Another historic sailing vessel strongly associated with Gloucester Docks is the tall ship KASKELOT, pictured both leaving Gloucester Docks in March 2016 and again in April 2018, waiting for the tide to ease before entering Sharpness Dock for onward passage to Gloucester. KASKELOT was originally a traditional Baltic Trader built in 1948 by J. Ring-Andersen, one of the world’s most reputable shipyards, for the Royal Greenland Trading Company at the Svendborg shipyard in Denmark.
During the 1960s she worked as a support vessel for fisheries in the Faroe Islands and was then purchased by Square Sail, UK in 1981 and converted to replicate a traditional three masted barque double topsail. Her film and TV credits include, Return to Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, David Copperfield and Shackleton.
Another barque conversion, EARL OF PEMBROKE was seen in 2016 moored at Purton before voyaging to Tommie Nielsons yard at Gloucester. Built in Sweden in 1945 as ORION, the 145′ long, 24ft beam vessel featured a 405 bhp 6 cylinder diesel engine, 885 square metres of sail and crew of 15. She was used to haul timber around the Baltic before being moved to the U.K. in 1980. After a comprehesive refit the 180 ton vessel was converted from a schooner to a Barque and renamed EARL OF PEMBROKE.
Most classic ships enter Sharpness docks under their own power but in April 2018 the barge TERRA MARQUE (IMO 9281384, 2 786 grt) , owned by the famous heavy load company Wynn’s, arrived with the Thames barge GLADYS. Built in Harwich in 1901, GLADYS arrived in Gloucester for a major overhaul in Tommi Nielsons yard.
Meanwhile, the first diesel tug to be used on the Thames attracted Ted’s camera as it left Gloucester Docks in October 2015. Built in 1937 as a lighter launch tug, SWALLOW was found derelict in 1978 and rebuilt with a 150 bhp 6 cylinder turbo charged Ford Dorset engine. Two months later, the tug SEVERN PROGRESS was noted in Gloucester Built by Charles Hill of Bristol in 1931, her original 100 bhp Kromhout semi diesel prime mover has now been replaced with a Lister diesel engine. She towed barges on the Severn and Sharpness canal until the late 1960s.
Another link between the Thames and Gloucester Docks was the fire boat MASSEY SHAW, seen on 14 September 2013 having trials with the Massey Shaw Society after a refit at Tommi Nielsons yard. 78′ long and with a 13′ beam she was built in 1935 by Samuel Wight on the Isle of Wight at a cost of £18 000. Named after Eyre Massey Shaw the Chief of the London Fire Brigade, she was in service until 1971. MASSEY SHAW is powered by two 165 bhp diesel engines and uses two Merryweather four stage 8 inch pumps to deliver 1 500 gallons of water per minute. In 1939 with war looming 20 of these craft were ordered and were all used on the Thames for fire fighting. MASSEY SHAW was also a Dunkirk little ship and saved 500 lives, 30 of them from a French cargo vessel moored off Margate.
Tugs were also a feature of another of Ted’s favourite locations. In August 2017 Falmouth hosted the Southampton based fire fighting tug LOMAX (IMO 9657832, 426 grt) . Built 2012 in Turkey, LOMAX was 28 metres long with a 14 metre beam and featured a 50 ton bow bollard and 80 ton main bollard pull. She was twin engined, each powerplant developing 6 302 bhp and turning a 2.8 metre diameter four bladed variable pitch propeller. Also in Ted’s picture was the larger fire fighting tug SVITZER SARAH (IMO 8919192, 364 grt) of Grimsby. Measuring 30 metres from stem to stern and with a beam of 16 metres, her bollard pull was 53 tons.
Also at work in Falmouth Harbour in August 2017 was ATLANTIC TONJER (IMO 8205620, 3 349 grt). Built in 1983, the 80 metre by 18 metre beam multi purpose off shore vessel was registered in Panama. With a crew of over 50, she features a 50 ton crane, mini moon pool and heli pad.
In the same month Falmouth dry dock hosted the 2007 vintage Royal Fleet Auxilliary Landing Ship (Dock) L3007 LYME BAY (IMO 9240768, 23 569 grt). During June to December 2015 she was on hurricane service in the Caribbean and two years later her keel was dry for planned maintenance. Measuring 176 metres with a 26 metre beam, L3007 is capable of 18 knots. She can transport up to 24 Challenger tanks and has a carrying capacity of 200 tons. Her flight deck can take helicopters up to Chinook size and she can carry 360 troops along with a complement of 60 crew.
Less successful as a naval vessel was TRITON ( IMO 4906551, 2 291 grt), seen moored in the Fal estuary in August 2017. Commissioned August 2000, she was used as a test bed for trimaran use in the Royal Navy. On 15 December 2001 TRITON was out in the Atlantic on heavy weather trials. An early morning call was made to the Falmouth lifeboat to rendezvous with her complete with a doctor. One of the research engineers required immediate evacuation as he had serious seasickness. As the trimaran format was found to be problematic in heavy seas, TRITON was dismissed from service. She was first sold out as a survey vessel and then moved onto Australia in 2005 for Customs duties. Capable of 22 knots, TRITON measured 97 metres overall with a 22 metre beam. She required a crew of 14 but could carry 28 Customs officers. As of 4 October 2017 TRITON was moved to the River Yare in Norfolk.
More conventional but much less swift was the 1978 vintage jack-up barge EXCALIBUR (IMO 8763282, 2 390 grt). With an overall length of 130 metres and a 60 metre beam, her legs were 50 metres tall. However, she he has no propulsion and has to be towed. During another visit to Falmouth in April 2018, Ted noted HMS TYNE (IMO 9261322, 2 109 grt) and Royal Fleet Auxilliaries TIDE SURGE (IMO 9655559, 29324 grt) and ARGUS (IMO 7822550, 26 845 grt).
