Black & White photo of the LSL Sir Tristram which is permanently moored in Portland Harbour, and used for training purposes for the Royal Navy and other branches of the UK military apparatus. The name is painted out these days but it can be clearly seen on the bow and stern.
Front end view and below a rib passes ahead with 3 of the aforementioned military types on board.
Wikipedia has plenty more, about the Falklands and the Gulf and other stuff. I think if you asked the veterans of the Falklands about the Anglo/French carrier proposals, they wouldn’t be very positive after being on the receiving end of French military hardware, even if it wasn’t the French that they were fighting.
Vehicle carrier “Courage”
Registered in Wilmington Delaware USA
The American flagged Vehicle Carrier Courage of American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier (ARC) seen yesterday leaving Southampton on a voyage to destination undisclosed, she was heading west in the English channel on the AIS at her last contact. A fairly rare occurrence to see the Stars & stripes flying on the mast these days in this neck of the woods, I even thought it was a Liberian until it passed a bit closer. The ship was once a Wallenius called “Aida” and the name has only been painted over. According to local information sources vehicles carried are often military vehicles and that is why it’s American. The website looks however normal enough http://www.arrcnet.com/.
I witnessed a rare event when I saw the boys on the Adrianople from Limassol doing a lifeboat drill while alongside in Foynes, Co. Limerick. The rarity of the event was the state of her lifeboat, from what I can see in the picture it doesn’t have a motor. So in 2008 there are ships going around with sail powered lifeboats. I suppose it might have its advantages, no motor maintenance, no fuel consumption all you need is a bit of a breeze and away you go. I wouldn’t particularly like to have to be involved in a rescue attempt if God forbid they had a man overboard or if they were caught in situation where they has to abandon in bad weather. I didn’t see the boat on the other side, it might have had a motor.
The badly painted name on the stern and the paint over job on the sail of the lifeboat reveals the former name of Golden Farmer, she was discharging grain on the day in Foynes.
Distant shot of the ship that was lying on it’s side in Antwerp taken through a lens of a binoculars. She is in dock in Antwerp being repaired after her capsizing IMC has a detailed report. http://www.imcbrokers.com/blog/2007/11/19/repubblica-di-genova-towed-to-drydock/
I was tempted to get closer but that would have meant breaking and entering, trespassing and ISPS infringement, so cowardice being the better part of valour, I decided to stay on my bridge and use binoculars.
The German Brotherhood of Elbe SWATH Döse at the mouth of the river Elbe approaching with the river pilot for our approach to the Kiel Canal.
Netherlands Loodswezen SWATH boats Perseus (a constellation and Greek mythical figure who killed Medusa) and Cetus ( another constellation and Greek for Whale, the one that swallowed Jonah….) in action off Rotterdam (Perseus) and Amsterdam (Cetus)
One of the famous Grimaldi Line Ships, seen here leaving Le Havre on her way to Bilbao, then Casablanca, Dakar, Conakry, Rio de Janerio, Santos, Montevideo, Zarate, Buenos Aires, Paranagua, Santos, Rio and Dakar. Talk about a fantastic trip.
She will be back in Dakar for the second time on the 17th of January, and New Year will be celebrated between Santos and Montevideo. You can take a cruise as a passenger and enjoy a more robust and realistic cruise, seeing the working end of a port instead of the normal shoebox cruisers with thousands of passengers. A round trip can cost from €2500 up to €5000.
There is a full rundown on their homepage Grimaldi Freighter Cruises
, one of the interesting is that you can take your own car or bike, and then go for a spin around in the country you visit. It is a fairly unique type of trip. They must be fully booked all the time. This particular vessel could do with a lick of white paint in places, the disadvantage of white, the rust shows up so well.
Originally uploaded by kristian gos
Stoc Regina, Stockholm seen at Karlstad on lake Vänern, Sweden. Photo taken by Kristian Gos 20th December 2006.
Fantastic mirror image, hard to believe it is late December.
The port of Rotterdam, a regular stop for us, a regular stop for a lot of ships. Rotterdam is the second largest port in the world by volume of cargo, second to Singapore. The VHF traffic at Maas Approach is non-stop as is the constant flow of vessels to and from the port. There is an army of pilots and boatmen, agents and chandlers, surveyors and conmen waiting for business. All the UHF channels are full of talk all the time, people mooring, letting go, anchoring, topping off , lashing containers, pumping bunkers in every language possible. The place is a hive of activity from dusk to dawn and dawn to dusk. Understaffed and full of attitude, angry boatmen and arrogant surveyors, at the same time you can meet the really pleasant chaplain from the seafarers centre or a happy salesman from Botlek stores. You leave the port exhausted it grinds on inexorably.
The tanker Monterey gets into position to moor at buoys near the Petroleum Havens
Under the constant and watchful eyes of the Port Authority.
Chemical Distributor is fed fuel from the bunker barge Vopak Maxwell
A tug called Smit Ierland, getting into position to assist the Bow Maastroom for unmooring.
Bow Maastroom in need of a lick of paint.
SWATH boat Perseus at our side to take the pilots off to their next job.
More from the archives. Splendour of the Seas seen at Southampton Docks, not long after her launch from Chantiers de l’Atlantique at St. Nazaire in 1996, (more recently the same shipyard built the QM2). The paint damaged in the hawse pipe shows that the port anchor has only been used once or twice. I was 3/O on the Petro Tyne, her picture is on the side in the flickr bar(ship in ice), I obviously had plenty time for sight seeing back then!
Photos taken with my trusty Olympus Trip and using Ilford XP2 film, apart from that it was just point and press. The close ups were thanks to the daring seamanship of the skipper of the Hythe Ferry “Hotspur IV” a piece of history itself.
The splendid cruise ship was all flagged out and full of people, could even have been her first cruise, perhaps some reader might know more about the ship.
I took the photos 11 years ago, hard to believe it has taken so long for me to digitize them. The scanner is working full time getting all the old negatives catalogued. More old photos coming soon.
The only two tankers in Cape Town were us and the above, Nyborg Maersk from Denmark. So Scandinavia was well represented in the southern hemisphere at any rate. She was coming in to load as we were discharging, another mysterious transaction no doubt but I have no solid proof, only liquid! I learned the other week that if the Maersk is last in a ship’s name then it is owned by them (Maersk that is) if it comes first then it is on charter to them, so q.e.d. by the powers of deduction this one is owned by them and she had the port of Nyborg strangely enough as registry and Danish flag. Anyone who knows different or can confirm my recent learning can comment as usual.
She had a stern radar antenna which was interesting/unusual for a tanker I suppose it depends on where you are trading.
All of our crew were on deck watching as she floated by and the Danes stared at the Swedes, dourly like good Scandinavians. If it had been two Irish ships the crew would have waved at least, or two British ships the crews would have traded insults and given each other the two finger and one finger gesture, and roared at each other good natured of course, but not these 2 crews they only stared.
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