WW1 | Gloria McBreen

Day 29 #100DaysOfOldDays

Today’s post is also for Marsha Ingrao’s PPAC #39

The SS Creteboom sits derelict on the sandbank of the river between The Quay and Belleek Woods in Ballina, Co Mayo.

In 1917 during WW1, when the British were experiencing a shortage in steel, a project was undertaken to build a fleet of ships out of concrete (rather than steel) to transport iron-ore from Spain to Britain.

Financial problems and lack of manpower held up the project, and when the war ended in 1918, so did the initiative. But work continued on the ships that had been almost completed, and the last of the fleet of 52 barges and 12 tugboats was launched in 1920.

The fleet was never used for it’s intended purpose. London based ship company, Stelp & Leighton bought the fleet and set up the Crete Shipping Company in Sunderland. For two years they used the ships to tow coal to the continent. When the company closed down in 1924, the fleet was left mothballed on the Tyne.

The Creteboom was laid up on the River Ware, then later sold to South Stockton Shipbreaking Company. It was dismantled and stripped bare until all that remained was the concrete.

The Ballina Harbour Commissioners bought the Creteboom, among other shipwrecks, to sink them at the entrance to the river Moy to form a sand barrier. The ship had sustained damage during the crossing from England to Ireland, and it had started to let in water. The Ballina Fire Brigade pumped it but the water continued to flow in. The Harbourmaster ordered it to be removed from the Jetty and it was towed to mid-stream where it sat for forty years.

The Moy Fishery Company feared that the sand barrier plan would interfere with the run of Salmon into the river. They threatened legal action, and the plan was put on hold. But the project was abandoned completely in 1939 when WW2 broke out. The SS Creteboom was moved to its current location in 1974; on the river Moy between Ballina Quay and Belleek Woods.