The President Ludwig (Yard No 85) was was one of two identical screw tugs built by Cook, Welton and Gemmell of Hull and launched in 1892. The two vessels had been ordered by a towing and ship salvage company based in Antwerp, the Societe Anonyme de Remorquage a’Helice, and measured 116.0′ x 22.0′ x 11.4′. The tugs were powered by a triple expansion steam engine developing 68 nominal horse power supplied by C D Holmes of Hull. In September 1917 the President Ludwig was chartered by the Royal Navy as a general service tug and renamed Ludgate. The vessel’ s tonnage was 156 gross tons, 58 net tons.
On the 15th February 1918 the Ludgate was operating off the Isle of Man with two other tugs slowly towing their charge, an old Russian protected cruiser the Variag, towards the Clyde. The Variag had been returned to Russia in 1916 after being captured by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and was in Liverpool at Cammell Laird’s shipyard for an overhaul when the Russian Revolution took place in 1917. Shortly after this she was seized and given to the Royal Navy to be used as a storage hulk based on the Clyde.
Ludgate aground Wigtown Bay (Stewartry Museum, Kirkcudbright)
Reports are unclear how they managed to steer into the Solway Firth but later that day all four vessels ended up on the rocky foreshore at Abbey Burnfoot. The Variag and the two un-named tugs were refloated soon after the incident and continued on their journey. The Ludgate however was less fortunate, and must have been damaged beyond economical repair. She was eventually broken up in-situ and removed later that year.
Variag ashore Abbey Burnfoot
Wreck of the Ludgate Wigtown Bay (Stewartry Museum, Kirkcudbright)
