charles M (3) 403/1956, and Adrian M 967/1957.

The ‘Jeep’ type Charles M (2) was sold and replaced by the new coaster Charles M (3) 403/56, which was lost by collision between Beachy Head and Dungeness Light while under tow from Blyth to Littlehampton on 31st March 1959. Lisbeth M was completed by the De Haan and Oerlemans Scheeps yard at Heusden in November 1953 on dimensions of length 206.9 feet, moulded beam of 33.1 feet and depth of 12.6 feet. She was a quarterdeck type with a cruiser stern and equipped with the latest navigational equipment of direction finders, electric signalling device and radar. She was powered by a six cylinder 4SCSA oil engine by Klockner Humboldt Deutz to give a speed of twelve knots, with 234 tons of oil bunkers carried in her cellular double bottom of length 129.0 feet and side tanks in the machinery spaces. Unfortunately, she had a short career with Metcalf as she foundered on 4th April 1957 in fog after a collision with the CEGB collier Sir John Snell off Margate with the loss of five of her fourteen crew.

Marian M of 1,050 dwt and Melissa M of 1,560 dwt were completed in 1955/56 by the N.V. Westerbroek Scheeps yard, and were followed by Michael M in 1956 from the famous E.J. Smit & Zoon yard at Waterhuizen. Marian M and sister Michael M had dimensions of length 195.0 feet, moulded beam of 31.7 feet, and depth of 12.9 feet, while the larger Melissa M had dimensions of length 230.0 feet, moulded beam of 33.9 feet, and depth of 15.7 feet. The trio were powered by six or eight cylinder 4SA Werkspoor diesel engines to give service speeds of twelve knots. Michael M gave twenty years of service to Metcalf Motor Coasters and Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd., and was sold in 1975 to Interglobal Navigation Shipping Ltd. of Beirut in Lebanon and renamed Sliema. After a further eight name changes, she was broken up by the oxy-acetylene cutters of the shipbreakers in the late 1980s.

Christopher M of 1,350 dwt was completed by the prolific N.V. Bodewes Scheeps yard at Martenshoek in 1956 on dimensions of length 218.0 feet, moulded beam of 33.6 feet, and depth of 14.6 feet. She was powered by a six cylinder 4SA Klockner Humboldt Deutz diesel to give a service speed of twelve knots, and her hull was part electrically welded and she was equipped with the latest navigational equipment of direction finders, electric signalling device and radar.

The coastal tanker Adrian M of 1,250 dwt was completed in 1957 by the Rolandswerft yard in Bremerhaven on the bracketless system of longitudinal framing on dimensions of length 215.5 feet, moulded beam of 31.2 feet, and depth of 14.3 feet, and was equipped with an eight cylinder 4SA Klockner Hunboldt Deutz diesel engine to give a service speed of thirteen knots.

The Metcalf Motor Coasters fleet reached its greatest size of 22 dry cargo and coastal tankers in 1958, with the Metcalf houseflag of a green swallow tailed burgee with a white border and a white central ‘M’, and green funnel colours and a white ‘M’, seen in all British, Irish and Continental waters. Thomas J. Metcalf was Managing Director in 1959, with four sons or family members as Assistant Managing Directors. The company Head Office was at Oxford House at 15, Crosswall in London, with branch offices at Town Wharf in West Street, Gravesend and at 55, Great Union Street in Hull at this time. The company had a wharf at Greenhithe on the Thames, and company coasters could also be seen at various other berths and docks on the Thames.

The dry cargo coaster Ann M of 1,203 grt and 1,650 dwt was completed by the Burntisland yard in September 1961 as Yard 399, and was followed by a trio of coastal tanker sisters from the same yard during 1963/1965 of 1,590 dwt in John M (Yard 404), Frank M (Yard 410), and Nicholas M (Yard 411), followed by the dry cargo Eileen M (Yard 417) from the Burntisland yard in 1966 to give a large Metcalf fleet of 21 coasters, with seven coastal tankers and fourteen dry cargo coasters.

