SS ''Maplewood'' was a British

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

. She was launched on the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has be ...

in 1915. A

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

sank her in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

in 1917.

Building

In 1912 Joseph Constantine and Warley Pickering of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Yorkshire took delivery of a pair of

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s: ''Thorpwood'', launched that January by

William Gray & Company William Gray & Company Ltd. was a British shipbuilding company located in West Hartlepool, County Durham, in North East England. Founded in 1863 by John Denton and William Gray as a partnership, it became a private and then a public limited com ...

West Hartlepool West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland. The former town was originally formed in ...

, and ''Wearwood'', launched that April by John Blumer & Co of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. In 1915 Ropner & Sons of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

built a third ship for Constantine and Pickering to the same measurements. She was built as yard number 503, launched on 10 September 1915 as ''Maplewood'', and completed that October. ''Maplewood''s registered length was , her

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

was and her depth was . Her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on ''tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ref ...

s were and . She had a single

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

, driven by a three-cylinder

triple-expansion engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up h ...

built by

Blair & Co Blair is an English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or "field", frequently a “ba ...

of Stockton that was rated at 278

NHP Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

. Warley and Pickering registered ''Maplewood'' at Middlesbrough. Her UK

official number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

was 136078 and her

code letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

were JLWH.

Loss

In April 1917 ''Maplewood'' left

La Goulette La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is th ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

with a cargo of iron ore for Middlesbrough. On 7 April sank her by torpedo southwest of Cape Sperone,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. All of her crew survived, but ''U-35'' took her Master prisoner.

References

{{coord missing 1915 ships Maritime incidents in 1917 Ships built on the River Tees Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I Steamships of the United Kingdom World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War I shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea