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Author Topic: Old mud Dredger  (Read 3395 times)

Dan.Lord

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Old mud Dredger
« on: October 09, 2015, 07:58:53 pm »

I found this old picture of the "Landguard" she was an old dredger owned by British rail based at Harwich. My old dad used to be a releif engineer on her, & I remember he took me & my brother out for a Jolly, ( I was about 8 ) & I had a go on the helm, & nearly ran her aground on a sandbank  :embarrassed: :embarrassed:  oops We then went out to the dumping grounds,& went for a trip around the old war time fort "Rough towers" which had been made into a kingdom called "Sealand" by a couple of er strange people, who still live there I believe & they ran their Flag up for us  %%  we were well made up !! Exciting times for a couple of kids
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ballastanksian

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2015, 08:04:07 pm »

Can you run a dredger aground? I would have thought you could dredge yourself free:O)

There was a documentary about the towers on radio 4 a few years back. There were some pretty violent scuffles over the rights of domain and habitation over the years.
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dodes

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2015, 09:58:54 pm »

Yes I remember the Rough Towers well, had to close in once on the Goldeneye so that the RN spotter could accurately get the watching buoy's positions, when some guy started to loose off with a shotgun at us. Went to court, but they had a Perry Mason solicitor and got away with it, some years earlier, when a Trinity House workboat approached the watching buoys someone put a .303 round through the side of the boat. Apparently because it is over 3 miles from our coast a person living in Southend at the time claimed it at his new country and was using it to carry out off shore financing etc Although the Admiralty has paid for the maintenance of the watching buoys for decades and still do to this day.
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ballastanksian

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2015, 10:04:00 pm »

Well I never! What bleeding pirates! I thought the towers had been left to rot away once the war had ended.

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Dan.Lord

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2015, 10:09:41 pm »

Yes I remember the Rough Towers well, had to close in once on the Goldeneye so that the RN spotter could accurately get the watching buoy's positions, when some guy started to loose off with a shotgun at us. Went to court, but they had a Perry Mason solicitor and got away with it, some years earlier, when a Trinity House workboat approached the watching buoys someone put a .303 round through the side of the boat. Apparently because it is over 3 miles from our coast a person living in Southend at the time claimed it at his new country and was using it to carry out off shore financing etc Although the Admiralty has paid for the maintenance of the watching buoys for decades and still do to this day.


If I remember correctly his name was Roy Bates, I think his son lives there now, they were going to make a casino etc, tax free haven & the like  ok2  They were boarded once in the 70's I think.but don't quote me  :D  by some Dutch people or something & it all got a bit nasty. After that they would shoot at anyone getting to close, hence we were pleased as kids to get the flag raised. They used to have an old 4" gun mounted on her, but it seems to have gone now, probably pushed over the side  >:-o  Also had quite a nasty fire a while back, a generator caught fire & caused bad damage.
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Dan.Lord

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2015, 10:13:04 pm »

Here's how i remember it.
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ballastanksian

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2015, 07:35:48 pm »

Oh yes, I see the gun now! I think that losing that would have saved them a night time visit from the Marines :-))

I cannot see the attraction of living on a pair of iron tubes in a portaloo, A small island with some wildlife and a quay for a boat maybe.
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Brian60

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2015, 07:47:45 am »

The dredger itself looks very much like a converted trawler, I wonder what it was in its former life?

Netleyned

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2015, 09:03:32 am »

The dredger itself looks very much like a converted trawler, I wonder what it was in its former life?

She was purpose built in 1960 Brian, by Goole Shipbuilders and repairers.
I agree about the trawler hull likeness, though most sidewinders
had a higher and more flare to the bow.

Ned
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Brian60

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Re: Old mud Dredger
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2015, 10:35:20 am »

OK Ned, it just looks with that superstructure like a sidewinder, even the bow looks as though it had been chopped off to fit the crane. But seeing as it was built at Goole I think the more likely thing is that they started with trawler plans and adapted them to suit this build.
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