Black Jack - 1 Black Jack 2010 Branch Meeting Programme

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QUARTERLY MAGAZINE SOUTHAMPTON BRANCH WORLD SHIP SOCIETY www.sotonwss.org.uk

Issue No: 156 60th ANNIVERSARY EDITION Autumn 2010

Alive with 1950s atmosphere, this picture sums up what Southampton was about when the Branch formed sixty years ago. The brand new Ocean Terminal; the iconic Queen Mary; a boat train complete with man and red flag; a docks policeman; 1950s vehicles and a man on a bike

Black Jack - 1 Black Jack 2010 Branch Meeting Programme

Autumn 2010 No. 156 October 12th 60th ANNIVERSARY EDITION Southampton Shipping of 1950 – Branch Produc- tion Editorial team November 9th Mick Lindsay, Nigel Robinson and Editorial Assistant Michael AGM – plus supporting programme Page. Website – Neil Richardson December 7th

Lindsay’s Adventures on eBay – Mick Lindsay Black Jack is the quarterly newsletter for the Southampton Branch of the World Ship Society. All contributions to BJ either by post, email, floppy Four editions available for £5 inclusive of postage. disk or CD are most welcome. Any article with a connection to the Solent area would be much ap- Branch Meetings preciated. The BJ Editor could reproduce magazine Venue: or newspaper articles but preference is given to St Denys Conservative Club articles ‘by the branch – for the branch’. St Denys Road Any member who would prefer to receive the Portswood Branch Magazine Black Jack by email please con- Southampton tact the Editor. Colour printing costs are relatively high so all recent Black Jacks can be viewed in full All meetings commence at 19.30 and the meeting colour via the Branch website in pdf format. room is to be vacated by 21.30. Meetings are on www.sotonwss.org.uk the second Tuesday of each month, with the ex- ception of December, which will be on the first Ship Visits Tuesday (7th) of the month. Ship visits, though rare these days, often become available at short notice and more recently during Honorary Branch Secretary the week due to the nature of shipping now. Those Michael Lindsay wishing to participate should ensure their details 7 Elland Close are held by the Visits Organiser and kept up to Fair Oak date. All members participating in visits organised SO50 7JY 023 8069 4558 by the branch do so entirely at their own risk and should be aware that ships and dock areas may Chairman have trip and other safety hazards and are advised John Lillywhite to use personal protective equipment when appro- 1 Thornleigh Road priate. All participants must accompany the ‘guide’ Woolston at all times, unless instructed otherwise, and follow SO19 9DH 023 8043 2181 any instructions from the party leader.

Treasurer Andrew Hogg “Debanker” Lyburn Road Hamptworth Salisbury SP5 2DP 01794 390502

Visits Organiser Adrian Tennet 34 New Road Fair Oak SO50 8EN 023 8060 0197

Full details of all committee members can be found on the Southampton WSS website at www.sotonwss.org.uk

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Where it all started! Reg Garnet, left, and Bert Moody were the two founding fathers of the Southampton Branch and are seen here at a later event.

PRINCIPLE OFFICERS OF THE LAST SIXTY YEARS

Chairman Secretary Treasurer R. W. Garnett 1950-55 Bert Moody 1950-1969 Bert Moody 1950-69 L. A. Pritchard 1955-56 H. Frith 1969-70 L. Slade 1969-71 H. A. Allen 1956-61 C. Weeks 1970-73 M. J. Maloney 1971-74 R. W. Garnett 1961-64 C. L. Auckland 1973-78 R. Henderson 1974-76 W. H. Mitchell 1964-71 R. F. Baker 1978-08 R. Hackman 1976-78 R. C. Collins 1971-73 M. A. Lindsay 2008-10 M. J. Maloney 1978-80 B. A. Hill 1973-74 D. F. Hutchings 1980-83 J. Havers 1974-86 D. Baker 1983-96 J. Lillywhite 1986-10 A. Hogg 1996-10

Editor – Newsletter, Bert Moody 1951-68; Norman Bird 1968-70; Nigel Robinson 1970-71; Black Jack, Nigel Rob- inson and David Hornsby 1971-82; Rod Baker 1982-3; Bill Mitchell 1983-89; Richard de Kerbrech 1989-91; Frank Bandey 1991-95; Neil Richardson and Doug Toogood 1995-97; Neil Richardson 1997-10; Mick Lindsay and Nigel Robinson 2010-

