Graythorp, Graythorp, Hartlepool, UK, 1974 (b/w photo)

Contractor, Laing Pipelines Offshore; Photographer, John Laing and Son Ltd; A view of the gates of the dry dock at Graythorp being removed by three tugs, prior to the launch of Graythorp I In the early 1970s Laing Pipelines Offshore constructed the Graythorp fabrication yard and dry dock on the site of the old William Gray Shipyard. The company created a dry dock which was used for the construction of fixed platform North Sea drilling rigs for the BP North Sea Oil Project. Graythorp I had its christening ceremony on June 4th and was launched on Saturday 29th June 1974, heading off for the Forties Oil Field 250 miles away. The tugs shown in the photograph included the Schouwenbank and the Banjaardsbank, both from Rotterdam.