Empire Sandy - Tugboat History

Tugboat History

The Empire Sandy was one of 1,464 Empire ships built or acquired for war service by the British Government. Built in England in 1943 as a deep sea tugboat, she was tasked with Royal Navy work and salvaging merchant ships damaged in the Battle of the Atlantic and other naval engagements during the Second World War. She served in the North Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to Sierra Leone, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal during World War II.

The Empire Sandy's WWII 'Official Log-Books' documenting all her WWII voyages are now available for viewing on www.empiresandy.com click on WWII History . Of notable interest are the complete particulars of the crew, names, addresses, ages, next of kin etc. The oldest is the Master, E Thomas, 63 and the youngest is the Cabin Boy, Kenneth Lewis 15. These are in 'Log Book 014'. Another interesting entry is in TNA-25-5-05-094 describing the storm while towing, with His Majesty’s Rescue Tug Hesperia, AFD24 (Admiralty Floating Drydock 24) off the coast of Libya on February 8th 1945. The tug Hesperia and AFD24 were both blown ashore and lost.

In 1948 she was bare-boat chartered by Risdon Beazley who renamed her Ashford, together with their Bustler class tug Twyford Ashford entered the rescue towage market. The Ashford is listed, in 'Part of the Acorn Archive - Hearts of Oak' as part of the salvage team attending HMS Warspite after the Warspite went aground in 23 April 1947. The Ashford is incorrectly identified as tug Englishman, however all other particulars are of the Ashford (Empire Sandy) Ref: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treevecwll/visitorshw.htm

Ashford was handed back to the Admialty in 1952. She was then sold to a Canadian firm, Great Lakes Paper Company, renamed Chris M (after Chris Michels, a senior employee of Great Lakes Paper) and came to the Canadian Great Lakes where she spent fifteen years towing timber rafts for Lake Superior logging companies. In the early 1970s the aged ship was to be sold for scrap, but the steel hull was still in very good condition and she was bought by Nautical Adventures Co. for a possible conversion. They completely rebuilt the Chris M as a three masted schooner in the style of the 1880s and she assumed her original name the Empire Sandy .