Last revised 10 December 2005
(various outdated links towards foot of page
replaced)
TEESSHIPS
FAVOURITE SHIPS
HOW IT BEGAN!
These ships are long overdue for inclusion amongst my favourites! Readers who have been with TEESSHIPS from the start will have seen them before.
My personal records are quite clear - my ship observing started on Saturday, 19 November 1960.
But was that the start?
My first notebooks contained even earlier sightings; those of the famous Clyde paddlers TALISMAN and WAVERLEY, names which I could recall those almost ten years later from a family holiday at Dunoon in August 1951 when I was the tender age of five.
I was pleased to resight the TALISMAN during my first shipping holiday to the Clyde in 1964. The TALISMAN was built by Inglis of Glasgow in 1935 and was broken up in 1967.
For a product of my Box Brownie, the TALISMAN presents herself extremely well in the two views above departing a pier (possibly Largs?) on 18 June 1964.
This much better view was in my postcard collection!
..... and much more recently, Dave Martin sent me this ....
I had to wait a while longer before I resighted the WAVERLEY, still in service on the Clyde, on 5 July 1972.
...and, again, below is a much better shot
of her from my collection.
She is seen during one of her visits to the Tees
The WAVERLEY was built in 1947 and, of course, is still very much with us more than 50 years later.
Chit-chat with shipping friends over the years has led me to sort out the exact chronology of certain other events which I can remember and which I believe were also formative in creating my interest in ships. The main one of these was The FLYING ENTERPRISE Saga, the radio and newspaper headlines about which captured the imagination of the nation, and in particular me as a little boy just past the age of six. That story started on 28 December 1951 and ended, sadly, when the ship sank on 10 January 1952.
The stranding of the TAXIARCHIS at Redcar also stands out in my mind, I do remember going to see it with my dad, and being able to walk right round the wreck. In actual fact, this incident virtually coincided with that of the FLYING ENTERPRISE, the stranding being on 14 January 1952.
TAXIARCHIS (Photo from George Robinson)
Moving on only a further year the fire on board the EMPRESS OF CANADA and subsequent capsizing while berthed in Liverpool was another headline grabbing event which began on 25 January 1953. See: http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/empcanada.html
Within days, this was followed by the PRINCESS VICTORIA tragedy on 31 January 1953. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2705901.stm
November 1954 when I had just turned the age of 9 brought another tragedy, that of the South Goodwin lightship. See: http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.123/Crew-of-the-South-Goodwin-light-vessel.html
Fewer memories abound from the intervening years from 1955 to 1960; the only exception probably being the ANDREA DORIA sinking after colliding with the STOCKHOLM in July 1956. See what seems to be an extremely detailed website at: http://www.andreadoria.org/TheEvents.htm
30.7.03: Dave Martin found this view of the STOCKHOLM:
Perhaps, somewhat surprisingly, the STOCKHOLM, completed 1948, is still afloat, albeit laid up, as the VALTUR PRIMA. See: http://www.bryking.com/sal/stockholm/career.html
In addition, I can remember during part of that decade there were occasional visits to either Middlesbrough Dock footbridge, or Stockton Quay, with my dad on a Sunday while mam prepared dinner. Mind you, looking back now, don't know how it was possible to fit such trips by bus into an already busy Sunday schedule!!
In a nutshell - that's how it began for me!