VIP.S88
Swiftsure I headed for
Tower Bridge
CREW VOLUNTEERS WANTED
The West India dock home to hundreds of
boats during the Queen���s Pageant
Help keep the call of the by-gone era of steam alive.
We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers, men and women,
to join our crew so the old hands may pass the skills of
yesteryear to the next generation of guardians of our heritage
steam tug William C Daldy. No experience necessary.
Are you interested in working boilers, steam engines or
just being on deck to learn new skills or refresh the old,
be it steam, engineering or seamanship? Do you enjoy
making new friends and the camaraderie of the sea?
If you answer yes, then please contact:
Alex Franklin, 027 568 8623 or Richard Parmee, 021 659 800
www.daldy.com
informed there was a crew waiting at Putney unable to get
to Chiswick due to heavy road traffic, so Shackleton���s crew
towed their boat to Putney making the relieved young Sea
Scouts very happy.
Following the arrival of Her Majesty the Queen and the party
on board MV Spirit of Chartwell, there was a steam whistle
salute by the steam train the Princess Elizabeth, on the adjacent
rail bridge. The pageant got underway at precisely 1432hrs and
at the same time the Thames Barrier downstream at Greenwich
was raised to slow down the river���s flow, and to ensure that there
was plenty of water for boats to be removed at the various ramps
below Tower Bridge after the pageant.
On passing the Spirit of Chartwell the entire fleet tossed oars
(raising them vertically) in salute, and gave three cheers for the
Queen. The noise from the crowd ashore was deafening!
The passage down the Thames was a once in four lifetimes
experience (the last one being some 300 years previous), with
great camaraderie and an experience for the skippers and crews,
some of whom had not navigated on the Thames before.
We passed under Tower Bridge and through an avenue
of sail from the tall ships that were the final part of the
pageant route. Then the weather really started to deteriorate
and there were 43 cases of hypothermia amongst the 20,000
participating crew! The Duke of Edinburgh may not have been
the only one suffering from the British weather and it really
was a terrific experience for all. One with memories we will
treasure all our lives.
DVDs of the pageant are available. For further information
contact Ron Bird, email: water-front@xtra.co.nz
VIP.S85
January/February 2013 Professional Skipper 63
