Film of the VINDICATRIX GOING TO BREAKERS.

[Captain Kong]

Here is the last view of the our old Training ship VINDICATRIX,
originally the Full Rigged Ship ARRANMORE.

Enjoy
Brian
.
http://youtu.be/Ez-9GH4FuKo

[John Arton]

Sorry for hijacking the thread but this is an inquiry about Sharpness.
In the early 70's I was 3rd mate on the Beaverpine (6500 dwt) and we loaded grain in Baltimore for discharge in Sharpness and Londonderry. Unfortunately the charterer got the port rotation the wrong way round so when we turned up at the Bristol Channel pilotage it was discovered we were to deep for Sharpness. After a bit of toing and froing we went into Avonmouth to lighten and then went up to Sharpness. I can vividly remember the passage as I was on the bridge at the time. We had a Pilot and a helmsman and once we had cleared Avonmouth and were on our way up to Sharpness the helmsman told we to take the wheel as he wanted to smoke his pipe. He and the pilot then left the wheelhouse and stood outside wandering around the bridge deck smoking and talking leaving me to steer, which I did by just keeping her mid channel and allowing for the current on the bends. In certain parts the channel markers were quite some distance apart so a certain amount of guess work on my behalf came into play. After about 40 mins as we were approaching Sharpness they came back into the wheelhouse with the helmsman telling me (West Country Accent) You done fien there m'lad.
Anyway the gist of this is at that time we were told she was the biggest ship ever into Sharpness and even after lightening we still could not get under the grain elevator and ended up lightening further into road trucks on the other side of the docks before eventually getting under the elevator.
We spent quite some time in Sharpness but can only recall one pub called, I think, the Railway. It was in here that I asked about the remains of what appeared to be an old jetty sticking out into the Bristol channel a bit further up river than the lock entrance and I am sure that the answer was that it was the remains of the first ever rail crossing of the Severn but that it had burnt down shortly after it had opened.
Can anybody enlighten me on this---fact or just my memory playing games.
rgds
JA
P.S. cannot recall seeing the Vinditrix so she must have gone by that time (72)

[Captain Kong]

Hi John
The Railway, "The Severn Bridge and Railway Hotel," up near the railway Station is now an old folks home. another pub half way down the road was the Pier View Hotel.
There was an entrance many years ago further up the Severn which joined the Sharpness and Gloucester Canal where the Vindicatrix was moored., That has been closed permanently.
The Railway Bridge across to Lydney was destroyed when a couple of BP tanker barges and I think one of Harkers missed the Sharpness Piers in Fog and were swept up River and collided with the Railway bridge, exploding and killing the crews..
It cost more to demolish the bridge than it would have to repair it.
If you pay a visit the 2nd week end in August you will find the biggest reunion of seafaring men in the world.
Usually around 800 the biggest we had was when Commodore Ron Warwick retired, ex Master of QE2 and QM2 unveiled the monument to the 70,000 boys who were trained there. Over 1,500 attended then, sometimes we have been there for up to a week.
It all takes place around the Dockers Club. The ship Vindicatrix was towed from Sharpness to Newport for scrapping in January 1967, She was sold for £2,500. A pity we could not have bought her and had her preserved.
Cheers
Brian.

[Captain Kong]

Hi John
this may bring back a memory, it shows the grain silos at the dock in Sharpness, It was taken in August this year at the Reunion, The lads are camping by the Dockers Club the Silos are in the back ground.
Cheers
Brian........................... http://youtu.be/P8HGHJsyPso

[John Arton]

Brian
Many thanks for the above.
Was the dockers club near the lock as I can only remember one pub, the Railway Hotel.
That rip was one of the best and it was the first time that I had experienced any small U.K. port.
We had come in from the Caribbean after loading around Europe and then discharging around the Caribbean on a KNSM charter.
Discarged in St. Croix (met QE2 female croupier), Santo Domingo, Ponce, Port au Prince, Kingston and ended up in Nassau.
In Nassau our very gay steward got picked up by a wealthy Ham Shank who used to pick him up every night in a pink open topped Cadillac and treat him to nights in the casino etc., of which he used to regale us every morning. Our jewish 2nd Engineer persuaded the steward to get his boy friend to take us along one night, so around 5 of us piled into the caddy one night along with the steward and his boy friend and off to the casino we went. The boy friend was throwing dollars at us like it was going out of fashion, for us to p[lay at the tables. All of us promptly lost nearly everything he gave us and after a good evening of free drinks and gambling he took us back to the ship where he was most crest fallen to find that there were no visitors allowed on board. Well tats what we told him, maybe he was expecting a daisy chain night---no way hose.
Had a East End crew up to Avonmouth who after Jamaica stopped buying ciggies from the bond and were all smoking some strange smelling ones. I tried the odd one but they made me very light headed and I was seeing all sorts of strange images so it was straight back to the Senior Service's from the bond.
In Sharpness I was a witness at the only marriage ceremony I have seen performed by a ships Captain. It was between the first trip junior engineer and his girl friend who was down visiting him in port.
Rgds
JA