Notes and news — June 1994
Another ship in the West India Docks
- Another ship in the West India Docks
- Civil Defence Centre, Hackney
- Engineering excellence on land, sea and in the air
- You can't beat a London pub
- 152news.pdf
The Greenpeace tug Solo was in the West India Docks over the weekend of 19/20 March 1994 and open to the public. She was berthed on the south side of South Dock just west of the Millwall Cut, near to where the Anastasis lay last June (GLIAS Newsletter August 1993). It would be nice if this kind of visit to the docks becomes a regular feature.
Formerly the Smit Houston, Solo is now occupied in gathering information about pollution and other threats to wildlife and our planet in general. She had carried out an exciting foray to monitor nuclear dumping in the Kara Sea to the north of Russia. Compared with the Anastasis, Solo is relatively small with an overall length of 222 feet compared with 522 for the ex-Italian liner. Gross tonnages are 2,167 and 11,695 respectively. Nevertheless a visit to the Solo was full of interest and we were allowed to wander around freely unlike the limited organised tour provided on board the Anastasis.
Solo is a large size fully ocean-going tug; she was built by Verolme Scheepswerf Heusden B V in the Netherlands, yard number 935 and completed in May 1977. Heusden is fairly inland, situated on the south bank of the Bergsche Maas roughly between Dordrecht and s'Hertogenbosch. Until 1990 Solo was the Smit Houston and would have been engaged in towing things like oilrigs. Her recent role is more newsworthy.
On the bridge the usual rich array of navigational aids was noted. The radar showed a good image of the surrounding West India Docks. Particularly impressive was the clear visual view, especially aft on to the deck where cables would be handled during towing work. The engines can be directly controlled from the bridge.
The engine room was very much open for inspection and one could examine the twin diesel engines closely. These are Werkspoor 6TM410 type, four-stroke single-acting each of six cylinders 410mm bore x 470mm stroke. The engines were built by Stork-Werkspoor Diesel BV of Amsterdam. Power is 9,200bhp and service speed 16 knots. (The engines of the Anastasis developed 16,100 bhp). As well as the twin controllable pitch propellers at the stern there is an athwartships bow thruster for manoeuvring.
The hull is of steel welded throughout. Her depth markings are in units of 0.2 metres. Maximum draught is 6.235 metres. At the time of the visit the reading at the bow was 54. Many thanks to Greenpeace for a superb visit. Bob Carr
I reported on a visit to a Civil Defence Bunker in Hackney (GLIAS Newsletter December 1991) which still retained its air purification and emergency lighting equipment. I have been informed by Hackney Planning Department that the bunker is to be retained and a commemorative plaque has been put on it. Unfortunately access is restricted and the plaque is not generally visible to the public.
Engineering excellence on land, sea and in the air
GN 151;
NAPIER POWER HERITAGE is functioning today: to record and remind us of all those great and formerly world beating engines designed and built this century by D. Napier & Son. Many were chosen to power new ventures in many types of world travel, or transform the performance of existing ones. Whenever there were demands for higher powers in air travel, on water, or by road and rail, new Napier engines were developed to meet them.
For example: the 'Lion' and 'Dub' aero engines of the 1920s, ware eventually both developed to produce over 1000 horsepower and powered thousands of civil and military aircraft. The 12 cylinder 'Lion' was usually the power unit chosen for world land, water and air speed records; such as the 1927 British Land speed record, by Sir Malcolm Campbell, driving his first 'Bluebird' car, which stood until 1990. On the seas, multiple lightweight 'Sealion' and 'Deltic' marine engines have been used by the world's navies in fast patrol boats., minehunters and air-sea rescue launches. The 'Deltic' powered 'Nasty' Class MTB could attain 48 knots.
The 100 mph Napier 'Deltic' powered type 5 locomotives of the 1960s, heralded the start of the high speed Inter City era on British Rail; followed by the 'whistling' high power of the Napier turbo-charged 125 HST trains operating today. In the air, after Napier's decisive 'Sabre' engine in WW2 'Typhoons and Tempests', the 'Gazelle' and 'Eland' shaft gas turbines gave greatly increased power and reliability for large helicopters; such as the early Westland 'Wessex' types. To add to, or gain more information from our wide Napier Power Heritage, write to our Hon. Secretary, 188 London Road, Aston Clinton, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP22 5LE enclosing a SAE.
