In the local Dutch newspaper Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant were in 1926 and 1929 some news items published dealing with the Humber (1) after her conversion into a crane ship.
Edition dated 20 May 1926. At our river [before Rotterdam] was just a quite strange monster anchored which reminded of a technical fantasy of Jules Verne and which had the next history. When the British admiralty after the First World War her fleet reduced she also sold the monitor Humber built in 1914 of 1.260 tons and a length of 267’. She became property of the Upnor Scrap yard which rebuilt her as a crane ship for own service. The artillery, engines, boilers and superstructure were removed and just the heavy monitor hull remained. Above this hull was a large gun turret placed coming from a British battleship and consisted of a heavy armoured doom turning through ball bearings. Above this doom were two tripods of Mannesmann-tube place former used as a undercarriage for masts on a German battleship. Above this construction came a crane arm with a length of 23 meter made by Penn and Bauduin with a lifting capacity of 50.000 kilo’s and a range of 14 meter. She did excellent service while used in the breaking up of during the war in the United Kingdom sunk warships. While this work was finished it was unknown what would happened with this crane ship born in such a fantastic manner. The Schiedamsche Courant published 21 May 1926 a similar news item.
Edition dated 27 May 1926. According to an advertisement she was to be sold 8 June 1926 on an auction in the Groote Koopmansbeurs at Rotterdam and described as a crane ship with a lifting capacity of 50 tons and with a pontoon dimensions 81,30 x 14,93 x circa 1,22 meter (draught). The pontoon formed the casco of the monitor built in 1913-1914 and fitted out with a steam driven crane built in 1923 which could turn a complete circle.
The edition dated 8 June confirmed the sale of the Humber built in 1923 by the firm Penn&Baudiun at Dordrecht for ƒ 59.000 excluded auction costs to the N.N. Stoomsleepdienst v/h P. Smit Jr. at Rotterdam.
Edition dated 9 August 1929. The Dutch scrap yard De Koophandel at Nieuw-Lekkerland bought some time ago the British monitor to break her up. This vessel was fitted out with a large crane which crane was removed and rebuilt as a floating turning crane which was taken into service as the Humber. She was now sold to the Danish firm Petersen and Albeck at Copenhagen, Denmark which intended to use her by removing the wreck of the steamship Celtic of the White Starline stranded by Queenstown. The Humber had a length of 267’, a measurement of 1.260 tons and a lifting capacity of 50 tons.
Note
1. www.en.wikepedia.org/wiki/HMS_Humber(1913) and www.en.wikipedia.org/wike/Humber_classmonitor supplies the following information dealing with this ship. Laid down at Vickers, Barrow in Furness Vickers Limited, High Walker on the River Tyne) 24 August 1912 as the Brazilian Javary, launched 17 June 1913, acquired by the Royal navy for 15.000 British pound 8 August 1914 and sold 17 September 1920 to F. Rijswijk [at Upnor] to be used as a crane lighter. Still afloat 1938 and probably broken up after 1945. Displacement of 1.260 tons standard and 1.520 tons full load and as dimensions 266’75” x 49 x 5’6”. Fitted out with 2 shaft triple expansion engines and 2 Yarrow boilers delivering 1.450 ihp allowing a speed of 12 knots. Armed with 2-6: guns, 2-4’7” howitzers, 4-3pdrs and 1-3” anti aircraft gun. The armour existed of a 1.5”-3” belt, 1.5” bulkheads, 3.5” barbette and a 4” turret.
Changed on 22 December 2012
