MEETING REPORTS
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Thank you Ken for an interesting and informative evening.
The view along the Corinth Canal in August 1997. Today the late 19th Century Canal, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf, is also crossed by motorway bridges.
Our speaker Tim Ryan had compiled a fascinating DVD from old cine film of the ferries while the second part of the presentation concerned the rescue from Ireland of the former Enoch Williams ferry the SEVERN PRINCESS which is now a major restoration project based in Chepstow. Tim also brought to show us a marvellous 1/43 scale model of the SEVERN PRINCESS and some genuine old road signs to each side of the ferry.
Thank you Tim for a very interesting evening.
The subject of the talk was previous HMS Gloucesters, given by one of the branch founders, Les Dalton. Les talked about 10 ships with the name Gloucester:
| Launched |
Notes |
| 1654 | 54 gun ship wrecked in 1682 |
| 1695 | 60 gun fourth rate vessel, on harbour service after 1706, broken up 1731 |
| 1709 | 60 gun fourth rate vessel only lasted from July to October that year before being captured by the French. |
| 1711 | 50 gun fourth rate vessel in service until 1724 |
| 1737 | 50 gun fourth rate vessel which cruised the World with a crew of 961. However, most caught scurvy with only 16 men and 11 boys surviving and transferring to another ship before HMS Gloucester was burned in 1742 to forestall capture. |
| 1745 | 50 gun fourth rate vessel in service until 1764. |
| 1807 | 10 gun brig built in Canada and launched on Lake Erie. Captured by Americans in April 1813 and burned by British forces a few weeks later. |
| 1812 | 74 gun third rate vessel sold in 1884 |
| 1909 | Town class light cruiser in service until 1921. First metal hulled HMS Gloucester |
| 1937 | "Southampton" Class cruiser ( pictured above) sunk by German aircraft off Crete in 1941. 808 crew drowned, 80 taken prisoner. Wreck now official War Grave |
| 1956 | A 2 170 ton frigate to be named Gloucester was ordered from Portsmouth Dockyard but never built |
Thank you Les for a very interesting evening.
Nigel illustrated his talk with slides mainly made from old postcards and P&A Campbell's paddle steamers ( including the post World War II "Bristol Queen" pictured above) and motor vessels were well represented as well as those of Edwards and Robertson and the Barry Railway.
Slides included "Cambria" in the River Wye at Chepstow and Ilfracombe with about seven paddle steamers in the harbour.
Nigel concluded with a review of the PS Waverley and MV Balmoral's activities and a timely reminder about keeping our maritime heritage afloat and operational.
Thank you Nigel for a very interesting evening.
Contemporary Barry Railway publicity described these vessels as 'palatial' and there can be no doubt their appearance at Hotwells caused the Campbell brothers to literally 'see red'. The Hotwells landing stage is just off picture to the left, as is Brunel's Clifton suspension bridge. In the lower right corner can be seen the GWR line to Portishead; just off picture to the right was Rownham station, which was renamed Clifton Bridge in 1910.
The photographer is looking in a south-easterly direction and has captured the entrance locks to Cumberland Basin, beyond which was Bristol's floating harbour. The locks were necessary in order to keep docked vessels afloat as the tidal river all but disappeared at low tide. This view shows a flood tide, with Gwalia being turned through the skilful use of ropes attached to quayside bollards. The vessel's steam operated warping capstans are reeling in the ropes under the watchful eye of the Master, Captain James, with a good display of exhaust steam coming from her forward capstan. The port bow rope has been slackened having done its work. After completing this manoeuvre, Gwalia will berth alongside the Hotwells landing stage ready for the return journey, which would be completed on the same high tide. The smudge of black from the lower porthole in front of the sponson, is where the boiler firebox ash was ejected and clearly illustrates the difficulty in keeping the light grey hull clean. The Barry Steam Vessels Act allowed Barry vessels to call at Bristol from Barry with summer excursions but did not allow passengers to be embarked, other than those previously brought over from Barry. The Barry Railway, however, were blatantly ignoring the terms of the Act, so this trip probably originated (illegally) from Cardiff. The Prince of Wales feathers pennant is clearly seen flying, together with the ship's name pennant.
The photographic competition had seventeen diverse and interesting entries including the former Danish ferry seen below in Barrow Docks, each with four prints, and our thanks go to everyone who entered as well as congratulations to Ted Tedaldi on claiming the top spot for the second year running.
