32 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | June 2015
OFFWATCH ships of the past by Trevor Boult is rich with iconic images F — and its ferries to Manly, a
Sydney Harbour, Australia,
beautiful seaside suburb at the northern tip of the harbour, are frequently a highlight of a visit. Manly has been connected to Sydney by ferries since 1848. In the steamship age and beyond, the most famous ferry was South Steyne, the undisputed ‘Queen of the Harbour’ and one of its main attractions. She made the crossing between Circular Quay, Sydney and Manly over 100,000 times in 36 years, carrying 92m passengers. Built at Leith in Scotland for the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company, her delivery voyage in 1938 took 64 days. She was to become the largest and best known of the Manly ferry line which played a major role in the suburbanisation of Sydney and in the development of its recreational patterns. The route is both a commuter service and tourist attraction, patronised heavily by weekday commuters to the city, and weekend tourists and trippers. Manly ferries were traditionally double-enders with propellers and rudders at each end for efficient operation at the piers. The seven mile journey across the harbour crosses a mile-wide stretch of sea open to the entrance at The Heads. This can be one of the roughest stretches of estuary water to be encountered anywhere. Because of the big beam swells and lumpy seas they have to ride, often side-on, the Manly ferries have traditionally been designed to cope with these conditions. As an improvement on earlier designs, South Steyne was built with heavier scantlings and more watertight bulkheads which extended to promenade deck level. Ballast tanks were installed at the peaks fore and aft to
Painting from an advertising poster for the South Steyne
Sydney-Manly ferry had the soul of a liner reduce heavy weather pitching with light loads. An unforeseen operational problem was the big wash her size and speed caused. For those too close in small craft the sight was often disconcerting. The drive behind the building of the biggest ferries brought not only prestige but the extra business required in the years after the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If the others looked like large ferries, South Steyne had the looks and atmosphere of an ocean liner. In the early 1950s South
Steyne added to her fame by starting her famous ocean cruises up the coast past the northern beaches to Broken Bay and into the Hawkesbury River estuary. For two decades she made these regular Sunday trips, giving many Sydneysiders their first experience of an ocean cruise. The State Government of New South Wales, which had been largely responsible for the decline of the Manly ferry service after WW2 by putting buses in competition with them, later
caused it to be built up again with newbuilds and hydrofoils. New replacement vessels were modern and efficient, yet a contemporary enthusiast lamented ‘…but the young folk who travelled in them would never know the ocean liner feel of South Steyne, the clang of the engine-room telegraphs. No more would winter travellers sit around the open engine bays to absorb the warmth from the cylinder heads and the exciting smell of those massive steam engines...With the disappearance of the steam engines went part of the soul of the great ferries’. Towards the end of her career South Steyne was often used for charters, in what had become a badly run-down service where a new operator had no interest in the last remaining steamship. In 1974 a government takeover bid debated the purchase of the ship. At this time South Steyne mysteriously caught fire at her depot berth. Enthusiasts for restoration stated: ‘There seemed to be no reason why this small amount of fire damage could not be repaired and a beautiful ship returned to the harbour she had graced for so long.’ Against her was the fact she was a steamship and a headache to the bureaucracy. A complex story spanning 12 years and the appearance of benefactors and loyal fans found the ship being restored. As much as possible of the original was preserved, after which she took up a new role as a luxury cruise ship and restaurant in Melbourne. South Steyne eventually returned to Sydney, as the Sydney 2000 Olympic Information Centre at Darling Harbour until 1997. Today, she is once again a floating restaurant, this time next to Pyrmont Bridge, Darling Harbour. After a long road, part of the soul of Sydney Harbour has returned to where it belongs.
Telegraph prize crossword The winner of this month’s cryptic crossword competition will win a copy of the book Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoenacker (reviewed on the facing page). To enter, simply complete the form right and send it, along with your completed crossword, to: Nautilus International, Telegraph Crossword
Competition, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1BD, or fax +44 (0)20 8530 1015. You can also enter by email, by sending your list of answers and your contact details to: telegraph@nautilusint.org. Closing date is Friday 19 June 2015.
QUICK CLUES
20. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.
Across Yellow stockings (8) Not as it seems (6) Related (4) Paper recording (6,4) Confused (6) Quit job (8) Wintery person (7) Acknowledgment of payment (7) Grieving (8) Cooking pin (6) Wrestling hold (4,6) Rhymester (4) Open (6) Perpendicular to ground (8)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Down Gave up (6,2) Terrible ruler (4) Overjoyed (6) Musical event (7) Publican (8)
8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 14. 15. 17.