And our Hon. Publications Officer, Nigel Sturt, adds:
Any information members or their friends might have on Napier from York Road or Acton, could they please forward it to Mr. G. McGarry, Napier Power Heritage, 19 Richardson House, North End Crescent, London W14 8TE. I would like to thank Dr. T. Harper Smith of the Acton History Group, for the notes he has submitted. Nigel SturtThe London pub is a very special place. No other country in the world has anything like it to offer. Like the Beefeaters at the Tower or the London 'bobby' on his beat, the British pub is cherished at home — and envied abroad. It is one of our best known national symbols. Pub, of course, is short for 'public house? — an establishment that has been licensed to sell alcoholic liquor to the public (and collect revenue for the nation in return). The first licensing laws were introduced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh was given the responsibility of administering them. The Old Queen's Head and the Pied Bull in Islington were probably the very first 'pubs' to be licensed in Britain — and London's pubs are still very much a cherished part of the City's life.
There are all sorts of pubs, for all sorts of people, and for all sorts of occasions. The reason for their great variety is that they have been developing in Britain for over a thousand years long before the Virgin Queen spotted them as a potential revenue raiser. Ale has been brewed in Britain since pre-Roman times, but the inn as a place of hospitality is traced back to Saxon and Norman times when great monastic houses were being established around the country. It was the custom of the monasteries to offer hospitality to travellers, who would be offered overnight accommodation in rooms set aside for that purpose, and in those days the word 'inn' meant a room. Therefore, the travellers were lodged at the Inn of the Bishop of Bath or the 'Inn of the Abbot of Cirencester, We can still find the word inn being used in its original form, that is meaning a room rather than a place of hospitality, in London's "Inns of Court' where lawyers have rooms from which they assist in the administration of justice. London is, in fact, the finest place to trace and follow the development of Britain's pubs and inns through the centuries. From the beginning, inns have changed to satisfy the ever-changing needs of the population.
In the XVIth century, when the great expansion in sea trade was beginning, there grew a need for riverside inns, such as The Prospect of Whitby, to cater for the sea-farers and the shipbuilders. In the XVIIth century, as coach travel developed, large coaching inns appeared, with accommodation for many travellers, built around a coachyard with stables, horses and ticket offices. A Famous example of such an inn can be seen in the National Trust's 'George Inn' in Borough High Street, the main approach to London Bridge. This was the only entrance to the City from the south before 1750. Chaucer's Tabard and the Harvard family's Queen's Head were two similar coaching inns in the same area. During the XIXth century, there was a great movement of people from the country to the cities as a result of the Industrial Revolution. This led to the development of countless housing estates including many new pubs, particularly near the new railway stations. When Thomas Cubitt was developing large parts of suburban London, he used to allow a pub to every 160 houses. It was during this time that many of the pleasure garden and music hall pubs became popular.
One of the best hidden pubs in London must be The Mitre in Ely Place, once the Inn of the Bishop of Ely's London palace, where John of Gaunt died. The Doctor Butler's Head, another old inn with a story, commemorates a physician who treated King James I for sciatica — with ale from the pub! A great deal of information and interest can also be gained from a study of pub signs since before street names and house numbers became commonplace, traders used to hang an appropriate sign outside their premises as an indication of the commodity they had to offer. Their address would have been a description of how to find that sign. A good example is that on the trade card of 'Robert Vincent, Scalemaker at the Hand and Scales (his sign) on London Bridge, the second door from the Bear Tavern, on the Southwark side.' How much more romantic than our present postcodes.
Pub signs will often give a clue to the local trade or industry, and there are several examples of these in the London area. In Bermondsey, the Leather Exchange and Simon the Tanner, give a clue to one of Bermondsey's main industries. In the same way that the Crown and Shuttle refers to the weaving industry around Spitalfields. Near Fleet Street we find the Printer's Devil and The Cartoonist, and in the City near Lloyds, is The Underwriter. Another less obvious example of this type of sign is The Red Anchor in Chelsea, near the site of what was the premier English porcelain factory, started by the Huguenots in 1743. One of the main identification marks of that china is a red anchor.
Heraldic signs sometimes display the arms of the lord of the manor, a local guild, or the owner of the land on which the pub stands. An interesting example of this can be found at The Talbot in Belgravia, on land belonging to the Grosvenor family. Their name is derived from the French 'gros veneur' or great hunter, and their coet of arms includes the old English hunting dog known as a Talbot.
There are signs commemorating historic events, such as The Metropolitan, near Farringdon station, terminus of London's first underground railway. Another is The Mayflower at Rotherhithe, reminding us that many of the crew of that famous ship came from this village, and that their captain, Christopher Jones, is buried in the nearby church. The Crown is the most common pub sign in England, and that, with the various King's Arms and Queen's Arms, would probably go back to a time when it would have been diplomatic to confirm one's allegiance to the Monarch rather than to the Pope or to Parliament! The Star is a nice sign for an inn, although not very common. It reminds us of the star of Bethlehem and the most widely known inn in Christendom. I have spoken so far only about pubs and pub signs, but by far the most important component of any pub is the landlord. Once you find a good one, stay with him — the beer, the hospitality, the interest, and the companionship will follow. Peter Westbrook
© GLIAS, 1994