Mersey Boats, Ships, Vessels and other floating things

[Kev]

A statement from the Albert Dock authorities said that Planet cannot stay in either Albert Dock or Canning Dock and will be removed to Salford.

However, the ship’s supporters from across the world are fighting back, supported by Judith Feather, Liverpool Culture Company’s maritime supremo.

Planet’s owner Gary McClarnan claims that Ms Feather, head of marine events, told him that it is not necessary for Planet to go to Salford because of inadequate infrastructure here. (inadequate infrastructure here? what does that mean, it floats!!!!!!)

Instead, she suggests that the electricity and water supplies that the ship would need in Canning Dock could be installed at a reasonable cost.

This contradicts a statement released by Albert Dock Company, its public spaces management company Gower Street Estates and British Waterways, blaming “lack of infrastructure” for ejecting Planet.The statement says:

Here we go.....

“All (Albert Dock) partners would like to see the lightship remain in the South Docks area but, unfortunately, a suitable location cannot be found which meets health and safety requirements, the needs of the owner and the partners.

“Unfortunately Canning Dock cannot be used permanently because it is a tidal dock used during the operation of ships sailing through Canning river lock.”

This also appears to be at odds with long-term plans for the permanent berth in Canning Dock of HMS Whimbrel, the Battle of the Atlantic Memorial Ship, which is far bigger than Planet.

The Albert Dock statement adds: “Although all partners recognised the historic significance of the Mersey Bar lightship, some concerns were raised from occupiers of the Albert Dock estate about the vessel being moored there.

“On 18 January 2007, during extreme weather, the mooring lines securing the vessel to the dock wall broke away and the vessel was moved to Canning Half Tide Dock for health and safety reasons.”

Mr McClarnan, a Manchester-based music and property entrepreneur, denied he was consulted about the statement and disputed much of its content.

He says: “Planet could be moored securely in Albert Dock with ropes around the warehouse columns as shown in old photos, and a practice used by Merseyside Maritime Museum’s vessels.

“I wasn’t asked to move Planet from there for health and safety reasons, but threatened with trespass by Gower Street Estates if I moored the ship to the columns. That’s why the ship broke free in the storm.”

Pam Brown, Mersey Bar Lightvessel Preservation Society president, says: “I hope that some kind of sense will still prevail to keep this iconic vessel here.

“There is plenty of quay space in Canning Dock for Planet’s permanent berth. It’s simply a case of the relevant authorities sitting around a table if they are committed to make it happen.”

Planet, the former Mersey Bar lightship and Britain’s last manned lightship, was likely to be sold abroad when Mr McClarnan bought it for £100,000 and spent a further £100,000 on restoration.

source....

[phredd]

Kev
Any further news about the Lightship ?

We have a Yellow Lamb Banana and a Yellow Submarine. Maybe if we paint the lightship Yellow it will stay on the Mersey.

Me !!! I live in a dreamland.

Phredd

[scouserdave]

A tight fit

[Kev]

You can almost feel everyone breathing in

[marky]

The dredger Mersey Venture (page 2 of this thread), is to be decommissioned.

[Kev]

THE Yellow Duckmarine has become a familiar sight around Liverpool city centre – driving passengers through the heart of city before splashing into the Albert Dock.

Now the firm behind the tours has announced the acquisition of the last available duck in the UK and is celebrating doubling its fleet this year.

The colourful amphibious vehicles, affectionately known as the Wacker Quackers, are one of Liverpool’s quirkiest visitor attractions.

The Clyde McQuacky, as it was originally named, is now in need of a full make-over at Yellow Duckmarine’s New Bird Street workshop.

The new addition was tracked down after being found abandoned in a field in Glasgow after a similar Scottish company went out of business. Staff at Yellow Duckmarine, which launched its third duck at Easter, are particularly pleased to have secured their fourth vehicle, but know that, for now at least, it will be their last.

Ducks – which were originally called DUKWs when created in the US to transport men and materials during the Second World War – are no longer in production, and each one still in use is accounted for.

Alfred Draper, director of engineering for Yellow Duckmarine said: “The new duck is going to take about a year to restore, because it needs a new engine, gearbox, brakes, new seating – everything.