SIXTY YEARS OF THE WSS SOUTHAMPTON BRANCH

As the Southampton Branch celebrates 60 years, we The Southern Railway, under its visionary general thought it would be interesting to look back over that manager, Sir Herbert Walker, had overseen the recla- time and select some highlights in the life of the port. mation of the foreshore from the Royal Pier to Millbrook to create the New Docks, later known as the Western Prelude Docks, a huge civil engineering feat and one of the By 1950, the docks had developed into Britain’s major largest to date. passenger port under a number of owners – from 1838 By 1950, the port was getting back into its peacetime it was owned by the Southampton Dock Co. until 1892 stride after all the struggles of World War 2 – the when the powerful London & South Western Railway Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary were at last operat- Co. rescued the struggling company. The railway ing the two ship Atlantic ferry for Cunard which had grouping of 1923 saw the newly formed Southern Rail- planned to begin in 1940, but had been frustrated by way become the managers until railway nationalisation the war. Also, the Union-Castle mail service to South in 1948 brought the British Transport Commission into Africa was up and running again, along with the likes of being. Royal Mail, Shaw, Savill.

Black Jack - 3 1950s In 1950, the port’s owners became the Docks & Inland Water Executive, with Reginald Biddle still at the helm as Docks & Marine Manager, as he had been since 1936 (apart from war service with the MoT when H A Short was manager). He retired in 1956 to be suc- ceeded by S A Finnis.

There was also immigration and this was mostly from the West Indies on ships such as the Empire Win- drush.

R. P. Biddle, Docks and Marine Manager, 1936-56

Nineteen Fifty saw the New Australia come into service – owned by the Ministry of Transport and man- aged by Shaw, Savill & Albion on the emigrant service, she had been reconstructed by John I Thornycroft at Southampton from the fire ravaged wreck of the Mon- Town Quay was, in the 1950s and 60s, a thriving arch of Bermuda. Originally owned by Furness Withy facility for coastal ships (Coast Lines etc) and traffic and built in 1931, she caught fire on the Tyne in 1947 from the near continent and Scandinavia. Aggregates, whilst refitting after war service. She was much later to coal and timber went to the River Itchen and timber become the Greek Line’s Arkadia. also went to Eling Quay. It was also handled in the docks, often for onward lightering to both the Itchen and Eling.

Emigration was quickly becoming a major part of the port’s traffic and many old ships were hastily converted On 31 July 1950, the new Ocean Terminal at 43/4 for the purpose. Later in the decade, and into the berths was opened by the Prime Minister, Clement At- 1960s, bigger and better ships had bigger and better lee, giving Southampton a superb new facility for the conversions (Fairsky, Fairstar, Ellinis and Australis, prestigious transatlantic service, particularly for the two for example) and it seemed that most of them sailed Cunard Queens, which were the main users. RMS from Southampton. Queen Elizabeth was the first ship to use the iconic

Black Jack - 4 building, but in the ensuing years, many greats tied up there, including Nieuw Amsterdam, United States and the France.

On 8 July 1952, the superb United States steamed up Southampton Water and berthed at the Ocean Ter- minal after taking the eastbound Blue Riband on her

Maiden Voyage – she completed the double when she It is noteworthy that Red Funnel were by now operat- broke the westbound record on the return crossing. ing a mixed bag of vessels to the Isle of Wight (pad- dlers, conventional ferries and an ex-LCT), for short cruises and some tendering work.

More importantly for Southampton, this was the year Towage was undertaken at this time by pre-war ves- when the Esso Oil Terminal opened at Fawley. It was sels, but these were soon supplemented by new build- not unusual to see many of the famous T2 tankers ings through the decade. Alexandra Towing was the alongside there, such as Esso Manchester, below. other company in the port employed on towing services.

Nineteen fifty-five saw the revolutionary engines aft liner Southern Cross enter service for Shaw, Savill on Between the 4th and 14 May, 1951, the Festival of a round the world service. The following year saw a Britain came to Southampton in the form of the travel- record number of passengers handled in the port, ling exhibition on the ex-escort carrier Campania. 626,856.

Black Jack - 5 In February 1957, the Holland America Line placed their new Statendam into service as a prelude to their magnificent Rotterdam, the largest liner ever built in Holland, which first came to the port in September 1959. It was a great act of faith as the competition from the air was already being keenly felt, although at that time the shipping lines did not yet see it as a big threat!

The new terminal at 102 berth for Union Castle (replacing the war-damaged transit shed) was opened in January 1956 and Edinburgh Castle was the first to use it.