Bearing the pennant number P281, River Class off shore patrol vessel HMS TYNE was built by Vosper Thorneycroft in Southampton and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 2003. Powered by two Ruston 12RK 270 550 bhp diesel engines, HMS TYNE can reach 20 knots and has a complement of 30. South Korean built RFA TIDE SURGE, like RFA LYME BAY, meanwhile has enough flight deck space for a Boeing Chinook twin rotor helicopter while RFA ARGUS began life as the Italian container ship CONTENDER BEZANT and is now a Primary Casualty Receiving Ship.
A final “grey funnel line” image was of HMS ILLUSTRIOUS(IMO 8949563, 20 600 grt) at Portsmouth after her final sailing. Commissioned June 1982 and decommissioned in August 2014, she is could make between 18 and 30knots. She has a crew of 685 and a fleet of 22 helicopters although was built around the ski ramp concept of launching BAe Sea Harrier aircraft.
From conversations during Ted’s presentation it appears that some cruise lines have a problem with Falmouth also serving as a freight and container terminal, but those vessels docking in August 2017 included ALBATROS, BALMORAL and EMERALD PRINCESS.
ALBATROS (IMO 7304314, 28 518 grt) was built by Wartsila of Finland and is powered by four of the company’s mighty diesel engines. Their combined output of 13 240 KW allows the 1973 vintage vessel to make 21 knots. ALBATROS has a passenger capacity of 812 and measures 206 metres overall with a beam of 25 metres.
Fred Olsen’s BALMORAL (IMO 8506294, 43 537 grt) meanwhile was newer, having been built by Meyer of West Germany in 1887, and more powerful with two MAK diesels delivering 21 300 KW. it is also much larger, with a length of 218 metres, 33 metres beam and a crew of 471 looking after 1 778 passengers.
The Italian built EMERALD PRINCESS (IMO 9333151, 113 561 grt) though measured 289 metres overall with a 37 metre beam (including overhanging bridge) The 2007 vintage vessel also featured 19 decks, 18 lifeboats, 3 050 passengers and 1 200 crew.
To put these vessels into context, Ted’s presentation also referred to Cunard’s QUEEN MARY II (IMO 9241061, 149 215 grt). Built in France by S.T.X with an overall length of 346 metres and 49 metre beam she set ail on her maiden voyage on 12 January 2004. She was registered Southampton from 2004 to 2011 but is now registered in Bermuda. Since her 2016 refit she carries 2 700 passengers and 1 200 crew. She is a regular cruise ship as well as an established Atlantic crossing vessel. Because of the severe Atlantic storms and for her appearance the lifeboats should have been 15 metres above the waterline but are actually 25 metres above the waterline.
Another vessel whose crew later had reason to regret sailing into bad weather was ASTORIA, (IMO 5383304, 16 144 grt) pictured off the Isles of Scilly in May 2017. Built 1944 in Stockholm she has had 8 previous names. As at 2016 she was the second oldest cruise liner. Called STOCKHOLM in 1956 she had a disastrous collision with the Italian liner the ANDREA DORIA off Nantucket. Most passengers and crew survived although ANDREA DORIA sank the following morning. STOCKHOLM however saved 326 passengers and 245 crew and delivered them to New York. Today she has a skirt around her stern to assist with the ship’s comfort.
In contrast, built for speed rather than comfort, were the J Class yachts RANGER and LIONHEART seen at Falmouth in June 2015. The yachts were designed in the 1930s to race for the America’s cup. They are 140′ long with a 176′ high mast, and weigh 200 tons with 16 000 square feet of sail. The crew of is normally 30.
Going even further back, the August 2014 Tall Ships Festival at Falmouth yielded the sight of the steamboat MOONDANCE. Having only been launched in late June 2014, work commenced in March 2011 by J Whittaker in Cornwall. She has a planked hull but G.R.P sheathed to protect from the sea salt elements. The cabin is built from Khaya West African Mahogany. Propulsion is provided by a vertical steel boiler and a single cylinder steam engine developing 4.2 bhp.
In fact river vessels, as well as being easier to find and photograph, have a charm all of their own. KINGSWEAR CASTLE, for instance, was seen departing Dartmouth quay in July 2017. A small 35 metre long steam powered paddle steamer with a 5 metre beam, she has returned home having been built by Philip and Sons of Dartmouth 1924. During World War 2 she was chartered by the U.S Navy to carry stores and personnel on the River Dart She was moored up on the Isle of Wight from 1967 to 1971, endured a chequered life but eventually return to the Dart in 2012. She is powered by a Compound Diagonal two cylinder steam engine built by Cox & Co of Falmouth. The 8′ x 8′ coal fired Scotch boiler was built by William Robey in 1963 and works at 120 psi. The non feathering paddle wheels are 10′ in diameter and 365 passengers can be carried at 8knots.
WINDSOR BELLE meanwhile was a luxurious passenger boat on the Thames, pictured at Henley on New Year’s Day 2018. Built 1901 she was originally steam powered but converted to diesel drive 1950. In 1986 she had a serious overhaul and refitted with a 1937 McKie & Baxter compound steam engine, works number 1306. The engine had been used on the River Ouse until 1967 propelling a dredger.
Also re-engined was FRANCINE, a Naval Pinnace seen in Portsmouth Harbour August 2017. Built in 1940 by either Groves & Guttridge or Samuel Wight – both of the Isle of Wight for the Admiralty, she became the Harbour Defence Launch at Brixham. FRANCINE originally had a single engine. Now though, the teak and oak built vessel has 2 Gardner 4LW diesels. At some time the wheel house has been added, too.
Closer to home, Motor Vessel TREVOSE was seen at Saul Junction in September 2017. Built in 1964 for the Royal Navy, she ended up as a navigation training ship. Now privately owned, TREVOSE is harboured in Waterford as a private pleasure yacht. She sailed out of Sharpness on 26 January 2018.
