It was on a rainy Tyneside day 50 years ago that the giant oil tanker Esso Northumbria was launched at Swan Hunter’s Wallsend shipyard by Princess Anne.
At 253,000 tons, it was the biggest ship in the world at the time, and it was the first in a succession of colossal supertankers to be built at the famous yard.
Remarkable footage provided by the North East Film Archive (NEFA) captures the headline-making event of five decades ago.
The arrival of a youthful princess, the Esso looming at the end of Wallsend’s Leslie Street, the back-to-back-terraces, the crowds, and the spectacular launch on to a busy River Tyne are all captured on film shot by the well-know local company Turner’s.
The footage, captured on May 2, 1969, contains scenes that have vanished from our region over the last 50 years.
The Esso’s sea trials in February 1970 saw an estimated 250,000 visitors flock to watch the giant vessel majestically make its way down the Tyne.
All roads within a 10-mile radius of Tynemouth were blocked for hours.
An AA spokesman labelled the traffic situation “utterly chaotic”.
However, the Esso Northumbria’s story would not be a happy one.
The final cost of the ship was £6.5 million but, over the years, the Esso was riddled with problems both with the fittings and with cracking of the hull under stress.
The vessel was retired in 1982 after 13 years in service, and was broken up at Kaoshiung in Taiwan.
Let us know your Esso Northumbria memories.
The film footage is the latest in our monthly Cine Secrets series run in conjunction with NEFA.
In the film clips from bygone days, we have been recalling people, places and events from Tyneside history via footage released from the archive’s collections.
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Cine Secrets is a regionwide initiative from NEFA, and features just a small selection of the films collected and preserved in the archive’s temperature-controlled vaults.
It’s part of the major project, North East On Film, which is re-connecting the people and communities of the region with their film heritage through special screenings, events and online collections.
CineSecrets has been specially curated with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
To find out more about #NorthEastonFilm visit: www.northeastonfilm.com
A gritty scene from industrial Tyneside nearly 100 years ago - and how it looks today
Vanished scenes in Gateshead, Felling, Heworth, Pelaw, Hebburn, Jarrow and Tyne Dock
