Seen on my afternoon walk

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

As I have already mentioned on the Mayhem website, if the Snowdrop scheme was true dazzle painting then having a Mersey ferry in service where it is difficult to establish in which direction it is heading could have unfortunate consequences!

I accept what you say Dave but to be honest I don't like it very much! None of the dazzle patterns I have seen look anything like that! Not disruptive, more toyboatish!

Colin

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

I'm still travelling in the wilds of NSW and the internet is somewhat patch, so I haven't seen the replies until now. Yes Dave, she certainly is ECO, but that's all the rage now, none of this dirty wood or coal fired boiler stuff

Bob, she may look top heavy, but she is very wide beamed, and the shallow draught is dictated by the depth of the river.

The dazzle scheme is well named, it certainly does dazzle, but I do think it looks rather garish. However, one could not claim that they didn't see her.

Peter.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The conditions generally have been poor , only today Saturday have they showed a glimmer of improvement , role on spring! Non the less on Thursday's walk I did manage to snap a few interesting craft , such as our regular link with the IOM and two working vessels . Once again the working vessels do have that modellers appeal .

The IOM vessel entering the river is the well known Manannan .perhaps not so well know was that this 96m long 26.16m wide cat was actually a warship , of sorts in its former life .Built by Incat in Tasmania and entered service in 1998 . Also serving for a time with the USN as the fast transport USS Joint Venture and classed as a wave piecing high speed cat .originally capable of over 50kts but now operates at more economic speeds . . When entering the channel the "rooster tail" is still clearly visible but the rules are rules and speed in reduced to a tick over on entering the Mersey.

A very impressive ship

Another of the regular work boats this time operated by Carmet tugs is the Multi tasking tug Vitai .When I say multi tasking it is designed not just for towing but anchor handling , dredging and survey work . Purpose built for Carmet and entered service on 6th of November 2013 . Powered by three Promerin fixed pitch propellers in Optima nozzles . with Hydraulically driven bow thrusters .

The last one is the 255 ton tug Forth Jouster currently operating around the Mersey entering service in 2008 .

Dave Wooley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the memory

I used to drive up to Douglas Head to watch the ships come and go (not my photo) it was a pleasant way to while away a summer evening.

Paul

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Paul Yes Douglas head is a great vantage point for watching the comings and goings of sea traffic . I just caught the Manannan leaving the river this afternoon but was way out of picture range when the rooster tail appeared . It's all progress and economics , yet I still hanker for the more traditional mini liners that where the hall mark of the IOM steamers .

Manannan leaving the liner Terminal at Liverpool

Viewing the entrance to the Mersey from a different perspective with the arrival of an Ellesmere Port / Stanlow bound tanker the 6167ton Bomar Mars .

What is interesting about this shot of the same ship it the domed church in the back ground . Known as St Pauls and was quite famous amongst crews of returning convoys and their escorts during WW2 , often the first sight of home and some degree of safety and affectionately referred to as the "dome of home"

leaving the Mersey at high tide this afternoon was the 29725 ton tanker Sti Tribeca light and out bound for Rotterdam .

last one in todays walk is the 4568ton coastal tanker Allegretto presently in the Irish Sea off Anglesey .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

As is usual with On My Walks the full scale ship is standard fair. To day Monday 6th April was awful , the radars and fog horns where at full capacity and at one point you couldn't glimpse the water . But not all water was off limits to the camera the local lake at New Brighton was busy , no need for foghorns there . So for this brief session a few pictures of just some of the activity full speed ahead .

There is a container ship in there somewhere .

The pond by contrast had it's own radio Caroline a model by Barrie Freeman that was a feature in the Model Boats a few years back. Sound effects included.

Also nice to see on todays walk some live steam.

last one then home for tea.

Dave Wooley

Edited By David Wooley on 06/04/2015 16:45:35

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

The build item on Barrie Freeman's radio Caroline ship 'Ross Revenge' is in the build features part of the this site.

**LINK**

Off topic just over 35 years ago (March 1980) one of Radio Caroline's earlier ships (their south ship) the Mi Amigo sunk off the Essex coast after losing it's anchor and drifting in a storm.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Tony As far as I am aware the original article was a feature in the pages of the Model Boats , Barrie is also well known for his models of the Royal Iris and the RFA Argus . Back to radio Caroline , can any one put a date on the first Pirate radio station in European waters , I think you would be surprised by the date.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

What a wonderful day , starting quite misty then clearing as the sun made it's presence felt . A number of vessels where all bunched together , as if in convoy and leading them all in was the specialist survey vessel HMS Echo paying its annual Liverpool visit. Following was the 126355 ton tanker Navion Oceania in bound for Tranmere oil yetty accompanied by the smaller tanker Mersey Spirit and Ellesmere Port bound tanker Autumn . Also inbound for a brief stop over on the Mersey was a number of Guillemots .

and finally

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

In 2011 on a visit to Liverpool, I managed to photograph Navion Britannia across the water at Tranmere. The Oceania is 5m longer.

Dave, I've had a look in the old books and can't answer your question about the first European marine based pirate radio station. In Gerry Bishop's 1975 book Offshore Radio he mentions that the first true confirmed offshore radio station was a Voice of America (non commercial) station The ship was firstly named Doddridge, later becoming Coastal Messenger and Courier, being fitted out with an 85kw transmitter in 1951 by U.S. Coastguards. May 1951 was when test transmissions started in the Caribbean using the Panama Canal Zone as a base. In Sept 1951 the ship became the Voice of America Seaborne Radio Station, Dodecanese Islands, later anchoring in Rhodes. In the 1960's it was used for space communications.

