A derelict tugboat, now at Ballina quay, is a reminder of a programme of concrete shipbuilding initiated in response to a serious shortage of steel in Britain during W.W.1. The vessel known as the Creteboom (pictured above), is one of 12 similar ferro-concrete tugboats built specifically to tow barges loaded with iron-ore from northern Spain to the foundries in Britain. However, before the completion of the fleet, hostilities had ended, and the vessels never fulfilled the role for which they were intended. In fact, the Creteboom’s launch was delayed until November 1919; one year after the war was over.

In 1922, Stelp & Leighton, a firm of London based ship owners, bought the fleet from the government, and used them to tow barges laden with coal to Continental destinations. The Creteboom spent a lot of her time in the Baltic, and visited the port of Petrograd on several occasions. In 1924, rising costs, port charges etc., made the operation uneconomic and the Concrete Shipping Co. was forced to cease trading. For several years afterwards, the fleet was ’moth-balled’ on the river Wear, and were eventually disposed of. In 1935, the Creteboom, still in very good condition, was bought by the South Stockton Shipbreaking Co. of Thornaby on Tees, and stripped of all her metal parts. Later, in 1937, the hulk was sold on to the Ballina Harbour Commissioners, who had her towed to the river Moy. The Commissioner’s plan was to use her as a sand-stop, but the Moy Fishery Co. threatened legal action, fearing the plan would interfere with the run of salmon into the river. This complication, and the eventual outbreak of W.W.2, caused the work to be abandoned. The hulk, having been there since Sept., 22^nd 1937, is now a familiar sight on the river, and a constant source of wonder to visitors.

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