Changes

I am going to close this blog - although it won't be deleted, it just won't be updated after today - and perhaps my Twitter account, too, and just post to my Flickr and Facebook pages (links to these are at the top of the page) and website. With Twitter, this blog, the website, Flickr and my Facebook page, it's overkill and has got a little completely out of hand. After a few hours out photographing, I spend as much, if not more, time posting to the internet! I've got other hobbies and interests also competing for time and, as well as that, I am going back to work at the beginning of June and won't have as much time to look after all my sites.
If I start another blog (never say never) it will be on the Wordpress platform, same as the website, and fully integrated with that website, rather than hosted separately.

Photos, etc.

I am currently out of work, having been made redundant last October, and am having no luck whatsoever finding anything new, apart from a bit of meagre temping here and there. Therefore, in an attempt to make a bit on the side, I am hoping to sell a few of my photos and, if anyone wants to buy them for personal use, please contact me at info@ship-photo.com. For commercial use then the going rates for freelance photos apply but these are negotiable (again, email me).

This has not just been prompted by my annoyance at the lack of any work but also my annoyance at a well-known, reasonably-sized Southampton-based transport company who contacted me for the use of one of my photos recently but then baulked at actually paying the going rate. Sorry, but while private individuals are one thing, companies, particularly one which can well afford to pay photographers' rates, are quite another.

I suppose that, if it weren't for an employment agency getting arsey with me for refusing to pay for safety shoes for one day's - yes, one day's - work and my mother being seriously ill in intensive care in hospital and things not looking good, then I wouldn't be as annoyed as I am.

By the way, if anyone needs a reliable and conscientious person for some office admin work - full or part time - then here I am.

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Onto happier things, the new cruise ship Royal Princess is coming in tomorrow (Friday) and I am planning to be in Cowes to photograph her passing Egypt Point. Not only that, the German cruise ship Deutschland is visiting Cowes tomorrow afternoon and I am hoping a couple of friends will be about.

As things stand, Royal Princess is due to pass Cowes (Prince Consort buoy) at around 0955 and due to dock in Southampton at 1130.

On Saturday, there is the Thames Ship Society Solent cruise. As the weather forecast continues to be excellent with plenty of sunshine these should be two great days of photo-taking!

Goodbye Ark Royal

The decommissioned Royal Navy aircraft carrier (or 'through deck cruiser') HMS Ark Royal has been sold to Turkish breakers at Aliaga and today departed under tow from Portsmouth.
Unfortunately I had a stomach bug or other and decided against going over to Portsmouth, instead watching from Seaview.
Typically, the weather was murky with low cloud. The light levels were atrocious and I am fortunate the photos aren't as bad as I feared they would be (I am actually reasonably satisfied with them) but, despite the shit weather, there were quite a few people down at Seaview watching proceedings.

The ship was towed out of Portsmouth harbour by local tugs and the tow was attached to deep sea tug Christos XXIII out in the Solent.

Ark Royal is brought out into the Solent as Grande Ellade passes by

The tow line is attached, which took over an hour

And off they go

And that was that. With Invincible already gone, that only leaves Illustrious as the sole survivor of the three aircraft carriers and that's already been demoted to a helicopter carrier, now the Harrier aircraft are gone. Their replacements, the Queen Elizabeth-class - Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales - won't be ready for some years yet and, even then, there'll be no aircraft for them for years after that so, in the meantime, if we need an aircraft carrier we'll have to call on the French, as we're sharing their Charles de Gaulle - but can we trust the French if our own interests are threatened and we need an aircraft carrier?

Odds and ends

A neighbour of a good friend of mine died recently and, as co-executor of his will, my friend, knowing of my interest in ships, asked me if I'd be interested in some books and other bits and pieces as the chap who passed away, John, had been hotel manager on the QE2 for a number of years (he also worked on many other Cunard ships, such as Franconia and Queen Mary) and had amassed a large collection of nautical books and ephemera.

Among the books were a number of copies of ones I had years ago and had sold over the years. As I regretted some of the departures I replaced those as well as found some that I had always wanted to read, but never got round to, such as the autobiographies of Captains Harry Grattidge (Captain of the Queens) and Geoffrey Marr (The Queens and I), as well as Captain Ron Warwick's book on QE2. Most of the books are Cunard-related but there were some others, covering ships such as the Norway and White Star's famous Olympic-class of 1911 (yes, including that unsinkable one that sank on her maiden voyage) plus John Maxtone-Graham's Crossing and Cruising and Liners to the Sun, which are in the same series as his classic The Only Way To Cross. I have The Only Way to Cross but have never read the other two, so that's something to look forward to.

Here are the other odds and ends:

A fridge magnet, destined to join the myriads of others covering the white goods in the kitchen. I don't think it's official Cunard tat, but it's nice all the same.

A badge, commemorating QE2's last voyage as a steam-driven ship

I don't wear ties, but these tie pins are nice

And a couple of bags. I can pretend I went on the 1993 world cruise...

...while the blue one opens out into a sizeable holdall.

