''Southern Pride'' was a steam-powered

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

built by the

Smiths Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyn ...

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 ...

in 1936. She was the initial design inspiration for the s used to escort

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s in the North Atlantic in

World War II 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 opposing ...

."Southern Pride HMS (K 249)"
wrecksite.eu The final design for the Flower class was significantly modified from that of ''Southern Pride'' factoring in things like ease of construction. After World War II began ''Southern Pride'' was requisitioned by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, and converted into a warship. Her conversion took six weeks and cost 75,000 pounds. She was wrecked off

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...

in June 1944.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xbPbCwAAQBAJ&q=%22flower+class%22+%22Southern+Pride%22&pg=PA227 , title = Churchill's Navy: The ships, people and organisation, 1939-1945 , author = Brian Lavery , author-link = Brian Lavery , publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing , year = 2016 , isbn = 9781844863372 , page = 227 , quote = About this time Mr William Reed of Smith's Docks came to see me. He enlarged upon the properties of the whale-catchers of the Southern Pride class built to the British Corporation's classification. It seemed to me that vessel with the characteristics of ''Southern Pride'' would meet the requirements outlined by Sir Roger Backhouse. {{cite book , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5F2CAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Southern+Pride%22+corvette+%22whale+catcher%22&pg=PA43 , title = Atlantic Escorts: Ships, Weapons & Tactics in World War II , author = David Brown , publisher =

Seaforth Publishing Pen and Sword Books, also stylised as Pen & Sword, is a British publisher which specialises in printing and distributing books in both hardback and softback on military history, militaria and other niche subjects; factual non-fiction, primaril ...

, year = 2007 , isbn = 9781844157020 {{cite book , author-link=Richard Woodman , last=Woodman , first=Richard , title=The History of the Ship , publisher=Conway Maritime Press , year=2005 , page=376 , isbn=978-1-84486-004-3 {{cite book , last1=McKay , first1=John , first2=John , last2= Harland , title=The flower class corvette Agassiz , publisher=Naval Inst Press , year=1994 , series=Anatomy of the Ship , pages=13 , isbn=978-1-55068-084-3 {{Cite news , url= http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/844/841/95669506w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS35733682&dyn=3!xrn_2_0_CS35733682&hst_1?sw_aep=corlonli , title=Naval Losses: List Completed To May 8 , work=

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

, date=18 May 1945 , accessdate=7 February 2010 Whaling ships Ships built on the River Tees 1936 ships