Stephenson Clarke
| Private company limited by shares | |
| Industry | Ship transport |
| Fate | in liquidation |
| Founded | 1730 |
| Headquarters | Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
| Website | Stephenson Clarke Shipping Limited |
Stephenson Clarke Shipping Limited, established in 1730, in liquidation 26 July 2012, was Great Britain's oldest shipping company. The company had specialized in short sea bulk cargo such as aggregates, alumina, grain, coal, fertilizers and steel.
Reverend Ralph Clarke, a vicar of Long Benton, Tyneside had two sons, Ralph and Robert Clarke. The boys went to sea, working their way up to being master mariners.
During their career at sea, they began to buy shares in ships, gradually making the transition from captain to owner. The company that would become Stephenson Clarke was formed when the brothers bought shares in a 300-ton sailing vessel. Thus the business was established in 1730, in the early years of the reign of King George II.
Stephenson Clarke had managed other owners' ships as well as its own. For several decades it managed the collier fleets of the Gas Light and Coke Company and other gas and electricity utility companies.
SS Wandle was a 932 GRT flatiron coastal collier launched by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company of Burntisland, Fife, Scotland in 1924 for the Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Epsom and District Gas Company. Stephenson Clarke bought her in 1932 and renamed her Pitwines. On 11 January 1940 she survived being bombed and machine-gunned by enemy aircraft in the North Sea about 25 miles (40 km) off Flamborough Head. On 11 November 1941 she survived an attack by enemy aircraft off Yarmouth. On 19 November 1941 she was involved in a collision off West Hartlepool with the 744 GRT coaster SS Gateshead and sank about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Heugh.
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