Southampton

The Bargate

Having spent several weeks in Southampton and surroundings I made walks around town from time to time and here are a few pics of the city and ships passing by. Below are some evening photos of the historic Southampton center with the old city walls and the gate still standing next to the large shopping mall West Quay.

The Bargate

Southampton city gate

Southampton city wall

Southampton city wall

Then one weekend walking around Southampton it was really sunny and the warmth of the sun could be felt. I also saw plenty of flowering bushes/ trees in Palmerston park.

Notes of spring in Palmerston park

Notes of spring in Palmerston park

Notes of spring in Palmerston park

Whiskey Blue (closed since 2023) building on High Street

Peterborough road Gurdwara

Guildhall square

Repurposed church, now a gurdwara on Onslow road

Titanic Engineers memorial on Above Bar Street

Old merchant house, from 1400's

Duke of Wellington pub (est 1400's, building from 1200's)

Holyrood church ruins on Bernard street

Southwestern House on Canute road

At Ocean Village marina life passes by slowly in front of our bow and I was able to catch some of these passers by.

Volunteers out boating

Naval hovercraft

m/v Arklow Cliff passing by (IMO no: 9757125)

Arklow Cliff particulars:
Builder: Ferus Smit (Holland) 2017
Registry: Arklow, Ireland

Class: Bureau Veritas
LOA/ LBP/ Beam Mld: 87.40m / 84.99m / 14.99m
TPC/ Summer draft / DW: 11.7 mt / 6.26 m / 5060 mt
Air draft: 21.7m
GT/NT: 2999 / 1792

m/v Arklow Cliff, special bow

Arklow shipping started in the 1960's and they tell about their history on their website including their ships particulars and fleet that currently stands at 50+ vessels. The Arklow Arrow-class (and similar Arklow "B" series) vessels, designed by Ferus Smit, feature a modified bow form tailored for iceclass 1A requirements. These bulk-oriented general cargo ships utilize a specialized, efficient bow design rather than a traditional bulbous bow, optimized for navigating ice-heavy waters and coastal European operations. It also reminds me of the old coal tramp steamers or dreadnoughts (just the ramming bar missing) from the beginning of the 1900's.

Historical T/B Storebror (Big Brother), built 1947, with 

barge "VR49", built 1959, as side tow, Jan Ellingsen's outfit

Rix Union particulars:

Builder: Dtsg Sava Shipyard - Macvanska Mitrovica, Serbia, 2001

Registry: Limassol, Cyprus

Class: RINA
LOA/ Beam Mld: 89.90m / 15.20m
Depth mld / Summer draft / DW: 7.10m / 5.64 m / 4240 mt

Air draft: 26.70m
GT/NT: 2999 / 1503

m/v Rix Union passing by (IMO no 9256559)

Rix Union is managed by a Latvian company, Rix Shipmanagament Ltd, that was founded in 2013. They employ the Cyprus registry, apparently with eastern crews and they state that they "focus on maximizing client profitability while minimizing costs through rigorous control and efficient operations". They seem to have about 40 ships under management, the fleet appears to be of a relatively mature profile.

Split hopper barge Nab passing by (IMO no 8995196), built 1978

As we were returning to Southampton we had a spot of bad visibility that improved when passing Isle of Wight coming from Needles into the Solent and then went bad again after Yarmouth to the Calshot reach but luckily the traffic was not busy at all so we made it well back to the marina.

City of Chichester dredger (IMO no 9141766), built 1997

Local boat passing is off Yarmouth (Isle of Wight)

Jenkins dredging Ocean Village

Then we were moved to another berth while our full time berth was dredged by Jenkins marine. They had a nifty motorized barge with 2 jackup legs that would make her stationary. She had in the bow an excavator that was used to dig up up the mud. Then bring alongside another barge for the mud and bob's your uncle when you send it away to empty the load offshore to some dumping ground. 

Nice days at Ocean Village

Calm nights at Ocean Village 

s/y Craftsmans Art coming into marina, built 1992

m/y Brave Challenger

Brave Challenger was built in 1958 by Vosper as a private yacht for Stavros Niarchos who required (and received) what is believed to have been the fastest yacht in the world at that time with special permission for civilian use.

Based on the Vosper Brave Class patrol boats, but not a conversion, the vessel represents the height of marine technology of the 1950s and 1960s. She incorporates original design features including hull construction (wooden), propulsion systems and propeller design. She's powered by three Rolls-Royce gas turbines totaling 13,500 SHP and has a proven top speed of 60 knots. Higher speeds can be achieved using alternative Vosper designed fully cavitating high speed propellers.

General arrangement of Brave Challenger (credit: BOAT international)

A major refit was undertaken in 1980 when an enclosed bridge and cruise (for maneuvering) diesels were added. The vessel is still intact but required extensive refurbishment of mechanical and electrical systems, and her superstructure needed repairs.

She was moved to Trafalgar Wharf, Porchester, UK in 2018 and underwent an exterior restoration as part of a planned two stage refit, unfortunately the second stage was delayed due to covid issues. She was therefore re-launched and moved to Ocean Village Marina in Southampton. 

Their website has no further updates so I guess the project is waiting for funds or investors to get the project last stage completed.

sts Prolific (IMO no 4505199), built 2005

Axopar maneuvering in Ocean Village

Interestingly I saw a an Axopar maneuvering in the marina basin, she is probably a new model with brand spanking new outboard engines on. For these waters she's probably well suited with the full beam cabin option. I think with this option you get to the bow via a hatch. The ones I've seen in the Med have walkways by the side of the cabin or are totally open. 

