I have just added a few pictures which I took just over eighteen months ago whilst returning on one of the Red Funnel Ferries from a family holiday on the Isle Of Wight in October 2011.

The new ship photographs I have added to my site today are noted below.

Bishu Highway (Vehicles Carrier) IMO 9409340
Svitzer Bristol (Tug) IMO 9280005
Autostar (Vehicles Carrier) IMO 9206786
Tampa (Vehicles Carrier) IMO 8204951
Cumbrian Fisher (Tanker) IMO 9298404

It was a good day to take photographs but if I remember correctly very windy.

Heading South down the Solent the week before it was incredibly windy and I remember having to hang onto my daughter to stop her being blown across the deck. I enjoy going to the Isle of Wight, we have been five times since 2008 staying mostly at a caravan site in East Cowes overlooking the Solent (a great place to sit in the evening and watch the ships go by with a beer) and also in the heart of the countryside in our tent (not so good to watch the ships go by!). I find the place relaxing and particularly on the East Coast there are some nice seaside towns (Sandown and Shanklin) with good beaches and pubs, many having a nautical theme where you can get good food and see the ships come and go. The weather seems better than the mainland too. 

I borrowed a photograph taken by my Grandad on the Manchester Ship Canal before the Second World War of HMS Whirlwind a W Class Destroyer. She was built in 1917 by Swan, Hunter & W.Richardson, Wallsend, (Yard No. 1055). 

She was hit by a torpedo from U34 on 5 July 1940 whilst escorting convoy OB178 sustaining serious damage which disabled the ship killing 57 of the ship’s company. Survivors were rescued by the destroyer HMS Wescott.

The hulk was sunk four hours later by the Wescott 120 miles west of Lands End.

Due to only part of the penant being visible I put this on the Shipspotting website where it was kindly identified by a number of members. It has since been removed by that site because of it relative low quality which is a shame as it is unique.  Unlike today where almost everyone has a camera of some kind and many vessels are photographed countless times before the war it was a different story. It is a small piece of history and as such its now here on my site.

I was in Liverpool again this morning and although I saw no ships on the way into the city I was lucky enough to see two new ships on the way out.

The ships in question are noted below.

HS Elektra (Crude Oil Tanker) IMO 9178329 
Minerva (Container Ship) IMO 9320142

HS Elektra was at Tranmere which was vacant following the departure of Rich Duchess II to Murmansk earlier in the day and Minerva was busy unloading at the main container terminal further North. 

Thats it for Liverpool visits for a while, apart from a possible trip to London (unfortunatly visiting well North of the river) i'm stuck in Salford for the next week.

Although i'm based not far from the old docks there are no ships to be seen anymore unless you count the odd Mersey ferry doing day trips on the Manchester Ship Canal or very rarely a RN minesweeper.

More new photographs added today are noted below.

CMB Maxime (Bulk Carrier) IMO 9425875
Norma (Dredger)
Glaciere (Tall Ship)
Ruth (Tall Ship)
Zebu (Tall Ship)
Surveyor 6
France-Hayhurst (Tug)
HMS Echo H87 (Oceanographic Vessel) IMO 9234018
BNS Bellis M916 (Minesweeper)
HNOMS Hinnoy M343 (Minesweeper)

I was in Liverpool again yesterday and had the best part of an hour spare before my meeting near the Albert Dock. Hong Kong registerd bulk carrier CMB Maxime was moored in Liverpool Docks near the scrap metal facility. Built in 2010 by Tsuneishi Cebu in Balamban, Japan (Yard No. sc-120) she is 185m long with a beam of 32m and GT 32296.

Some of the cube shaped compressed metal blocks that have been slowly becoming an enormous mountain of scrap over the last month or so can just be seen to the left of my photograph. These build up and disappear on a regular basis via visiting bulk carriers. Unusually CMB Maxime was moored opposite the pile of scrap (I can't remember seeing a larger ship ever being berthed here)and doesnt seem to be involved in sending another consignment of metal to the Far East. She did have her hatches open but while I was there was not involved in any loading or unloading operations.

At the Mersey entrance to the Albert Dock Westminster Dredings Norma was hard at work in front of the main dock gates. According to the internet this versatile vessel can operate in either water injection mode or as a plough boat. Water injection is achieved via two low pressure water pumps which circulate water to a specially designed injection head fitted with multiple water jets, the combined output of these pumps being up to 7400m3 per hour. The injection head is brought into contact with the seabed and a pre-determined thickness fluidised. Accurate horizontal positioning and track plotting is achieved using DGPS to enable targeted dredging. 

Vertical control is achieved using tidal data transmitted from shore together with digital ladder depth indication. Twin Scottel azimuth thrusters permit a high degree of manoeuvrability with the ability to dredge accurately and in confined areas.

Year of construction 1981 with major upgrade 2008 
Length overall 27.00m
Length BPP 18.80m
Width 9.50m
Depth moulded 3.00m
Draught 2.15m
Main propulsion 625 kW (850 h.p.)
Manoeuvring Propulsion 2 No. Schottels 2 x 220 kW (2x300 h.p.)
Bowthruster 120 kW (160 h.p.)
Jetting Head -- maximum depth 19.00 m - width 8.80 m

I managed to do a complete circuit of the Albert Dock and there were a number of interesting vessels moored. One of my favourites was the tug France-Hayhurst which was has a GRT of 46 being built in 1938 by W.J.Yarwood & Sons, Northwich (Yard No.613) for the Weaver Navigation Trust. I think she was restored some years ago and is now a common site within the basin.