“We were lucky enough to find it at all.

“Now we want to work hard to have it ready for 2008.”

It marks a turnaround in fortune for the firm, which has been operating since 2001 and was threatened with closure before the arrival of new staff in 2005.

The hour-long tour takes in all the city centre’s majorsightseeing attractions, before taking to the water and splashing into the Albert Dock for a sail in the Mersey.

Similar attractions also operate in London and Nor- folk. Mr Draper added: “The ducks have been a huge success over the last few years and I think that’s due to all the regeneration of the city, which I think is absolutely brilliant.

“There’s plenty to see at the Albert Dock and people really enjoy the ducks – kids love it, we’re always fully booked during school holidays.”

But Mr Draper says the company might break with tradition and abandon the vivid yellow colour scheme when the new duck is ready for the off.

“I’m thinking of painting this one grey and making it into a shark. it would be funny to see it chasing all the ducks around the dock.”

vickyanderson

[bigpab]

I was just wondering how it can be inappropriate to have a ship in a dock? Apart from being out at sea were would an appropriate for it to be?

[naked lilac]

We have Duck tours here too.. They keep the Duck on land in a parking lot at night.. then it drives to town to pick up the tourists in Waikiki...Then off it goes... Never been on one.. But, the one in Liverpool sounds pretty good...

[ChrisGeorge]

Mersey ferryboat leaving the Pier Head, Liverpool. A photograph by my friend, Geoffrey R. Andrews, taken in May 2000.

[ChrisGeorge]

We have Duck tours here too.. They keep the Duck on land in a parking lot at night.. then it drives to town to pick up the tourists in Waikiki...Then off it goes... Never been on one.. But, the one in Liverpool sounds pretty good...

Actually I hate these Tour Duck things. Not sure quite why but they irritate the heck out of me. We have them in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Below is a photograph of one at Union Station, D.C. and a poem I wrote that refers to them.




So Un-KOOL

Hip-hop Hopkins students are back --
returned to rip-rap us with rococco rap.

I find an empty pack of KOOLs on the stoop,
a can of Bud Lite; a nacho swarms with ants.

I beeline for the dumpster, bunt their baggie
of beercans into the depths: HELLO HELLO!

As I turn back, a tourist Duck trundles past
and anorexic students, beer-bellied Ma 'n' Pa blast

me with duck calls, ICK! QUACK QUACK QUACK!
I want to shove their pacifiers down their throats.

I have a scab on my scrotum, wish all goodwill:
hex 'em, flex 'em, a pox on the Student Body.

Christopher T. George

[Howie]

Why are we letting our history sail into oblivion?
Mar 17 2008
Linda McDermott Liverpool Echo

SHE was the lantern on the door of Liverpool.

The twinkling light at the Mersey bar was the first sight of home for hundreds of thousands of Scousers home from the war.

We can put up a fight to save Superlambanana but the Planet bar light vessel, the little red boat that earned its place in the story of Liverpool, lies unwelcomed by the authorities at the side of the dock.

And to rub further salt in the wound, she’s been saved from scrap by a Mancunian.

Gary McLarnan, who’s promoted the likes of Robbie Williams, is the angel who invested £200,000 in saving her after a hard fought campaign by the Planet Preservation Society.

Fed up at being treated like a nuisance, Gary was going to take her to Salford Quays but even a Manchester lad could see the irony in Liverpool losing her.

The Planet was the last manned light vessel in UK waters. The Mersey Mission to Seamen used to organise a turkey run each year. Taking hampers out to the men sitting out Christmas at the entrance to the river.

Through violent storms and Luftwaffe raids on Liverpool, the Planet stayed put, a symbol of safe harbour for the Merchant Navy sailors returning from their dangerous missions in the u-boat infested waters of the Atlantic.

Thirty thousand men lost their lives but many more would live to see the glow of the Planet’s welcoming lamplight at the mouth of the Mersey.

Every aspect of Liverpool’s culture, the subject of our celebrations this year, is born of the sea. The lads who became the Beatles were inspired by the music the Cunard Yanks brought home with them from America.

