Frank Tydeman
TYDEMAN, Frank William Edward, BSc(Eng) MICE MIME MIStructE FIEAust CIE CMG (1901-1994)
Frank Tydeman was born in 27 Viceroy Road, Lambeth, London, on January 20, 1901. He was the youngest child of builder, Harvey James Tydeman and his wife, music teacher, Kate Mary Ann Tydeman née Gardener. His early education was at Priory Grove School and South Lambeth Road School. He then attended Battersea Polytechnic Institute before completing a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Degree at London University. Whilst studying at the University he served with the Royal Engineers.
Graduating from London University in 1920, Frank worked as a relief teacher in Millwall before gaining employment with the international engineering consultants, Rendel, Palmer and Tritton. Over the next nine years he mainly worked for this company on engineering projects in England. On April 11, 1924 he married Jessie Sarah Mann at Wandsworth, Surrey and they had two sons, David born 1928, and Alan born around five years later. Both boys were born in England and were christened at Dorney Church.
From 1929 to 1933 Frank worked with Rendel, Palmer and Tritton on the design and construction of a new port at Haifa. He then worked with the same company as Chief Engineer on the construction of a new port at Jaffa. Whilst at Jaffa he was caught up in the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt, having to work in military uniform and be armed. Frank returned to England in 1936 and briefly worked for the United Kingdom Office of Works in Scotland before being recruited to the position of Chief Engineer at the Port of Singapore for the period 1936 to 1942.
In 1940 the Tydemans enrolled their elder son, David, as a boarder at Guildford Grammar School in Perth. As the likelihood of a Japanese invasion of Singapore increased, Franks's wife and younger son Alan travelled to Fremantle on the “SS Ulysses”, arriving in December 1941.
Frank just escaped the fall of Singapore in February 1942 by travelling on the commandeered Penang ferry “Bagon” to Palembang, and by rail and boat on to current day Jakarta. Travelling to Bombay via Columbo, he joined the British Army with the rank of Major, working with the Royal Engineers on training Indian troops. He was then promoted to Colonel and appointed Deputy Director of Transportation with the Docks and Inland Water Section of the Army.
The British ammunition ship, “S S Fort Stikine” had berthed in Bombay on April 12, 1944, with a mixed cargo of explosives, ammunition, detonators, cotton, lubricating oil, turpentine, timber, fish manure, sulphur and rice. The ship required maintenance and this was authorised, disabling the ship's engines. Some of the lubricating oil drums were leaking and priority was given to unloading them and the fish manure. On April 14th, during a lunch break, a fire started, thought to have been ignited by a stevedore smoking in No 2 hold. Even though smoke was noticed by other ships, no one from the ship acted. The fire brigade was eventually called but were not informed that there were explosives on board and only sent two fire engines. Disputes broke out between senior officers from the ship, the military and the port as to whether to scuttle the ship at the berth, tow it out to sea or fight the fire at the berth.
Around 4pm there was a massive explosion. The "S S Fort Stikine" was blown in two; its boiler, still intact, was found a half mile away. A huge tidal wave swept across the dock and ripped ships from their moorings, with one ship finishing astride a warehouse. Around 4:30pm a second explosion occurred, damaging or destroying the remaining ships in Victoria and Princess Docks. Many people were killed outside the dock area by falling shrapnel and shells which exploded on impact. Approaching channels to the docks were littered with obstruction, and a vast land area was utterly devastated. It took four days to extinguish the main fire and for a further two weeks smaller fires continued to smoulder in the ruins.
Overall, 231 people attached to the various services were killed, and another 476 injured. Outside the docks over 500 civilians were killed and another 2,408 were injured. Thirteen ships were lost and 50,000 tons of shipping was destroyed, with a further 50,000 tons severely damaged. 200 acres of Bombay was destroyed.
The Indian Government estimated that it would take 10 years to reinstate this key harbour. Frank was tasked with the job by Lord Mountbatten and was able to assemble a workforce of 10,000 soldiers from Africa, Persia and Burma. With Mountbatten’s influence he was also able to quickly assemble the large scale equipment necessary to expedite the task. Frank had the port operational within six months, including the salvage of 16 ships and the removal of five million tons of debris. He then went on to rebuild Rangoon Harbour in Burma in early 1945, and then to restore Singapore Harbour.
Frank was demobilised in Perth, where he was employed by the Western Australian Government in April 1946 as a consultant to provide a long term plan for the Port of Fremantle. He also assessed Bunbury Port and Albany Port as part of this consultancy.
In 1946, Frank was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire for his work on restoring the Bombay Port.
Frank’s wife Jessie died in Perth, on June 23, 1947, whilst Frank was away assessing the Lae Port, in New Guinea, for the Commonwealth Government. Frank completed the consultancy task and was subsequently appointed Engineer Harbours and Rivers with the WA Public Works Department on November 10, 1948.
Frank then moved to be General Manager of the Fremantle Harbour Trust commencing on May 16, 1950, where he worked until his retirement on August 20, 1965. Frank’s time at Fremantle coincided with the world wide adoption of the use of containers and mechanisation of all port cargoes. It also saw the opening of the Fremantle Passenger Terminal in two stages, the first in 1960 and the second in 1962.
Frank died on May 8, 1995 at the age of 94 with his wife and eldest son having predeceased him.
Frank was a strong athletic man, representing England at wrestling and being a keen swimmer. He had a rich, traumatic life, peppered with significant events such as watching a German Airship being shot down over London, being caught up in the Arab Revolt, having to flee Singapore and only just avoiding being captured, having to deal with one of the largest port explosions in naval history and losing his wife whilst away for work. His strong and determined character drove him to complete challenging tasks.
He was a Member of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was also a Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and in 1948 he became a Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia. He later became a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia. In June 1966 he was awarded the Companion of St Michael and St George for his work as General Manager of the Fremantle Port Authority. Tydeman Road in North Fremantle is named after him.
References:
J S H Le Page, Building a State, Water Authority of Western Australia, Leederville, 1986
Anatomy of a disaster: the Bombay Docks Explosion (Accessed November 11, 2020)
Battye Library, Oral History interview with Frank Tydeman by Chris Jeffery
Daily News, 9.4.1946, p. 5.
West Australian, 28.6.1947, p. 11.
West Australian, 11.11.1948, p. 7.
West Australian, 25.3.1950, p. 2.
Sunday Times, 21.11.1954, p. 16.
