First winter storms

[Keith at Tregenna]

Some good pics on the BBC inc Morrisons: K http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...yside-25244518

[Keith at Tregenna]

RE: Jim.B and Keith, do you reckon thats a real rat on top of the ensign: Apparently it is true, one of a pair that inhabited the Black Pearl. K

[j.sabourn]

#37.....Me... JS

[Graham Evans]

The Religious Police will soon be banging on your door !

[Captain Kong]

Sailed through there many many times when I was on the Thames. Sometimes it is a tight squeeze to get through.
Sometimes it can be difficult.
I was mate of a ship outward bound, we were heading south towards the bend facing east to the barrier,[ forgot the name of that stretch now. ] The Bridge and accommodation was aft and made a good Sail effect pushing us..We had a following strong north wind and tide.As we turned east to face the Barrier, the ship turned on itself and we were approaching the Barrier beam on, going sideways. The Barrier now on our Starboard beam.
The Captain was panicking.jumping up and down and screaming, I said to him,. "Call Woolwich Radio and tell them we are taking Gates C, D and E " he was not amused. as the Barrier was getting closer I could see he didnt know what to do, so I went on the telegraph, Full Ahead, and went on the wheel Hard a Starboard and swung the head around just as we entered Gate D and slid through. The Captain was struggling with me as I was on the wheel, I pushed him off. We cleared the side of the Barrier by Six inches, Once through without mishap I straitened her up and put her back onto auto, The Captain was grumpy all day after that, He didnt like it because he could not handle the situation.
A few months later after I had left the Company, the same ship collided with the Barrier and sank right across and on top of the Gate. Some men were swept overboard as she went down. but saved. She stayed there for a few days and the London Port Authorities were in a panic in case the Barrier was needed, It was useless with her sat on top of it. The salvage operation was they had to discharge her cargo and divers had to patch up the hull and pump her out to refloat her.
An interesting River.
Cheers
Brian

[Captain Kong]

Here is a report on the Barrier collision. from google.,
.
.
A captain's errors caused a massive dredger to crash into the Thames Flood Barrier in thick fog, an accident report says.
The Sand Kite, loaded with 3,300 tonnes of sand and gravel, hit a concrete pier at the barrier at Woolwich, London, in October 1997.

All 13 crew members escaped without injury, but the vessel was badly damaged.

A report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch says the failure of the boat's skipper to turn correctly contributed to the accident.

Too far off track

The report says that, before the collision, the Sand Kite had overtaken another dredger, City of Westminster, and was still adjusting speed as it approached the barrier.

The other immediate cause was the captain's failure to detect that his vessel was too far off track until it was too late to take corrective action.

The report said other contributory factors were:

The thick fog
The failure to man the bridge with sufficient personnel
The failure to post a forward lookout
The too-high workload for the master
The failure of the barrier's navigation centre, which is run by Port of London Authority officers, to foresee the developing situation and advise accordingly.
The MAIB recommended that both the Port of London Authority and the Sand Kite owners tighten procedures.

Sand Kite is one of eight vessels operated by South Coast Shipping Company.

The vessel was refloated five days after the accident and, after repairs, went back into service in February 1998.

[Jim Brady]

[QUOTE=Keith at Tregenna;148531]I would go along with the Liverpool Echo: One of the Black Pearl's two rat inhabitants clings on for safety.

Attachment 14284

K.[/QUOTE

The Black Pearl dragged it's anchor and ended up on our side of the river.It wrapped itself around one of Antony Gormley's iron men fron his work of art on our beach called Another Place.For those who have not seen it there are 100 iron men looking out to see,there are some great pics if you google the site A.Gormleys iron men.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[John Pruden]

jim its a pity the mud banks makes the water dirty looking we have a great beach and imagine clear water the fishing is great salmon back but the fishermen are not happy with the iron men snagging lines and the dopes on the jet ski things flying between them.jp

[Doc Vernon]

Can I bring my Rod etc! Sounds great!
Cheers

[Jim Brady]

Vernon tell me this,I just replied to Keiths post with quote the reason being I wanted the picture of the Black Pearl to come with it.Why is it the same on say a quiz of a lighthouse that the picture is not carried forward onto subsequent pages?
Regards.
Jim.B.