| Meeting Report May 2007 |
| At our meeting on May 7th Ian Wells gave a second airing to his Tilbury No 7 Show (August 83 to January 84) that he had recently updated and was able to give us subsequent movements, sales and scrapping of the ships illustrated. The first was the 1973 built Elder Dempster�s SHONGA (9,239 grt) entering the lock with assistance of the tug WATERCOCK. SHONGA was sold later in 1984 to Liberia and renamed AROMA. It was probably on one of her last trips on Elder Dempster�s West Africa service.
Other ships in this talk were the PEONIA an early Chinese built vessel of 17,200 tons with a cargo of plywood. Other Chinese visitors were the refrigerated ships bringing in frozen rabbits and some early container ships. PORTLAND bay was one of the then largest ships to enter the locks (a Tilbramax?) and had only inches to spare on the width. She was on an OCL charter and was subsequently broken up in 2002. Other ships were those of the ill-fated Nigerian National Line whose ships were all at some time or another arrested in various ports. Ian showed the RIVER NIGER that had spent some months in Tilbury. An unusual visitor was ST GEORGE now RMAS ARROCHAR after spending some time in the dry-dock. Regular visitors were ships of Russia�s Baltic �Orient Line who had a reasonably successful service but on the break-up of the Soviet Union was discontinued. There were also visits from the emerging pure container ships such as MORETON BAY and the gantry ship STAR DIEPPE, which is still trading today. Ships shown at Tilbury Landing Stage included MIKHAIL LERMENTOV and ENGLAND. The scrap berth was also busy at that time with some oldies making their last trip with scrap before their final voyage to the breakers. There were also some pictures of EPHESTOS laid up in the Royal Docks and having more than a passing connection with one of our branch members! Sadly, time once again overtook us, but we can look forward to completing this show at some other time. Our thanks to Ian for an excellent set of slides and the time spent updating and tracing ships details. It was remarkable that so many had lasted well into the 21st century and some were still trading today. Thanks to Ian for giving up his lunch and tea breaks to go and photograph ships whilst working in Tilbury. |