1967 - THE PILOT BOAT - BEAVER

The pictures shown were used in a sales document by METREC who built the Beaver work boat. The Pilot sign on the boat was hardboard and was only used for the photo shoot. The Beaver never became a Newhaven pilot boat.

I think this one is for Andy! I recently watched from the fort car park, one of the gravel boats turning opposite the marina assisted by the pilot boat pushing on the stern, which looked odd considering the size of the pilot vessel. Is there no longer a resident tug in Newhaven?  

To answer Ian's question, no there is no tug at Newhaven.

'Meeching' was withdrawn in early 2000 and sold off about a year later. She was then 'replaced' by the tug 'Nore Commodore', placed on station here by Murray Tugs. (Ironically, Meeching was eventually bought by Murray in 2012 and renamed Nore Crest.) She was tasked to cover arrivals and departures of the Transmanche ferries 'Sardinia Vera' and 'Dieppe', but had little to do most of the time. When the current twin ferries arrived in 2006, it was deemed that they no longer needed a tug here and 'Nore Commodore' returned to the Medway, to be moored alongside 'Meeching' for some time!

So the port has been tug-less for almost 15 years, and so far has got away with it. If anything happened that required a real tug, the nearest ones are at Dover or Portsmouth, several hours away. But who is going to pay for a tug to sit here doing pretty much nothing - just in case?

Regular dredgers like 'Britannia Beaver' are usually accompanied by a workboat that surveys the river bottom, but these little craft are surprisingly powerful. But that's as near to a tug as we get.