Seen on my afternoon walk

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Tony Yes the old New Brighton tower was quite a structure , so my grand father often said . I remember the Tower buildings , now long gone and demolished after a fire in the 1970s . the Tower grounds consisted of a football stadium , race track ,boating lake as well as steam railway and fun fair . Now all part of a housing estate .The area in resent years has benefited from regeneration with a massive make over but the old erstwhile rival to Blackpool has almost completely vanished into the pages of history books .

Thanks for taking interest in this thread

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

 

Today my walk was a little bit extended visiting the refurbished Williamson art gallery in Birkenhead for a future article which houses the unique Lairds collection of ship models . This is an outstanding collection including new additions to the collection. Of course this is not strictly part of the topic of full size ships . but it does lead into several pictures of some fine ships that visited the Mersey in 2014. Just as a taster a shot of the ship builders model of RMS Mauretania 2 which was launched at Cammell Lairds on the 28th July 1938 and completed in the May of 1939. At 35739 tons  and 772ft in length  the Mauretania 2 was indeed  an elegant ship .

An elegant small  specialist  cruise ship Sea Explorer  presently visiting the South Atlantic on a cruise to South Georgia and the Falkland islands .

last one for  today  MV Boudicca presently in the Irish Sea  and a regular at the liner terminal  a ship that looks like a ship and not a floating conservatory  { My  apologies to those that are fond of floating conservatories} ]  

Dave Wooley

 

Edited By David Wooley on 07/11/2014 18:26:57

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Just returned from my afternoon walk , weather perfect at least for November sea calm .the traffic today was light , all coastal tankers .

A regular Stolt Pelican leaving the Mersey .

Arriving the Blue Garnet heading for Ellesmere Port

Followed by the Colorado Star bound for Ellesmere Port. Some additional close in shots.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

By contrast to yesterday today is not a good one for taking pictures but these shots taken recently of the Rock Piper a 30601ton Dynamically Positioned Pipe Burying vessel will I trust add to this growing library of ship pictures.

Dave Wooley

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

You're certainly spoilt for choice Dave, what a great selection of vessels. The sunset shot is marvellous with the sun disappearing below the horizon between the rows of wind turbines. Living as I do, near the east coast of Australia, I don't get a chance to see the sun setting into the water.

Peter.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hello Peter good to hear from you and thank you for your kind comments on the pictures it's much appreciated .

I must admit where I live gives me great pleasure as I can combine my interest in ships with that of taking pictures especially the sunsets and, no two are ever the same. Although there is a down side the area has been badly flooded on a number of occasions but we live with that .

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Certainly a superb day for my afternoon walk , weather perfect and plenty of ships, literally one after the other. here's how it looked .

Dave Wooley

more on what was in the picture later

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

I spotted on my afternoon walk the Atlanti returning to a location close in shore for more cable laying . Unlike the first shot this one shows a view of the port side of the vessel .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The large container vessel in the first picture is the 40879ton Ottowa Express in bound from le Havre and heading for Gladstone lock . It is in this operation that is quite fascinating. having seen this many times before with this and other ships I thought it may be interesting to show how i'ts done . How the two tugs work to bring this vessel facing the other direction to enter the lock with amazing precision ,this was a calm day and they are just as good even in a blow. There has been a great interest in tugs and tug towing locally for many years and it comes as no surprise that the model tug boat skippers are as good at what they do as their full size counterparts and in all weathers.

Ottowa Express entering the river accompanied by her two tugs

preparing to bring the Ottowa Express around

Job Done ,

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Dave…..Nice clear nautical pictures

The tug with the cable reminded me of a dangerous incident, across the bay at Ross on Sea in the 80`s

A ship laden with stone, ran aground on the beach

There was a powerful tug out to sea with a cable to the ship…..It couldn`t shift it, despite the help of the giant ships propeller, churning the shallows on the shore line……It sank a few pleasure craft in it`s tsunami type wake!

Suddenly, the tug made a frantic charge, out to sea……And you`ve guessed it!……The cable snapped!

The cable came whistling and racing across the surface and up the beach at a furious rate of knots!

They were lucky, nobody was killed!

Bob……Outside Broacast Unit

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob Good to hear from you . Yes I've heard about such incidents where the tow cable breaks and is deadly to any one in its path. Apparently the composition of the material now used in some cables makes them less lightly to fly in all directions , if they break the energy stored in the cable disperses almost instantaneously and the cable instead of flaying around as you would expect falls limp to the deck , so I'm told.

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Although I had my walk the visibility was very poor but there is more pictures from yesterday taken under far better conditions .