However, aircraft did not have any further future in the port itself as in 1958 the last flying boats ceased operations – Aquila Airways, with services to Madeira, had carried the mantle for a number of years after BOAC had forsaken Southampton in 1950 for land- based aircraft. What did have a future, though, was at Calshot, with the inauguration of Southampton Harbour Board’s Port Operations and Information Service there. Harbour sur- veillance and a new (the first of its kind in the World) VHF radio-telephone communications system was in- Another noteworthy first for 1956 was the first call of stalled. the Royal Yacht Britannia on 9 August. The Trafalgar Union-Castle introduced the Pendennis Castle to Dock was modernised in this year also. the mail service to South Africa when she sailed from Standard Telephone and Cables Ltd acquired a site Southampton on New Year’s Day 1959 – she was the in the Western Docks in 1954 in order to manufacture last ship to be built for them by Harland & Wolff. submarine cable and the first shipment was loaded in In 1959, on 10 July, the German Bremen called for November 1956 by means of a gantry at 109 berth. the first time – she was originally the French Pasteur and had been extensively refitted for the New York service of North German Lloyd.

1960s From the late 1950s, competition from the air really began to bite, on the North Atlantic initially, then world- wide in the 1960s with the coming of the jumbo jet.

The same year saw the commencement of a new cold store facility at 108 berth, Brisbane Star being the first to use it in July 1958.

A new system of chain-driven canvas pockets was introduced at 24/5 berths for the unloading of bananas.

Black Jack - 6 February 1963 saw the closure of the old Inner Dock and its eventual filling in. In 1963, the British Transport Docks Board became responsible for Southampton Docks. Also in 1963, W F Griffiths became Chief Docks Manager and in 1964 the baton passed to Donald Stringer. Five years later there was another change when BTDB amalgamated with the Southampton Har- bour Board and became responsible for the whole of the port area. December 1963 saw the tragic loss by fire of the Greek line’s Lakonia whilst on a Christmas cruise from

Southampton. She had been well known in the port as Notwithstanding this, some very notable ships were the Nederland Line’s Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. to enter service in the decade beginning in 1960, with In 1964, British Railways pulled out of the cross Windsor Castle for Union Castle and Oriana for the channel passenger service and Thoresen Car Ferries Orient Line service to Australia. Among the others started operations in May with the then revolutionary would be Canberra, Transvaal Castle, Australis (ex- drive-through ferry Viking I on a service to Cherbourg, America) and Queen Elizabeth 2. followed in July by Viking II when the Le Havre service On 12 May 1961, the venerable Isle of Guernsey began. Viking III followed in 1965 and the freight only made the final BR Channel Islands service sailing, re- Viking IV came on stream in 1967. turning to Weymouth for the opening of the new service concentrated on that port; she was eventually retired four weeks later on the entry into service of the J Sam- uel White-built Sarnia, on 10 June 1961 – her sister Caesarea was the other new ship running from Wey- mouth.

Nineteen sixty five was also the year that South- ampton Castle and Good Hope Castle entered the scene, the last new (and only cargo ships) built for the Union-Castle South African mail service. Wine in bar- rels had long been imported from South Africa on Un- ion Castle ships and in 1965 a dedicated facility for the storage of wine in bulk was opened by the South Afri- In 1962, two more notable new vessels arrived, can Wine Farmers’ Association, with the wine being namely the French Line’s incomparable France and pumped ashore. Shaw, Savill’s Northern Star to partner Southern Cross in the round the world service. On the debit side, this was the year when troop transportation by sea ceased and the familiar white troopships left for the last time.

On 15 July, 1966, H M The Queen opened the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal for passengers and cargo at 38/9 berth. The first ship to use it was P&O’s Iberia. This was also the year of the immensely damaging seamen’s strike, which left a feast of ships in port for spotters to photograph, but did nothing for the future of British ships and seamen.

