SS Elswick Park Photo: Old Ships Photo
SS Elswick Park Photo: Old Ships Photo
He had resided at 32 Frederick Street, South Shields but by 1911 the census shows he had moved to 16 Dean Street.
He was a member of the Marine Engineers Association.
During the war he served as 3rd engineer on board the SS Elswick Park, a steam cargo ship.
She sailed to Philadelphia to transport a cargo of coal down to the port of Santos, in Brazil.
She left Philadelphia on the 8th September 1916, down the Delaware River, and was planning to head south to Santos. She was last sighted just past the breakwater, heading out to sea.
When she failed to arrive, alarm was raised, and by November, as The Journal reports, "[she] is so much overdue as to cause grave anxiety for her safety".
She was later posted missing and the crew, including Ernest Blanchflower and a number of other Tyneside men, were presumed drowned.
There is no indication of whether she was attacked and sunk by enemy action, or an accident.
A new SS Elswick Park was built and launched in 1920. She one of the ships sunk as a blockship on the 10th February 1944. To form breakwaters for the Mulberry Harbour.
He is remembered in South Shields on S86.102, in Harton on H104.03 and on our List of Ships’ crews
There is no CWGC entry for Third Engineer Blanchflower.
