SWANSEA marina has a special place in my heart; it was where I first met my darling wife Carol.
Some of you may have heard the story: we met in the crow’s nest of a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hinde. (It’s a long story and will keep for another day!)
The marina, meanwhile, operates as something of a personal magnet and always draws me back when I need a relaxing stroll.
But there are bits of it in need of some tender love and affection.
For example, take the lightship Helwick and the tugboat called Canning.
They sit alongside the back of the National Waterfront Museum, but in the wacky way these things work, they are part of the collection owned by Swansea Museum, the much-loved oldest museum in Wales.
There’s something rather forlorn about the two vessels. Both have seen much better days. They are no longer accessible to the public and there are no obvious pieces of signage on the dockside to explain their history to curious members of the public.
The faded red one is Helwick, proper title LV91. She was built for Trinity House by Philip and Son Ltd of Dartmouth in 1937 and her first station was Humber between 1937 and 1942.
In 1942 she had two ‘bumps’. In April, the steamer Maurice Rose collided with her causing damage. She was hit again in September by the steamer Armathia.
During her years in service as a lightship, Helwick’s light character was a half-second flash every 9.5 seconds. Her foghorn sounded one blast every 20 seconds.
The lightvessel’s crew was made up of two masters and nine crew. The crew rotated every four weeks with only seven on board at any time.
As the vessel had two masts, there was no room to build a helicopter landing platform, so reliefs were carried out by sea until her retirement.
LV91’s final station was Helwick, off Worm’s Head, Gower, for the last six years of her working life between 1971 – 1977. Her chief duty was to warn ships about the Helwick Sandbank in the Bristol Channel.
On her retirement, the decommissioned lightship was acquired by Swansea Museum.
Next to Helwick, you have the tugboat Canning.
Built in 1954 by Cochrane and Sons of Selby for the Alexandra Towing Co. Ltd, Canning is an oil-burning steam tug with a triple expansion engine by C D Holmes & Co. Ltd, Hull.
She was the first oil burning tug built for the company and, for the next five years, all other company tugs were of similar design and appearance.
Canning was based at Liverpool until being transferred to Swansea in 1966.
Her main duties at both ports were towing and berthing large ships in the harbours and docks, but barge towage and coastal towage were also undertaken, according to the National Historic Ships UK archive.
She became the last steam tug to operate in the Bristol Channel, serving until 1974.
In December 1974, she was acquired by Swansea City Council (on behalf of Swansea Museum) for preservation. She has retained the fleet colours of the Alexandra Towing Co Ltd, her original owners.
There’s no doubt, both vessels are important to Swansea and our local history.
Not being an expert on matters maritime, my best guess is that their hulls are still secure and there is no danger of them sinking into the marina.
But there’s a sad air of decay about both vessels.
Money is tight for all our museums, but what about a little campaign by Swansea Museum to get volunteers involved to give both vessels something of a spring clean?
Perhaps get a couple of the city’s successful businesses involved to sponsor an overhaul for both vessels?
I’ll urge caution about press-ganging regulars from The Queens (the once-upon-a-time favourite watering hole of staff from your Evening Post).
But I am sure there are plenty of people out there with a passion for our heritage who would be willing to give up some time to bring some shine back to two lovely old ladies, Helwick and Canning.
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BACK in the days when I was six stone lighter, I spent some time as a stable lad, travelling to Newmarket’s prestigious Tattersalls October sales.
One of our ‘charges’ was a yearling filly, put up in the sales for a farmer/racehorse breeder from west Wales.
If memory serves me right, she was sold for 3000 guineas (a guinea in those days being one pound and a shilling, equivalent to one pound and five pence in today’s decimal money).
So, it is at this time of the year that I like to keep a weather eye on how things are going in the mad world of trading racehorses.
Mad is an appropriate word, given the eye-watering amounts of money being splurged at the Tattersalls sales this week.
One yearling filly was sold for 4.4million guineas – you do the maths and work out how much that comes to in pounds and pence!
The man with the big cheque book was Iranian-born and British-educated businessman Kia Joorabchian, who has made his name and his fortune through his involvement in the world of football and multi-million transfers and contracts.
Fans of horseracing will do well to remember the name – and the title of Joorabchian’s Amo Racing.
During the first day of the three-day Tattersalls sales, Joorabchian managed to spend more than £8m on three offspring of the legendary Frankel.
My guess is Mr Joorabchian doesn’t have any worries re the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance and the price of gas this winter . . .
Twitter: @rlloydpr
Email: robertlloydpr@rlloydpr.co.uk
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