Then and Now: A sea rescue at South Shields during the notorious winter of 60 years ago

Our dramatic photograph from 60 years ago show the the 6,000-tonne Lebanese steamer Adelfotis II which had run aground at the Groyne in South Shields as gale force winds continued to batter the North East coast during the notorious winter of 1962 and 1963.

At a time when the Tyne was still very much a busy working maritime river, the sight of a ship in trouble at the coast perhaps wasn't as uncommon as it is today. The North Sea had long proved dangerous for the region's brave seamen. Between 1740 and 2000, the North East coast from Berwick to Whitby was the setting for more than 350 shipwrecks.

Back on January 20, 1963, the Adelfotis II had first first been driven by huge waves towards the notorious Black Middens Rocks at Tynemouth, before 60mph waves swept the vessel across the river mouth to South Shields. A Chronicle photographer was on hand to photograph South Shields volunteer life brigade using a breeches buoy to rescue the ship's captain, 22-man crew, and the ship's pet dog Manuella.

READ MORE: Tyneside 25 years ago: From Gateshead High Street to South Shields seafront in 10 photos

Unfortunately, the Glasgow-built ship couldn’t be re-floated and was broken up on the spot, with 2,500 tons of the former vessel sold off for scrap. The Adelfotis II was later discovered to have had a tragic wartime secret. As a UK-owned freighter and as part of a convoy from Gibraltar, she had accidentally shot down a British plane.

in April 1976, 13 years after the Adelfotis incident, the 4,400-tonne collier Duncansby Head would beach in dense fog on the soft sand at the very same spot alongside the Groyne lighthouse. On this occasion, the ship was backed off the beach by her master and a Tyne pilot in bright sunshine eight hours after running aground. And in 1993, yet another vessel, the coaster Insistence ran into trouble at the same location.

The same spot in recent times at South Shields where the Adelfotis II ran aground in January 1963 (Newcastle Chronicle)

READ NEXT:

• Newcastle on the cusp of change in the 1960s - striking photographs from a new book

• Lions in the snow - a day at County Durham's Lambton Pleasure Park in the 1970s

• Where was this Tyneside location from TV's Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?

• The Tyneside band who scored a huge 1978 hit and appeared on Top Of The Pops
• 10 images by Tom Buist - the respected North East press photographer who died last week