Just as cruise ships are getting bigger, so container lines seem to be vying for who can claim to own the biggest ship in the World. In August 2014 Ted went to Southampton to photograph Hapag Lloyd’s NEW YORK EXPRESS (IMO 9501332, 142 295 grt). Built in South Korea in 2012, she measured 367 metres overall with an 49 metre beam, 45 100 KW of installed power and room for 13 092 Twenty Foot Unit (TEU) containers.
At the same port in August 2017 the NYK Line’s 2013 built NYK HYPERION (IMO 9403853, 9 971 grt) was recorded. She measured 148 metres length with a 23 metre beam. On the same visit the 2014 vintage UK registered EVER LISSOME (IMO 9629079, 99 946 grt) measured 335 metres long with a 46 metre beam. It had a 8 452 TEU and featured high bow bulwarks. It could cruise at nearly 20 knots.
In August 2017 however the MOL TRIUMPH (IMO 9769271, 210 678 grt) was the second of its fleet to unload at Southampton – the first having taken place in May 2017. Only commissioned that year, she was the second of a fleet of six container ships and measured 400 metres long with a 59 metre beam. MOL TRIUMPH featured 20 170 TEU, all with a power output of 82 440 KW. The largest container ship in the World in May 2018, her usual voyage commences at Xingang, continues to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Suez Canal, Southampton, Le Havre, Tangier and then returns.
Fifty years ago, oil tankers provided the biggest growth sector for freight shipping and Ted’s talk included pictures of the 113 553 deadweight crude oil tanker BRITISH KESTREL (IMO 9297357, 63 462 grt) seen at Fawley 2016. Built 2006, BRITISH KESTREL was 252 metres overall, 44 metres in beam and featuring a single propeller. Another crude oil tanker, seen bound for Avonmouth in 2015, was the UACC IBN SINA (IMO 9485629, 42 010 grt) Built 2008, it was 229 metres long with a 33 metre beam and a 73 338 ton deadweight. Closer to home was the ex Mobil oil tanker PEGASUS seen being given a general overhaul at the R.J. Davis yard at Saul on the Sharpness canal in November 2017.
Much as the Western world runs on oil, where would we be without food? A pleasant surprise addition to Ted’s ship parade was thus the Russian cargo ship POLA SEVASTIANA (IMO 9691785, 5 687 grt) arriving from Kiel to Sharpness Docks on her maiden voyage on Monday 8 January 2018 with 6 600 tons of wheat. Built in 2017, POLA SEVASTIANA is 140 metres long, with a 17 metre beam. She is the largest cargo ship to visit Sharpness in 60 years and as long as the outer basin. Unable to swing around in the dock basin, she had to leave stern first and lock down for 3 hours in the outer basin ready for the evening tide. POLA SEVASTIANA then reversed out into the fast flowing river Severn bound for Ventspils in Latvia.
Southampton of course has a long association with these ocean behemouths and consequently has all the port infrastructure needed. This includes a long line of evolving tugs. The last steam tug working on the Thames but still moored in Southampton was the CHALLENGE. She was a tug tender for Red Funnel Steamers. Built 1931 CHALLENGE is on the National Historic Fleet Register, and is also a Dunkirk Little Ship. In 2017 arrangements were made for her to return to the Thames for restoration but as of August 2018 remains moored at Southampton.
On a similar topic, Ted recorded the tug VOLUNTEER at 2015 in Portishead marina. Built by Charles Hill of Bristol she is considered the sister of steam tug JOHN KING also built in Bristol. Constructed in 1935, VOLUNTEER was the first diesel tug in the Bristol Channel. She was then modified in the late 50’s to tow barges on the River Severn. Her bulwarks were made higher and the funnel was shortened. In the 80’s she went to Wisbech where she worked for Drake towing. She was then saved from the scrap yard and returned to Bristol. It is hoped VOLUNTEER will be fully restored.
One historic ship that currently has a home in Southampton, and was photographed by Ted in August 2017 was the sewage carrier SHIELDHALL (IMO 5322752, 1 753 grt). Like her vertically mounted triple expansion main propulsion steam engines, she was built by Lobnitz of Renfew in 1954. Two 12′ x 12′ Scotch boilers in fact fed 20 separate steam engines on board. SHIELDHALL was built on the classical lines of a 1920 tanker and used to carry sewage down the Clyde to be literally dumped at sea. In 1976 she went to Southampton on a similar mission.
As well as boats that sail, Southampton has a long association with boats that fly, which brings us to Ted’s April 2018 discovery of the flying boat tender and floating control tower AQUILA now preserved in a glass case on the seafront at Funchal in Madeira. Operated by Aquila Airways until 1949, she was originally built in the U.K. under the inspiration of T.E. Shaw, known earlier as Lawrence of Arabia and later instrumental in building air sea rescue launches for the RAF. During 1935-1945 the 12 metre vessel was used for coastal patrols and the training of R.A.F pilots.She has a wooden vee shaped hull and was capable of 20 knots.
Also preserved on Funchal sea front is MOSQUITO, a 1900 built steam powered launch used by Blandys the island’s shipping agents, established in 1862. Until 1977, MOSQUITO was used as a tender between the large cruise ships and Funchal’s City quay. Built with a tin lined wooden hull and measuring 10 metres with a 3 metre beam, MOSQUITO’s original steam engine was replaced with a diesel engine in the late 1940s. She was rebuilt for Expo 98 and fully restored in 2005.
