Preston Corporation steam tug, built William Allsup, Preston 1896
212 grt, 23 nrt, 120.8 x 22.7 x 10.3 ft
Engine builder: Allsup & Co. Ltd.,
2 x C2cyl (17 & 34 x 24ins), 98nhp, 2 x Screws
Collided with north training wall near 10 mile marker on 22 December 1936.
Salvage attempts failed
The tug Perseverance, owned by Preston Corporation; after assisting in refloating the stranded Helen Craig [Steamer inbound from Belfast whose 11 crew were taken off by the Lytham St Annes motor lifeboat on 6th December]; on return to Preston, collided with the north training wall near the 10 mile marker [distance in statute miles from Preston], and sank below Lytham Pier [now demolished], on 22 December 1936.
Perseverance in service:
Salvage Divers were reported in January 1937 to be attempting to
salvage her. They sealed up openings and lifted her, but she had to be sunk
again, and by October 1937, it was reported that the tug would sail no more.
In 1951, a wreck buoy was still reported to be marking the site.
Lancashire Evening Post, Thursday 11 February 1937:
TEN miles from Preston, towards the open sea, still lies the Preston
Corporation tug Perseverance, which sank when returning to the river[Ribble] after
assisting in refloating a stranded vessel last December. It lies hard up
against the north training wall of the Ribble. You cannot see it, except at
low water, and then only the tips of her masts are visible. Navigators,
however, know of her position, and she is not a danger to shipping. So far,
efforts to raise her have been unsuccessful - it is no easy job - but the
salvage workers have retrieved her funnel, and this is now lying in the
storeyard in Strand-road. It made a curious-looking cargo as it was brought up
the river slung across the bow of a small boat.
They got the funnel in this way:
Salvage operations started during the first week of the New Year, and for some
time workmen were engaged in sealing up holes and apertures in the hull so
that the vessel could be made as water-tight as possible. Then they started
with the pumps and the old tug was raised - but she came up so quickly and
unexpectedly that she was soon on the opposite side of the river. In fact the
Perseverance took command of the salvage boat, and, under the circumstances, the
only thing to be done, was to cut the suction pipe and sink her again, so that
the tug should not constitute a danger to shipping. This was done, but in the
process the funnel snapped off and was eventually rescued.