Humble Ship’s Distinguished War Record
On public display for the first time in Warrington Museum is a ship’s bell marked “W.E. Dorrington” which has prompted research into this now-scrapped vessel’s role in the First World War.
Bell rescued from the ship “W.E. Dorrington” which was scrapped in 1937.
The ship that once bore this bell – the “W.E. Dorrington” – was named after one of the former directors of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company. It was launched in 1906 and spent most of its working life towing barges known as “Mersey Flats” across the River Mersey between Liverpool Docks and Ellesmere port. However research has now uncovered that the “W.E. Dorrington” was temporarily commandeered for war service not once, but twice – once for a single month in 1914 and then later for two years between 1917 and 1919 during which time it played a role in the final phase of the First World War at Le Havre in France.
Well-served by rail networks, the port of Le Havre in France was 280 miles from the front line during the First World War and possessed hospital and rest and recuperation facilities. It therefore became the port of choice for landing British and Commonwealth regiments before they were assembled, trained and prepared for the trenches. Eventually the newly arrived soldiers would be transported from Le Havre by train to the battlefields of the western front.
The port of Le Havre during August 1914
The flow of soldiers through Le Havre intensified when America joined the First World War on 6 April 1917. Troop ships started transporting American soldiers across the Atlantic, many of them stopping at the port of Le Havre as their entry point to the war in France. By the time hostilities ceased in November 1918 America had sent 2 million American troops, nicknamed “Doughboys”, to the Western front. 848,000 of these soldiers, mostly under 25 years of age, arrived through the port of Le Havre.
The increased flow of soldiers through this relatively small port meant that more tugboats were needed quickly to tow and push the arriving troop ships into the harbour as quickly as possible. Steel-built towing tugs were particularly in demand and so the British Admiralty commandeered the “W.E. Dorrington” in May 1917 and sailed it to Le Havre.
A rare photo of the “W.E. Dorrington”
Following the end of the war the “W.E. Dorrington” ended its time working for the British Admiralty at the port of Southampton, probably assisting with returning troops and equipment, before finally returning to service for the “Shroppie” or the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company on 15th September 1919. There the tug resumed its previous job of towing barges across the Mersey until it was eventually sold to the Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1922. After years of towing barges along the canal the “W.E, Dorrington” was eventually scrapped at Preston in 1937, the only part known to have survived being the ship’s bell.
Warrington Museum Display
The bell clearly marked from 1906 is the centrepiece in a display about waterways in the North West with a strong emphasis on nostalgia for shipping and tugs in particular in the early part of the 20th century. It features ship spotting books and items from the Manchester Ship Canal along which the “W.E. Dorrington” once traveled. The focus of the display is the “sister” ship of the “W.E. Dorrington”, the “Daniel Adamson – affectionately known as “The Danny” – which has now been restored and offers cruises along the River Weaver
Les Green, a volunteer at both the Shropshire Union Canal Society and the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society said “We were delighted to receive the bell as a gift and to make it a centrepiece of our display. It is important that these historic items are both retained and researched. The fact that the American army was quickly put into action with very few ships and lives lost off Le Havre due to U-boats activity may have been helped in no small part by this humble tug that once belonged to the “Shroppie”.