Framed picture of the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert. 

The picture was on the wall next to my table in a pub in Cowes where I enjoyed a couple of pints after an evening walk along the seafront back in April. 

My photograph is not great due to reflections from the lights in the room.  

The picture is from a supplement to Ships & Ship Models and is dated May 1937. 

HMY Victoria and Albert was designed by Sir William White, built In Pembroke Docks at the cost of £572,000 she was launched in 1899 and commissioned in Portsmouth on 23 July 1901. She was the third yacht to be named Victoria and Albert and was fitted with steam engines fired by Belleville water tube boilers. Nearly all the crew off the previous Royal yacht were transferred to the new vessel which with an additional 100 crew gave the ship a total complement of 336.  

The vessel measured 120m long with a 12m beam and had a tonnage of 4,700.  

Completed after the death of Queen Victoria she was first used by King Edward VII in August 1901 to cross the channel to attend the funeral of his sister in Germany, Edward VII later used the yacht for cruising and visited countries throughout Europe as well as during fleet reviews.

She was decommissioned as the royal yacht in 1939 and after service during World War 2 as a depot and accommodation ship was broken up at Faslane in 1954.

Narden is located about three miles North of Rochdale, we visited this area on the 25 May 2015 and did an anti-clockwise circuit of the reservoirs. After parking on the main road we headed across some open ground and into woodland where we skirted around Doctors Dam a body of water below the main dam that used to supply water to the local bleachworks. We then headed uphill climbing the grassed bank of the dam before walking around all but the highest reservoir. Climbing the hill on the East side of the valley using a very steep, wet and little used path we headed back into the village along the top of the hills where we stopped for a pint and a packet of crisps before heading home.  

The Naden reservoirs (Lower Naden, Middle Naden and Higher Naden) were completed in 1846 by the Heywood Waterworks Company in the valley above the village of Greenbooth despite objections from local mill owners who feared interruptions to their water supplies. In 1952 the then Heywood and Middleton Water Board decided that another reservoir was required to supply water to the growing population of nearby Rochdale and started construction of the Greenbooth reservoir in 1956. Construction resulted in the submerging of the village of Greenbooth under the waters of the reservoir which was officially opened in 1965, it cost £2.1m to build and holds 700 million gallons of water.  

The village of Greenbooth was built by James Butterworth close to his weaving mill as accommodation for his workers and consisted of about 80 cottages, a cooperative store and a school but no pub or church resulting in a two mile walk on Sunday mornings for people attending Sunday church services.   

The mill was built in the 1840's on or close to the site of a 18th Century corn mill and specialised in producing woollen flannel which was then distributed to clothing manufacturers across Northern England and beyond. There were two rows of terraced housing immediately next to the mill and larger houses for managers. Rents were deducted from wages and other deductions were made to pay for such items as milk deliveries. The village had a gas supply, but no electricity. 

Ownership of the mill and village passed to Mr R.H Hutchinson who married James Butterworths daughter. Mrs Hutchinson apparently used to travel around the village in a horse drawn carriage making regular inspections of the school and each house in the village. Their two sons later managed the mill until it went bankrupt.  

The mill closed in 1911 but the village continued to exist, the school closed in 1930 resulting in the children having to walk to nearby Norden.  

At the time when the village had to be demolished it contained 46 cottages although 20 of these were derelict .  

The Greenbooth dam is 117ft high and 1000ft long, it is built on a concrete foundation and has a central core of puddle clay, the North side of the dam is constructed from hard shale which enables the clay to stay damp and plyable whilst on the South side subsoil was used to create the sloping embankment to withstand the immense water pressures. Fissures in the exposed stone walls along the sides of the reservoir had to be sealed before the reservoir could be filled.  

There was a problem with the dam in 1983 when it was reported that the dam appeared to be sinking, A round the clock watch was kept on the dam and 25 million gallons of water / day were drained. Repairs were undertaken and by 1986 the reservoir was back to full capacity

Lower Naden reservoirs dam was removed in the 1990's, the original line of the dam can still be seen today.

Svitzer Bargate photographed in Southampton on April 2015.

She was one of two Damen ATD Tug 2412 Twin Fin tugs built in Damen’s Vietnam yard which arrived as deck cargo at the Damen Vlissingen Ship repair facility for drydocking and inspection late in 2014 aboard the heavylift vessel Calypso.

Svitzer Bargate is 24.74m, long with a 12.63m beam and 5.85m draught. Tank capacity figures include 69.8m3 of fuel oil and 8m3 of fresh water.

Main engine provision is from two Caterpillar 3516C TA HD/D diesels with a total output of 4,180bkW (5,600bhp) at 1,600rpm. Power is transmitted to two Rolls-Royce US 255 azimuth thrusters incorporating Rolls-Royce ‘built in’ type slipping clutches with 2,600mm diameter propellers. Auxiliary machinery includes two Caterpillar C4.4TA, 230/440 V, 86kVA, 50Hz generator sets.

Performance figures indicate a bollard pull (ahead) of 67.5 tons and speeds of 12.5 knots ahead and 11.9 knots astern.

The vessels after decks are each home to a hydraulically driven split drum winch with 33 ton pull at 11m/min and 150 ton brake load incorporating a line pull measurement system. An electrically driven 10m/min anchor winch with warping head is located forward. The fendering system consists of a cylinder and block arrangement aft and a D-fender on the sides and bow.

