LAUNCH DAY PHOTOGRAPHS

JOHN HARKER SHIPYARD KNOTTINGLEY

7th FEBRUARY 1957

' BURDALE H '

Offical No.186753

Registered at Hull number 30 on 19th June 1957. A steel tanker barge with an eight-cylinder Gardner engine built by Harker's in 1957. Measurements 138.15ft x 17.55ft x 7.7ft, gross tonnage 176.34, register 92.72. Sold to T&S Rix Ltd., of Skiurlaugh, Humberside, on 23rd November 1976. Re-registered number 29 on 29th May 1979 after llengthening to 163.15ft x 17.55ft x 7.7ft, gross tonnage 206.53, register 119.69. Re-named 'RIX KESTREL' on 20th May 1993.

THIS IS THE 75TH
"I name this ship 'BURDALE' I wish her calm seas..." The rest of the words were lost in a shrill whistle and hammer blows as the last chocks were knocked from under the keel and the 138 feet tanker slid down the rampart into the Aire and Calder Casnal.
'BURDALE H' is the 75th vessel to be built at Knottingley by John Harker Ltd., was launched yesterday week (Thursday) by Mrs T.P.Brindley of Pontefract. Invited spectators watched as the yard hands removed props and chocks, and a crowd of schoolchildren on the opposite bank cheered excitedly. Then the chanpagne bottle be-ribboned in red,white and blue, broke against the grey steel, the bows cut the chill water, and the empty vessel floated high with fluttering bunting.
She is a single screw tanker, diesel propelled, with a capacity of 230 tons, for carrying petroleum spirit on the Aire and Calder Canal and the River Trent.
After the launch the Chairman of the Directors, Mr E. Lyon, thanked Mrs Brindley and handed to her a shagreen cigarette box bearing a replica of the Harker House flag.
Pontefract & Castleford Express, 15th February 1957, page 8