A late 19th century cased half hull shipbuilder’s scale model with mirror back of the S.S. Charters Tower, dated 1888.

S.S. Charters Tower was steel single screw cargo ship built at John Readhead & Co, West Yard, South Shields, England. Yard number 234.

Ordered by Messrs. F. Stumore & Co, London, 1888.

Length: 253 cm.

Depth: 30 cm.

Height: 55.5 cm.

Provenance: Purchased from Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Limited (Readhead Division), West Docks, South Shields, 15th of October 1974.

S.S. Charters Tower was built as a general cargo ship in 1888 by John Readhead & Co in South Shields. Launched on the 29th of February 1888 and completed April 1888, operated under the name S.S. Charters Tower until re-named S.S. San Mateo in 1889. In 1915 was acquired by the U.S. Navy to serve during WWI, she was named S.S. Frederick Luckenbach. As S.S. Frederick Luckenbach she carried coal for use by the United States Army from Cardiff and Belfast to French ports. She was broken up at Genoa in 1924.

John Readhead & Sons was a shipyard on the River Tyne in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England founded in 1865. The Readhead & Co shipyard was taken over by Swan Hunter and Tyne Shipbuilders on 1st January 1968.