General Cargo Ship Aygun photographed in Livorno on 31 May 2012.

She was built by Densan Tersanesi, Tuzla, Turkey in 1993 and has a overall length of 89.55m with a 13.9m beam and 6.54m draught. Until 1993 she was called Yildiran when her name changed to Yildiz H, she became Aygun in 1999. 

GT = 2127 and DWT 3298.

Her hold capacity was 4040m3.

Powered by a Skoda 9L350IIPS (129kW) Diesel Engine she had a top speed of 12 knots.

She was scrapped in Turkey in April 2014.

MMSI - 271002156
REG - TR, Istanbul
IMO -  8311510
Call Sign - TCAR9
General Cargo Ship
Built -  Densan Tersanesi, Tuzla, TR
Yard No -
L 90m W 14m
GT -  2127
Year - 1983
Livorno, 31 May 2012

Pandora Class Transport Hellenic Navy personnel carrier HS Pandrosos (A420) photographed in Piraeus on 5 June 2012. 

To date this is the only Greek / Hellenic naval vessel I have seen.

She is 46.8m long with a 8.30m beam and 1.97m draught. Powered by twin diesel engines she has a top speed of 13.5 knots and can carry up to 500
personnel.

Constructed by the shipyards at Perama Greece and delieverd in 1973.

She is one of two Pandora class vessels, her sister ship is HS Pandora (A419).

This vessel appears to be unarmed.

REG - GR
Call Sign - SZDZ
Personnel Carrier
Built - Perama, GR
L 47m W 8m
GT 350
Year - 1973
Piraeus, 5 June 2012

Bulk carrier Kenan Mete photographed in St.Malo on 14 April 2014. 

We visited St.Malo whilst on holiday and parked opposite this vessel just outside the city walls.

She was built by Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa in Szczencil, Poland as Yard Number B537/03 in 1990.

Overall she is 143m long with a 19.4m beam and 8.2m draught.

Powered by a MAN B&W 6L50MCE (4690kW) diesel engine she has a service speed of 13.5 Knots. She is also equipped with a Sulzer 6AL20/24 auxillary engine (470kW)

GT = 8897, NT = 4301 and DWT 11715

Hold capacity is 14700m3

She is managed by Royalmar Shipping and Ship Management which was formed in Istanbul  in 2005.

MMSI - 356807000
REG - PA, Panama
IMO - 8701935
Call Sign -  3EEC3
Bulk Carrier
Built - Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa, Szczencil,  PL
Yard No. - 1116
L  143m W 19.4m
GT 8897
Year - 1990
St.Malo, 14 April 2014

Stern view of Ruby Princess.

Life boat 22.

Life boat 14 - This is very similar to the lifeboats I used to board to tender to shore from the Costa Classica when I was in the Far East.

One of Ruby Princess's rescue boats.

MMSI - 310567000
REG - BM, Hamilton
IMO -  9378462
Call Sign - ZCDY2
Passenger (Cruise) Ship
Built - Fincantieri Italiani, Monfalcone, IT
Yard No. - 6150
L 289.61m W 36.05m
GT 113561
Year - 2008
Liverpool, 29 May 2014

General Cargo Ship Baccara photographed heading out of the Port of Livorno on 31 May 2012.

Built by Slovenske Lodenice in Komarno in 1998 as Yard Number 3017 she has an overall length of 99.9m with a 12.8m beam and 5.66m draught.

Powered by a MWM TBD 645L6 (2550kW) Diesel Engine she has a speed of 13
Knots.

GT =2997 & NT 1741

In total she can accommodate 297 containers comprising 168 in the hold with a
further 129 on deck.

Her hold has a maximum capacity of 5841m3 and has two removable bulkheads which can be located in five different positions giving a number of different hold configeration options.

The vessel whilst still retaining its name is now I believe Maltese registered and
in Wilson colours,

In May 2011 after a failed evasive manouver she was involved in a collision with
the canal ferry Breslau on the Kiel canal. The Breslau suffered damage to its hull and upper deck whilst little of no damage seems to have happened to Baccara
which continued on its voyage, thankfully no injuries were reported.   

MMSI - 304010866
REG - AG, St.Johns
IMO - 9191254
Call Sign - V2QA 
General Cargo Ship
Built -Slovenske Lodenice, Komarno, SK
Yard No - 3017
L 100m W 13m
GT - 2997
Year - 1998
Livorno, 31 May 2012

I spent two days in Liverpool last week and enjoyed some fantastic weather on the river. I also managed to take a few photographs in the sunshine during my lunch breaks.