Ann M had twin holds served by twin hatches and had dimensions of length 230.0 feet, moulded beam of 36.7 feet, and depth of 15.0 feet with a fo’c’stle of length 25 feet and a poop of length 55 feet. She had a grain hold capacity of 79,600 cubic feet, water ballast capacity of 570 tons, and was equipped with an aft thruster for manoeuvring in port. She had a service speed of twelve knots from twin eight cylinder Lister Blackstone Marine diesels manufactured in Dursley and fitted with flexible couplings and direct drive reverse gearing to a single screw shaft. She gave 23 years of service to Metcalf Motor Coasters and Coe Metcalf Shipping, with one of her last voyages being from the Tees to Belfast on 25th May 1984.

Ann M was sold later in 1984 to Cliff Maritime Ltd. of Gibraltar and renamed Whitburn, being renamed Whitburn Girl in 1988 by Lofoten Shipping Ltd. She was actually owned by a Sunderland shipowner as Whitburn is a coastal village one mile north of Sunderland, and I remember seeing her laid up at the former Shorts outfitting quay on the south bank of the Wear at Sunderland for some time from 30th May 1986, before being sold and renamed as Ann II for Lofoten Shipping Ltd. and resumed trading e.g. sailing from Gdansk on 12th May 1989 for Caen. She was aground at Briton Ferry in July 1989 and was sold to U.K. breakers on 25th August 1989 and in tow from Swansea on 28th November 1990 to Bangor Bay and later moved on for breaking up at Garston.

The coastal tanker trio of John M, Frank M and Nicholas M of 1,590 dwt were smart twin funnelled vessels with transom sterns, and a tall navigation mast fitted between the funnels. They had dimensions of length 232.0 feet, moulded beam of 37.3 feet, and depth of 17.9 feet, with a trunk deck of length 126.0 feet, fo’c’stle of length 25.0 feet, and a poop of length 63.0 feet. Their oil tanks were subdivided by eleven bulkheads and they carried 448 tons of water ballast when travelling in ballast, and were powered by twin eight cylinder Blackstone 4SA diesel engines of 1,320 bhp with direct drive reverse gearing to a single screw shaft. They operated on charter for many years for all of their Metcalf Motor Coasters and Coe Metcalf Shipping careers from the Coryton refinery on the Thames on voyages up the East coast to Hull, Immingham and Aberdeen.

Moira M of 885 dwt was purchased in 1961 from Salvesen of Leith as Tronda, and had been completed as the dry cargo motor coaster Andoni in September 1937 by Goole Shipbuilding and Repairing Co. Ltd. on dimensions of length 187.1 feet, moulded beam of 30.1 feet, and depth of 11.7 feet. She was powered by a seven cylinder 2SA diesel engine by British Auxiliaries Ltd. of Glasgow, and was given a special survey and dry-docking on purchase by Metcalf in August 1961. She had the latest navigational equipment of direction finder, electric signalling device, radar and radio telephone, and gave ten years of service to Metcalf until her arrival at Inverkeithing in 1971 for breaking.

Eileen M (2) of 1,420 dwt was a dry cargo coaster completed by the Burntisland yard in 1966 with a loaded draft of 12.5 feet, and was powered by a Klockner Humboldt Deutz diesel engine manufactured at Koln. She was a quarterdecker with a thin curved combined funnel and navigation mast, and gave eighteen years of service to Metcalf Motor Coasters and Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd. before her sale in 1984 and renaming as Caerleon. She regained her name of Eileen M two years later while carrying cement cargoes for Caicos Cement and was later broken up.

