The Southern Wheeler was built by Smith’s Dock & Co in 1945. Courtesy of Cliff Thornton. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
The Southern Wheeler was built by Smith’s Dock & Co in 1945. Courtesy of Cliff Thornton.
Some time ago I posted on this site a picture of a sister ship to Southern Wheeler – the Southern Actor (id=90436). This ship was also build at Smiths Docks. It is preserved at the Whaling Museum in Sandefjord, Norway. It is fully operational and can be visited and even hired for trips on the fjord.
The Southern Wheeler is a whale catcher, one of a fleet of about twelve built by Smiths Docks South Bank, they were owned by Chris Salvesen of Leith.
Here is another whaler that some Teessiders might have served on? I came across this model in the Science Museum, London.