REG - UK,
IMO - 9701970
Call Sign -  2IBE9
Tug
Built - Ha Long SB Co, Ha Long, VN
Yard No. - 545009
L 24.74m W 12.63m
GT 299
Year - 2014
Southampton, 4 April 2015

Meercat RT15 Wiljive photographed heading into Southampton on 11 April 2015. 

Operated by Williams Shipping she is 15.5m long with a 6.0m beam and 0.8m draught. 

Powered by twin Doosan Daewoo L136 (320hp/235Kw @ 2200rpm) engines she has a free running speed of 8 knots via 2 x 700mm 5 blade fixed pitch props. 

Bollard pull is approximately 3t and she can carry 26t of cargo on deck. 

She is also equipped with a 23t Palfinger PK23500(M)C hydraulic crane which can lift 4.8t @4.2m and 1.6t @ 12.1m. 

MMSI - 235086814
Call Sign - 2EOH6
Reg - UK, Southampton
L = 15.5m x W = 6m
Southampton, 11 April 2015

Mercini Lady photographed in the Solent on 4 April 2015.

She was built by the 3 Maj shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia as Yard Number 676 in 2004 and is 182.35m long with a 32.228m beam and 12.217m Summer draught.

GT =  27,505, Summer DWT = 46,678 and NT = 13,728.  

She has seven groups of tanks totalling (at 98%) 51757.6m3 with a 1185.1m3  slop tank and 13 cargo pumps capable of dealing with between 100 and 550m3 / hr.  

Her main engine is a Sulzer Type 6 RTA 48T-B (8310 kW) marine diesel engine and she has three Wartsila 8L20 (1360 KW) generators.  

She is operated by Western Shipping who are based in Singapore.   

MMSI - 636012102
REG - LR, Monrovia
IMO - 9241073
Call Sign - 3FLO5
Chemical / Oil Products Tanker
Built - 3 Maj, Rijeka, HR
Yard No. - 2060
L 182.35m W 32.228m
GT - 27505
Year - 2004
Solent - 4 April 2015

Irlam viaduct photographed from Irlam Locks on 11 June 2015.

This bridge carries the main Liverpool-Manchester Railway line over the Manchester Ship Canal, the bridge was built by the Cheshire Lines Committee Railway (CLC) and opened to freight traffic in January 1893 and to passenger traffic in March 1893.

The centre span is 37m long and 23m above the water and the original steelwork for the viaduct was manufactured in Glasgow by Sir William Arrol and Co, the centre of the bridge having 550 tons of steel in its main span.

The approach to the main span of the bridge on each side was originally by brick arches but by June 1893 the main structural piers had started to move and cracks had started to appear. In October 1893 the piers were propped and the decision was made to replace the arches with the horizontal steelwork you can see either side of the main span today, the work was undertaken whilst keeping the bridge open and completed in May 1895.

Houyoshi Express II photographed at Fawley on 4 April 2015. 

She was built by Hyundai Mipo at Ulsan, KR in 2013 and has an overall length of 183.17m with a 32.2m beam and 12.315m Summer draught.  

Her keel was laid on 29 December 2010, she was launched on 5 September 2012 and completed on 17 January 2013. 

GT = 25,503, NT = 12,209, DWT = 46,661. 

Hold capacity is 54,261m3. 

She has a Hyundai Heavy Industries (8,600kW) marine diesel engine giving a top speed of 16 knots. 

MMSI - 354331000
REG - PA, Panama
IMO - 9596258
Call Sign - 3FDM5
Chemical / Oil Products Tanker
Built - Hyundai Mipo, Ulsan, KR
Yard No. 2317
L 183.17mm x W 32.2m
GT -25503
Year - 2013
Fawley, 4 April 2015 

Oriana's funnel displaying the new P&O Cruises branded livery photographed in Southampton on the 4 April 2015.

From the end of 2014 the company’s eight ships are being rebranded which includes changing their funnel from traditional yellow to new distinctive blue funnels carrying an illuminated rising sun motif which depicts the Oriental part of the Peninsular and Oriental (P&O) name on the company’s coat of arms.

P&O Cruises roots stretch back to 1837 when the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company was awarded the lucrative Admiralty contract to carry mail to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.

We went walking on 7 June 2015 down the Longdendale valley which is East of Manchester.

The name means 'long wooded valley' and now contains a chain of six reservoirs.

Part of our walk was along a disused railway line which was opened in 1845. It was originally built by the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne & Manchester Railway (SA&MR).
 
In 1847 the company merged with the Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction Railway, the Great Grimsby & Sheffield Junction Railway and the Grimsby Docks Company to form the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway.

In 1897 the Company  again changed its name to the Great Central Railway (GCR) before ownership passed to the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923 and finally to British Railways in 1948.

The line closed in 1981.

A small stone bridge takes the line over what must have been a farm track, we walked here up the hill across fields full of lambs from the reservoir you can see in the distance before heading East down the main line. After a few miles we left the line of the old railway and headed back down the hill and circled the reservoirs ant-clockwise on our way back to the car.

A road bridge crosses the old line

Heading along the side of the valley into the hills.

Seagreen photographed in Southampton alongside the Oriana on 4 April 2015.

Built 2010 by Abels Shipyard in Bristol she is 35m long with a 10m beam.

She is owned and operated by Veolia Environmental Services and is based in Marchwood on Southampton Water.

Her role is to remove and recycle waste from visiting ships.

MMSI - 235074903
Call Sign - 2CQK7
Built - Abel Shipyard, Bristol, UK
Year, 2010
L - 35m, W 10m
GT -304
Southampton, 4 April 2015