Blyth
July 26, 2021
26 Jul '21. HM 146.
Blyth - the place where Good Dog became Bad Dog!
A hard core industrial harbour, Blyth has built ships and traded vast quantities of coal, iron ore, paper, aluminium and salt since 1138 AD.
HM Edwin Dick, ex Maersk Chief Officer and ex port pilot, explained to me how the harbour had reinvented itself time after time over the centuries. With 10,000 vessel movements a year he did have some amazing statistics at his fingertips.
The one I liked most was that 3 million toilet rolls moved through his port every week during the pandemic, on their way to the nations supermarkets. He assured me there was never a shortage as his vast warehouse (photo 5) had always been full!
As we stood on his office balcony watching a variety of vessels enter and leave his port, one happened to be a visiting Royal Navy ship (photo 6). I learned that although obliged to take a pilot, a RN Captain never hands over control of Her Majesty's ship to the pilot, unlike a merchant ship's captain. During WW2 the harbour was a RN submarine base, and just below his office, there remains the mechanism used to stop German subs entering the harbour (photo 7). In 2000 Blyth became the site of the UK's first offshore wind farm, and this industry has since boomed, with Blyth and every other east coast port chasing this lucrative market.
Blyth is home to the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club, whose club house is a majestic retired Light Ship (photo 8) and it is also home to Good Dog's first (and I hope last) serious "prang". The skipper - yes me - forgot the golden rule of checking the engine is in neutral before pressing start. She was still in "full steam reverse" and 75 horses instantly propelled her backwards, breaking the pontoon cleat and colliding with the yacht behind me. Her skipper was amazing, put his arm around my shaking shoulders and simply said "Don't worry, I have done far worse things!" We are now firm friends with all his family (photo 10)!
Blyth - the place where Good Dog became Bad Dog!
A hard core industrial harbour, Blyth has built ships and traded vast quantities of coal, iron ore, paper, aluminium and salt since 1138 AD.
HM Edwin Dick, ex Maersk Chief Officer and ex port pilot, explained to me how the harbour had reinvented itself time after time over the centuries. With 10,000 vessel movements a year he did have some amazing statistics at his fingertips.
The one I liked most was that 3 million toilet rolls moved through his port every week during the pandemic, on their way to the nations supermarkets. He assured me there was never a shortage as his vast warehouse (photo 5) had always been full!
As we stood on his office balcony watching a variety of vessels enter and leave his port, one happened to be a visiting Royal Navy ship (photo 6). I learned that although obliged to take a pilot, a RN Captain never hands over control of Her Majesty's ship to the pilot, unlike a merchant ship's captain. During WW2 the harbour was a RN submarine base, and just below his office, there remains the mechanism used to stop German subs entering the harbour (photo 7). In 2000 Blyth became the site of the UK's first offshore wind farm, and this industry has since boomed, with Blyth and every other east coast port chasing this lucrative market.
Blyth is home to the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club, whose club house is a majestic retired Light Ship (photo 8) and it is also home to Good Dog's first (and I hope last) serious "prang". The skipper - yes me - forgot the golden rule of checking the engine is in neutral before pressing start. She was still in "full steam reverse" and 75 horses instantly propelled her backwards, breaking the pontoon cleat and colliding with the yacht behind me. Her skipper was amazing, put his arm around my shaking shoulders and simply said "Don't worry, I have done far worse things!" We are now firm friends with all his family (photo 10)!