As for a European vessel, your question is still open to answers.

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Tony thanks for showing the picture . It's interesting that you get ships of the same class , that look the same yet are different in size . As for the first pirate radio station in European waters , apparently it was Danish and started transmission as Radio Mercur in 1958 , almost six years before the first Radio Caroline.

Thanks for taking interest

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Just one more shot of the Mersey Spirit swinging into Langton Lock

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Today my walk or should I say sail took me onto the river aboard the Dazzling Snowdrop first port of call Woodside Birkenhead and thence onto Cammell Laird ship yard which from the river even on a hazy day there is plenty of activity to be seen. First into view was the scaffold clad RFA Wave knight and further up towards the building hall the 5506 ton MV Hebrides a Caledonian Macbrayne Ro -Ro that operates between Uig and Tarbert /Lochmaddy. Built at Ferguson Shipbuilders Port Glasgow entering service in March of 2001 .

On the Liverpool side the visiting RN warships HMS Mersey a River class OPV and the Survey ship HMS Echo . .

Lastly one of those pictures that you really don't want because of the impromptu fly past by two gulls , yet if I had tried to get the shot of the gull it just would not have been possible from a rolling ferry boat , you really can't win.

That's it for today.

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

At last I was out again on my usual afternoon walk . Although to be honest I was also waiting for the Queen Victoria to depart but I managed also to catch the bulk carrier Dionysus , light and in bound to Liverpool but no record as to its previous port of call . Weather was almost perfect with some late afternoon sun . As it was my birthday on Tuesday I was treated to a restaurant meal with a grandstand view of the docks and estuary and just when I needed my camera most , well you really can't have your cake and eat it ,

last shot I promise of the Queen Victoria leaving the Mersey

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Dave………Those ships don't look right to me!…….Alarmingly top heavy?

They must have some really magic ballast……..Could it be your wallet?…..lol

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob I must confess they do have a lot of top hamper but its the wine cellar that keeps it stable ,I thought you knew that one lol. During my trip on the ferry on Sunday the commentator made mention of the fact that QM 2 is the largest passenger liner in the world. There are larger cruise ships. . But if my memory serves me the old 1914 RMS Aquitania was only 30ft shorter and as high , to the top of the funnels, higher if you take in the masts . The one amazing trick performed by the QV in particular was the ability to turn through 360 degrees in its own length .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Love them or hate them they are big ships.

Last week the giant cruise ship Royal Princess entered the Mersey . I missed getting closer but took this shot from the rear of where I live with a 800mm long lens . Although at a GT of 141000 is 7000ton lighter than the QM2 and slightly shorter but is 3 decks higher , now that does look a long way above the water

Dave Wooley ..

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

For starters……Not enough Lifeboats?…..eh?

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Bob you have a good point and each life boat only carriers about 150 persons . But and there is always a but SOLAS which is the International convention for the safety at sea states that there must be a sufficient number of inflatable life rafts for all of those aboard the vessel .

The 150 person life boat aboard QM2

The life raft containers

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Had a busy week end at the Mersey River festival , lots of 1;1 scale and lots of scale models . To day I needed to get out onto the river as its was such nice a day not to enjoy the bright sunshine and light breeze . The light was almost perfect for taking the odd snap with my trusty box brownie . it was slack tide and just right .

Not quite an afternoon walk but here's the results .

First off the 16596 tanker Sten Aurora in bound to Tranmere oil jetty and the regular to the Mersey the 7182tons self discharging bulk carrier CSL Clyde . and for good measure the tug Switzer Bidston .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Love them or hate them watching the giant cruise ship Royal Princess move off the liner terminal on Saturday evening , do an impressive 360 and to see it all happen at dusk , with a little help from the tug Smit Barbados .

Opps this is a big one

It's hard to tell the difference when your looking stern on , the Royal Princess blends in with the back ground !

Nearly there

Job done and away we go .

Dave Wooley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Multi story rabbit hutch.

Nicely taken photos though

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Paul good to hear from you . yes modern multi story floating apartments certainly have their followers and they can be strikingly impressive , for size but over the weekend I was looking at some paintings of the great liners berthing at the landing stage at Liverpool circa between the wars and they had style but I guess its all a matter of taste . What was truly outstanding that makes all of the modern booking halls look slightly utilitarian was the Cunard booking hall in the famed Cunard Buildings on the waterfront ,Still as it was in its hay day and for the weekend was the venue for the model exhibition Thanks for the complement by the way much appreciated.

The old Cunard booking hall and in the centre was a 1:48 scale Bassett -Lowke Queen Mary . The model has long vanished but the hall remains a true testimony to a by gone age .

Dave Wooley

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Dave I agree that the great liners of the past all had true style of all of them my favourite was the SS lle de France, not the biggest or the fastest but as a standard bearer for lavish art deco style it had no equal.

The sumptuousness of the old liners was reflected in the buildings that the steam ship companies owned and there is no better example than the Cunard booking hall, which you have very kindly photographed for us.

Sadly the modern liners lack the grace and style of the ships from the 1930s and I strongly suspect that the modern booking hall is more portacabin than five star hotel.

Paul

ps. you shouldn't be so modest about your photographs as they are all expertly framed and proportioned.

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Dave,

Only ten days ago I spotted this rather nice 1:48 model of QWueen Mary at the Glasgow Riverside Museum. I don't know who built it (I didn't look up the detailed model information on the adjacent touch screen for this particulatr model – there were so many to look at!) but I got the impression that it would originally have been either a shipyard or an owner's model …

/Mattias

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