Similarly, the Solent which brings ships to Southampton from all over the World is also a barrier between it and the Isle of Wight. This is currently crossed by Britain’s only regular commercial hovercraft service – the hovercraft itself having been built by Saunders Roe on the Isle of Wight. Before the advent of Sir Christopher Cockerell’s invention however, Red Funnel ferries were transporting cars and people across the Solent. Among their number was BALMORAL (IMO 5034927, 735 grt), built by Thorneycroft in 1949 and capable of carrying 10 cars at a time until retirement in 1980. BALMORAL commenced cruising in the Bristol Channel in 1986 with room for 800 passengers but due to refits not keeping up with ever changing health and safety legislation she will not sail in 2018.
The Scilly Isles also proved a rich hunting ground for Ted’s camera. Keeping the islands themselves supplied was the pallet carrier GRY MARITHA (IMO 8008462, 590 grt). Built in 1981 with a length of 37 metres and 9 metre beam, her cruising speed is 9 knots. When pictured in May 2017 GRY MARTHA was in the process of being retired. Also reassuring the islanders was the presence of the 2003 vintage Medical Transfer Boat. Essentially a floating ambulance, the 11 metre vessel with a 5 metre beam was powered by two Cummings 315 bhp diesel engines operating a pair of Hamilton water jets. She can carry a patient and seven other people as well as the crew.
Also braving the often rough seas between the Scilly Isles and Cornwall was SCILLONIAN III (IMO 7527796, 1 346 grt). Built in May 1977, the twin engined 15 knot ferry measures 68 metres from stem to stern with a beam of 12 metres. 15 crew look after 485 passengers and in 40 years of service SCILLONIAN III has made 9000 return crossings, travelled 648 000 miles and carried 1 485 000 passengers.
Perhaps some of the Scilly Isles most distinctive boats however are the 6 man Gigs. They were built to take a pilot out to ships in distress. and are now considered to be the first shore based lifeboats. The design of Gigs is based on TREFFY, the first Gig, built in 1838. They are 32′ long with a 5′ beam and are now raced for sport.
Isles of Scilly pilots were also at the heart of a story Ted told about two historic vessels. MARGUERITE was built in Appledore 1985 with an all steel hull and teak planking over the deck. She weighs 38 tons with a 10 ton lead keel and measures 66′ long with a 14′ beam. The opulent interior is mahogany throughout made available with the closure of a branch of Lloyds bank. MARGUERITE, seen moored at St Mary’s, the Scilly Isles capital, on 4 May 2017 is built on the lines of the pilot cutter MARGUERITE T, built in 1893 and believed to be still sailing in the Fal area.
MISCHIEF was also built in Appledore, this time in 2007. Seen at Ilfracombe on 19 July 2017 drying out, she measures 45′ with a 13′ beam and weighs 27 tons.
Ted recalled
“Early that morning I spied her sailing up the Bristol Chanel into a heavy sea. She only had her mainsail hoisted about three quarters. I was later to find the sail was only to keep her steady. She was under motor power. About two miles up channel from Ilfracombe her prop shaft broke. She sent out a May Day and was rescued by Ilfracombe’s new Shannon Lifeboat. The crew were relieved but disappointed as they were heading for her home port of Bristol’s Festival of the Sea. She looked in quite good condition with nearly every rope in prime condition. The skipper was just off for his first shower in seven days. The lad was a Cypriot working in London and joined the cutter in Faro a week earlier. She had been sailing in the Mediterranean based in Cadiz.”
The original MISCHIEF was built in 1906 and sailed by William Morgan who became famous for his sailing adventures. She was sold out in in 1921 and laid up in Malta. In 1954 she was purchased by Explorer Bill Tilman, who gave her a serious refit. Bill sailed her from the Antarctic to the Arctic by way of Heard Island, South Georgia, Patagonia and Greenland – a journey of 111 000 miles. In 1968 she struck a rock in the Artcic and sank being crushed by ice floes. Bill continued his adventures with two more Pilot Cutters. In his 80th year, 1977, he was asked to join an expedition to climb Smith Island. Somewhere on the voyage his ship sank without trace.
One unifying feature of the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland is the tireless voluntary work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute. Since 1996 the Scilly Isles has been served by a Severn class lifeboat, THE WHITEHEADS. Measuring 17 metres overall with a 5 metre beam, the 25 ton Severn Class design features two Caterpillar engines delivering 1 250 hp with a service speed of 25 knots.
In July 2017 meanwhile, Gloucester Docks Lifeboat Weekend celebrated 150 years to the naming of Falmouth’s first lifeboat, CITY OF GLOUCESTER. A tapestry made by Gloucester Quilters was presented to Falmouth Lifeboat Station commemorating the 150 years of friendship. In the same month, Ted noted Ilfracombe’s Shannon class lifeboat moored in the harbour entrance. New on station July 2015 the 17 tonner measures 13 metres with a 4 metre beam. Two Scania 650 KW diesel engines drive two waterjets giving a performance of 25 knots.
In August 2017 Watson class Life Boat MICHAEL STEPHENS was seen at Falmouth. The Watson Class were 46′ long with a 12′ beam weighing 23 tons and powered by two Ferry diesels. The centre stack of the design was too lift the diesel exhaust well above the water line in heavy weather. Built in 1939 at J.S. Whites on the Isle of Wight, MICHAEL STEPHENS was first in service in Lowestoft for 24 years and was a Dunkirk little ship. On 1 June 1940 MICHAEL STEPHENS rescued 52 soldiers despite being twice rammed by motor torpedo boats as she came and left the harbour, jostling with naval and civilian craft coaxing soldiers to climb or jump onto their decks. She was finally sold out of service in 1975 having been launched 182 times and saved 92 lives apart from her Dunkirk involvement.
