I wonder how popular this will be? Prompted – in part – by a book I’m presently reading and knowing that at least Jim (Lincoln 7) is also an enthusiast, I thought that an interesting and worthy subject for discussion might be boats. Sailing boats; power boats; ocean liners; ferries; Ro-Ro’s; and so on. My personal enthusiasm for things that float is tempered by two aspects; the amount of flying I like to do and the expense thereto and an injunction which comes from I know not where: “If it flies, floats or facks – rent it “.
Many of us will know that we ignore this sage advice at our peril. The book referred to is “Few Survived” by Edwin Gray. It is both illuminating and sad. It takes the reader back more than 100 years to the development of the submarine. It details the location of all the known accident sites and why they occurred. As you might expect, human error, one way or another is the principle cause.
Two incidents are worth mentioning. Both happened when I was a schoolboy and I well remember them. The first was the accidental sinking of the submaine Truculent in the Thames Estuary. In the same way as the Thetis in Liverpool Bay, some ten years previously, the Truculent sank in shallow water, with the aft end of the vessel clear of the water. She was swiftly located and such was the efficiency of the newly overhauled escape routines that every man jack aboard – in excess of 60 souls, made a successful escape only to perish, in the darkness, from hypothermia and then were lost to the swiftness of the local tide and currents. Some dozen or so crew survived.
The second sinking was the submarine Affray. With this sinking something quite inexplicable occurred. The Affray set off to the south of the Isle of Wight on a south westerly course which would have taken the sub to an area off Start Point to join a naval exercise. Nothing was ever heard from this vessel again. After predetermined times came and went when the boat should have signalled her presence, a search was implemented with ships and aircraft from many nations taking part – to no avail.
The search endured for many days. During this time, the Admiralty received many messages and letters from psychics and mediums, all of which purported to know the whereabouts of the sub. These were somehow plotted on a chart of the English Channel with a clear majority pointing to a specific area which lay outside the agreed route of the vessel. Ships with sonar were sent to the area with the officer commanding the search flotilla reporting that the volume of echo returning from the sea bed at that location was unbearably loud and persistent.
Further investigation revealed nothing on the sea bed which, in any event, was about seventy miles from where the Affray was eventually found. No explanation was ever offered as to why there was so much Asdic return at that particular spot. A more astonishing turn of events was described by Warren Armstrong in his book; Sea Phantoms. He relates that the wife of a naval engineer Commander had a friend, another engineer, who both knew very well and had entertained in their home on the Channel Islands. Both men had served in the same ship, a cruiser.
The wife related that on the night the Affray went missing, she was aware of a presence, she looked up and recognised her visitor. It was their friend dressed in a naval uniform of a type that she did not recognise but when describing it to her husband, her husband said that it was the uniform of a submariner.
The visitor spoke clearly and said: “Tell your husband we are at the north end of Hurd Deep, nearly seventy miles from the lighthouse at St. Catherines. It happened very suddenly and none of us expected it”.
The woman phoned her husband who said that he had no knowledge of their friend having transferred to the submarine service much less being on board the Affray and he pointed out that Hurd Deep was well outside the main search area. The husband went on to say that he had no intention of interfering with the search operation on the basis of a ghost story.
The Teddington Research Laboratory had recently invented a high resolution underwater television camera which was installed in a rescue vessel called the Reclaim. It was decided to search a new area to the north of the Channel Islands, in particular a wreck that had been located previously by Asdic. A diver was lowered in an observation chamber and he spotted the name Affray fixed to the boat. This was at the north end of the Deep just where the spectral visitor had described.
By: John Green - 27th November 2014 at 11:57
The ‘rivalry’ between the British and German Navies before, during and after the coming of Dreadnought was centered around numbers. It had never been a ‘level’ playing field’. The numbers advantage always lay with Britain. The threat to Britain’s naval superiority was never realistic. We simply outbuilt the Germans.
