General Cargo, Motor Vessel Aridity, (IMO Number: 5023772; Official Number: 162607), owned and operated by F. T. Everard and Sons Limited, Greenhithe, is seen here, at Whitstable Harbour, Kent, 1964.
Details as follows:-
General Cargo Motor Vessel Aridity, launched 1931, to Yard Number 330, by J.H. Fellows and Company Limited, Great Yarmouth, and completed and delivered, July 1931, to F.T. Everard and Sons Limited, Greenhithe; Gross Registered Tonnage: 336, Net Registered Tonnage: 172, Dead Weight Tonnage: 366; 39.63 (length overall) x 39.63 (length between perpendiculars) x 7.49 (beam extreme) x 7.47 (beam moulded) x 2.90 (depth moulded) x 2.72 (draught); powered at launch, by one x model no. 5P50, five-cylinder, (335.0mm diameter x 390.5mm stroke), two-stroke, single-acting, oil engine, serial no.632, manufactured by Plenty-Still Oil Engines Limited, Newbury, (latterly, Newbury Diesel Company Limited); direct drive to single-shaft, single fixed-pitch propeller, machinery aft, speed: 9.0 knots; one deck, three bulk-heads; water ballast capacity: 33 tons. Retro-fitted, 1942, with one x model no. Sirron 6F, six-cylinder, (240mm diameter x 345mm stroke), two-stroke, single-acting, oil engine, serial no.739, manufactured by Newbury Diesel Company Limited, Newbury.
Launched 1931; completed and delivered, July 1931, to F.T. Everard and Sons Limited, Greenhithe; sunk by sea-mine, Saturday, 19/10/1940, in the Thames Estuary, 40 yards North-East of Oaze Light Vessel; salvaged and declared a total loss, but subsequently repaired at Greenhithe and fitted with new engine; re-entered service, Friday, 20/03/1942; sold, July 1966, to M. Gigilinis and D. Kalkassinas, Thessalonica, Greece, renamed Soula; sold, 1971, to C. Soulanis and Others, Samos, Greece; sold, 1974, to E. Drakatos, Piraeus, Greece; sold, 1976, to Yellow Sea Marine Company Limited, Limassol, Cyprus, renamed Star I; deleted from Lloyd's Register, 1988, due to lack of information.
Probably unloading aggregates intended for Brett Aggregates, a Canterbury based Company. Their first tar macadam plant was built in Whitstable harbour in 1936.
The raw materials for tarmac were then granite chippings or blast furnace slag, imported into Whitstable by sea, and refined coal tar supplied from a site in Canterbury. There was a big demand for tarmac for housing estates and other developments in the north Kent coastal towns from the late 1930′s onwards.
The eastern wharf at Whitstable harbour has been used for marine-dredged aggregate importation since the 1960′s. In more recent years, Brett has imported granite from the West Country and Scotland, and slag-based Type 1 material from France.
