MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

Royal Yacht Britannia In John Brown's Clydebank shipyard. Queen's flight jet passing overhead.

[Stanley]

That sounds feasible, I have no better ideas..... Once more I march forward with P!

[StoneRoad]

hmmmm,

I thought Britannia's hull was navy blue, which B&W would render as a dark colour.

Otherwise, "no idea" from me, but still thinking.
Plenty of dockside cranes to see.

[Tizer]

Not Royal Yacht Britannia and not the Queen's Flight. I'll let you think further before supplying any clues!

[Stanley]

That 'M' logo on the bow is nagging me..... I've seen it somewhere else on the bow of a ship.

[Tizer]

I think it's time to reveal a bit more to help you all. The photographer was recording a tanker coming in to dock and the aeroplane happened to be in the right place at the right time, giving him a more interesting picture. However, it turned out to be more significant than that because the plane was special. If I told you the location you'd probably get the answer straight away. I'll help you by saying it's in the UK!

[Stanley]

If it's a tanker it's laden so it looks like a fuel delivery. I can only make a blind guess; Avonmouth? Something to do with fuel shortages? War in Middle East? I'm floundering....

[Gloria]

Is it a Russian plane?

[Stanley]

Ah! That's an interesting thought Gloria!

[Tizer]

Stanley's `blind guess' of a fuel delivery by sea tanker to Avonmouth is correct (he knows I live in the south-west!) but that's not the special aspect I'm looking for. The photographer wanted a photo of the tanker but the aeroplane happened to fly over so he incorporated it into his shot. But the plane turned out to be much more significant than the ordinary oil tanker he set out to record! Concentrate on the aeroplane and think about when and where.

[Big Kev]

Is it a Brabazon?

[Tizer]

Well done, Kev. It's the one and only Bristol Brabazon in August 1952 on one of its last flights before the project was cancelled. The name of the tanker isn't recorded although I can tell you the tug is the `Sea King' - the photo was being taken for the Port of Bristol Authority and they were more interested in their tugs than the oil tanker (or the aeroplane!). The big tail rudder on the Brabazon is a giveaway - more common to Boeing aircraft than British ones. It was broken up and sold for £10,000 scrap value together with the partly built second prototype. LINK

[StoneRoad]

My knowledge of Avonmouth post-dates this picture - when the "modern" grain terminal / handling plant was installed my father was involved in both design and commissioning the mechanisms for unloading the ships. This would have been in the 1960s / 1970s I think

However, in the 1950s my father worked at Dowty's in Cheltenham - and he designed the undercarriage for the Brabazon.

[Stanley]

Next one?

[Tizer]

My knowledge of Avonmouth post-dates this picture - when the "modern" grain terminal / handling plant was installed my father was involved in both design and commissioning the mechanisms for unloading the ships. This would have been in the 1960s / 1970s I think. However, in the 1950s my father worked at Dowty's in Cheltenham - and he designed the undercarriage for the Brabazon.

The tanker in the photo had just entered Royal Edward Dock. If you haven't already got it, you'll enjoy the book from which I copied the photo - 200 pages of superb B&W photos from the Port of Bristol Authority Collection covering Avonmouth and Bristol Docks. This is the publisher's page: LINK
Search for a S/H copy - I got mine in a local S/H bookshop for £3.00! For you it would be worth paying full price if you can't get a used copy cheaper. The photos are excellent, many showing dockers at work, the old buildings, the cargoes being loaded and unloaded - one shows a jet fighter being hoisted aboard!

[Tizer]

Next one?

OK. While we're on Port of Bristol, what's happening in this photo?

[StoneRoad]

Water level too high - so flowing over the top of the lock gates.

[Marilyn]

Tin Tin is running away to sea on his bike...

[chinatyke]

Tidal bore.

[Stanley]

Spring Tide over-topping the gates into the protected part of the harbour.

[Tizer]

StoneRoad got it with `Water level too high - so flowing over the top of the lock gates' but it isn't due to China's tidal bore. Stanley also is right to say Spring Tide over-topping the gates but wrong with `into the protected part of the harbour'. I won't press you for more because you're so close already. It's the reverse of what Stanley proposed - the water is rushing out of the dock, not in. The Bristol Channel has the world's second highest tidal range. Occasionally, Spring tides, winds and storm surges combine and on 29th March 1967 the tide at Avonmouth docks reached 50 feet. The photo shows the excess water left in the dock after the tide turned flowing out over the dock gates. During a storm in 1990 the tide reached 52 feet. There has always been the fear that a surge would breach the gates and drain the dock.

[StoneRoad]

Seen something similar at Whitehaven Marina's Sea Lock, more than once.

Usually resulting from the remains of a storm surge plus highest spring tides, the lock was full which resulted in the inner lock gates being over-topped. (But not the outer gates, which are 12m vs the 8.4m of the inner ones)

[Stanley]

Can anyone tell me what is going on here?

[Cathy]

Are the horses being assessed for war duty?

[Stanley]

Bugger!!! You are too good at this Cathy, you've got it straight away. That's exactly what it is, horses being examined and requisitioned by the War Department in the early days of the Great War.
Now, find me another one!