I also ended up with copies of Ships Monthly and Sea Breezes from the 1980s, which took me right back. It was interesting going through those this morning and seeing how much things have changed, especially on the ferry and cruising front and not to mention how the size of ships has also grown, right across the board. Cruise ships, ferries and dry cargo ships have all grown much bigger over the past 30 years but tankers have actually grown a bit smaller, certainly in the Ultra-large class; you just don't see vast half-a-million DWT leviathans these days. Container ships have not only grown to huge proportions, they have also become ubiquitous as carriers of all sorts of dry cargo.

Famous names have since vanished, including the ferry operator Townsend Thoresen and the QE2 herself has also disappeared from our waters, although the latter still exists for now, languishing in Dubai. Unfortunately the magazines also brought back unwanted memories, as my teenage years were singularly unpleasant, thanks to a violent stepfather who made us kids' lives hell (he is, unfortunately, still alive while far better human beings have passed on at a younger age). Reading them took me right back to our home in Ryde which was not nice...I think I'll keep the interesting bits and photos of favourite ships (my beloved TT 'Spirits' feature quite a bit) and recycle the rest.

Hobbies keep people sane, I think and mine certainly did when I was a kid - that and rock music.

Facebook

I am on Facebook anyway (as myself rather than the name of my site!) and, after three years, I have decided to do an FB page for my website. For those of you who are on Facebook, you can find it here: Ship-Photo's Facebook page.
I have updated my website, with some special features about QE2, P&O's 175th Anniversary Grand Event and the meeting of three Cunard 'Queen' ships in Southampton in 2008 and 2012. Click here and go to the 'Features' drop-down menu to see them.

Rare birds

Two rare visitors came to Southampton today, 2nd August 2012. Mein Schiff 2 arrived first, followed by Holland-America's Maasdam. A couple of months ago I put my name down for a tour of Maasdam and duly received a confirmation email, so I went over to Southampton on the (appallingly early) 0715 Red Jet. Maasdam was a little late arriving, her time being changed from 0800 to 0900 which, from our point of view, was good as we could watch and photograph her arrival.
I'll post the pictures of my visit to Maasdam in a separate post but, for now, here are the exterior photos of both cruise ships, plus other ships that were in today.

As usual, click for largest.

I also took a quick trip to Hythe and back. Red Funnel seems - is! - expensive at nearly £20 for a day return but the Hythe crossing is also pretty pricey, this much shorter trip is £5.30 return.

Here's a video of Maasdam reversing into the Ocean Terminal

 

Royal visit to Cowes

Today HM The Queen visited Cowes, Isle of Wight, on the final leg of her Jubilee tour of the UK. I have to confess that I am not that much of a Royalist but I do rather like Her Madge, and she does remind me of my late Nan in a way, but my aunt wanted to see her and I fancied a morning out, rather than doing any work.

We left my car in Newport and caught a special shuttle bus to Cowes.

The Queen and Prince Philip arrived at Cowes to a 21-gun salute on the lovely 1930 gt motor yacht Leander, built at Peene Werft in the former East Germany in 1992, then walked along Cowes Parade to the RNLI station which she was opening.

As ever, please click for the largest sizes

Red Eagle suitably attired

I got some great photos of the Queen

I have no idea who this is, but note the huge mace. Bet he was hot in that regalia, too, it was 30°C

Maj General Sir Martin White, Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight

Motor Yacht Leander

Red Jet 4 was being used for a special cruise

The guns at the Royal Yacht Squadron were used for a 21-gun salute as the Queen landed at Cowes

Southampton, Friday 13th July - the other stuff

As well as the three Cunarders there were a few other ships in on Friday. Unfortunately the container port was empty, the only tenant was the Dutch feeder container ship Enforcer which had just left there.

Enforcer, 7642 gt, built in 2004, Netherlands flag, IMO 9255737

Grande Colonia, 38651 gt, built in 2007, Italian flag, IMO 9318527

Great Expectations

Great Expectations and Red Falcon

Ocean Scene, our transport later in the day

Morning Mercator, 52422 gt, built in 1988, Norwegian flag, IMO 8608078

Talisman, 67140 gt, built in 2000, Norwegian flag, IMO 9191319

Nemuna, 2863 gt, built in 1998, Antigua and Barbuda flag, IMO 9179361. Is that a 'Playboy' bunny painted on the funnel?!

Birgit G., 2545 gt, built in 2010, Antigua and Barbuda flag, IMO 9536064

Krilo Carbo, 500 gt, built in 2012, Croatian flag, IMO 9622708

Port tender Seagreen

Shoreway, 5005 gt, built in 2009, Cyprus flag, 9420344

Seagreen passing Shoreway

Clipper Star, 34970 gt, built 2003, Norwegian flag, IMO 9247807

Kronviken, 61653 gt, built in 2006, Norwegian flag, IMO 9321677

Nice speedboat, built by C-Boat

Jenny M, carrying members of the Isle of Wight branch of the World Ship Society, shot past us in Southampton Water