Monday 14 July 2104 was a warm sunny day with temperatures reaching 20 Deg. C. Three new ships were added to the list during the day, a drive along the docks in the morning resulted in General Cargo Ship Shirvan (IMO 9368596, GT 4922, 2007) and new build Product Tanker Silver Esther (IMO 9683336, 29460, 2014). 

Both these vessels have since left port with Shirvan heading to Caen and Silver Esther to Rotterdam. Later in the day I saw Wilson Fedje (IMO 9491757, GT 3561, 2012) moored within the basin at Camell Laird. She is one of four new Wilson vessels I have seen this year bringing my tally to eighteen, the last time I looked she was heading to Moerdijk in the Netherlands.

Last Tuesday I was only in the City for the morning and I just made it back to the
car before it started to rain. Although a few new ships were in the main
Seaforth basin these were totally obscured by the type of heavy plant and equipment that you might see in a quarry, these were all waiting on the quayside to board the next visiting ACL vessel. I did however see a single ship in the form of the Crude Oil Tanker Value (IMO 9470131, GT 61336, 2011) which was discharging at Tranmere and which left later in the week for Gothenburg.

This week I have again spent two days down by the River Mersey.

Yesterday with temperatures hitting 25 Degrees C and clear blue skies I saw quite a number of ships on the river and in the docks but only three were newbies. These comprised bulk carrier Achilles II (IMO 9269001, GT 38871, 2004) and Products Tankers Bro Sincero (IMO 9254422, GT 118555, 2002) and British Tenacity (IMO 9285706, GT 29335, 2004). All these vessels are still in port.

Today I am working near Princes Dock about 50m from the River. It is the warmest day of the year so far with the temperature due to hit 27 Degrees C.

I got a few good photographs at lunch of HMS Mersey which is berthed across the road from where I am working and a couple of small research / oceanographic vessels.

I have also seen the container ship Vega (IMO 9225433, GT 23722, 2001) the third vessel I have seen to carry this name, Bulk Oil Tanker SKS Tanoro (IMO 9172642, GT 63515, 1999) and Norsemaid (IMO 9099107, GT 200, 1984) which is a small research vessel which raced in to port and was heading back down the river into the estuary within an hour.

Arklow Mill photographed in Barcelona from the Serenade Of The Sea on 29 May 2012, I took the picture as we were leaving port for Cannes.

She is one of many Arklow vessels I have seen in Liverpool and on the Manchester Ship Canal. Some of the first ships I saw when working on the banks of the Mersey were green hulled Arklow ships.

Powered by a MAK 6M43C, (5400kW) with Jake reduction gear and a Rolls Royce controllable pitch propeller she has a service speed of 14 Knots. Auxilliary power is provided by 2 x Yanmar (438kW) and a single STX (100kW) engine. Generators include 2 x Taiyo Electric (350kW), 1 x Taiyo Electric (100kW) and a shaft alternator (1000kW).

She was built in 2010 by Mokpo Ship Building in Mokpo, KR as Yard Number 
07-191 and has an overall length of 136.47m, 21m beam and 8.88m Summer draft.

GT = 9758, NT = 5240 and DWT 14990

Hold capacity is 18109m3 split between four holds.

She is operated by Arklow Shipping who are based in Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland, the company was formed in 1966 when three captains formed a Company to operate their seven ships. Arklow Shipping now operates a fleet of 45 ships with a combined carrying capacity of some 6 million tonnes annually.

MMSI - 250002045
REG - IE, Arklow
IMO - 9440265
Call Sign - EIJD9
General Cargo Ship
Built - Mokpo SB, Mokpo, KR
Yard No. -07-191
L 136.47m W 21m
GT - 9682
Year - 2010
Barcelona 29 May 2012

Turkish registered General Cargo Ship Yusuf Aslan photographed in 
Civitavecchia on 1 June 2012.

She was built in 2000 by Selahattin Aslan Tersanesi, Tuzla, Turkey as Yard Number 5 and is operated by Selmar Denizcilik.
 
Gross tonnage = 1233 and DWT 2340. 

Overall she is 75.75m long with a 11m beam and 5.13m draught.

Powered by a S.K.L. 8NVD48A-1U  (BHP 1160, Kw. 853) Diesel engine she has a service speed of 12 Knots.

