New 02 August 2006
TEESSHIPS
40+ YEARS OF BAD ROAD!
with acknowledgement to Duane Eddy's 1959 hit "Forty Miles of Bad Road"

K3

KINGSTON, Hartlepool Docks, 21 January 1965
KINGSTON (5187815), South Eastern Gas Board, London, 1873gt, completed 12-1956 by Burntisland S.B. Co. Ltd., Burntisland. 1971 TSIMENTION (Greece), 1983 broken up.

KINPURNIE CASTLE, Middlesbrough Dock, 23 March 1963
KINPURNIE CASTLE (5188314), The Clan Line Steamers Ltd. (yes, not Union Castle!), London, 8125gt, completed 2-1954 by Greenock Dkyd Co. Ltd., Greenock, ex South African Sculptor-62, ex Clan Stewart-61. 1967 HELLENIC MED (Greece), 1978 broken up.
See also: http://www.teesships.freeuk.com/1130springbokfleet.htm

KONG ALF, Tyne-Tees/Dent's Wharves, 23 August 1965
KONG ALF (5412181), Norway, 492gt, built Bilbao 1963. 1968 TAVARATRA (Norway), 1978 (Panama), 1979 KYRIA (Cyprus), 1983 KONTER (Cyprus), ...
Still currently listed in Equasis under the name of DHONAKHULI

The inevitable Trilby hat - an inevitable peril for ship photographers then and now!

KORATIA, North Tees Oil Jetties, River Tees, 23 August 1965
KORATIA (5193644), Shell Tankers N.V., Netherlands, 12154gt, completed Schiedam 6-1954. 1975 broken up.

KOREA, Middlesbrough Dock, 10 September 1964
KOREA, Denmark, 9945gt, completed Nakskov 10-1939. 1967 broken up.

But! What's that lurking in the background of the first view above?

For once, my notebook is of no assistance!
However, looking back through my sightings on 25 August 1964 I have a note of PC588 TEXIN, a vessel I have never identified. Similarly on 29 July 1964 there was TX-9204-AS?
These were the early days of oil exploration and for around a year by then we had been seeing a mix of quite old and unusual vessels engaged in that activity. The straight stem does make me think of the SIR THOMAS DIXON which I first saw on 15 July 1963 (14 months previously) and again in August 1963 and which I recall (although memory fades!!) remained static in the dock for quite some time. She (he?) had been built nearby at Smith's Dock in 1922 and was described as a pilot tender, converted yacht 1947, ex Coila-48. Help!

KYPROS, Liverpool, 9 September 1965
KYPROS (5199923), Moss Hutchinson Line Ltd., Liverpool, 3499gt, completed 4-1950 by W. Pickersgill & Sons Ltd., Sunderland. 1967 AURANIA (British), 1967 KYPROS (British), 1976 ANGELIKI (Greece), 1981 ANGEL (Malta), 1982 broken up.