The immigrants who shaped our city arrived by sea. The trade we conducted with the world as one of the most important ports on the planet earned us the title of second city of the empire.

Yet we’ve let the Royal Iris, the Manxman and the historic warships sail into oblivion. How ironic that the only thing we salvaged from the Garden Festival site was a yellow submarine that never saw ANY action.

Three cheers for Neil Scales, at the helm of Merseytravel, who alone among the authorities has had the integrity and vision to rescue and preserve the last U-boat salvaged from UK waters following the demise of the Historic Warships in Birkenhead.

Thanks to him it will remain a tourist and educational attraction on the Mersey.

We’d still have the Overhead Railway if he’d been around in the 1950’s and what an asset that would be to us now in our congested environment.

Across the Irish Sea in Belfast, their idea to create a Titanic Quarter and heritage trail is to be admired.

Meanwhile, our historic Titanic building, the White Star Line headquarters at the foot of James Street, has been a dusty, mausoleum for nearly 10 years.

Just a forlorn "To Let" sign marks the spot where news of the greatest maritime tragedy in the world first reached land.

And no-one trumpets the Western Approaches, where Winston Churchill once kipped in his bunk as he grabbed some rest while the Battle of the Atlantic was conducted from that anonymous looking building in Rumford Place.

Is it beyond our wit to connect all these timeless treasures together to create a heritage trail that would enthral young and old alike?

Join Linda and her Liver Birds for late night conversation and laughter on BBC Radio Merseyside, 10pm ‘til 1am Monday to Friday, on 95.8fm and on line at www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool.

Source: Liverpool Echo

[Waterways]

Why are we letting our history sail into oblivion?
We can put up a fight to save Superlambanana but the Planet bar light vessel, the little red boat that earned its place in the story of Liverpool, lies unwelcomed by the authorities at the side of the dock.

Yet we’ve let the Royal Iris, the Manxman and the historic warships sail into oblivion.

Peel told the Maxman to get lost as there would be no space for them in Liverpool or Birkenhead. The docks near the city centre that were capable of holding historic ships are at canal boat depths or Peel want filled in (West Waterloo Dock).

A disgrace that the silly council allowed this private company top rape the city of its history - all for greed.

[Howie]

Is anyone ready to save the Planet?
May 19 2008
by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool’s most important ship afloat is for sale and could move to Manchester unless a minor miracle happens. Peter Elson reports on the latest twist in the Planet lightship saga



THE for sale signs are up: you can buy an apartment in the new Grosvenor Liverpool One development for £99,000. Or, for a little more cash, directly across The Strand, you can purchase a supreme example of the city’s maritime heritage, namely the Mersey Bar lightvessel Planet.

More...


The last of an illustrious line
May 19 2008
by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Mersey Bar lightvessel, Planet, is the last of an illustrious line of vital little red ships marking Liverpool’s “front-door”.

Planet carries the name of the first Mersey Bar lightvessel built at Birkenhead in the 1870s.

The current Planet, built – like the Mersey Ferries – at Phillips of Dartmouth, was stationed at the Mersey Bar from 1961 to 1972, with a seven-man crew, who worked fortnightly rotas.

With no propulsion, Planet was held on station by a four-ton, wrought iron anchor. She was replaced by an unmanned Automatic Navigation Buoy.

More...


A centre for art
May 19 2008
by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

IF THE St Paul’s Trust plan to save Planet is realised, present owner Gary McClarnan, who is an enthusiast for public art, hopes that Liverpool Biennial could be involved.

He thinks Liverpool Biennial could use Planet for art exhibitions and its director, Lewis Biggs, welcomes the idea.

More...

[petromax]

Rather than moan about it perhaps those who want to help should contact St Paul's Trust to see what they can do?

Head Office and Contact Address:

The Vicarage
Seymour Drive
Overpool
Ellesmere Port
CH66 1LZ.

Tel: 0151 356 0040 or 0151 207 1685
Fax: 0151 207 2996 Mob: 07850 062308
Operations Manager:

Paul Smith
Mobile: 0788 4114130
Email: liverpooltrinity@yahoo.co.uk

[marky]

HMS Middleton M34