Notable ships seen on the River Mersey included: left - the classic coastal excursion ship, BALMORAL, moored at the Seacombe Ferry Terminal while in the background Norfolk Lines' DUBLIN VIKING departs heading for her namesake city. Right - The vintage suction dredger, SAND SWAN (IMO: 6913510 / 1,204 gt / 1970-03 by J. Bolson & Son Ltd., Poole, UK) filling her hold in mid-channel. For more photos of ships in and around the Mersey during June, click this link. [Click on the thumbnails for a larger image]. Please note: all photographs shown on this site are copyright.

INFORMATION UPDATES:

MYSTERY SHIPS
The "mystery ship" (first posted in February) is no mystery as far as its name and general type are concerned. It is clearly the ZODIAK or ZODIAC and either is or was a fishing vessel or fish carrier. Judging by the Cyrillic script and funnel colours that smack of the Soviet era, one can safely assume that she has Russian affiliations. The photo was taken in the British Columbian port of Steveston in May, 2007, and there appears to be a new deckhouse and crane fitted to the stern deck.

Several ZODIAKs and ZODIACs appear in Lloyd's of which 4 are fishing vessels or fish carriers. At first I thought she may be the Murmansk registered fish carrier ZODIAC ex SAMFROST-97, ELSHOUT-72. However, this ship was supposedly broken up in 1999 and looks nothing like the ship I photographed. Then I found that according to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, the ZODIAK ex SAMFROST-97, built in 1961, underwent a major hull renovation which was completed in December, 2003. Perhaps renovations included a complete re-modelling of the superstructure?? Or, the ship photographed may be an entirely different ship. Of the ZODIAKs and ZODIACs left, the most likely based on size and apparent age is the 1976-built fishing vessel ZODIAC (IMO number: 7609180 / 853 gt), which is registered in Belize - a registry where many older Russian vessels seem to end up. Is anyone able to make a positive identification?

BETSY ROSS
My thanks to "Carl" for providing leads to further information on the Camano class (T-AKL), ex US Army light cargo ship appearing on the Pre-1960's Built Ships page associated with a cruise I took through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific coast of the US April / May of last year. The BETSY ROSS seen at Astoria, Oregon, was one of a number of ships I photographed that were built in the U.S.A. during WWII. Follow the link to see the updated information.

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MY FIRST SHIP PHOTO
The first photo I ever took was the one 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 almost 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?

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

LIST OF SHIPS This is a new section which contains an alphabetical, page-linked list of ships (currently about 260 in total) permanently appearing on this site that were built prior to 1980. Many of them were photographed in black and white up to 50 years ago. Clicking on a ship's name will take you to the page upon which it is displayed.