WILLIAM CANTRELL ASHLEY was a Liverpool Class lifeboat built by Groves and Guttridge in 1949 based in Clovelly until 1968. Twenty of the single engine versions of the Liverpool Class were built between 1931 and 1941 with thirty one twin engine versions built from 1945 to 1954. All the engines – 35 bhp or pairs of 18 bhp – were built by Weyburn’s and used petrol rather than diesel fuel. One of the most notable rescues of the WILLIAM CANTRELL ASHLEY was on 27 and 28 July 1954. Launched into rough sea to the aid of the 90 ton motor ketch PROGRESS, Coxwain George Lamey took WILLIAM CANTRELL ASHLEY alongside a stricken vessel 10 times to rescue 3 crew, the ship’s cat, new born kittens and a canary. He was awarded an RNLI Bronze medal.
Lifeboats preserved as part of the National Historic Fleet are allowed to fly an RNLI ensign with a black border around the cross.
More recently though, McLachlan type inshore lifeboat A-505 is being restored by Craig, the owner of Davis boat yard of Saul. Nine of these were built between 1967 and 1973, powered by two Ford 60hp inboard engines and capable of 25 knots. In the 1950’s Falmouth had one such craft A-503 for evaluation trials. On the 26 April 1976 A503 was called to a hired dingy being sailed single handed in difficulties off Falmouth. The sailing dingy cleared Pendennis Headland and A-503 took the yacht in tow back to St Mawes. The Falmouth lifeboat secretary wrote a glowing account of how useful a craft like this would be for close to shore services. These craft were eventually replaced by the Atlantic 21 class inshore lifeboats.
Ted finished the main part of his presentation with a look at the Gloucester and District Model Boat Club. Highlights among the vessels recreated in miniature were FRESHSPRING (pictured left), which used to supply fresh water to Naval ships moored off Gibraltar. At one time the real FRESHSPRING was moored in Gloucester Docks before moving to Newnham. Here she stayed for many years but is now moored in Bideford where much restoration is taking place. LADY LAURA meanwhile was a diesel tug built for in 1968 for use on the Humber. The model is shown in 1992.
A novel feature of the December meeting was member Dave Markey’s short presentation on Lydney harbour as it was in 1989 and 1990. Although built around the 19th Century coal trade, this haven was at the time home to Fairmile Class motor launch 293.
ML 293 was built by the Dorset Yacht Company in 1941 at Hamworthy and worked as a Second World War motor launch. She joined the fifth flotilla and some of her exploits have been recorded in the book ‘Inshore Heroes’, notably her raid on the Radar Station in the Bruneval area, when supportng the Special Services. She was the first bowed vessel into Bologne harbour during the liberation of France, nearly falling victim to the Army sharpshooters exploding mines perilously close to her stern. ML 293 was paid off in August 1945. Her name was changed to SOUTHERN PRINCESS, after conversion to be a pleasure boat off Great Yarmouth. 1949 found her leased to the Humber Conservancy Board, and she was now to be used as a survey vessel. As the E P HUTCHINSON, ML 293 played a role in the planning of the new Humber Bridge. She was sold to Holland for a period, but not for long as the new owner could not meet his financial obligations and she was resold. Her return journey involved an underwater collision, which was repairable, but the cost of more modifications, financial problems and lack of attention resulted in ML 293 being classed as derelict and as such she remained a while in Bristol Dock. Sold to Bob Morley, her restoration to a Naval vessel commenced. After extensive work at Gloucester and Lydney, she returned to Bristol for the Naval Cadets. Under the command of Bob Baker, she served as a training vessel. The Midlands branch of the CFVA lent a hand by replacing her funnel with one more in keeping with her Fairmile shape. For three years she stayed in Bristol, until sold once again. Following on from this, she was berthed Hooe Lake, Plymouth, but was recorded as being disposed of in 2004.
And for the benefit of our Branch archivist, here is the short version of September 2018’s talk on HMS GLAMORGAN
D19 was one of eight County Class destroyers which were the first Royal Navy ships to be fitted with anti aircraft guided missiles. HMS GLAMORGAN herself – commissioned on 11th October 1964 – remains the only ship ever to be hit by an Exocet missile and survive.
As the Second World War ended and the Cold War began, the threat of guided air to surface missiles remained and surface to air missiles were developed to protect ships from bomber aircraft. In 1949 Armstrong Whitworth began work on Guided Weapons System 1. This was eventually known as Seaslug. Although capable of reaching altitudes of 55 000 feet, Seaslug weighed two tons at launch and was 18 feet long. The County Class destroyers were designed around Seaslug while also retaining two forward turrets armed with pairs of 4.5″ guns. The presence of a Command Centre and big rooms for the computers of the day along with an unarmoured 24 round Seaslug magazine which occupied one third of the vessel above the waterline meant that the County Class destroyers were almost the same size as a World War II cruiser. The combined steam and gas turbine powerplant was also large and required a large gearbox.
After 1973 the second batch County Class destroyers had their B turrets replaced by quadruple MM38 Exocet surface to surface missile launchers.
For our Monday 14 January 2019 meeting member Keith Reid presented his pictures of a transit through the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal officially opened on 15 August 1914 with the SS ANCON inaugurating the 51 nautical mile waterway which avoided the need for ships to round Cape Horn en route from the Atlantic to the Pacific and saving 6 500 miles on a journey from the eastern coast of the USA to Japan.
A sea level canal through the Isthmus of Panama had been attempted by Ferdinand de Lesseps – of 120 mile long Suez fame – from 1881 to 1885. However, despite more than three times the volume of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of earth being hand dug with a loss of 22 000 lives to accidents and malaria, the terrain proved too problematic and the whole project was abandoned.
Despite this failure and the ensuing financial scandal in France, The United States of America began its own Panama Canal project in 1903. This involved Panama being created from what had been a part of Colombia and the USA paying $ 40 million to the new nation for a 99 year lease on the canal zone itself. In fact the Panama Canal was handed over to Panama from the USA in 1999.
Medical advances in the previous 20 years reduced the impact of malaria on the new workforce, who were assisted by steam powered excavation equipment. Despite this, over 5 600 labourers, many recruited from the West Indies, died during construction.