The Naval Defence Act of 1889 specified a ‘two power’ standard by law. This laid down that the British Navy had to maintain a Navy that was bigger by far than the combined strength of the two largest navies in the world. As a consequence, work began on the construction of ten new Dreadnought battleships that would outclass any other – anywhere, plus forty two new battle cruisers.
Yes, deterrence was the name of the game but, it was a deterrence that already existed because of the size of the British Navy and was enhanced by the building of the Dreadnought class of battleships started in 1905.
Britain entered the war in 1914 with a Home Fleet of twenty two super Dreadnoughts, fourteen battlecruisers, twenty two pre-Dreadnoughts and 160 cruisers and destroyers. All of this a necessary consequence of the naval arms race between Britain and Germany which ended when Germany ceased to compete.
By: Moggy C - 27th November 2014 at 11:02
Wasn’t the whole point that the Royal Navy’s superiority was being ‘rivalled’, hence the impetus to build a game-changing weapons system?
Moggy
By: John Green - 27th November 2014 at 10:48
There is what appears to be, some contradictory comment about British and German naval forces, currently on ‘Historic’ within a subject about the Avro Vulcan.
Prior to the invention of HMS Dreadnought, the British Navy had unrivalled superiority internationally as well as in its own backyard; the North Sea. There wasn’t a level playing field as far as any possible competitor was concerned.
After Dreadnought was launched, that superiority was even more superior. The ‘level playing field’ that had never been level and alluded to by the commentator was tilted even more emphatically in favour of the British.
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany didn’t approve of these matters and determined to build a large Navy that could challenge British hegemony, at least in the North Sea.
This was the build up to he Battle of Jutland which was a material victory for the Germans but a strategic victory for the British. The German Navy never again emerged to give battle.
By: John Green - 4th September 2014 at 13:57
Much too young. His monument is assured.
By: charliehunt - 4th September 2014 at 12:57
Sad news bearing in mind the exchanges in this thread about the Waverley.
By: John Green - 21st June 2014 at 16:44
Are you in a marina? What is the charge for a 26ft. power boat ?
By: wl745 - 21st June 2014 at 12:00
[ATTACH=CONFIG]229412[/ATTACH]
For those interested in the boat its GRP and 8.2 metres long with a 225HP outboard Honda that is a superb engine ,has not failed to start yet!Petrol is a lot cheaper here but it does use a bit at “full speed ahead”!Just idling along is quite economical.I have a fishfinder and VHF fitted and carry a hand held GPS .Six lifejackets ,first aid box and fire extinguisher,also has a toilet but it obviously made for small Thai women such as my wife for I cannot get inside it(1.87metre tall)!!
By: John Green - 20th June 2014 at 17:11
I’ve just to-day finished a minor refit on a friends sailboat, a 30ft bermudan rigged monohull known as a Prospect 30. or 900 if you are ‘metrificated’ !
He bought this vessel last year on EvilBay and it was slightly short on some essential equipment and had undergone the usual owner driven assault of screw holes drilled all over the place and assorted chunks of ugliness fastened in places that were readily visible when they should have been hidden with great cunning.
He asked me to try and redress some of the worst of the mayhem and I set to. Neglect and ignorance were responsible for most of the damage, with dangling wires – always the most serious crime, very much in evidence.
So, some six months later, anti fouled, polished, primped and pampered she is ready to go back in the water, except for one thing, he’s decided to sell her ! So, no water will be lapping around her buxom hull, a boat is easier to sell out of water than in it.
By: John Green - 12th June 2014 at 20:20
I have a friend, yes, just one, who is recovering successfully from a bout of cancer. He has passed the five year term but because of his treatment the efficiency of his immune system is seriously impaired. Believing that life is to be lived, he bought a boat and asked me to do some work on it.
I’m now in the throes. This vessel has been thru’ the hands of several previous owners. Each has left their mark, in some cases several. When I look at the bits chopped off, the holes drilled un-necessarily. The gadgets attached in the most unsuitable and unlikeliest of places I’m completely lost for words as well as any glimmer of beginning to understand just why they did what they did.