Axopar maneuvering in Ocean Village

We then had to do a pitstop at Hythe shipyard to pick up our serviced liferafts, it was easy to get rid of them but kind of hard to manhandle them back into position so sorted out a lifting arrangement with Hythe as they were already doing stuff for us. We coupled this together with a engine performance test which we passed with flying colors and then made the approach to the pier. It was a quite high metal pontoon that was left by the US forces and I had a hefty current and wind blowing me south but managed to get alongside without any incidents. It was a bit tricky as there was first a lifeboat bouncing in front of the jetty and then there was a crab pot too and in addition, close by, a boat mooring with a sailboat off it. The chart only showed 1.8m of water there at lowest astronomical tide but I had at high water nearly 8m of water so I guess the depth is much more than charted. The staff quickly lifted onboard our rafts and then we were quickly off back to our berth on the same high water.

Red Funnel ferry off Hythe

Hythe shipyard (Hampshire) is famed for the British Power Boat Company, established in 1927 by Hubert Scott-Paine, which mass-produced military patrol boats and motor torpedo boats (MTBs) during WWII. It later served as RAF Hythe, specializing in air-sea rescue craft and U.S. Army vessel maintenance until 2006, before becoming a marine business park.

s/y Tilly

I saw off Hythe pier a neglected but nice looking sail boat with a ketch rig. Looking at her stern she is named "Tilly" and after a bit of creative online searching I found out that she was used by a family to live on from 2012 until 2016 or so. Looks like once the delight in living on the sea worn off and the dream of sailing the world became more distant she was tied up to a buoy and then the dream was slowly forgotten about. Or just life happened, kids grow up, goals change and time runs ever increasing in the never-ending fast rat-race and now she has suddenly sat 10 years on the mooring buoy. Maybe she will be resurrected one day and brought back to life?

s/y Tilly in better days (credit Claire Potter)

As per their blog: "Tilly is a 53ft (16m) Ferro Cement yacht, she is a Samson C-Master (according to the plans). Her hull was professionally built in 1980s by the Gubbey brothers (Bedhampton) and she was later bought and fitted out by a professor in the North East of England. After that she had another owner in the North East of England who changed the layout slightly. Now she lives with us on the South Coast" (credit: Claire Potter).

s/y Tilly in better days (credit: Claire Potter)

At same time I came across an article of abandoned ships outlining the cost of disposing them and an upwards trend for this after covid when not everyone can afford to upkeep a boat anymore. I had come across similar articles when I researched bits for my Bristol blog. Furthermore, it is notable that Tilly has a special hull made of ferrocement (FCB) and reading about them is a whole different story, they were very popular back in the day but as they got older a lot of them deteriorated pretty quickly, only few survive today. Here is some history on Wikipedia about FCB's and there are not many con's for a deep-sea sailer except perhaps the weight (less speed) which should not matter much if you are not in a hurry. 

S/y Tilly

Early History & WWI of Hythe shipyard: 

Originally a small yard in the 1700s, it later saw activity during WWI with May, Harden & May, which built Felixstowe flying boats for the Royal Naval Air Service.

British Power Boat Company (1927–1946): Hubert Scott-Paine purchased the yard to create a modern boat production facility. It became known as the home of "little ships," producing award-winning racing boats and military craft (MTBs, Air/Sea Rescue launches).

Famous Connections: T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) worked with Scott-Paine here from 1931–1932 to develop high-speed rescue tenders.

WWII & Post-War: The yard saw massive activity building armored target boats and fast military vessels. Following the war, it closed, later becoming a logistical site.

RAF Hythe & US Army (1960s-2006): The site was used as a military base (RAF Hythe) and was later occupied by the US Army to maintain watercraft until 2006. More history of Hythe is here.

Hythe pier, lifeboat training davit

Hythe pier pontoon

One evening I took the opportunity of going for dinner at the Oak Inn next to the New Forest. This was a very cosy and traditional pub with a lady serving the few guests in there. I went safe and chose the fish and chips which was very large in the end and greatly satisfied any hunger pangs.

Oak Inn in New Forest

Another evening I went for dinner with Hamish and tried out their burgers. I went for the pulled vagyu variety that seems to be their popular one. It was also really good and I washed it down with a pint of local 0% cider and water.

Rockstone pub with delicious burgers

Rockstone Lane ancient smoke stacks of the rowhouses

Fast boats at Ocean Village

There is also in the marina a very fast looking sailing boat which I found out was created by Southampton-based yacht racing management company Whitecap and supported by Artemis Investment Management LLP, Vendée2020Vision is seeking to rejuvenate British participation in the solo non-stop round the world race. I guess she's not doing much raving now but still looked to be in relatively good shape. It was interesting to look at her up close and get an understanding of the very wide stern. More of the sailing initiative here.

Fast boats at Ocean Village

Fast boats at Ocean Village

We also started prepping for summer and had the deckboys do their PWC instructor courses. I'm sure it was pretty chilly but nevertheless I think they enjoyed and in the end of the day they all passed.

RYA training

RYA training

m/y Zippo at her berth

Sunny day in Ocean Village, large Sunseeker at her berth

View towards Hythe