On 7 January 1914 the floating crane “ALEXANDRE LA VALLEY” made the first transit of the canal, which used Panama’s rainfall to fill an artificial high level lake and giant locks along its length.
Indeed, water only flows downwards from Gatun Lake, 26 metres above sea level, and there are no pumps to reverse the flow. Approximately 197 million litres of fresh water are used for each lockage with lock chambers measuring 305m long x 33.5m wide and ships being thus limited to 294.13m (965′) length, 32.2m (106′) beam & 39.5′ draft – dimensions also known as “Panamax”.
Over half the ships using the Panama Canal are Panamax with 240 passenger and 70 warships making the 8-10 hour transit every year and 40% of the annual 200 million ton freight traffic comprising container ships. Also making up the 14 500 vessel transits per year (or 40 per day) are bulk freighters and tankers (20% and 15% of freight traffic respectively), all of which pay their part of an annual total of $ 1.4 billion in tolls. However, some container companies send their metal boxes via the Panama Canal Railroad from ships docked in the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa. In fact a railroad across what was then a part of Columbia was built as early as 1849 to speed the journeys of prospectors travelling from the east coast of the USA to the California Gold Rush. Today’s Panama Canal Railroad can trace its origins back to 1855 and is currently operated by Mi-Jack Products and the Kansas City Southern Railroad of the USA.
From the Atlantic Ocean, a ship transiting the Panama Canal first passes the impoverished port of Colon and under the Atlantic Bridge before entering the three Gatun Locks, each of which have two lanes. The passage of all ships through the locks is governed from the Control House located on the centre wall of three sets of locks, looking north towards the Atlantic.
As many as eight electric locomotives (known as “mules”) are used to position each ship in the lock, although the ship’s main engines are used to enter and exit each chamber. Similarly, a Panama Canal Pilot is in control of each vessel during a transit rather than just advising the Master.
South of Gatun Lock, Gatun Lake is also used as an anchorage for some vessels as two Panamax vessels are not allowed to pass each other further south in the Gaillard (or Culebra) cut at the Continental Divide. Up to 1914 over half the 200 million cubic yards of material excavated to make the entire Panama Canal came from the Gaillard Cut. However, this narrowest section of the Panama Canal (pictured above with Centennial Bridge in the background) was widened by 2016 in conjunction with the building of new longer, wider locks. These can accommodate an overall vessel length of 366 metres, 49 metres beam and 15.2 metres draught. The main purpose of these new locks is to accommodate merchant ships, which move over 90% of the World’s transported goods.
South of Gatun Lake but north of the Gaillard Cut lies Gamboa, base for the 31 tugs and the dredger fleet of the Panama Canal Authority while at the southern end of the Gaillard Cut are the Pedro Miguel Lock and the two locks at Miraflores. The final lock gates at Miraflores – next to the four storey Panama Canal Visitor Centre – are the tallest and heaviest on the Panama Canal, designed to handle the extreme tidal fluctuations of the Pacific and measuring 25m high and weighing 730 tons.
On the seaward side of Miraflores Locks are the Bridge of the Americas and modern Panama City – with its skyscrapers full of banks, insurance and shipping offices – as well as its Spanish Colonial antecedent and the ruins o the original Panama City burned down by Sir Francis Drake in 1595. Also near the Bridge of the Americas is the former US Navy base now used by the Panamanian Navy.
Keith travelled to Panama from 2 to 12 March 2017 as part of a 23 strong group organised by the Thames Ship Society (TSS). Founded in 1962, TSS has members all over the World and its previous visit destinations have included Amsterdam and Shanghai. With temperatures soaring to 28 degrees celcius, the party first slapped on their Factor 50 sunblock at Panama City and took a Red Cat trip boat to view the vessels waiting in the Pacific to enter the canal. Most of them, Keith noted, were built in the 21st Century. After a transit of the canal in a larger tourist vessel, the party visited the ship’s graveyard beyond the Atlantic approaches to the Canal before returning to Panama City on one of the few passenger trains of the Panama Canal Railroad.
Our Monday 11 February 2019 meeting centered on a World Ship Society Powerpoint presentation compiled by shipbuilding professional Maurice J Napier about his visits to the Falkland Islands. Although often seen as a gateway to Antarctica, Falklands capital Stanley is in fact closer to the Equator than Newcastle Upon Tyne. However, it is further west than Montevideo in Uruguay and the last populated Atlantic island before the treacherous waters around Cape Horn. In the days before the Panama Canal, sailing ships were often damaged rounding the tip of South America and put into the Falklands for repairs, but the few firms doing such work were expensive and many owners had no option but to accept their low offers to buy the hulks for storage. Perhaps the most famous example of this was Brunel’s GREAT BRITAIN, which limped into Stanley in 1886 and did not leave the Falkland Islands until 1970. Maurice also highlighted the 282 ton barque VICAR OF BRAY, which was built at Whitehaven in 1841 and took miners to the 1849 Californian gold rush. She now rots at Goose Green where she has been since 1925, forming a perch for the native Night Herons.
In 1895 meanwhile, the Glasgow-built iron barque GLENGOWAN was on her maiden voyage with coal from Swansea for San Francisco when it caught fire. She put into the Falklands and was scuttled to extinguish the flames. 15 years later she went to New Island as a whaling station coal hulk. A hole was cut in the stern to let wagons run into her, giving the manager an idea that whales could be pulled inside factory ships and spawning what became a widely-adopted concept.
Due to their proximity to one of the World’s great shipping routes, the Falkland Islands have long had both a strategic importance and disputed ownership. The motto of the current British Overseas Territory is “Desire the Right”, derived from Captain John Davies’ ship DESIRE when in 1592 he made the first recorded sighting of the islands. However, it was to be another century before a landing was made and the 1760s until both French and British settlement began. More recently, the “Malvinas” have been claimed by Spain and Argentina.
