Dundee
June 10, 2021
10 Jun '21. HM 123. Dundee - famous for Jute, Jam and Journalism - and the tallest Harbour Master in Great Britain!
Ryan Porteus, a sailor himself and previously a pilot & HM of Perth, gave me some vital navigation advice about sailing up the shallow River Tay (photo 3). Initially a Merchant Navy "Deck Cadet", he came ashore after reaching the rank of 2nd Mate* and worked as a VTS officer in Southampton. VTS - or Vessel Traffic Services - is the equivalent of an Air Traffic Controller for ports and us yachties are often politely asked to avoid getting in the way of Super Tankers by the VTS. Ryan is the HM to three ports owned by the large Forth Ports Group - Dundee, Leith (see later post) and Methil (think Proclaimers Song - Letter from America - "Methil no moour"!).
Dundee harbour is essentially a very deep-water quayside 5 miles up the Tay estuary - perfect for manoeuvering large, deep, unwieldy vessels such as oil rigs. It specialises in the decommissioning of rigs with a crane that can lift 860t at the end of a 24m boom (photo 5) and concrete "lay down areas" that can happily stand 80t / sq m being plonked on them. I saw a couple of oil rigs being prepared for export - one to Russia (photo 6) and the wonderfully named Rowan Gorilla VII which was having its "jack up" legs extended for deep water drilling in NZ.
Ryan's most unusual job involved one of the new generation of "floating" wind turbines which ended up being built 3m deeper than his harbour bottom. He used 90t buoyancy bags to float it out to sea safely.
Dundee's history is extensive - the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery was built here for Scott and Shackleton's Antarctic expedition and now lies here as a museum (photo 9). Jute was imported via the harbour from India, and processed in over 100 mills. (I will let you Google the Jam and Journalism bit!). Dundee was a rich city and still is with the stunning V&A Design Museum (photo 10). Thank you Ryan for a great visit.
*I have just researched the word "Mate" as a rank and cannot find out anything!
Ryan Porteus, a sailor himself and previously a pilot & HM of Perth, gave me some vital navigation advice about sailing up the shallow River Tay (photo 3). Initially a Merchant Navy "Deck Cadet", he came ashore after reaching the rank of 2nd Mate* and worked as a VTS officer in Southampton. VTS - or Vessel Traffic Services - is the equivalent of an Air Traffic Controller for ports and us yachties are often politely asked to avoid getting in the way of Super Tankers by the VTS. Ryan is the HM to three ports owned by the large Forth Ports Group - Dundee, Leith (see later post) and Methil (think Proclaimers Song - Letter from America - "Methil no moour"!).
Dundee harbour is essentially a very deep-water quayside 5 miles up the Tay estuary - perfect for manoeuvering large, deep, unwieldy vessels such as oil rigs. It specialises in the decommissioning of rigs with a crane that can lift 860t at the end of a 24m boom (photo 5) and concrete "lay down areas" that can happily stand 80t / sq m being plonked on them. I saw a couple of oil rigs being prepared for export - one to Russia (photo 6) and the wonderfully named Rowan Gorilla VII which was having its "jack up" legs extended for deep water drilling in NZ.
Ryan's most unusual job involved one of the new generation of "floating" wind turbines which ended up being built 3m deeper than his harbour bottom. He used 90t buoyancy bags to float it out to sea safely.
Dundee's history is extensive - the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery was built here for Scott and Shackleton's Antarctic expedition and now lies here as a museum (photo 9). Jute was imported via the harbour from India, and processed in over 100 mills. (I will let you Google the Jam and Journalism bit!). Dundee was a rich city and still is with the stunning V&A Design Museum (photo 10). Thank you Ryan for a great visit.
*I have just researched the word "Mate" as a rank and cannot find out anything!