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Why would anyone want to name a ship after a small Northampshire village which has a contact with the open sea only by a Canal capable of passing narrow boats and the odd barge? It turns out that two boats named Blisworth, one operated from 1940 to 1955 out of Hull and the other from 1957 onwards probably out of Regent's Lock, were both owned by the Grand Union Shipping Company. Remembering that the village of Blisworth was once an important inland port for all sorts of goods arriving for the Midlands, prior to the advent of railways, some senior managers within the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company must have decided that their ships should recall that early 19th century history.
There follows a snatch of information about the shipbuilding company: Alexander Hall and Co. Ltd. was established in Aberdeen in 1790 in succession to the partnership of Cochar & Gibbon and was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1904. In 1942 it was taken over by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. and later integrated with another Burntisland subsidiary, Hall Russell & Co. Ltd. Hall Russell & Co. was established in Aberdeen as a general engineering concern in 1864 and incorporated in 1879 as a limited liability company, Hall Russell and Co. Ltd. The company later merged with Alexander Hall and Co. Ltd and became a member of British Shipbuilders in 1977. The company specialised in building fishing vessels but latterly also produced chemical tankers, oiling and small bulk carriers. It was privatised in 1986 and went into receivership two years later. On www.shipsnostalgia.com the ship MV Blisworth is recorded as sailing to and from the Teesside in 1958 - this of course would be the new ship. We have no idea what the ship was used for but a 'colliery' transporter would be a reasonable guess. Here is a brief story of the operating company with its proper name Grand Union (Shipping) Ltd: In the 1920s, the Regents Canal Co. along with a few other canal companies amalgamated to form the Grand Union Canal Company. In 1936 the Grand Union formed its own subsidiaries, the Grand Union (Shipping) Ltd., to operate ships from London, the Grand Union (Stevedoring and Wharfage) Co. Ltd., to service the ships. It was probably during the 1930s that "Kathleen" was acquired and renamed MV Blisworth and this was clearly the ship that Hamish sailed on. By 1945 the company owned five ships plying backwards and forwards to the continent. It was also concerned with shipping from ports on the east coast of the British Isles. The Grand Union Company was nationalised in 1948 when it became the British Transport Commission. The profitable Grand Union (Shipping) Ltd. was soon afterwards sold for £180,000. It had operated the Regents Line which made use of a broadened canal connecting the Grand Union Canal to the docks of the Thames, specifically the Regents Canal Dock, and provided shipping from Teesside and perhaps other east coast ports to the canal network via London. From the forum remarks it seems plausible that the Regents Line also serviced the inland canal network at Goole. A kind librarian at the Hull Central Reference library helped by consulting Lloyds Register and discovered that Kathleen was indeed renamed Blisworth in 1940 when acquired by the Grand Union Shipping Company. By 1950 it is sold to Holderness S. S. Co. Ltd (ie. Kettlewells). This old ship was finally scrapped in 1955*. In the 1940 picture of the ship there is evidently a long wheelbase Land-Rover, or similar, on its port deck. That would be analogous to the ubiquitous ' bike on the narrow boat roof ', no doubt. A seven year gap before the next Blisworth is acquired by the Grand Union Company is odd but there is no doubt; the new MV Blisworth was commissioned in 1957 to either join this fleet or replace one of the elderly carriers and was kept on in the fleet until 1968 when it was transferred to the General Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. and later was taken on by Lana Maritime and registered in Beirut, no doubt a "port of convenience". *Lloyds Register data: Launched April, 1902 Original name: Kathleen: Master: J. T. Paysden. Reg No. 113519. Built by Ailsa S. B. Co. Ltd. of Ayr. Steel-built three master with three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine by Ross & Duncan, Glasgow, mounted aft. single steel well deck. Total tonnage- 738. Owned by J. Milligen & Co. Ltd. of Belfast. Length- 300 ft. Breadth- 30.4 ft. Depth- 12 ft. Source: Lloyd's register 1904. 1940- renamed Blisworth. Owned by Grand Union (Shipping) Ltd. of Hull. Source: LR 1949. 1950- renamed Holdernidd. Owned by Holderness S. S. Co. Ltd. Source: LR 1955. 1955- final entry in Lloyd's register. The clydesite.co.uk website indicates the ship was broken up and scrapped at Gateshead 13 January 1956. --------------------------------------------------------------- Naturally we thought it wise to see where else the name of our village might have been used. So far there has been discovered only a 'Blisworth County' in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. A chat with some librarians there revealed that some neighbouring names were Pinner and Stratford suggesting some architect or planner opened a map of England on the internet and used his mouse as one would use a pin. They would have needed dozens of names in a massive expansion of Las Vegas in the 1980s and 1990s. By the way, 'Blis' and 'Blyth' as parts of place names come up quite frequently in England. James Payler and Tony Marsh April 2009
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The trail began in one of those Google searches one does and it came up with
two items which led to others. One was a forum site for the town of Goole, a canal
port on the River
Humber in Yorkshire, in which two correspondents in early 2008, pen
names Pedro and Hamish, discussed old
times. This Hamish recalled working on the MV
Blisworth. This is an
extract of what he said - "Greetings Pedro, I was on the Beeding in 53 and again in 55, I guess you are