RFA Purfol

RFA Purfol

Previous name:                        THAMES CONSERVANCY HOPPER No.7,  PLA  HOPPER No.7
Subsequent name:                  PLA  HOPPER No.7, ROCKWELL

Official Number:                        123824                                                        

Class:                                          ex-PLA HOPPER

Pennant No:                                X-56

Laid down:
Builder:                                        Fleming & Ferguson, Paisley
Launched:                                  13 February 1907  
Into Service:                                September 1916
Out of service:                            1920
Fate:                                             Broken up in South Africa 1966

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  As WW1 progressed, the demand for fuelling ships became more acute and the 6 vessels in this Class were all formerly PLA Hoppers, used for working with the dredgers in London. They lent themselves to rapid conversion into tankers by plating over the bottom sludge door joints and by installing a pipeline and a pump. They were all coal burners that had been built on the River Clyde and after acquisition by the Admiralty, they were renamed after salient features of the River Thames and their new names used the leading parts of the names of London boroughs. In 1920 they were all returned to the PLA and they resumed their previous names. They are all recorded in official records as Royal Fleet Auxiliaries

26 March 1907 launched by Fleming & Ferguson Ltd, Paisley as Yard Nr 356 named THAMES CONSERVANCY HOPPER No 7 for the Conservators of the River Thames,  London

April 1907 completed

1909 renamed PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY HOPPER No.7 by the Port of London Authority

9 September 1916 chartered by the Admiralty and deployed as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary having been renamed RFA Purfol

14 October 1916 Engineer Lieutenant Ernest E Patterson RNR appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

12 June 1917 stationed at Killybegs, Ireland supporting HMS PLATYPUS and her flotilla of submarines

4 September 1917 Able Seaman Whalley logged as deserting. He had signed on on 4 August 1917.

5 October 1917 Lieutenant Samuel Williams RNR appointed in Command

3 November 1917 Able Seaman C Stuart, Ordinary Seaman F Cronican and Ordinary Seaman J Byrne all logged as deserting.  AB Stuart had signed on on 4 August 1917 while OS Cronican and OS Byrne had both signed on on 11 September 1917

21 April 1919 at Portland alongside HMS Castor refuelling her

1920 returned to her owners and resumed her previous name

1927 sold to C.H.Campbell and renamed Rockwell

19 November 1936 berthed at Cape Town

1966 broken up during third quarter of the year at Durban, South Africa