THE LAUNCHING MALLET FOR THE COURT LINE S.S CRESSINGTON COURT, 1929

modelled as a caulking hammer with silver plate inscribed With this mallet was launched the S.S. Cressington Court by Mr J.E. Cowper of South Shields, Northumberland Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Howdon-on-Tyne, 11th July 1929 -- 11in. (28cm.) high

M.V. Cressington Court was a 4,971 ton general cargo ship built in 1929 by Northumberland SB Co. for Court Line. On the 19th August 1942, when en route from Philadelphia and Trinidad for Durban and Alexandria carrying a mixed cargo of 7,362 tons government stores and general cargo she was torpedoed by German submarine U-510 and sunk northeast of Belém, Brazil with the loss of the master and seven crew. Three weeks later, on 10 September, 26 crew members and ten gunners were picked up by the tanker S.S. Woensdrecht but two days later this vessel was also torpedoed and badly damaged by U-525. During the attack, a piece of debris struck and killed another crew member from the Cressington Court. The remaining British survivors abandoned the tanker together with the Dutch crew and were picked up by two American patrol vessels the following night and landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad.