Martin Barraclough

978-1-905178-28-5 / 364pp / hb

This is a fascinating story of British family ship-owning – the owners, the seafarers, the ships and their businesses. It starts in 1875 when Thomas Barraclough of West Hartlepool entered into partnership with the Webster family who owned the West Hartlepool Steam Navigation Company. The story continues with the history of Dene Shipping which was started in 1929 by the sons of West Hartlepool ship-owners and was latterly controlled by two of Thomas's sons, Henry and Willie Barraclough.  The history gives a graphic account of ship-owning in the 1960s and 1970s and is illustrated with over 150 photographs and a liberal sprinkling of sea-faring anecdotes. The appendix lists the details of 165 ships either owned or managed by the companies involved.

Review

This beautifully researched and presented family history of a shipping line is not only a personal record of endeavour, but a must for anyone historically connected with Silver Line, Dene Shipping or their predecessors.

Almost every page contains an anecdote including tragedy such as when in 1935 the Master of the stricken SILVERHAZEL having given away his lifebelt to a fellow crew-man was seen to jump into the sea with the ship's dog strapped to his back.

'LOOKING FOR THE SILVER LINING' makes a compulsive read throughout most of its 350 pages

(taken from amazon.co.uk)