So, before I begin to improve things, I have to do a fair amount of remedying. Some of their DIY efforts are, frankly, bizarre. If you love boats, think twice and thrice before picking up the hammer and nails. Someone will be coming after your ownership has finished and might be as baffled as I am by what the current owner fondly regards as improvements.
By: John Green - 24th May 2014 at 10:02
Re 61
Wl475
Thanks a lot ! You have a spirit of mischief. You didn’t have to publish that photo. You now have a bunch of middle aged and slightly older men who are keen on boats – and other things, and now considering re-locating to where you are !
By: trumper - 24th May 2014 at 09:35
:applause: Very nice on both counts 🙂
Unfortunately we have had in the last few weeks a couple of bad news episodes which make you realise just how quickly things change http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27553902
By: wl745 - 24th May 2014 at 02:21
Boats I have known!
My first boat was a 18ft Bayliner with a Volvo inboard engine and would do about 30mph on a good day,I had this for over two years and only bought two fan belts and a battery for it!Was in the Caribbean where I was working and had many enjoyable outings as well as my scuba trips.Returning to the UK I got the urge again and found boats a lot more expensive than my pocket would allow.I ended up with a 25 year old fishing boat with twin perkins diesels ,mooring was expensive at first but what finally got me was as I was working away a lot the topsides being plywood detiorated very quickly and maintenance costs soared!Then she was holed and engines had to come out and be cleaned etc !!Shortly after she was sold for half the price ,lesson learned ,no more wooden boats!!Now retired in Thailand with a GRP boat and a 225HP Honda on the back gives 45mph on a flat day![ATTACH=CONFIG]228589[/ATTACH] That’s my wife disporting herself,an added attraction!!
By: charliehunt - 23rd May 2014 at 13:15
Interesting you should make that comment. Not a seaman any way but that was my first instinctive thought. And that had they been forced to a liferaft I rather assumed that too might have some form of beacon.
By: John Green - 23rd May 2014 at 13:12
With reference to the four missing British yachtsmen in the North Atlantic. I’m more than surprised that there doesn’t appear to be on board, either attached to the yacht of to one or more of the crew, a Personal Locator Beacon.
These are elementary life saving and rescue equipment for an ocean crossing. We carry one on our aircraft and I try never to cross anything wider than Clapham Common pond in a single engined aeroplane.
By: snafu - 1st May 2014 at 14:10
How about HMS Victoria?
Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, a well regarded sailor but also a strict disciplinarian who believed that the best way of keeping his crews taut and efficient was by continuous exercises, ordered a manoeuvre which had two lines of RN warships go through a 180 degree turn toward each other, so that they would fall into a single line. Officers knew that the distance was not enough to maintain safe separation but did not say anything – with the result that HMS Victoria was rammed by HMS Camperdown. The vessels separated, but before all the hatches were secured – it was a hot day so all had been open. With two great turrets, half a metre of armour and the engines still running the Victoria powered to the bottom.
In 2004 it was annouced that HMS Victoria had be discovered – it was nose first impaled in the seabed, like a dart!
The bedrock of the seabed was hidden by 40-50 metres of soft mud; it was suspected that the first 30 metres of the 103 metre long Victoria had crumpled on impact so only about the rear third of the vessel was sticking up like a tombstone.
The report I’ve seen says that there was only one other known vessel of this stature that was an ‘upright’ wreck, in the Philipphines, but that had collapsed.
By: snafu - 1st May 2014 at 13:50
Ship left, dumped in Cornwall.
Costs mount for stricken cargo ship MV Sea Breeze
A ship which started sinking off the coast of Cornwall is costing UK taxpayers hundreds of pounds a day in mooring fees.
The six crew of the MV Sea Breeze were rescued when it began taking in water near the Lizard on 9 March.
But the future of the 87m (285ft) ship is uncertain and the Department for Transport is paying more than £200 a day to moor it in the River Fal.