Surveyor 6 - I cant find any details on her at the moment but she looks an 'older' vessel. 

A good view of Albert Dock from one of the two swing bridges which provide access into the basin. The dock was built in 1846 and reminisent of that era three tall ships were moored together.

Closest to the camera is the Glaciere a 1899 built Baltic Trader once used to carry stone between England and Denmark. The Glaciere was recovered as wreckage from the bed of Liverpool's Collingwood Dock in 2003 and restored to its former glory in six monthsby a team of volunteers.

Second in line is Ruth a Gaff Rigged Baltc Trader built in 1914 by the RAA Ship Yard in Sweden. Constructed from Pitch Pine over an Oak frame she has a length of 28m, draft of 2.2m and 51 GRT.
 
Final ship in the line up is the Zebu a Fore and Aft Ketch built in 1938 by AB Holmes in Sweden and launched as the Ziba. Until 1972 she was used in the transport of wood, grain and salt before passing into private hands. She has a length of 31m, width of 6.1m and a draft of 2.3m.

I took a few more pictures which I will add to my site in due course.

In total the visit added four new ships to my ship list these being.

Neverland Angel (Crude Oil Tanker) IMO 9413688
Laima (Chemical/Oil Products Tanker) IMO 9260031
Flagship Iris (Chemical/Oil Products Tanker) IMO 9447768
CMB Maxime (Bulk Carrier) IMO 9425875

Just one new ship photographs added yesterday:-

Arklow Fern (General Cargo Ship) IMO 9527661

Yet another vessel at Trafford Wharf today. This time Arklow Fern sits in mid-morning sun.Built by Murueta in Guernica Spain in 2010 (Yard Number 285) she has an overall length of 90m and a GT of 2999,

Just thought I would check some stats on my ship list.....In total there are 2916 ships and other vessels on my ship list which I have seen since 2006 in 72 different locations. 

In total this equates to a total GT of 54,237,289.

If you put the ships end to end they would stretch over 247 miles.

A breakdown of the ships seen by type are noted below.
                        
Cranes - 3                                                    
Cement Carriers -2                                       
Chemical / Oil Products Tankers -554           
Container Ships -301                                   
Crude Oil Tankers/Bulk Oil Tankers -177       
Fishing |Vessels - 22                                   
General Cargo Ships - 536                           
Dredgers - 39                                               
Heavy Load Carriers, Ship / Barge Carriers - 5
LPG & LNG Tankers - 50                              
Lighthouse / Buoy Positioning Vessel - 5
Nuclear Fuel Cariers - 4
Ore Carriers - 2                                             
Military / Naval Auxiliary / Coastguard -127     
Passenger (Cruise) Ships - 73                         
Pleasure Craft & Super Yachts - 20                 
Pontoon /Platforms -12                                
Refrigerated Cargo Ships - 15                          
Research Vessels -13                                   
Ferries /Ro-Ro Cargo Ship - 294                     
Offshore Vessels - 35                                     
Sailing Ships - 13                                          
Tugs -184                                                      
Vegetable / Edible  Oil tankers - 6                     
Vehicle Carriers - 85                                       
Work Boats - 15                                             
Wood Chips/Pulp/ Timber Products Carriers - 8  
Wine/Juice/water Tanker -2                               

Arklow Rival (IMO 9344514) at Trafford Wharf this morning making three different Arklow vessels visiting this facility this week. Arklow Rival has a GT of 2999 and was built by Barkmeijer in Stroobos, Netherlands in 2006 (Yard No. 310).  

New ship photographs added today are noted below

Cronus Leader (Vehicles Carrier) IMO 9464455
Svitzer Sarah (Tug) IMO 8919192
Phenix (Tug) IMO 9408023 
Red Jet 5 (Passenger Ferry) IMO 8954415
Arklow Rival (General Cargo Ship) IMO 9344514
TS John Jerwood (Cadets Training Ship) IMO 9239915

Yesterday evening and throughout the night we had gale force winds and intermittent lashing horizontal rain. I'm glad that I was not out there on the Irish Sea on a ferry as its a 100% certainty that I would be sick. Although I have made quite a few ferry and cruise trips I have only actually been sick twice, the first time was the worse, I was on the high speed ferry from Phi-Phi to Phuket, Thailand in 1998 and was fine until we left the shelter of the islands. I ended up at the back of the ship trying to find a space at the rail  between similarly ill feeling people. About half way back I was suffering.as was everyone else. I think I was the first person to be sick which set off quite a few people around me, getting back on land was fantastic. The second and last time was on the Costa Classica on the South China Sea on route to Kuantan. Despite it being perfectly calm I was sick - This was my first day at sea and I blame this on the 24hrs travelling the day before.

As noted yesterday I have found out that Arklow Shipping’s General Cargo Ship are being renamed following a change of operator / manager. They were previously owned by BBS Bulk of the Netherlands but operated by Arklow Shipping and they are now coming under the ownership of BBS Bulk and Koppervik Fleet Management of Norway. The ships in the fleet will have the Arklow part of their name changed to BBS and apparently this has happened to a number of ships already. Arklow named ships were some of the first ships I saw when  I was based near Liverpool docks in 2006 and it will be a shame that I won't be adding more to my list.