On 8 December 1914 Admiral Graf von Spee led Germany’s East Asia Squadron in an attack on the supposedly empty Royal Navy base at Stanley only to find a fleet including two British battlecruisers refuelling. After coming under fire, von Spee fled but the faster British ships caught up with his formation and almost completely destroyed it. Stanley cemetery also contains the graves of four H.M.S. EXETER sailors who died of wounds received in the 1939 Battle of the River Plate against the Nazi pocket battleship GRAF SPEE but it was the conflict following the invasion by Argentina 1982 that brought the Falkland Islands to the forefront of international consciousness.
On one visit, Mr Napier was accompanied on an ascent of the Two Sisters mountain above Stanley by an Argentinean lieutenant who had been in the campaign. He was very informative, saying that they expected no resistance – just some angry words at the United Nations. The invasion force was totally unprepared for fighting and ill-equipped. Remnants of the trainers worn by Argentinian conscripts were still visible, but British boots were on Falklands ground as soon as a Royal Navy task force could arrive there. A memorial bench with the inscription “From the Sea, Freedom” was dedicated at Port Stanley in 2007 for the 25th anniversary of the liberation.
Although just a dot on smaller World maps and globes, the Falkland Islands are roughly the size of Wales but with a civilian population of about 3,000, almost all of whom live in Stanley. Their coat of arms is surmounted by a sheep, and wool production is still an important industry. However, compared with the pastures of Wales or New Zealand, grazing is poor with two and half acres apparently required to support each sheep. The Falkland Islands coat of arms also depicts a sailing ship, and like its freedom, the sea yields fisheries, tourism and oil exploration.
Although seal hunting and whaling have long since ceased, Maurice particularly mentioned long line fishing for the Patagonian Toothfish or Mero and the efforts made to deter birds from swooping on hooked bait and drowning. Indeed, the plight of the Great Albatross at the hands of illegal fishermen was the subject of one of the “Black Spider” letters written by HRH Prince Charles to the British Government in 2004. Many Far Eastern boats meanwhile come to the Falkland Islands for squid. In fact the island economy now depends on selling fishing licences and Falkland Government income usually exceeds expenditure which many countries can only envy.
Tourism embraces not only memories of the war of liberation but the rich wildlife of the Falkland Islands, including sea lions, elephant seals, flightless Falkland Ducks, penguins, skuas and the national bird of the islands, the Striated Caracara. Even more memorable however were the people. As a veteran of 1982 wrote to the local newspaper “Penguin News” – “Never in any other part of the World will we ever find the hospitality or kindness that we found on our visit to the Falklands.”
For our Monday 11 March 2019 meeting Chairman Ken Guest presented his pictures and videos of Singapore Scenes and Shipping.
The Republic of Singapore lies one degree north of the Equator at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Its main island has increased in size by 23%, due to land reclamation since forcible independence from Malaysia in 1965. Set part way between India and Australia, Singapore was founded as a trading post of the British East India Company by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. It became a Crown Colony in 1858 and was occupied by invading Japanese forces from 1942 to 1945. Self government followed in 1959 and Singapore left the British Empire – but stayed in the Commonwealth – in 1963.
Although lacking its own oil and coal, Singapore now boasts an advanced economy based on external trade and a skilled workforce. Its 5.6 million citizens generate the third highest GDP per capita of any nation on Earth. Today Singapore is a major transport hub with a ship arriving or departing every three minutes. It it is also the top fuel oil bunkering port in the World and an important tourist destination.
In fact Ken’s talk followed a “then and now” format, contrasting recent visits with his time in the RAF in 1965. His first flight to Singapore was aboard a Bristol Britannia and took 32 hours via Cyprus, Bahrain and Gan. Later, while posted to the Indian Ocean Island, Ken arrived by Vickers VC10 but more recent Singapore Airlines jets have included Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 (pictured) .
In the past half century, Singapore has become both cleaner and more urbanised. Most noticeably the Singapore River is now green rather than black and the “bumboats” – lighters once used to offload goods from ships in the harbour – now carry tourists. Modern structures include the Marina Bay street racing circuit – home of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Singapore Flyer ferris wheel (taller than the London Eye) 280 metre long Double Helix Bridge and Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
Despite this, Singapore has preserved such traditional buildings as Raffles Hotel, St Andrew’s Cathedral and rows of shop houses. However, Ken could not find the Chamber of Commerce building which at eight stories was the tallest building in Singapore in 1965.
The diverse society of Singapore was reflected in such areas as Chinatown and Little India, with its Hindu temples and floral elephant, while Ken also visited the very rural Pulau Ubin island.
Ships noted in Singapore included Pacific International Line’s KOTA prefixed container ships and a number of offshore including the Dutch registered ALP SWEEPER (IMO 9737254, 5 901 grt).
Perhaps the most unusual however was Wellard Group’s OCEAN DROVER (IMO 9232852, 29 812 grt) capable of transporting 75 000 sheep or 18 000 cattle. It carries 1 500 tons of animal fodder and can produce up to 600 tons of fresh water a day.
Our Monday 8 April 2019 meeting learned all about Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS GREAT BRITAIN from Visitor Services Volunteer and former primary headteacher Ian Caskie
Having gained experience with steamship operation in his native Canada and observing the growth of the railway network in England, Samuel Cunard visited Britain in 1837 to seek investment in a fleet of wooden hulled trans Atlantic paddle steamers to carry mail between Europe and the New World. In 1840, BRITANNIA – the first Cunard Steamship – sailed from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Boston, Massachsetts with Cunard himself and 63 other passengers on board.
Meanwhile, on 22 April 1838, Brunel’s SS GREAT WESTERN – operated by the rival Great Western Steamship Company of Bristol – had arrived in New York only just behind its rival, the British and American Line paddle steamer SIRIUS. This was after a much faster voyage and tellingly GREAT WESTERN – the largest ship in the World at that time -arrived with coal to spare.
