ST ''Cervia'' was built in 1946 as a seagoing tug for use as a fleet auxiliary by Alexandra Hall & Company LtdBritish Steam Tugs: By Thomas, P N.: Published by Waine Research Publications (Oct 1983): of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Today she is a floating Museum still undergoing restoration in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

.''OS Explorer Map 150 - Norfolk Coast East''. .

Design and construction

The ''Cervia'' design closely followed an early designed steam tug class called ''Foremost'' which had been conceived in 1923. The reasoning behind the recycling of this old design was due to Britain’s need to quickly replace losses, and because of the government’s rapid rebuilding programme. Using the best of pre-war tried and tested tug designs would avoid the need for new designs, and get round any delays to the Admiralties rebuild plans. ''Empire Raymond'', as the ''Cervia'' was originally named, was part of the revised building programme ordered for

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

, the invasion of Europe on D-Day. In the event she was not completed until after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The tug was finished with many of the design features intended for the invasion. She had an armoured wheelhouse and gun emplacements installed. She weighed over 350 tons and was powered by a

triple-expansion steam 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 he ...

. Her boiler had been installed with oil burners but the design allowed for rapidly reverted to coal firing. All the ships that were ordered by the British government during the War period were given the prefix ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' which was the equivalent of the "Liberty Ship" building programme in the United States of America.Elphick, Peter
''Liberty: The Ships that Won the War.''
Naval Institute Press, 2006. The ''Cervia'' is thought to be last ''Empire Ship'' surviving in the United Kingdom.The Empire Ships: Record of British-built and Acquired Merchant Ships During the Second World War: By Mitchell, William Harry: Publisher: LLP Professional Publishing; 2nd Revised edition (Oct 1990):

History

The ''Cervia'' was launched from the yard of Alexander Hall and Co. Ltd in

, on 21 January 1946 and was handed to the

Ministry of War Transport The Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) was a department of the British Government formed early in the Second World War to control transportation policy and resources. It was formed by merging the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Transport ...

. In December 1946 she was sold on to the maritime towing business of William Watkins Ltd for the sum of £36,000. The business had purchased the tug using compensation it received for the vessels it lost on War service such as the tugs "Napia" and "Muria", which were sunk after collisions with mines near

in 1939 and 1940.

Name Change

In 1947 the ''Empire Raymond'' name was changed to ''

Cervia Cervia ( rgn, Zirvia) is a seaside resort town in the province of Ravenna, located in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Cervia is a major seaside resort in Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Its population was 28,700 at the 2018 census. ...

'' after the Italian Adriatic resort where the Watkins family owned a holiday villa. The name had previously been used on an earlier tug owned by William Watkins which taken part in the evacuation of

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.''Queen Elizabeth'' from her role as troop ship back to a passenger liner. During the working life of ''Cervia'' the main role that she was deployed in was as a towing and

salvage tug A salvage tug, known also historically as a wrecking tug, is a specialized type of tugboat that is used to rescue ships that are in distress or in danger of sinking, or to salvage ships that have already sunk or run aground. Overview Few tugbo ...

between ports in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. When based in Ramsgate "Cervia" helped free several vessels that had run aground on the Goodwin Sand Banks off of the East-Kent coast in the vicinity of Ramsgate and Deal. Her association with the port would continue for 60 years right up to the present time.

Ramsgate

The ''Cervia'', along with other ships owned by Watkins, were regularly maintained and repaired at the workshops and slipways of Claxton’s Ltd in Ramsgate. Claxton’s was subsidiary of William Watkins. In 1950 William Watkins Ltd was merged with other companies to form Ship Towage Ltd of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. As part of this company’s fleet the ''Cervia'' was involved in a serious incident.

Capsize

On 25 October 1954 the ''Cervia'' was employed at

Tilbury docks The Port of Tilbury is a port on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It is the principal port for London, as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facilities for contai ...

in London. ''Cervia'' was involved in the undocking of the P&O liner , towing the liner stern first away from her landing stage. During this manoeuvre, the ''Arcadia'' had gone full ahead to avoid collision with liner P&O liner . The resulting wash caused ''Cervia'' to be dragged over and capsize and sink. Despite their valiant efforts to release the towing hawser the ''Cervia'' Captain Russell, MBE and five of her crew died. Another Watkins owned tug, ''Challenge'', managed to rescue three of the crew. The subsequent court of enquiry into the case, recorded that the deaths were accidental, and the sinking was caused by the failure of a quick release pin on her towing hook. On 28 October the ''Cervia'' herself became subject of a salvage operation. The tug was raised from the Thames riverbed and she was taken to Claxton’s Ltd in

for a refit and then returned to service. On 27 January 1969 ''Cervia'' was at work on the Thames when her owners merged with W.H.J. Alexander & Company Ltd to form the London Tug Company. The London Tug Company was to have a policy to phase out steam tugs in favour of more modern diesel vessels. The modernization of the fleet went ahead at speed and by 1971 the ''Cervia'' was laid up at

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

. It was hoped a buyer could be found or the tug would go to the breakers. The ''Cervia'' was offered to a Michael List-Brain a potential buyer who wished to preserve her. The Board of London Tugs agreed to her sale "as is, where lies", for the sum of £3,500. Mr List-Brain purchased the ‘‘Cervia’’ in April 1973 and took possession at Poplar Docks, London where she had been laid up. The tug then was given a refit and was back in steam by the summer.

