HMS Diamond, floating mission

The Mission to Seafarers in South Shields dates back to c.1818 when a local branch of the British and Foreign Sailors Society was established. In 1866 a floating Mission was established on the HMS Diamond anchored at the Halfpenny Ferry Landing. This included a chapel and a school for children on the upper deck and a reading room for sailros on the lower. After the timbers of the ship were declared unsound, land was obtained on part of the old bottle works site at Mill Dam in 1883 to build an onshore Mission Church (HER 16553).