Despite never having designed a ship before, Brunel had been taken on by the Great Western Steamship Company after his success in building the broad gauge Great Western Railway. And his response to the firm’s idea of building a fleet of four wooden paddle wheelers to rival Cunard was equally bold. Just 38 years after the Battle of Trafalgar he would once again complete the largest and fastest ocean vessel in the World. This time made of iron and transmitting 1 000 bhp of four cylinder engine power through a screw propeller.
From a visit to Bristol in 1838 by John Laird’s iron hulled Channel Packet RAINBOW, Brunel became convinced that iron was the shipbuilding material of the future. For lengths over 200 feet, an equivalent wooden hull would have been needed so much internal strengthening that its carrying capacity would have been severely restricted. And it would have weighed twice as much. At the same time timber was becoming more expensive and iron cheaper.
In 1840 meanwhile a visit to Bristol by the Propeller Steamship Company’s ARCHIMEDES (pictured above) also gave Brunel a solution to the tendency of paddle steamers to roll in heavy seas. Paddle wheels lifting out of the water
caused the ships to zig zag and – like a railway locomotive with spinning wheels – damaged machinery and wasted fuel.
However, even floating the GREAT BRITAIN out of its dry dock was problematic. On 19 July 1843 the vessel was due to have been christened by Mrs Clarissa Mills, mother of the MP for Bristol, whose bottle of champagne missed the bows due to the Tug AVON attempting to move GREAT BRITAIN prematurely. Luckily, HRH The Prince Albert was on hand to hurl a second bottle at the hull.
Worse still, GREAT BRITAIN was trapped in Bristol harbour until December 1944 due to a dispute over widening the gates to the lock leading to the River Avon. In the end, Brunel himself supervised the removal of lockside coping stones and on the biggest tide of the year his iron giant escaped. Its new home would be Liverpool, the wider Mersey proving a much better seaway for the new steamships. The Port of Bristol – and the craft of shipbuilding – would never be the same again.
Despite crossing the Atlantic in just 15 days on its maiden voyage, only 45 out of a possible 250 passengers were attended by GREAT BRITAIN’s 98 crew. Perhaps they reasoned that, in an emergency, wood floats but iron sinks. It certainly proved brittle as, despite being 92% efficient, five of the six blades of Brunel’s self-designed propeller snapped off during GREAT BRITAIN’s fourth trans Atlantic voyage.
Disaster struck again on 22 September 1846 when, at the start of the firth voyage, the crew missed their turn marked by the Calf of Man lighthouse and became beached for more than a year at Dundrum Bay in Northern Ireland. The loss of revenue and salvage costs bankrupted the Great Western Steamship Company who then sold GREAT BRITAIN on to Gibbs, Bright and Company.
After a refit with square rigging replacing schooner and the installation of more efficient engines, the ship found a new role transporting emigrants after the discovery of gold in Australia and another sale to Antony Gibb and Sons.
On voyages from Liverpool to Melbourne and home via Cape Horn GREAT BRITAIN proved as fast as the 1869 vintage CUTTY SARK, especially after 1857 when a retractable two bladed propeller was installed. The fastest non stop voyage to Australia took 54 days and in 1852 the ship would typically carry 700 passengers and 140 crew, along with a dairy cow, 400 geese, 38 pigs, 2 bullocks, 30 turkeys and 138 sheep. During the voyages, the ship produced its own newspaper, the Great Britain Times, and passengers entertained each other with music.
GREAT BRITAIN also took 44 000 British, French and Turkish troops to the Crimean War in 1854 and 1855 and the first England cricket XI to Australia in 1861. However, in 1882, the famous emigrant ship was sold again, stripped of her engines and passenger accommodation and became a windjammer carrying coal from Penarth to San Francisco. Then, in 1886, having been damaged rounding Cape Horn, GREAT BRITAIN was sold to the Falkland Island Company for £ 2 000 and used as a floating warehouse at Port Stanley. In 1937 however, with her decks rotten, Brunel’s mighty ship was towed to Sparrow Cove, holed and abandoned.
Luckily, a plan to use her for Royal Navy target practice never materialised and in 1967 Ewen Corlett wrote to The Times suggesting that GREAT BRITAIN could be rescued for the nation who built her. This would be an expensive prospect but fortunately both Sir Jack Hayward and Sir Paul Getty made large donations and in 1970 work began to prepare the rusting hulk for the voyage home.
The masts were removed to lower the centre of gravity and Falkland Islanders donated mattresses to fill a crack in the hull. Once GREAT BRITAIN had been floated though, she could be positioned above the pontoon MULUS III and, towed by the tug VARIUS II, she started her 47th voyage of 8 000 miles via Montevideo.
On 5 July 1970, having reached Avonmouth, GREAT BRITAIN was towed under Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge for the only time in her life and on 19 July 1970 re entered the dry dock where she had been built with only 7″ of water between her keel and the sill.
Restoration was a long and complex task, but the opportunity was taken to fill the hull with areas representing the different eras of GREAT BRITAIN’s working life. The First Class Transatlantic section has become popular for conferences and weddings while the stern shows how cramped steerage was for the emigrants to Australia. There is even a kitchen with animatronic cat and rats!
As a museum ship, GREAT BRITAIN also has replica propellers and rudder and a moving engine and although the hull is accessible it is now encased in glass to form a dehumidified environment. Otherwise the salt absorbed in Sparrow Cove would disintegrate the iron. As such, keeping the hull dry requires constant expenditure.
However, GREAT BRITAIN now attracts 200 000 visitors a year and 2019 saw the opening of the interactive Being Brunel experience on the site – including the chance to literally get inside the great man’s head!
After our Monday 13 May 2019 AGM Alan Drewett wrapped up the season with his talk on Mega Ships