Seen on Tuesday sitting in the Liverpool's Graving Dock De Wadden is a three-masted auxiliary schooner built in 1917 by Gehr Van Diepen of Waterhuizen in the Netherlands. Ordered by the Netherland Steamship Company with two sister ships she was built to take advantage of lucrative trading conditions created by Dutch neutrality in the First World War.
During the world-wide shipping slump in the early 1920s she was sold to Richard Hall of Arklow in Ireland and between 1922 and 1961 she carried a multitude of different cargos between Liverpool and Irish Ports.
During World War Two she was one of a small handful of vessels which provided supplies to the Irish Republic after many other ships had been taken up for the British war effort. Her crew consisted of only five men and a boy, and since she could sail, a qualified marine engineer was not required. She carried a motor winch in the forward deckhouse to allow the cargo to be handled in ports with very limited facilities.
Her original 125 hp 'SteyWal Dutch engine gave her a speed of five knots, but after a major failure was replaced by an 80hp Bolinder engine purchased from the Admiralty. In addition a 50 hp Kelvin engine was fitted on the port quarter to give additional power. These were both removed in January 1942 and replaced with a six cylinder 150 hp Crossley DR diesel which was only replaced by a modern engine in 1980.
During the world-wide shipping slump in the early 1920s she was sold to Richard Hall of Arklow in Ireland and between 1922 and 1961 she carried a multitude of different cargos between Liverpool and Irish Ports.
During World War Two she was one of a small handful of vessels which provided supplies to the Irish Republic after many other ships had been taken up for the British war effort. Her crew consisted of only five men and a boy, and since she could sail, a qualified marine engineer was not required. She carried a motor winch in the forward deckhouse to allow the cargo to be handled in ports with very limited facilities.
Her original 125 hp 'SteyWal Dutch engine gave her a speed of five knots, but after a major failure was replaced by an 80hp Bolinder engine purchased from the Admiralty. In addition a 50 hp Kelvin engine was fitted on the port quarter to give additional power. These were both removed in January 1942 and replaced with a six cylinder 150 hp Crossley DR diesel which was only replaced by a modern engine in 1980.
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