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January 1969 saw Queen Elizabeth 2 make her rather ignominious entry into the port with her turbine In 1967, Ernie Howells became Chief Docks Man- troubles – she eventually left on her maiden transatlan- ager and the summer of that year saw the end of steam tic sailing on 2 May 1969. Who could have predicted trains in the docks and of course on British Railways, then the phenomenal career she carved out for herself the Southern Region being the last to run main line ex- or that she wasn’t to be the last Cunard Queen or presses behind steam. transatlantic liner? On 29 June, 1967, Normandy Ferries (General Steam Navigation Co and SAGA of France) started operations with Dragon, sailing on a service to Le Havre, to be joined later by the French Leopard. The superb car ferry/mini liner Patricia of Swedish Lloyd made her first sailing to Bilbao on 5 April 1967. A couple of months later the former Outer Dock, now revamped as a car ferry terminal, was formally named the Princess Alexandra Dock by Her Royal Highness herself on 3 July 1967. It was the end of an era and 31 October, 1967, was the day the much-loved Queen Mary left Southampton for the last time, bound for a new static life in Long Beach, California. It was 1969 which also saw Southern Ferries started their service to Lisbon and Casablanca with the cruise ferry Eagle. November 1969 was month that saw the mighty United States withdrawn and laid up – sad to relate that 40 years later she is still laid up! 1970s Sadly, Ernie Howells, a very popular figure, died sud- denly in 1970 and Donald Stringer again took the helm as Port Director, as the post was now known. J B Wil- liams replaced him in 1977. In 1971, Royal Mail Lines popular Andes sailed to Bruges for breaking up – she had spent her entire peacetime career based in the port and was latterly famed for her long distance cruises. She was followed in November 1968 by the mighty Queen Elizabeth, which left for Fort Lauderdale and her eventual fiery fate in Hong Kong as Seawise Uni- versity in January 1972. In the late sixties, whilst the passenger liner was suf- fering from a gradual run-down, the soon all-conquering container was making its presence quietly felt as it appeared on a variety of conventional and converted vessels prior to the specialised purpose-built ships which eventually led to the giants of today. The first container berth, at 201, opened in 1968, the vessel to berth being Teniers of Cie Maritime Belge (Belgian line), a part of the Dart Container Line. Other early users were ACL and Seatrain.

Black Jack - 8 The British Rail cargo service to the Channel Islands floating bridges had passed into history when they terminated in 1972 and decamped to Portsmouth. A ceased running on 11 June, the new bridge opening for new landmark appeared at Dockhead in 1972, that of traffic on 1 June. the new port signal and Radar station, replacing the In September 1977, another Union-Castle ship, one at Calshot, and containing all port maritime activi- Southampton Castle, had the dubious distinction of ties in one building. being the last ship to leave the port on the UC Mail Another blow to the transatlantic run was dealt in Service to South Africa. It was a sad and historic day 1974 when the France was withdrawn – however, when the Union-Castle mail service ceased after 120 unlike the United States, she was to have a successful years on 24 October 1977 when the Southampton second career as Norway, the first mega-cruise ship. Castle arrived back from that voyage. Number 5 dry This was also the year when Martini Rossi opened a dock also closed in this year. bulk storage and bottling plant adjacent to 105/6 berth Thankfully maritime accidents are rare, but on 18 and took over the premises of SAWFA. Wine and spir- December, 1978, the Alexandra tug Cherry sank after its could now be handled to around 30 million litres a being struck by the Norwegian Tanafjord, the ship she year. The plant was closed in 2008. was assisting. Fortunately no lives were lost and she was quickly raised by Risdon Beazley, the international salvors which were based next to Northam Bridge.

Also in 1974, Monte Toledo and Monte Granada started a short-lived service to Santander for the Span- ish Aznar line – the service had ceased by 1977 when Container ships continued to grow in size, ousting the sisters were sold to Libya. the conventional freighters – familiar companies folded In May 1975, the popular Reina del Mar of Union- or amalgamated and sometimes both! In 1979 the ex- Castle also went to the breakers, continuing the trend panding container terminal was officially named the of older, less efficient, steamships being disposed of. Prince Charles Container Port. She was just one of a procession of liners going to the breakers at this time – several Union-Castle ships 1980s and Chusan, Orsova, Oronsay and Iberia of P&O, to The year 1982 saw the docks heavily involved in the name but a few departed, all hastened by the dramatic Falklands campaign – QE2, Canberra (the “Great rise in fuel costs. One very notable departure in 1973 White Whale”) and Uganda (“Mother Hen”) being the was the much loved old favourite Nieuw Amsterdam three most notable ships, but many others were in- to breakers after latterly cruising full time, mainly in the volved. Caribbean.

In the run up privatisation, Associated British Ports On 13 July, 1977, Princess Alexandra was in the city was formed in 1982 and became a private company in again, ten years after she had opened the car ferry January 1983 – it was led by Dennis Noddings, who dock, when she officially named the Itchen Bridge; the had become Port Director in 1982.