32_offwatch_SR edit.indd 32
50 YEARS AGO The MNAOA has welcomed a coordinated international scheme designed to improve the health and medical treatment of the world’s one million seafarers which has been adopted by a joint committee of the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation. This scheme has followed a WHO report that treatment in ships not carrying a doctor was often not satisfactory, that inspection of ships’ medicine chests was inadequate and that medical guides were often out of date. The new scheme includes a revised international ships’ medical guide, a revised list of contents of ships’ medicine chests, and a revised medical section for the International Code of Signals to enable a master to get accurate instructions by radio. The days of that simple basic treatment of some of the amateur medicos — iodine for external, black draught for internal — are undoubtedly dropping astern MN Journal, June 1965
25 YEARS AGO Nearly half of all ships owned in the European Community are flagged out, a new study has revealed. The report also shows that more than 80% of UK-owned tonnage is registered abroad. Produced by the classification society Lloyd’s Register, the study says that while EC-controlled or owned tonnage amounts to 25% of the world total, the EC-flagged fleet accounts for just 15% of the world total. Researchers found that UK owners make the most extensive use of foreign flags, with vessels owned by UK parent companies registered in 45 different countries. Of the total EC-owned fleet, 48.8% is flagged out, with Greek owners controlling almost 50% of this tonnage and UK owners a further 22% The Telegraph, June 1990
10 YEARS AGO NUMAST has welcomed crucial progress in top-level talks on the proposed new ‘bill of rights’ for the world’s seafarers. Fears that the negotiations on the new global ‘super-convention’ on seafarers’ working conditions could hit the buffers failed to materialise during a week-long meeting between unions, shipowners and governments last month. Maritime unions had threatened to pull out of the talks if owners and governments blocked proposals to enforce the convention through port state control. But with agreement on the implementation of the bill of rights, the stage is now set for a meeting in February next year to finalise the agreement which will replace some 30 existing International Labour Organisation conventions with a single allembracing mechanism to regulate the employment conditions of 1.2 million people working at sea The Telegraph, June 2005
THEQUIZ 1
The term ‘super tanker’ was coined in 1951. What was the deadweight tonnage of ships it applied to then?
2
In which year did the first ship cross the Atlantic at an average speed of more than 30 knots?
3
Roughly how many new
containerships entered into service last year? 4
Cardiff Marine operates a fleet of tankers and bulk carriers. In which country is the company based?
5
What is the approximate total capacity of the world’s bulk carrier fleet?
6
Which has the larger ship register, Malta or Cyprus? Quiz answers are on page 42. J
Name: Address:
Telephone:
6. Nationality (10) 7. Drink (6) 13. Inconspicuous appearance (3,7) 16. Outside (2,6) 18. Commoner (8) 19. Not easy to find (7) 21. Not see-through (6) 22. Various (6) 24. Baby carriage (4)
CRYPTIC CLUES Across 8. Friend with only half a 60-second spell between rings to show horse (8) 9. Waterproof for the dedicated follower of esoteric trivia, perhaps (6) 10. Fine for the fun event (4) 11. Crashed jet car with Conservative providing direction (10) 12. Failed to catch humid air,
Membership No.:
we hear (6) 14. Trick Mr Cable to win argument (8) 15. Depression as cell replicated on edges of cavity (7) 17. Errant don taken in by charity must be nuts (7) 20. Determined to smelt our steel (8) 22. … and behold, what a choir does is behind (6) 23. Sport with goalie the poacher tries to dodge (10) 24. Feel sorry for coalmine, Yorkshire’s first (4) 25. Coughed up by bird, if not shot (6) 26. All left on the plate, as they say in Warwickshire (8)
Down It’s a long story, urban metropolis gets wisdom (8) 2. An opening for Jim Morrison (4) 1.
3. Building of importance lent to one side (6) 4. In France my English triumphal support is for a sovereign (7) 5. Parental, the fatherly sort (8) 6. Sorted out fruit, so lucky (10) 7. Stuff hidden in half a brick (6) 13. Tummy bug from the fish, Ms Fitzgerald … (10) 16. …see, a tuna concoction to make you sick (8) 18. Put party before country and make a bequest (8) 19. Answer from sappers, waterfilled hole in the ground (7) 21. Applied by brush but it’s hard on the teeth (6) 22. Cat with centre of tart lodged in throat (6) 24. ‘--- can I not, / Though inclination be as sharp as will’ (Hamlet) (4) J Crossword answers are on page 42.
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