S.T. ALWYN VINTCENT - Recently Updated Pages

Contacts, Credits And Links

bashfordg — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:11:40 CDT

For Further Information About The "Alwyn Vintcent" or material contained within this website please contact in the first instance:

Ascension Marine Pty Ltd

email: bashfordg@gmail.com

mobile telephone: 0403 490 403 (Australia) 61 403 490 403 (International)

Credits:

Iziko Museums Of Cape Town for making the "Alwyn Vintcent" available. Further details of their current projects may be found at http://www.iziko.org.za/

Dylan Knott of ARM Consultants South Africa for his assistance, photographs and enthusiasm.

Stuart Burgess of Cape Town for his professional assistance.

Sue Lawrence of Frankston, Victoria for her assistance and support.

Charles Roux for his dedication, assistance and hard work in restoring the vessel.

Links:

Australian Steam Tugs.
S.T. "Wattle" (Victoria) www.sorrentosteam.com.au/

S.T. "Yelta" (South Australia) www.history.sa.gov.au/maritime/vessels/yelta.htm

S.T. "Waratah" (New South Wales) http://www.shf.org.au/Wartah/Wartah.html

S.T. "Forceful" (Queensland) http://www.maritimemuseum.com.au/Collections/forceful.htm

Australian Preservation Efforts:

M.V. "Cape Don" (New South Wales) http://www.mvcapedonsociety.org.au/

Clipper Ship "City Of Adelaide" Preservation Trust (South Australia) http://www.cityofadelaide.org.au/

Sydney Heritage Fleet: http://www.shf.org.au/

New Zealand Steam:

Steam Incorporated, Paekakariki, Wellington. http://www.steaminc.org.nz/

Midland Rail Heritage Trust. Springfield, Canterbury, New Zealand. http://www.midlandrailheritage.co.nz/

South African Steam Tugs:

S.T. "JR More" (Durban) http://www.allatsea.co.za/jrmore.htm

S.T. "Ulundi" (Durban) http://www.allatsea.co.za/pilot.htm (The "Alwyn Vintcent" also features here)

South African Preservation Efforts:

"S.A.S. Somerset" http://www.iziko.org.za/somerset/history.html

The Vintcent Family:

http://www.vintcent.com/famtree/index.html

The Union Castle Line:

http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/ucl.htm

Discussion Boards and Groups:

Ships Nostalgia: http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/forum.php

Maritime History Downunder (Yahoo Group) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maritime_history_downunder/

Tugboats (American Yahoo Group) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tugboats/

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

S.T. ALWYN VINTCENT

bashfordg — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:44:12 CDT

The steam tug Alwyn Vintcent (AV) turned 50 in 2008.

She is about to embark on an exciting new chapter in her career.

Her history is told on this site. If you have a memory or story about the tug we encourage you to tell it (see links below for individual stories).

In 1958, the South African Railways and Harbours Administration had contracted to build almost identical, five 90 foot steam powered "pilot tugs" for work within South African ports.

These vessels were for used towing lighters in addition to general work within the ports, however two of these were built with a clear aft deck area in order to transfer passengers to and from visiting ships lowered by baskets.

They were the Alwyn Vintcent and the SJ Harrison.

The the other tugs, William Weller, Cecil G White and JE Eaglesham were not used for passenger transfers and thus did not have this clear aft area.

All five vessels were unique in terms of design and construction.

They were designed in the UK and supplied with some machinery, etc (again from the UK,) however were built under contract in Italy. (including the most of the machinery.)

Hulls were both welded and riveted.

It is likely that these vessels were amongst the last "hand fired" coal steamships ever built. (Usually Oil Firing was used later for steam powered vessels following 1950.)

On 26 May 1959, the Alwyn Vintcent arrived In Cape Town for the first time, towed by the Dutch tug Hudson.

Following successful sea trials, she was sent to Mossel Bay, which became her main port of service, where she was officially commissioned on 15 July 1959 (See Bob's Story).

She was named after Alwyn Vintcent (1862 - 1918), a past chairman of the Mossel Bay Boating Company, and member of the Harbour's Advisory Board. (Find out more about the Vintcent family in the Contacts and Credits section).

