Cybercaptain: HMY Britannia

Thursday, January 02, 2020

HMY Britannia

I was visiting my friend Wendy in Edinburgh for the New Years celebrations we did a lot of walking and one of my bucket list items was to visit the ex Royal yacht Britannia. She was these days decommissioned and repurposed as a museum down in Leith port (the yacht, not Wendy).

HMY Britannia stylized poster

The last time I saw the HMY Britannia was in Hong Kong back in July 1997 when she was there on her last assignment for the handover. The Yacht served as Prince Charles base when shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa took over gubernatorial duties from Chris Patten, the last British governor of the territory.

Britannia in Hong Kong (courtesy of Daily Telegraph)

Britannia in Hong Kong (courtesy of Reddit)

During the whole visit there I recall it was a very wet period with lot of rain as can be seen from the picture below. I think I only saw her as a glimpse when she was off HK at anchor, I still remember her blue hull gleaming among the sampans and other local boat wallahs on their junks.

Bow from the entry ramp

I was also there on Columbus Caravelle, sitting at our mooring buoy. I recall the evening when the papers were signed and festivities were on, the fireworks were massive but it was raining cats and dogs so one could not see hardly anything from afar although had the weather been clear we would have had the best view.

The pointy end

Our vantage place was at the Kai Tak airport when the fireworks took place some miles away close to Cruise terminal. The next morning I recall watching on the TV the consternation of reporters when the Red Army rolled into the territory on tanks when the rain was pouring down, the perfect picture of depression for the sleuths.

Aft deck (been awhile since those decks were scrubbed)

Really nothing changed for the regular joe back then, all changes happened in the corridors of power and political level. I still worked in Hong Kong waters until end of 2000, after which we we were relocated to Singapore. If nothing else, I think the city lived on in it's own hectic pace of life as I recall the next time I visited Hong Kong in 2006 when I worked on the containership CMA CGM Capella and to me everything looked new but still sort of familiar after spending so many years there.

Bridge, watertight doors and stabiliser controls

Anyway, I digress, after the handover of the territory in July 1997 HMY Britannia left Hong Kong with Prince Charles and Chris Patten onboard for the return voyage to United Kingdom via Philippines. I imagine both disembarked in Manila for speedier means of travel back to ol'Blighty.

Emergency phone, the next step from tin cans and string

The decision to decommission had already been made in 1994 by the Conservatives (Viscount Cranborne of John Major's Gov't) and in the election campaign of 1997 they made an issue about commissioning a new HMY which didn't win popular sentiment in the polls. The new Labour Gov't, having won, didn't want to stick their neck out to the taxpayers by splurging on a new HMY so they stuck with the Tories (Robertson, Defence secretary of Tony Blair's Gov't).

Bridge, VHF and old Decca navigator

Professionally looking at the expense they had put on her upkeep I think personally she would not have been in a very bad nick to continue sailing but the whole debacle seems to have been more politically motivated than based on factual condition of the vessel. Maybe the boilers and steam turbines were on their last legs. I understand she was burning heavy fuel oil as well and not to think in what condition her shafts were as she had done over a million nautical miles (in between dockings) during her active lifetime. Like with everything technical, it would've been all serviceable or upgradable. Technically I imagine she must have been a very simple build compared to any modern ships as she had been preserved in original condition, she must've been very labor intensive.

Bridge

Upon arrival back to UK her first port of call was Portsmouth from where she continued in August on a Western Isles cruise ending in Aberdeen and she returned to Portsmouth for the summer and some maintenance. In October HMY left Portsmouth for a clockwise tour of Britain that also ended in Portsmouth.. She was decommissioned there on 11th Dec 1997 and the Queen issued a paying off letter. Then she was relocated to Leith and in May 1998 she was opened as a museum and that was where I was now paying a visit.

The royal barge

There was a lot of people around, clearly a popular attraction for all tourists in the area. Edinburgh and surrounds sounded more foreign than Scottish to me, the atmosphere was very cosmopolitan.

Ship side and tenders in davits

Anyway, I got onboard with Wendy and we wound through the exhibited tour which I think in the end could have involved a bit more of the engine room. What was surprising in the size of the vessel was all the division of all crew in their individual messes, no mixing between the classes I guess. Then again the crew was quite large for her size so maybe it was necessary in order to follow the naval customs.

Main dining

Acc. to Wikipedia she had a complement of 250 from the Royal Navy that served as long as they wished, the officers were appointed for 2 years at the time and numbered around 20 and the royal band was 25 when onboard (included in the complement of 250). The crew was called "yotties", not to be confused with yachties as in other yachts and onboard they had a special uniform and customs that set them apart from the rest of the Royal Navy.

Pantry with china

Guests capacity was 250. In comparison when I served on Columbus Caravelle (LOA 120 m/ GT 7560), her max carrying capacity was 512 persons and it wasn't very crowded, pretty much similar figures although CoCa had more volume by GT.

Pantry with silver tableware

Finished the tour with a cuppa in the cafeteria, that had been built on her aft after she was made into a museum, and got a fridge magnet as a memento of my visit from the giftshop. Having this done and dusted we walked off and found our way on foot back to Edinburgh.