View source for Engineering:Flatiron (ship)

{{Short description|Bulk cargo coastal ship to carry coal}}
{{seealso|Flat-iron gunboat}}
[[File:SS 'Ewell' about to pass under London Bridge.jpg|thumb|Wandsworth and District Gas Company's SS ''Ewell'' in 1926 approaching London Bridge with her mast, funnel and wheelhouse folded down]]
[[File:SS 'Wandle' (1932) on her maiden voyage (cropped version).jpg|thumb|Wandsworth and District Gas Company's {{SS|Wandle|1932|6}} steaming up the Thames on her maiden voyage in 1932 with her mast and funnel up]]
[[File:SS_'Wandle'_(1932)_under_Southwark_Bridge,_London.jpg|thumb|SS ''Wandle'' in 1932 passing under Southwark Bridge with her mast, funnel and wheelhouse folded down]]
[[File:SS 'Suntrap' (1940) at Woolwich bound for Nine Elms.JPG|thumb|Gas Light and Coke Company's SS ''Suntrap'' at Woolwich in 1931, steaming upriver to Nine Elms Gasworks]]
A '''flatiron''', or '''flattie''', is a type of coastal trading vessel designed to pass under bridges that have limited clearance. Her mast(s) are hinged or telescopic, her funnel may be hinged, and her [[Engineering:Bridge (nautical)|wheelhouse]] may also fold flat.

Flatirons were developed in the UK in the latter part of the 19th century. Most were colliers built to bring coal from North East England and South Wales to gasworks and [[Chemistry:Power station|power station]]s on the River Thames that were upriver from the Pool of London.<ref name="RMG">{{cite web |title=Wandsworth (1950); Cargo vessel; Collier |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66284 |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=24 May 2023|quote=These vessels were designed to go under the Thames bridges and were known as ‘flatties’ or ‘flatirons’ and used for supplying the various power station on the river with coal.}}</ref>

==Development==
Until the middle of the 20th century flatirons were built with [[Engineering:Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion steam engines]].<ref name=Burntisland>{{cite web |url=http://www.burntisland.net/ships-list-anderson.htm |title=Ships built by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company Ltd: arranged by date of launch |last=Anderson |first=James B |editor-last=Sommerville |editor-first=Iain |date=2008 |work=Welcome to Burntisland |publisher=Iain Sommerville |accessdate=18 June 2011 |archive-date=16 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716235447/http://www.burntisland.net/ships-list-anderson.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The largest steam flatirons were more than 1,550 [[Engineering:Gross register tonnage|gross register tons]]. The last steam-powered flatirons were built in the 1950s.<ref name=Burntisland/>

By the middle of the 1940s flatiron [[Engineering:Motor ship|motor ship]]s with marine diesel engines were being built.<ref name=Burntisland/> The largest motor flatirons were more than 1,870 GRT and more than 2,800 [[Engineering:Deadweight tonnage|deadweight tons]].<ref name=Burntisland/>

==Fleets==
Some of Stephenson Clarke and Associates' fleet were flatirons.<ref name=Burntisland/> William Cory and Son's fleet included at least one flatiron.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?13374 |title=SS Deptford [+1915] |last1=Allen |first1=Tony |last2=Racey |first2=Carl |date=15 December 2010 |work=WreckSite |publisher=wrecksite.eu |accessdate=25 June 2011}}</ref> The Gas Light and Coke Company's collier fleet included flatirons to serve its gasworks at Fulham and Nine Elms.<ref name=Burntisland/> The London Power Company's collier fleet included flatirons to serve Battersea Power Station.<ref name=Burntisland/> The Metropolitan Borough of Fulham had a flatiron fleet to serve Fulham Power Station.<ref name=Burntisland/> The Wandsworth and District Gas Company had a flatiron fleet to serve Wandsworth Gasworks.<ref name=Burntisland/>

When Britain nationalised its electricity suppliers in 1948 and gas suppliers in 1949, the new British Electricity Authority (later the Central Electricity Authority), North Thames Gas Board and South Eastern Gas Board all inherited flatiron fleets from their predecessor companies. North Thames Gas had one diesel flatiron built in 1949 and the SEGB continued to have diesel flatirons built until 1956.<ref name=Burntisland/>

==Decline==
After the middle of the 1960s the need for flatirons started to decline. In 1966 gas suppliers started to convert from [[Chemistry:Coal gas|coal gas]] to North Sea natural gas, so that by the early 1970s coal gas gasworks were being closed and demolished. Secondly the Central Electricity Generating Board reconfigured its generating capacity with small numbers of larger, more modern power stations away from the centre of London, which led to the decommissioning of Battersea A power station in 1975, Fulham Power Station in 1978 and Battersea B Power Station in 1983. By the mid-1980s the need to carry thousands of tons of coal on the Thames above the Pool of London had ceased.

Redundant flatirons were sold to private shipping companies who used them as conventional coasters. By the middle of the 1970s several had ended up with Greek or Cypriot owners. One, the SEGB's MV ''Kingston'' (1956), was renamed ''Tsimention'' in 1971 and survived until 1983 when she was broken up.<ref name=Burntisland/>

==See also==
* {{ Annotated link | Gas board}}
* {{ Annotated link | Wandsworth and District Gas Company }}
* {{ Annotated link | Naval architecture }}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Duff |first=Peter |year=1949 |title=British Ships and Shipping, A Survey of modern Ship Design and Shipping Practice |place=London |publisher=George G. Harrap and Co.}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110927040841/http://www.industrial-archaeology.org.uk/pics/ian147.pdf ''Industrial Archaeology'', edition 147]

[[Category:Ship types]]

{{Sourceattribution|Flatiron (ship)}}