Seen on my afternoon walk

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Taking my usual afternoon walk along the beach I couldn't help noticing the unusual ship moored just off shore and as they say I had my trusty camera handy . The vessel is the Atalanti laying cables for the new off shore wind farm in Liverpool bay /North Wales coast .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Dave

You do have an exciting stretch of coastline whenever I get the chance to walk along a beach all I get to see is the sea, even when I was building an office block behind the Sea Terminal on the Isle of Man all I got to see were the manx ferries.

Paul

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Paul yes the Wirral coast line and the Mersey is a busy place, and you really have to go camera in hand even on a casual walk or you'll miss some ship or other. I live only minutes from the shore so it's reasonably handy and a fresh westerly does you the power of good .Mind you working in view of the Manx Ferries would be ship heaven to some.

Dave Wooley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hi Dave

You might think that working so close to the sea terminal would be great but it tends to loose its fascination when the wind and rain are coming in sideways and you are being blown off the scaffold.

Douglas on a typical summers day

Of course there were fun times.

Happy days

Paul

Edited By Paul T on 10/10/2014 18:11:25

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Paul yes the IOM was a fun place to be in the 1950s and as a youngster , crossing from Liverpool to Douglas it was seen as an adventure on a par to crossing the Atlantic, in a great liner and on a rough passage it could be quite unpleasant especially when half of Liverpool seemed to be on the IOM boat and the other half very much clinging to the rails hoping to die until they reached the delights of Douglas and all was well again. As you say happy days

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Here's another shot from my afternoon beach walk .

[mike farrellParticipant @mikefarrell21522]

Nice action picture Dave .As the ships sail up the North Sea they are so far out we just see a profileMichael

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I do envy someone who can walk along the beach and see all this action.

If I walk along the Thames here I might see a few nice cabin cruisers if I am lucky.Generally I cycle to the station and see a few skips and idly wonder if they would float.

Ashley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Mike yes there is a lot of sea borne activity in the Irish sea , just looking at AIS and you see the volume of ship movements entering and leaving the Mersey . I love going out into the North sea especially the ship activity into Hull

Ashley I can vouch not all ships these days are pleasing to the eye I look out to sea and there in front of me is a skip opps I mean ship so when your thoughts idly wonder regarding skips they aren't that far from reality .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Some what quiet in both weather and traffic but there was this large dredger working the buoy channel into the Mersey . They are preparing the channel for the larger container vessels expected when the new part of the container port at Seaforth becomes operational towards the end of 015 .

 

 

 

Dave Wooley

Edited By David Wooley on 11/10/2014 15:24:08

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Seen yesterday afternoon was a closer view using an 800 lens of the hopper dredger HAM working the buoy channel and one of a number of wind farm support vessels entering the Mersey

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Another regular heading out towards the wind farms

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Is GARDIAN 2 spelt correctly?……… Mr Wooley?

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob good to hear from you . Yes the same is correct as it refers to the name of the company Gardline Marine Sciences which operate a number of these orange coloured cats 1, 2 ,3 and so on. I took a picture of a precession of these survey boats entering the Mersey looks quite striking .

thanks for asking

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Like buses these survey vessels arrive in three's . Also another regular feature of the Wirral beach is the RNLI Hovercraft, seen here keeping an eye on wind surfers .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The wind farm support vessels come in all shapes and sizes like this one

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Todays afternoon walk took me away from the beach to Birkenhead docks and the east float to get a glimpse of the salvage operation now underway on the last remaining D-day LST officially known as LST3 7074 but better known by the name as a floating social club called Landfall. The operation is in its early stages and the hull or tank deck needed to be stabilized so the huge crane could slowly lift , with the aid of air bags the old Landfall clear of the water. Originally built by Swan Hunter /Wigham Richardson Wallsend in 1944. The vessel has been acquired by the RN Museum for the D-Day Museum Portsmouth with the aid of a grant of nearly a million pounds from the National Heritage Memorial Fund .

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Dave

Found this picture of LST3 7074 and according to the photo caption it was doomed then!

What's the story?

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob good to hear from you. During operation Overlord LCT 7074 was attached to the 17th LCT flotilla and made 32 trips during that operation . 7074 also received a hit from a bomb which nearly put paid to its activities . It survived and by September 1948 the craft became the HQ of the Master Mariners club moored in Canning dock. In 1970 it was sold on as a night club to become the Landfall . In the late 1990s landfall was acquired by the Historic Ships Trust . The trust went into liquidation in 2006 and from then on LCT 7074 was left moored and eventually to sink in situ . Apparently the lift was successful ,I just missed seeing the hull brought to the surface , my bad luck not sticking around long enough .

Thanks for showing interest

Dave Wooley

[The Long BuildParticipant @thelongbuild]

Looks like your going for another walk then !!

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Larry good to hear from you . Oh yes must get a few shots of LCT 7074 as a full hull. The transfer to Portsmouth is I believe in the next few weeks. Should be an interesting lift !

Thanks for showing interest.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Missed the final lift yesterday so I had to return just to see how it all went. An encrusted hull but not as bad as I feared . It appears all that remains for now is to stabilize the floatation and await the submersible barge . can't miss that one .

Dave Wooley

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

Hi Dave,

The BBC TV news clip is interesting.

**LINK**

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hello Tony yes I saw the time lapse clip on the news The BBC and the official museum crew where in a better position and I would say it's more interesting watching the clip than standing around for best part of the day as some did to get the final moments of the lift.

Cheers and thanks for taking interest.

Dave Wooley

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