Medway Maritime Museum

She was used on the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

for both for pleasure trips and for her new owner to familiarize himself with her. It was envisaged that ''Cervia'' would become a part of a new organisation to be called "The Medway Maritime Museum". This was the idea of the United Kingdom's foremost ship preservationists, Martin Stevens. Unfortunately by 1974, the plans faltered when the Medway Council proved to be unable to provide sufficient funding for the project and with having neither premises nor any money, the original museum project looked very precarious.

Back to work

With the fledgling museum’s lack of income, List-Brain and Stevens decided that one solution was to put the ''Cervia'' back to work in the towing business. At this time exploration in the North sea for gas and oil was beginning to pick up in pace. This provided an ideal opportunity for the ''Cervia'' to earn her keep again. The ''Cervia'' was contracted to a construction firm based on the Medway. The construction firm of Howard Doris needed all manner of craft to assist with oil rig construction projects. In November 1974 ''Cervia'' to towed a crane barge to the Humber. She completed the contract with no problems, but with the cost of a very rapid re-equipping and complete lack of understanding as to the economics of marine towage meant the nett profit from this first towing contract was only £7.00.

International Towing Ltd

Following the contract with Howard Doris and the small profit, List-Brain and Stevens decided to put the fledgling business on a more professional business footing. A professional crew was employed and throughout 1975 several more successful towing contracts were undertaken by the ''Cervia'' all around the coast of the United Kingdom. During this time ''Cervia'' continued to prove her reliability working solidly for this twelve-month period except for a small period of time spent on essential boiler cleaning and maintenance. So successful was the business and the increasing demands placed on it, a proper company was set up which was called International Towing Ltd. ITL, as the company was abbreviated to, added three more steam tugs to her books to keep up with demand. These’s tugs were ST ''Hercules'', ST ''Hero'' and ST ''Goliath''.

Ramsgate

Like Watkins before them, International Towing Ltd. decided to choose Ramsgate as their home port. The knock on effect of these decisions gave a welcome boost to the local economy of Ramsgate which saw a resurgence of commercial ship repairing in the harbour. ''Cervia'' and the three other tugs were kept very busy with a variety of jobs both in the North Sea and with coastal towage contracts. In early 1977 two of the tugs of ITL, ST ''Hercules'' and ST ''Hero'' were taken out of service and returned to the Medway Maritime Trust, under the guidance of Martin Stevens. Nonetheless, ITL saw its business rapidly expand becoming an international operation all thanks to the reliability and hard work of ''Cervia'' and her sister tugs. To meet customer demands, ''Cervia'' and ''Goliath'' were joined further modern deep sea diesel powered tugs in 1978. by the 1980s, ITL’s fleet had grown to include the two most powerful tugs in the northern hemisphere and the business was sold off to the Far East. ''Cervia'' carried on working for ITL until 1983. Her last contract was to act as port tug for the new cross-channel ferry service at Ramsgate. The contract was terminated when the ferry service failed to operate a regular service due to the difficult economic climate of the early 1980s. ''Cervia'' was mothballed alongside the East Pier at Ramsgate Royal Harbour.

Appearances in books and film

It was after this time that ''Cervia'' fulfilled a different role as a film location in an episode of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

comedy series

Ripping Yarns ''Ripping Yarns'' is a British television adventure comedy anthology series. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. It was transmitted on BBC 2. Following an initial pilot episode in January 1976, it ran for two ser ...

called ''The Curse Of The Claw'' with

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

. ''Cervia'' had also been used in BBC production of ''Rogue Male'' starring

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic ...

in the mid-seventies. She was also the subject of a 1986

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, ''Cervia the Steam Tug'', written and illustrated by Roger Ian Sacks in support of the East Kent Maritime Trust's Ramsgate Maritime Museum.

Maritime Museum, Ramsgate

After negotiations between ''Cervia’s'' owners and Thanet District Council's Harbour Master and his deputy, the tug was loaned and placed in the care of Ramsgate Maritime Museum, run by the East Kent Maritime Trust in July 1985. Later in July she was taken to moorings in

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fir ...

's Historic Dry Dock. Funding was then secured for restoration work to be carried out on the ''Cervia''. She was repainted to her original working livery of William Watkins days. A new mast was also fitted and her crew accommodation was refurbished to provide areas for museum displays. In 1986 ''Cervia'' was visited by

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

. To mark ''Cervia's'' 50th birthday a specialist engineer John Vineer oversaw restoration of the tugs 1,000 horsepower engine to full working order. ''Cervia'' became the centre point of the 'Historic Harbour' initiative and was joined by other vessels from the maritime museum's collection and privately owned classic boats.

Uncertain future

The East Kent Maritime Trust attempted to put together a joint restoration project for both the Smeaton's Dry Dock and the steam tug "Cervia". It was hoped that funding from a number of sources including the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

, the

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

, other E.U. grants and private sources would be secured. The East Kent Maritime Trust later shelved this project By 2010 the Steam Museum Trust was hoping to start a stand-alone restoration project for the tug. The ST ''Cervia'' remains moored in Ramsgate harbour, a rare survivor of steam ship development. She was also the last steam tug to work commercially in British waters. In June 2022, National Historic Ships UK announced that, as sufficient restoration funding was not available, the owner intends to "deconstruct" the tug.

Gallery

File:ST Cervia.jpg, The ''Cervia'' in Ramsgate Harbour

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cervia 1946 ships Tugboats of the United Kingdom Ships built in Aberdeen Empire ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Museum ships in the United Kingdom Ramsgate Ships and vessels of the National Historic Fleet Maritime incidents in 1954