Orkney Image Library

I think they could be Dutch tugs, wi' names ending in ZEE, they had a white band on the funnel, and were involved in the towing of the battleships to the breakers. Metal Industries tugs had a white band too tho, but near sure they had the letters MI in the white band.

Thanks for that Jimmy, folk wirna very skilled wae the camera shots in them days bit non the less it is a record o sorts.
Yes I mind aboot some o them tugs being named such, was hid Zwartzee and maby Ziderzee or the like??.
Great you watch the old home isle news Jimmy and thanks for you input.
The only thing good aboot gittan owld is yae only mind on the events o yir youth and the bothers o today arna so important.

waiting for Allan tae comment , he has a good collection o this kinda stuff, and might just pit names tae them..

Hi Jimmy, Thanks for that.Weel buey for what its worth I agree wae you I think they are all Dutch tugs and the big een is a diesel tug called ZWARTZEE the second een the WITTEZEE and perhaps the ootside een could be the Ganges. The Germans did the towing first of aal wae the SEEFALKE,SEETEUFEL SIMSON and the PARNASS. The SEEFALKE being a big powerfull brute o a tug but all the German tugs had the same powerful lookan cut.Now when Hitler came in to power he said that Germanys finest tugs should not be towing what used to be Germanys finest battleships to the scrapyard and put a stop to hid immediatly, so thats when the Dutchmen got involved.An John I dinna think theres much wrong wae the photo other than the fact it mibbee shouldna been stored in the coal bunker LOL

Thanks Allan, The first wan is definately the Zwartzee got enough info on the web to match her wi, and thanks for the rest of the info , before folk forgets all aboot stuff like this...

Can any one help with the names of the tugs used by Cox of Cox and Danks in his salvage of some of the German ships scuttled in Scapa Flow. My GF Arthur Reeve was an ex navy ERA who was demobbed in 1920. Unable to find work on Sheppey, Kent where his family were, he got a job with Cox and Danks at Queenborough and came to Scapa Flow as an engineer on one of his tugs. Unfortunately we do not have the names of the tugs but we know he worked there during the middle and late 20s before getting homesick and returning to his family on Sheppey. I have not been able to track down the names of these tugs other than that may have been the two 'ex Admiralty ocean going tugs' mentioned in some descriptions of Cox's work. I cannot believe that there were only two tugs and I suspect he was on a smaller one. When he took over the 'tug' he found that the previous engineer had left his Shetland collie behind, dog this adopted him and guarded the tug and his possessions while he was on shore. Hope someone can give me a pointer to further my search. Thank you for the information above.

Cox & Danks - LYNESS - SIDONIAN - FERRODANKS Metal Industries - METINDA - IMPERIOUS -SIDONIAN - BERTHA - METINDA II - METINDA III - METINDA 1V - SALVEDA

One of the workboat/tugs was the Bertha, picture #23788

Thanks Allan and W

The tug list gives me a good start, now I am hoping some Logs might exist even after all this time. Thank you

Mike Reeve