VISITORS TO THE PORT
Some of the ships you may have missed
By Derek Longly
As has been shown by other contributors there have often been ships calling in at the port which are usually seen elsewhere. These are just a few that might bring back memories if you happened to see them at the time.
I was intrigued to see the ferry Caesarea in port when she lay up as I had experience of her when she was sailing on the service from Weymouth to the Channel Islands. I had invited my parents to come on holiday to Guernsey and when we arrived in Weymouth it was to quite a gale. My Mother was extremely nervous about the sailing and to try to calm her we went to a cafe for a cup of tea. Unfortunately she decided to visit the loo and there encountered a lady who had just disembarked from the Caesarea who told her such a lurid tale of how bad the crossing had been it put my Mother into quite a tizz.
Once on board the ship she calmed down and was happily installed in her cabin. She went to sleep and later woke up to find the ship moving around but thought the movement not anywhere near as bad as she had expected. Relieved, she turned over to go back to sleep and then heard the tannoy system announce "All visitors must go ashore." The ship was still in harbour!
The crossing turned out to be every bit as bad as the lady my Mother met had predicted and both my parents were extremely unwell, as were most of the passengers to judge from the mess there was everywhere on board next morning when I went for an early stroll around. I told my parents to stay in their cabins until the last minute to avoid them having to encounter the sight.
Happily they thoroughly enjoyed their holiday on Guernsey and we flew back home so didn't have another sea crossing to face.
I believe the Landguard was the only vessel of its type in the Sealink fleet being a bucket dredger, although I am open to advice on this point.
The Plancius as I recall was a training ship possibly for the Dutch merchant marine, she was certainly a most attractive little vessel looking much like a calling private yacht as she arrived.
The ex Lossiemouth trawler was part of a tow undertaken by the tug Pullwell Lima. The other part being the St Martin shown in the last photo. In the process of trying to leave port with these two vessels the tug got into quite a pickle and had to be given a helping hand to sort out her charges.
The St Patrick was originally built for the Great Western services out of Fishguard to Rosslare but was additionally used on the Weymouth to the Channel Islands run. An impressive looking ship her interiors in places resembled a smaller edition of the classic decoration of many old liners.
I've put this page into 'Photo Gallery' mode, as the pictures deserve to be seen a little larger. Just click on the thumbnails to see the full sized images. Andy, Editor.