Fog on the Tyne
A Passenger Steamer Ashore
A dense fog prevailed on the Tyne for several hours during last night and this morning. The ferries plying between the New Quay, North Shields, and the Market Place, South Shields, were suspended for considerable length of time, and communication between those places had to be carried on by the direct ferry. The navigation of the river was also greatly impeded. About eight o'clock this morning while the passenger steamer Pladda, from Dundee, was entering Shields harbour during the fog she got too far the southward and went ashore on the rocks at the extreme end of the Fish Pier. It was high water at the time, and the steamer went a long way up. The passengers, numbering about sixty, were taken off by the steamtug Great Britain and by boatmen, and were safely landed. The fog lifted about an hour after the steamer grounded.
Source: Shields Daily Gazette 13 January 1875
Tyne Pilotage Board
The monthly meeting of the Tyne Pilotage Board was held yesterday morning, in the Boardroom, Custom House Buildings, South Shields, Mr J. Robinson, J.P., presiding.
The Stranding of the Screw Steamer Pladda
The Clerk (Mr J. P. Dodd) read a letter from Board of Trade, enclosing a copy of a return which had been made to the Receiver of Wreck North Shields, on the subject of the stranding of the screw-steamer Pladda, of Dundee, when in charge of a pilot, on the 13th ult. The communication stated that it would be observed that the Receiver attributed the casualty to want of care on the part of the pilot in charge of the vessel, and the matter was requested to be heard before the Tyne Pilotage Commissioners, in order that they might take such steps as they deemed expedient. The report of the Receiver of Wreck stated that the screw-steamer Pladda of Dundee, Captain William Younger, was stranded on the Fish Pier South Shields, on 13th of January. The steamer got off the next tide. The Receiver stated that the course could, be suspected, have been kept more to the north—vessel going dead slow and ebb tide acting on starboard bow. The pilot in charge was John Young.
MR YOUNG (who was in attendance), at the request of the Board, explained that the vessel got as far southward in consequence of the current setting very strongly in that direction, and owing to her going very slowly ahead on account of the dense fog which prevailed at the time. He also complained that the foundation stones of the Fish Pier extended from 80ft to 100ft into the channel, and there was no buoy to mark their position. Mr Young then retired.
The Commissioners having considered the matter, the pilot was recalled and informed that the following resolution had been come to:-That in the opinion of the Board, every precaution was taken to secure safe navigation of the vessel, and that the accident was entirely attributable to the dense fog which suddenly settled down upon the river, the heavy fresh sea running, which acted more powerfully owing to the slow rate at which she was proceeding-on the steamer than the pilot anticipated, they cautioned him take more care in future."
Source: Shields Daily Gazette 6 February 1875