David M (2) of 620 dwt joined the Metcalf fleet in 1970, having been built as Rottum in 1957 for the Paris low draft trades with twin masts and derricks of two tons capacity that could be lowered for the Seine bridges. She was owned by H.P. Veling and Company of Groningen and had been completed by the yard of Gebr Barkmeijer at Hoogkerk. She had a service speed of 10.5 knots from a diesel engine of 395 bhp, but was sold in 1973 and renamed Polmear, having a total of ten names to her credit when she ran aground on 25th February 1981 at Abu Kashura, five miles east of Rosetta in Egypt, while on a voyage from Iskenderun to Alexandria and became a total loss under the name of Afaf.

Booker line and James Fisher & Sons Ltd. Takeover

Booker Line or Booker, McConnell & Co. Ltd. could trace their history back to 1815 when three Booker brothers, Josias, George and Richard, arrived up the Demerara river in British Guiana to establish cotton and sugar plantations. They owned a large fleet of deep sea ships as well as coasters employed in British Guiana when they purchased the Liverpool coaster fleet in 1955 of S. William Coe, better known as the Thorn Line as all of their coasters had names with the suffix ‘thorn’. On the takeover by Booker, five of this fleet including Silverthorn 496/58 and Blackthorn 748/60 were bare-boat chartered to Bookers Shipping (Demerara) Ltd. as Booker Trader, Booker Trident, Booker Tide, Booker Trojan and Booker Talisman and made the long voyage out to the Demerara river for coastal sugar shipments from outlying sugar plantations into Demerara.

Metcalf Motor Coasters Ltd. was purchased by Booker Line in 1972, with Metcalf Motor Coasters (Holdings) Ltd. dissolved in April 1973. The combined coaster fleets of Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd. and the Booker Line subsidiaries in British Guiana as well as the Booker deep-sea vessels amounted to a fleet of 26 ships on takeover. The coasters were Ann M of 1961, Christopher M of 1956, Eileen M of 1966, Frank M of 1965, John M of 1963, Marian M of 1955, Melissa M of 1956, Michael M of 1955, Nellie M of 1972, Nicholas M of 1965, Blackthorn of 1960, Briarthorn of 1960, Briarthorn of 1962, Firethorn of 1967, Hawthorn of 1952, Maythorn of 1962, Quickthorn of 1967 ex Tanmerack, and Whitethorn of 1963 ex Hero, as well as Booker Tide of 1957 ex Keizersveer, Booker Trader of 1956, Booker Trident of 1958, and Booker Trojan of 1956 and built as Nore.

Nellie M was a new coaster launched in March 1972 by the elder daughter of the founder Thomas J. Metcalf at the yard of Cochranes of Selby. She was of 783 grt and 1,184 dwt and was powered by an Allen diesel engine of 1,160 bhp with a service speed of 13.0 knots but had achieved 16.0 knots on trials. She sailed with a crew of seven on all of the main coastal bulk shipping trades of the U.K. and Continent, with coal from Blyth and Garston for Belfast and Coleraine, as well as cargoes of grain, fertiliser, potash, rutile sand, silver sand, dolomite and the occasional project cargo. She met with disaster on 6th February 1981 while at anchor in Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland when she was boarded by seven I.R.A. terrorists, who planted two bombs in her engine room. The crew were moved into a lifeboat before the detonations blew holes in her hull and she sank. She was refloated a year later, repaired and sold to an Irish owner and lengthened and remeasured at 954 grt and 1,393 dwt, and given the name Ellie, trading e.g. London to Seville in May 1984. She became Timrix of J.R. Rix & Sons Ltd. of Hull in late 1984, and was sold in 1995 and renamed Maltese Venture, and again sold a year later as Spezi before crossing the Atlantic for a new career under the name of Dove in 2000.

Nellie M had an exact sister named Silloth Stag completed in March 1975 at Beverley by the Beverley Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. Ltd. as Tilstone Maid for the Tilling Construction Co. Ltd. of London. She was purchased by Stag Line Ltd. of North Shields a month after completion and renamed Silloth Stag, and after seven years of trading she was sold to Westfield Shipping Co. Ltd. in July 1982 and then purchased by James Fisher & Sons Ltd. with G.T. Gillie & Blair Ltd. of Newcastle as managers. She was sold to J.R. Rix & Sons Ltd. of Hull in 1985 and renamed Robrix, and had recorded a further four name changes by twenty years later.

