The Creteblock
Walk along the cliff path east of Whitby and at all but the highest of tides you can look down on the wreck of the ‘Creteblock’. Walk along the shore at low tide and the remains can be examined at first hand. Totally encrusted with barnacles, limpets and mussels it is not immediately obvious that here lies the remains of a vessel made from – concrete! Hence the name.

Wartime savings
During the First World War, in order to preserve steel stocks, the British Admiralty ordered some support vessels to be built of reinforced concrete and two of these were built in the Whitehall Shipyard at Whitby. Unfortunately, by the time these were completed in 1919 the war was over!

End of an era
The Creteblock, however, was built in Essex and was also too late to see active war service but was used for a time as a tug before being sold to a Teesside shipyard where she remained for about 15 years. Brought to Whitby in the mid 1930s she remained a decaying hulk until 1947 when she was towed out to sea to be scuttled. Before deep water could be reached the vessel was abandoned and ended up where she lies today, on the scars below Whitby Abbey. One of the few concrete ships ever built lying offshore from one of the few ports to have built such vessels.