Black Jack - 9 The first export berth for grain was constructed at 47- Dennis Noddings retired in 1989 (the year after the berth in 1982 and was first used in August of that year Port’s centenary) and was followed as Port Director by – the second grain terminal opened at 36-berth in 1983 Andrew Kent. and this still remains. The facilities at 47-berth were closed and demolished a few years ago. 1990s Having closed in 1980, sadly, in 1983, the magnifi- The build up of the modern era of passenger ships, cent Ocean Terminal was demolished after a life of only leading to the huge vessels of today, was getting un- 33 years; an act still talked about 27 years later. derway. Car carriers became ever larger and ever ug- Townsend Thoresen Ferries moved their ships to lier, but with the containerships they provide the basic Portsmouth in 1983, followed the next year by P&O bread and butter business in the port, in contrast to the Ferries. Following the departure of the ferries, the car glamorous cruise ships. ferry dock was redeveloped as Ocean Village. Stena Normandy, the former St Nicholas, started sailing from Southampton in 1991, but only lasted until 1996 when she went to the southern Irish corridor route. The new ABP offices at Ocean Gate were opened in 1991, as was the Canary Fruit and Vegeta- ble Terminal at 104 berth. The following year the Windward Terminal at 101 berth was opened for the import of bananas by Geest. The new P&O Oriana entered service in 1995 and two years later Canberra bowed out after an illustrious career and went to breakers in India. It is strange to think that back in the 1970s she was nearly scrapped then in preference to Orsova.

Two big events of 1980s were the formation of a “Freeport” in 1982 and later the development of Ocean Village in the old Princess Alexandra Dock. In 1985, the British Transport Police in the docks were replaced by a security company. A very familiar sight at the end of the Ocean Dock was also replaced, that of the old floating crane.

In 1996, Southampton University moved into the docks with the opening of the Oceanography Centre in the Empress Dock. Additional container berths were opened the following year, but we lost our cable ships to Portland.

2000s Aurora joined the P&O cruise fleet at Southampton in 2000, which became the premier cruise port in the United Kingdom with 165 callers (the figure is now twice that). This was also the year when the container terminal handled in excess of 1,000,000 TEUs for the first time. The present decade saw increased passenger facilities provided to cater for the huge increase both in cruise ship calls and the ships themselves. The older terminals were refurbished and new terminals were opened at 101 (the City Cruise Terminal) and, in May 2010, at 46 berth (a new Ocean Terminal). A further cruise terminal is in the planning stages, which will bring the total to five.

Black Jack - 10 December 2007 saw the Queen Victoria debut and named by the Duchess of Cornwall – Cunard now had three Queens in service for the first time, but not for long as on 11 November, 2008, QE2 left for a new career in Dubai, although as we write her future is still very uncertain. Another new ship for P&O, the first of two sisters, Ventura, came into service in 2008. In 2010 we also saw two new giant cruise ships enter service, Azura (the sister of Ventura) for P&O and Norwegian Epic for Norwegian Cruise Line – the latter probably the ugliest yet! The old Thornycroft site on the River Itchen is still derelict, despite various grandiose plans for residential

redevelopment. All very sad given the major contribu- Queen Mary 2, Cunard’s largest ever passenger tion it made to the local shipbuilding and repair over a ship, arrived on Boxing Day 2003 and sailed on her period of many years. Maiden Voyage on 12 January 2004 after being named Container traffic continues to grow, after the blip by H M The Queen. seemingly due to the recession, and vehicle im- In March 2005, Doug Morrison took over as Port Di- ports/exports also seem solid. Together with tanker rector on the retirement of Andrew Kent and is still movements down at the mouth of Southampton Water leading the port today. Although times are difficult and and the ever-growing cruise industry, the port seems to there are many challenges, it must be comforting to have weathered the recent bad times and is now mov- remember that the port still handles more cargo and ing forward. passengers than ever it did in what many people refer to as its heyday! Also in 2005, Arcadia arrived on the scene for P&O – she was to have been Cunard’s Queen Victoria but the contract passed to P&O whilst further design work was done on the new Cunarder.

October 2010 and the new Queen Elizabeth will have entered service as the Branch celebrates its 60th birthday – Cunard again will have three Queens in service. We wish the QE, Southampton Docks and the

Branch many happy years ahead! The famous King George V Graving Dock (No 7 dry- dock) at Millbrook was closed in 2006 and is now used as a wet dock. There are now no dry-dock facilities in the port.

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We would like to thank Bert Moody for his help with the early history of the Branch and of the port.

Photos are by or from the collections of Bert Moody, ABP, Mick Lindsay and Nigel Robinson.

MAL & NVR

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