Marine Engineers

[Thomo]

Nay Stanley, that is "William J" post re paint, Barry and Anne Marie Dawber, named after a rugby player I believe. I used to have 100s of pics of the boats, they were stolen along with everything else when thieves cleared out my new workshop at Burnley.

[Stanley]

I'll have another go then! The launch of Margaret and Ian Evans boat.

[Thomo]

Yes it is. That is the one with a Ruston Hornsby engine. Happy days!

[Stanley]

Thank God for that......

[Stanley]

I found this redundant steam ferry in San Francisco in 1980. Double ended and went out of use when the Bay Bridge was opened in 1936, just before the Golden Gate bridge.

[Stanley]

Shelter Island Ferry in 1981. At the far end of Long Island, USA.

[Invernahaille]

A sister of the Red Funnel ferries in Southampton. They had Z Drives. The engines revolved 180 degrees. It saved having to turn the ferry every time it docked.

[Stanley]

Corran Ferry on Loch Lihnne below Fort William.

[Wendyf]

We have made many trips on the Corran Ferry, including some quite scary ones in stormy conditions when it seemed to get carried a long way away down the loch from the dock. It was always such a relief to arrive at Onich and see the last ferry of the day still on the right side.
There is a much bigger ferry now and lots more traffic heading out to Ardnamurchan Point (with it's lighthouse visitor centre) and the car ferry across to Mull from Kilchoan.

[Stanley]

For Wendy.....



Ardnamurchan light in 2003 before the visitor centre.

[Wendyf]

Thank you Stanley. When was it that you got to stay at the lighthouse in your camper van? I remember being there one year when there was a van parked up near the lighthouse, which was unusual because you hardly ever came across other people up there. We were there regularly from 1982 to about 1995ish when we gave up our share of the caravan.

[Stanley]

It was November 1991 when Mary and I made our tour of the Northern lighthouses, Ardnamurchan was the last one we visited on the way home. a wonderful trip. Next time I was there with the yellow shed was in about 2003. It was a rough night so we parked under the lee of the cottages and were snug as a bug in a rug!

I was watching 'Get Carter' again last night and noticed in one shot a collier going down the Tyne. Thanks to modern HD TV sets I could read the name and port of registration so I looked it up this morning.



The Cory Colliers 2000 ton MV Corbank. The film was released in 1971 and in 1982 the Corbank was lost by grounding while in ballast off the coast of Tripoli near Chekka.

[Stanley]

The P&O car ferry to the Northern Isles at Scrabster in 1991. These are harsh seas and only the most seaworthy boats can survive. I have seen this ship leave harbour in what looked like impossible conditions but it was all in the day's work.

[Stanley]

The fly boat from Muck which used to meet the ferry at sea off Eigg to pick up supplies. This was 1986 and about that time there was a serious accident when a person in the boat got caught up in the propeller shaft.

[Stanley]

I have an idea I might have posted this before but well worth doing it again! The dirty end of marine engineering is salvage and scrapping. Smit Tak are world leaders in the field. Here they are removing a sunken car carrier from a shipping lane in the Channel. Big lumps, about 3,000 tons apiece.

[Invernahaille]

Yes Stanley, they have some great equipment. Their Engineers devise some amazing salvage operations.

[Stanley]

Robert, I watched the salvaging of the Kursk and reflected that even the Russian navy had to call them in. I think you can still get the book from them detailing the operation. My late son in law Big Harry was the first to identify the cause of the explosion that sank her because he and my daughter were lead engineers on identifying undersea sound.

[Stanley]

My camera was poorly when I did this picture in 1976 but I'm posting it because when I was down there I was struck by how few ships there were in the Pool of London. I am old enough to remember when it was full of shipping, every wharf busy and all the cranes nodding as they unloaded goods to be transferred to the warehouses. This all changed when Tilbury opened and containerisation came in. Screams of outrage from the dockers who wanted the job of 'stuffing' the containers. Of course they did, it was the only place where there was any plunder under the new system. All those docks were very romantic but incredibly inefficient. I lost track of the number of days I lost while I was on the tramp, waiting in queues at the London docks and on Scotland Road in Liverpool. The best thing that ever happened to wagon drivers!

[Stanley]

The last gasp of the great London Docks in 1976.

[Invernahaille]

There are some Ellerman ships in that line up Stanley. Do you remember the Seamens strike in 1971. There were ships moored all over the place anywhere they could berth. Sometimes tied together in the river.

[Stanley]

There were so many strikes Robert. Yes, I remember the seaman's strike. The dockers would walk out over anything, dirt money was a favourite and once a ship was stopped for 'embarrassment money', they were loading toilet pans.... The system of casual labour was totally corrupt, if jobs were scarce it all depended on who you were bribing. I was glad when I went back to the local dairy and could concentrate on driving! Delivering milk to schools was a doddle after the tramp!

[Invernahaille]

The Seamans strike was totally unrelated to the Dockers wildcat strikes. If you remember a certain politician called John Prescott, was President of the NUS at the time. I remember jetisoning perishable cargo at the command of the union. The payback of course came with Thatcherism. Two extremes with no center ground.

[Stanley]

St Katherine's Dock at Tower Bridge in 1976.

[Stanley]

Kinlochberve in 1991. The bigger ships in the background are Klondikers. Russian fish processing ships.

[Stanley]

Another view of Kinlochberve in 1991. I love these remote northern fishing ports and the small boats that work in some of the worst seas in the world with no fuss or glory. Tough boats and hard men!