MSI - 271002396
REG - TR, Istanbul
IMO - 9217577
Call Sign - TCH4
General Cargo Ship
Built - Selahattin Aslan, Tuzla, TR
Yard No - 5
L 75.75m W 11m
GT - 1233
Year - 2000
Civitavecchia, 1 June 2012

General Cargo Ship Ganda photographed in Civitavecchia on 1 June 2012.

She was built in 2003 by Aykin, Tuzla, Turkey as Yard No 10 and is 79.94m long with a 12.5m beam and 4.29m draught.

Powered by a ABC 4T 6 cylinder diesel engine (1324Kw) she has a top speed of 11 knots.

GT = 1850, DWT = 2637 and NT 972

Her single hold has a capacity of 3535.5m3

On 27 February 2009 whilst at the Cochin Anchorage in India the vessel was boarded whilst at anchor. Thieves broke into the ships forward lockers, stole ships stores and escaped.  
 
She is owned and managed by Rimorchiatori Laziali.

MMSI - 247097600
REG - IT, Napoli
IMO - 9298129
Call Sign - IBDG
General Cargo Ship
Built - Aykin, Tuzla, TR
Yard No - 10
L 79.94m W 12.5m
GT - 1850
Year - 2003
Civitavecchia, 1 June 2012

HMS Blazer (P279) photographed in the Albert Dock Liverpool on 24 May 2013 as she and other naval vessels were preparing for the Battle of Atlantic celebrations being held the following day.

She is an Archer Class patrol vessel built by Watercraft Marine and was commissioned into the fleet in 1988.

She is 20.8m long with a 5.8m beam and 1.8m draught. Powered by Rolls Royce M800T Diesel Engines (1590bhp) she has a top speed of 18 knots and a range of 550 nm at 15 knots.

Armament consists of 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Guns.

She is the seventh Royal Navy ship to carry the name HMS Blazer.

The first ship to carry the name was a 12-gun vessel built by Dudman of Deptford, launched in April 1797 she was 75ft long, 22ft wide and of 159 tons. The vessel was sold in January1803.

The second ship was a 12 gun brig built by Pitcher of Northfleet. Launched in May 1804 she was 80ft long, 23ft wide and of 180 tons. She was sold in December 1814. This vessel won battle honours at Gluckstadt in 1814 where she and HMS Desiree, HMS Hearty, HMS Piercer, HMS Redbreast and HMS Shamrock together with gunboats No.1,2,3,4,5,8,10 and 12 coorperated with Russian forces to silence French heavy gun batteries at Cuxhaven at the mouth of the Elbe estuary. The squadron then moved up the Elbe and assisted Swedish forces in bombarding the fortress at Gluckstadt. This was captured on 5 January 1814 after a blockade of 16 days and a bombardment of 6 days. In addition to the bombardment some seamen and marines also operated on shore during the action. The British had 3 men killed and 16 wounded during the engagement.

The third ship to carry the name was a wooden paddle sloop. Built at Chatham Dockyard she was launched in May 1834 and was 145ft long, 28ft 6in wide and of 527 tons. She was used as a survey ship from 1843 before being broken up at Portsmouth in 1853.

The fourth ship to carry the name HMS Blazer was a mortar vessel. Equipped with a single 13 Inch mortar she was built by Mare of Blackwall and launched  in May 1855, she was 66ft long, 20ft wide and of 117 tons. Renamed MV3 in Oct 1855 she also served in the Baltic.

The fifth ship was an Albacore Class, 4-gun, wooden hulled gunboat completed  by Laird in Apr 1856. Renamed YC29 in 1868 she worked as a dredger and was later renamed YC4 at Gibraltar where she was eventually sold in May 1877. The Albacore class were steam powered and also had sails, they had a shallow draught for coastal bombardment and work in shallow waters. With either two cylinder horizontal single expansion trunk steam engines with two boilers or two cylinder horizontal single expansion direct acting steam engines with three boilers genarating 60 HP they had a top speed of 7.5knots via a single propeller. Armament consisted of a single 68 pounder muzzle loading smooth bore gun, a 32 pounder and two 24 pounders.

The the sixth HMS Blazer was an Ant Class, iron screw gunboat. The Ant-class was a class of twenty-four Royal Navy gunboats mounting a single 10-inch gun, they were built between 1870 and 1880 and carried no masts or sails. Built at Portsmouth Dockyard she was launched in Dec 1870. In September 1890 the vessel carried out electrical signalling in the Solent and in 1904 was acting as a seagoing tender for weapons testing. In 1914 she returned to gunboat duties before being sold in August 1919 to W Loveridge of West Hartlepool.