Harker’s launches menu page
John Harker Launches
1949 - 1974
In 2024, this Society was extremely fortunate to have been gifted photographs from the large collection of waterways material amassed by Knottingley historian, Ron Gosney. They included over 500 professionally created photographs of the launches of vessels built by John Harker Limited at their shipyard in Knottingley, West Yorkshire. Ron has explained that the photographs were taken by Charles Maude, a professional photographer from Pontefract, who was commissioned by Harkers.
Occasionally other photographs, by unidentified photographers, have been added for completeness.
The earliest photographs in this collection were taken in summer 1949 and the latest in early 1974. The majority of the photographs are of tanker barges built for use by John Harker Limited’s own water transportation business but during those years they also built tankers and other craft for other fleet owners, including Cory Tank Lighterage, Flixborough Shipping, John Hunt and Sons and Hargreaves.
The photographs not only feature the vessels being launched but also the fanfare that went on around the launch event. There are groups of VIPs, perhaps a bouquet presentation by a young Harker’s employee and occasionally the moment the champagne bottle is broken against the bow while the vessel is named.
Additional information is provided for each vessel from the Yard List created by Ron. His list confirms that not every launch was captured on camera during that 25 year period, but we are able to view many of them. His work has allowed us to identify the vessels and when the photographs were taken. Sometimes the names of the VIPs are shown but not always. If you can add any more information, please get in touch using the Contact Us Today form below.
We have followed Ron’s lead and split the photographs into a number of galleries by the first letter of their name:
Vessels with names beginning A to D
Nineteen vessels launched from John Harker, Knottingley, from A, tug Alfred Bannister, to D, general cargo barge Doris Hunt.
Vessels with names beginning E to H
Nineteen vessels launched from John Harker, Knottingley, from E, general cargo barge Edwin Pittwood to H, tanker barge Helmsdale H.
Vessels with names beginning I to M
Eighteen vessels launched from John Harker, Knottingley, from I, ice breaker IBD 4 to M, inshore trawler My Rose-Anne.
Vessels with names beginning N to S
Twenty-two vessels launched from John Harker, Knottingley, from N, barge Newdale H to S, general cargo barge Spurn Light.
Vessels with names beginning T to Y
Eleven vessels launched from John Harker, Knottingley, from T, tanker barge Teesdale H to Y, tanker barge Yaredale H.
Image quality
It is important to recognise that we are publishing a collection of photographs which by the time they have found their way into our hands are likely to have been copied multiple times and shared among friends. What may have originally been a high quality print from an exceptionally well taken glass plate negative has become an ill defined, too dark or too light, cropped reproduction as individual collectors have applied their own preferences to the image. This means that the images found on our website may not be of the highest quality but we believe that it is better that they are published as seen to enable historians to see what life was like for their watermen ancestors.
If you recognise a photograph and have a better quality image in your own collection please share it so that we can update the version in our gallery.
Publication permission for copyright images
We acknowledge that copyright images are being shown for which no explicit permission to publish has been given to this Society. Many of the digital images shown had originally been produced with the knowledge and permission of the now defunct Yorkshire Waterways Museum from original photographs deposited there for public display. Following the closure of that organisation in 2019 and the break up of their collection those original photographs have disappeared and have effectively been lost to the public.
Through an incredible stroke of good fortune digital copies of those images were donated to this Society in 2022 allowing our volunteers to finally achieve the wishes of those photographers and collectors who had made the original donations.
If you are the copyright holder and would like to contact the Society please use the form below.
Descriptions
All images held in our galleries are being given descriptions to assist viewers. While we endeavour to ensure that each description is accurate and complete we recognise that mistakes will have been made so you should therefore not rely on our description.
If you can add to the published description, please let us know and we’ll make a correction. You can contact us using the form at the bottom of this page.
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