The ship had been taking limestone from Liverpool to Shoreham, West Sussex.[ATTACH=CONFIG]227834[/ATTACH]
‘Complex’ salvage
The ship was towed to St Austell Bay for repairs, and then the Port of Fowey was directed by the UK Government’s marine casualty authority to take her in before she was moved to the Fal, a deep water area for mooring large ships.
Truro harbourmaster Capt Mark Killingback said: “At the moment she’s being looked after by the Department for Transport and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
“It’s a matter for maritime lawyers to resolve any claims against the vessel.”
The ship is registered in Barbados, had a mainly Russian crew and is operated by Ukraine-based company, KDM Shipping, which was unavailable for comment.
Salvage company Keynvor MorLift claims it is owed about £200,000 in fees.
Spokesman Diccon Rogers said: “Salvage is often complex. There are several interests and legal parties on an international basis so getting paid can be interesting.”
The MCA said: “Negotiations about the future of the vessel are ongoing between the MCA, the salvors, Port of Truro, the operator and their insurers.
“The vessel is securely moored in the River Fal, at Truro, and is being monitored.”
The Department for Transport was unavailable for immediate comment.
By: trumper - 4th April 2014 at 21:04
🙂 Now there must be someone who took a photo of it -holiday cruise ship -surely a camera somewhere.
By: John Green - 4th April 2014 at 18:09
This short piece is related to “Time to put up or shut up” contribution from J. Boyle. As it has a nautical theme, it appears here. I might have before written this up.
During the latter part of 1952 I was onboard the P & O liner Strathnaver. We’d just left Bombay bound for Colombo, Ceylon. We were about five or six miles of the West coast of India, steaming South in a flat calm, mirror sea. I was talkng to one of my friends then working in the coffee pantry and about to serve mid morning coffee to the passengers on that particular deck.
We both felt the ship heel between five and ten degrees to port (left). This was so unusual that we both left the pantry to check outside as to what had caused the list. It was because every passenger practically and most of the crew – around two thousand people – had crowded to the port rail to look out over the sea.
There – I kid you not – was the living incarnation, to the point of caricature, of the Loch Ness monster. Someone, somewhere must have taken camera shots. Because there was nothing with which to compare it, scaling its size was difficult. It lay half in and half out of the surface of the sea which, as I’ve written, was a flat calm. The monster, its coils undulating slowly just as a snake would, appeared to be two or three hundred feet long, with a body five or six feet or more in diameter. Its distance from the ship was about half a mile to one mile.
The head of the beast was exactly as drawn by those claiming to have seen Nessie. The shape of the head was that of a horse but, huge. What could be seen were two short horns with bulbous tips sticking up from the top of the creatures head. The entire animal appeared to be black in colour.
My ship was travelling at around twenty knots so we were abeam this creature for perhaps three or four minutes before we drew slowly away. If P & O have retained the ships log then, an entry would have been made by the Officer of the Watch recording the whole incident. It was remarkable.
By: John Green - 2nd April 2014 at 17:38
I’ve sailed the southern portion of the Indian Ocean on four separate occasions and never been troubled by any even slightly turbulent weather. This is reported to be the area of ocean where the Malayan airliner disappeared. This bit of ‘oggin shouldn’t be confused with the notorious Southern Ocean which lies to the south which has or used to have a high incidence of storm activity making any activity down there a rather perilous process.
I don’t know whether or not it is still in use but, British subs used to have an automatically deployed tell tale in the shape of a buoy that in the event of a submarine failing to surface would detach from the sub and rise to the surface. This buoy would then broadcast a signal on, I believe, a distress frequency of 121.5. Perhaps the same gadget is required for a/c.
Even if not tethered, there would not be a great deal of time elapse between the signal broadcasting and the first help arriving thus giving little opportunity for the signal buoy to drift thus avoiding uncertainty regarding the position of the stricken vessel/aircraft.
By: John Green - 22nd March 2014 at 11:29
Continuing the nautical theme. Has anyone any info on what used to a working boat but has now become a classic, the Bristol Channel Pilot cutter? Jim, your field of expertise ?
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February 25, 2014 at 6:29 pm