This series of pictures shows the 7386 ton Oil/ Chemical tanker Black Star in bound to Eastham lock . A modern and clean vessel with an attractive paint job.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Todays little walk saw plenty of maritime traffic . But for now there are a number of pictures from yesterday still unseen.

At last I managed to get that elusive picture of the Polar King on its way out to the wind farm construction site .

The conditions were almost perfect as they where today fine and bright with temperatures good for mid November . Also three pictures of the Sea Truck .

Sea Truck out bound

Plenty to choose from for today but for now here is just a few

Fire service rescue RIB

Tugs including the Ashgarth waiting for their latest charge .

If you are unaware all these pictures are uploaded as high -res images so double click and it's the bigger picture

Dave Wooley

.

Edited By David Wooley on 14/11/2014 18:45:42

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

My walk todays was pleasant but visibility was poor and no sun . With that a few more picture from Friday of the 28632 ton containership Frisia Bonn in bound to Gladstone lock . Twelve hours later all of these containers had been off loaded and the ship turned around to get the following days high tide .The present location is in the North Atlantic .

Dave Wooley

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

Dave,

Today, my wife was playing a Dvd of an old cine transfer that showed her Mum and grandparents in New Brighton. I thought this vessel, and lighthouse from the mid 1930's might be of interest. Is the lighthouse the New Brighton one posted earlier in the thread? Sorry about the poor quality.

Tony

Edited By Tony Hadley on 16/11/2014 22:14:07

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Tony thanks for posting up the picture of the old lighthouse . I noticed position of the ships in the picture , the one in the foreground is heading into part of the channel that is only navigable these days by small craft . I recall as a youngster seeing the North Wales steamers using the same channel . If they did that today there is a good chance they would be hugging the bottom and wouldn't get very far.

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[Terry PlumridgeParticipant @terryplumridge66794]

Hi Dave,

Brilliant photos, please keep them coming. I'm an Englishman living in landlocked Austria, sometimes miss having a coast to visit, but I do occasionally see a pusher tug plodding up the Danube with a barge or two in front.

Cheers, Terry

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hello Terry Thank you for those kind words . As they say it's all part of a days work /walk .

Tides are out of sink with my walk today , Lovely sunny day but all I can see is sand and more sand . But Friday was a wonderful day for pointing the camera out to sea. Another vessel that can into focus was a Bulk carrier Sen Treasure all 18462 tons from Mobile USA and here are a few pictures.

Built in 2013

last one for today Island Pioneer is a 5233 ton Off Shore supply ship presently operating over the other side of the Atlantic in the Gulf of Mexico and recently visiting the Mersey .

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[CookieOldParticipant @cookieold]

Hi Dave , Great stuff keep it coming

Best Regards Dave

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Cookie thanks for the encouragement . I consider myself lucky to live where I do that allows me to do what | enjoy a relaxed walk and to take pictures of ships . Although at times the weather conspires to make the picture side a bit of a non starter. To say nothing of the tides .

Dave Wooley

thanks for taking an interest.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Once again a dull day with low tides so I thought I'd include these two pictures taken during the period when the giants visited Liverpool. For those that may be baffled by this visit it took place in August and is a regular feature on the Liverpool events calendar . The giants are in fact huge puppets worked by a team over from France . They are taken around the city and actually bed down for the night in , well giant beds what else . They leave as they arrived by barge and are towed clear of the Canning half tide dock by the D-day TID tug featured earlier on a separate page. Good fun to watch and I have a truly superb vantage point to get all of the event. It also included a clear shot of the RFA Fort Victoria heading into Cammell Lairds.. As they say there is never a dull moment on the Mersey .The whole even attracted upwards of a million visitors .

By the way mist is dry ice all for theatrical effect , so I am told.

Dave Wooley

[mike farrellParticipant @mikefarrell21522]

Hi Dave you miss very little ,just imagine how few of us who have not such hilarity had you not photoed such crazy occurrencesMichael

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hello Mike it would appear that the last two pictures have vanished from the board , at least for me . If that is the case I'll repost .

 

Dave Wooley

Thanks for taking Interest.

Edited By David Wooley on 20/11/2014 12:05:00

[mike farrellParticipant @mikefarrell21522]

HI Dave Pictures back on line ,I must tell you I have a look each evening in anticipation. As I said previously I never realised how many differing ships and loads their are on our seas.

Will be going to Grimsby Docks for a look around

Again Thanks Michael

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Michael best of luck with your visit to Grimsby Docks most certainly a good one to visit. .

Dave Wooley

Thanks for taking interest

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