The Coe Metcalf Ltd. coastal fleet of Booker Line owned eighteen coasters in 1980 in Ann M of 1961, Eileen M of 1966, Frank M of 1965, Frederick M of 1980, John M of 1963, Mary M of 1958, Nellie M of 1972, Nicholas M of 1965, Robert M of 1970 ex Cree, Blackthorn of 1960, Briarthorn of 1962 ex Anne Bogelund, Firethorn of 1967, Gorsethorn ex Dido of 1963, Hawthorn of 1967 ex Ortrud Muller, Maythorn of 1962, Quickthorn of 1967 ex Tanmerack, Rosethorn of 1960 ex Yewkyle, and Whitethorn of 1963 ex Hero. Mary M of 1,397 dwt had been purchased in 1974 as Yewforest from John Stewart & Sons Ltd. of Glasgow. She had been completed in 1958 by James Lamont & Co. Ltd. at Port Glasgow in 1958, and was powered by an eight cylinder Klockner Humboldt Deutz diesel engine of 1,000 bhp to give a service speed of eleven knots.

Robert M was a coastal tanker of 2,450 dwt purchased in 1977 as Cree, and had been built in 1970 by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dockyard Co. Ltd. to carry oil in her wing tanks and bitumen in her centre tanks. She had a service speed of fourteen knots from a sixteen cylinder 4SA diesel engine of 2,200 bhp and manufactured at Augsburg. She was sold in 1997 and renamed Nesa and was still trading in 2006. Frederick M was a new coastal tanker of 2,924 dwt completed by the J. Pattje Scheeps yard at Waterhuizen with a dozen tanks carrying ‘Type B’ chemical cargoes. She had dimensions of length 75.2 metres, moulded beam of 13.4 metres, depth of 6.7 metres, with a fo’c’stle of length 10.1 metres and a poop of 17.7 metres. She had a service speed of thirteen knots from a nine cylinder 4SA Ruston diesel engine of 2,250 bhp, and also had a forward thruster.

The biggest vessel to be added to the Coe Metcalf fleet at the end of 1980 was Pholas of 3,775 grt and 4,000 dwt, which was completed by the Caledon yard in Dundee as the newsprint carrier Elizabeth Bowater for the Bowater Steamship Co. Ltd. in 1958. She was sold to Wimpey Marine for charter to the National Coal Board in 1972 and renamed Wimpey Sealab for coal coring work off the Durham coast, and then joined the Coe Metcalf fleet in 1980 as the red hulled Pholas as a self positioning drillship. Briarthorn had been converted into a drill ship to work off Australia, and she and Gorsethorn, converted to a geophysical survey ship, also briefly had red hulls to work with Pholas in the English Channel on undersea cable laying and Channel Tunnel core sampling work in 1980.

Oil drilling charters were obtained by the Coe fleet of drillships from American oil majors, with the red hulled Pholas drilling off Port Hueneme, Ventura (California) in 1981, arriving back from this charter to Barrow in February 1982. She then sailed for Newfoundland for the 1982 drilling season off the Grand Banks from bases at Halifax (NS) and St. John’s (NFL), she also drilled in the North Sea oilfields during 1983/84 from a base at Hartlepool on charter to Statoil, and then sailed from Hull to India via Suez in 1985 for another drilling charter, arriving back in the Tyne. Pholas worked continuously in the offshore oil and construction industries, based in St. John’s (NFL) in the 1988 season, and based in Malta for Mediterranean drilling in 1992, with also much North Sea drilling until sold in 1995 to DSND Shipping of Norway. She was fitted with a new dynamic positioning system for North Sea work and renamed Norskald until broken up in 2002.

The Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd. fleet was thus an attractive one for purchase in 1984 in that it combined lucrative drilling contracts with dry cargo trading and coastal tanker trading. James Fisher and Sons Ltd. of Barrow were very keen to move into the coastal oil shipment fields as well as oil drilling from their traditional base of dry cargo coasters, and purchased Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd. for £1.4 million from Booker Line in 1984. Five coastal tankers, four dry cargo coasters employed in the Irish Sea and Continental trades, and three drillships joined the Barrow company. Coe Metcalf Shipping Ltd. was later integrated within James Fisher and Sons Ltd. in 1995 as James Fisher and Sons (Liverpool) Ltd.

James Fisher and Sons Ltd. continued with the traditional Metcalf Motor Coasters nomenclature of family names with a suffix of ‘M’. The coastal tankers BP Harrier and BP Hunter of 3,120 dwt, their names commemorating two famous aircraft from the Hawker Siddeley stable, were purchased from BP in May 1991 and renamed David M and Michael M respectively. They had been built by the A & P Appledore yard in North Devon in 1980 with red hulls, a dozen tanks and cargo pumps, and were powered by sixteen cylinder ‘Vee’ 4SA British Polar diesel engines of 2,940 bhp to give service speeds of fourteen knots. The Fisher fleet was renamed with ‘Fisher’ suffixes to their names in 1998/99 in a reorganisation, and the remaining ‘M’ coastal tankers of Frederick M, David M and Michael M were given the North East river names of Tyne Fisher, Wear Fisher and Tees Fisher respectively. The trio of coastal tankers of John M, Frank M and Nicholas M built during 1963/65 were sold by Fisher in 1995/96 with Frank M sold to Indian buyers and renamed God Premium.

James Fisher and Sons Ltd. had also taken the opportunity to rename some of their dry cargo fleet with the traditional ‘Thorn Line’ nomenclature. The coaster Eden Fisher had been completed in 1965 for the Barrow fleet and was sold on to new owners in 1979, but returned to the Fisher fleet in 1984 after repurchase and renaming as Blackthorn for a further year of service until sold again in 1985. The Fisher owned coasters Shamrock Endeavour and Shamrock Enterprise built in 1982 were renamed as Rosethorn and Silverthorn respectively in 1990, and two further acquisitions in 1990, Craigallian of 1980 and Pinewood of 1978, were renamed Briarthorn and Redthorn respectively. Briarthorn collided with the dredger Arco Severn in Newhaven harbour on 20th December 1996 at the end of a voyage from Llanddulas with stone. This quartet had resurrected the traditional Coe ‘thorn’ nomenclature throughout the 1990s until they were sold off after the Millennium by 2003. Thus, the Coe nomenclature had been seen in British ports and around British coasts for a period of eighty years from 1923 to 2003.

Postscript

The Metcalf Motor Coasters and Coe Metcalf coasting fleets were well known to British crews and coaster enthusiasts, with the fleet totalling over sixty vessels in a complex history of ownership. The motor coasters with black hulls and green funnels with a central white ‘M’ had also frequently traded further afield. The hull, P. & I. cargo risks and war risks insurance for the Coe Metcalf Shipping vessels were handled by the British Marine Mutual Insurance Association Ltd. from 1977, with Gordon W. Thomas as Vice Chairman of the insurance company during 1982/1984 and Trevor Hart taking over from him in 1992. There are no Metcalf Motor Coasters left afloat today. The vessels were instantly recognisable, and their passing leaves the British shipping scene that much the poorer. The James Fisher Everard fleet is however still large at seventeen double hulled coastal tankers, with the parent company at Barrow also very much operating for the oil majors in subsea diving, ROV inspection and monitoring, marine services, mooring and fendering, nuclear equipment, offshore support, project management, submarine rescue, and ports and terminals facilities.