Quite a few small ships have used Rayne's Jetty, Llandulas, N. Wales, during the past month to load limestone from the CEMEX quarry. One of them was the Russian coaster PORHOV ('79 / 1926gt / ex BALTIYSKIY-105 -08) shown here on January 15th. More ships visiting the jetty and also the Mersey last month can be found by following this link.

For those looking for information on the comings and goings of ships at the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, (my previous haunt), I highly recommend Mac MacKay's excellent ShipFax Blog .

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MYSTERY SHIPS

MINI-COASTER AT COLON, PANAMA - April, 2007
I don't think there is much hope of identifying this one! She appears to have a single hold and is flying both the Honduran and Panamanian flags. Since she was photographed in Panama she is flying the latter flag as a courtesy, which suggests she is Honduran registered. Her name begins SAN...... and the port of registry PTE ........ Does anyone have any idea of the identity of this small vessel?

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MY FIRST SHIP PHOTO
The first photo I ever took was of the Dutch coaster, NEERLANDIA (see sidebar), with a pre-WWII Kodak Box Brownie. Results with this camera were less than impressive, but they began an interest in ship photography that has continued for more than 50 years. The coaster had arrived at Barrow on April 17, 1959, from Bordeaux with a cargo of wood pulp.

The NEERLANDIA was completed as the MATAR-N for N.V. Van Nievelt, Goudriaan & Co. of Rotterdam in January, 1949, by D. & J. Boot De Vooruitgang at Alphen aan den Rijn, Holland (yard no: 1192). Her ID number was 5248566 and she was a typical Dutch coaster of 400 gt (549 dwt) with a length (pp) of 47.3 m and a beam of 8.2 m; a single screw motorship with a speed of 9 knots. In 1952 she became the ASUNCION (same owners) and in 1955, the NEERLANDIA (owner: Kustv. Reed. ms "Neerlandia"; managers: Kamps Scheepvaart & Handel Marts N.V., Rotterdam), whom she served until 1970 when sold to H. A. Al-Sager, Kuwait, and renamed MAYMOONAH . Her end came when she sprang a leak in the engine room and foundered in the Gulf of Oman on May 6, 1982.

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A CLASSIC STEAMER
While reading through an old issue of Sea Breezes, I came across a photograph and some details of what is the oldest steamship I have thus far managed to capture on film - the 1866-launched, ex Norwegian Hydrographic Survey Ship HANSTEEN. I took the photo shown on the sidebar on September 26th, 1995, when she was moored at a berth opposite the Trondheim ferry terminal. She started life as an iron-hulled, schooner-rigged steamer, having been completed for "Den Geografiske Opmaaling" by Nylands Vaerksted, Christiania (Oslo) - yard no: 11 - on the 22nd May, 1867. For those interested, a synopsis of her long and continuing career can be found at the excellent warsailors.com web site (entry by the name of D/S Haarek). As far as I can determine, she has a length of 102 feet and is 114, 131 or 166 (depending on source) gross tons. She is currently owned by Stiftelsen D/S Hansteen of Trondheim. Can anyone provide an update of her current status?

UPDATE: John Clark of Portishead recently saw and photographed the HANSTEEN under steam and looking fully restored in Trondheim harbour. He has kindly permitted me to post his photo. Many thanks, John.

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SITE CONTENTS:
Below is the list of pages that make up this site.