TS Dover.

Having read that article, and taking into account the half-truths & rhetoric of the Gruindad, a feeling of 'too little, too late' looms. I suspect that the latest attacks by the metal fairies has doomed the ship. I saw her about 3 weeks ago - heartbreaking from a distance; it must be worse 'close up'. No seaman likes to see a ship dying slowly; but Dover is, in many ways, even worse than the Manxman was before entering Pallion yard.

 

Mark-Hope you will consider joining us if we bring this to fruition-I agree there are parallels with dear Manxman-this could be different with a little luck

 

Hello Austerity - I might just do that. Feel free to PM me

Mark

 

Now against the sad backdrop of the Manxman debacle- we soldier on with the campaign to save Dover/Tuxedo.

 

'Dover' lingers on- and we don't let up. We are still striving to work with the various authorities and firms on Teesside and reach a suitable favourable solution for this beleaguered vessel.

 

I was talking to a Pilot on the Tees at the weekend; it doesn't sound good. The ship has now been sitting on the bottom for 3 1/2 years with her hull open to the brackish waters of the tidal Tees. As I understand it, a deal has been struck to buy the ship for £1; however there is the small matter of outstanding berthing dues - a 6 figure sum - which the Pilot understands the quay owner is insisting on being paid before any attempt can be made to move her. The general consensus amongst the Pilots is that she's now too far gone to be saved. There's the matter of the asbestos contamination too - I can imagine that there's now a thick 'soup' of asbestos fibres slopping about inside the hull, which would have to be dealt with by (expensive) contractors before anything can be done. Please don't shoot the messenger; I'm merely relaying the latest information known by some of the professional seamen who work on the river, as recounted to me. Perhaps Austerity has better news?

 

Any doubts about the fate of this old girl should be banished now, I fear

From this article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...eclipse-triggers-supertide-flood-warning.html

 

Latest news
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/t...r-party-boat-tuxedo-12647606#ICID=FB-Gaz-main

 

I'm having a lot of trouble trying to open the link.

I never sailed on the Dover but I did sail on Maid of Kent, Manxman, Ben My Cree & Manx Maid. I also saw the Avalon berth at Fishguard.

Both Avalon & Maid of Kent never really felt like steam ships, no whistles & the deck machinery was electric. While the Maid & Ben also had electric deck machinery they had 'proper' whistles and felt like a steamer.

Manxman of course was the bees knees with steam deck & steering machinery and you could peer into the engine room.

 

The link seems OK from here, John

Basically, the local council have had enough, and are having a meeting to propose disposing of her. This has sent those who want to rescue her into a bit of a panic, but I genuinely cannot see any future for her now other than scrap. Nothing's been done in the 17 months since my previous information posting, which means that she will have deteriorated further, harbour dues debt will have risen etc etc. There's also some recent footage of her.

 

I fear you are probably right Mark. It's sad of course, but reality bites hard. Same for that other old lady rotting in Mostyn

https://johnleyland.smugmug.com/Ships/JohnLeyland/i-w9DS3Ch

 

Thanks, John. As has been said, if Manxman couldn't be saved, Dover has no chance. I agree about the 'Duke of Lancaster' too - game over there as well

 

As I've said before, if you think locomotive restoration & preservation is expensive, restoring and preserving ships is astronomically so. I know how much it costs to keep modern ships running - the cost of raising/restoring the likes of Dover, even without the asbestos issues, is terrifying. Reality is a hard thing to accept for some, though.

 

In the right location a steam ship can still be commercially successful. The TSS Earnslaw in New Zealand seems to have a bright future and is well worth a trip on if you happen to be down in the Southern hemisphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSS_Earnslaw

 

That's a fair point, although look how close the "Shieldhall" came to losing her certification a couple of years ago due to corrosion of her frames, and she's a successful operation. No, what's probably killed any realistic prospects of "Dover" even being saved as a static display ship, never mind returning to service, is the fact that she's sunk at her moorings, plus the outstanding debts and the spectre of asbestos removal.

 

As predicted, the 'end game' looms

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/plans-drawn-up-remove-tuxedo-12683526

Sad, but inevitable.

 

Ship has gone up in flames.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.mi...floating-nightclub-reduced-shell-10539074.amp

 

The sooner she is cut up for scrap and the eyesore removed the better for everyone. Perhaps the supporters could turn their attention to a more worthwhile cause, perhaps an already rescued ship/boat that has a long term future. R.I.P. this ship is no more.

 

At least firefighters' lives weren't put at risk because of the risk of capsize due to free surface effect when they were pumping water into her during the firefighting operations - but yes, the fire surely is the euphemistic final nail in the old girl's coffin?

 

Very sad news, spent a large part of my student days falling off the rotating dance floor.