In 1965 the Stirling Castle, on her final voyage, made the last mailship call to Mossel Bay. The AV had the honour, as one of the last servicing pilot tugs, to carry the Royal Mail prior to the introduction of the accelerated mail service.

Although cargo work had ceased with the mail steamers, a weekly Unicorn Line vessel delivered sugar to the port. The AV carried pilots to these ships and assisted them into port and upon sailing.

In 1983, the AV was replaced by a modern diesel powered tug and retired from service. She entered private ownership and along with the SJ Harrison and RA Leigh was destined to sail from Cape Town to Australia in the same year. The vessels made it no further than Port Elizabeth (See Martin's Story).

The AV was purchased by the South African Cultural History Museum, in 1988, for her satellite the South African Maritime Museum. In 1991 she was restored by the museum and returned to service carrying passengers around Table Bay.(See Thomas' Story Part 1 & Part 2).

Unfortunately a reduced operating budget and personnel shortage saw the vessel leased to a private company in 1994. Earlier that year Cedric Hunter closed down the boiler for the last time stating: "She never moved under steam power again and she was the last South African ship to do so. I gained the poignant distinction of being the one to close the era of South African Maritime Steam...." (See Cedric's Story)

In fact the AV was the last operational steamship on the South African register.

Although her steam plant was still operational some systems required attention and due to increasing operating costs a diesel powered hydraulic system was installed to 'drive' the propeller shaft by disconnecting it from the main engine (See Anton's Story). Following this conversion to a diesel/hydraulic drive, the engine and boiler rooms were closed to the public. The operation as a motor vessel, however, was not successful with people preferring more modern and luxurious vessels.

The tug was returned to the museum and de-commissioned in 2000.

Throughout the ensuing years, budget restrictions, and changes within the museum's operational structure prevented the museum from managing the vessel and although placed in 'open storage' she , like any ship unable to be maintained, soon showed signs of neglect.

Reluctantly the decision was made to de-accession the vessel from the social history collection and sell her. In April 2008, seven years after being laid up, she was sold into Australian private ownership.

Of the five vessels built, William Weller, Cecil G White, SJ Harrison, JE Eaglesham and Alwyn Vintcent, only the Alwyn Vintcent survives, virtually 'as built'. The Weller and Eaglesham succumbed to the 'cutters torch' whereas the White and Harrison were converted to diesel power and extensively modified.

There are only three surviving South African steam tugs left in the world.

As one of these, and the only survivor of her class, the Alwyn Vintcent is truly a rare and unique piece of maritime steam history.

Home Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Australian Use

bashfordg — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:47:38 CDT

The Core Principle Governing The "Alwyn Vintcent" Is To Ensure Its Preservation And Assist With The Preservation And Promotion Of Vintage Plant And Machinery.

This is may be achieved through commercial use in the following areas:

Availability as a working vessel:

Both Harbour and Ocean with heavy weather capability, the vessel is a powerful compact single screw tug with salvage / firefighting capability. (To operate relevant USL Survey)

Passengers:

Ability to carry up to 52 day passengers to suit a variety of applications. (Figures Based on 1D USL Survey)

Promotional:

A classic steamship that attracts attention.

Ideal for promotional cruises and advertising.

Able to be open to the general public for viewing / training purposes.

Educational:

Although powered by steam, the "Alwyn Vintcent" differs little from her equivalent aged diesel counterparts, to be fitted with modern electronics and built with electrical and hydraulic installations comparable to vessels of today.

The vessel is ideally suited to a variety of maritime training / demonstration purposes and of particular benefit is the ability to assist persons studying for a certificate of Marine Engine Driving Grade 2 (Steam) or many other steam related trade certificates.

Commercially Competitive Diesel vs Steam:

The "Alwyn Vintcent" has one outstanding advantage over a comparable diesel powered equivalent... it is far more cost effective to operate.

Ongoing maintenance and insurance costs (compared to a diesel vessel of comparable capacity) present little difference, however wage costs are greater as more crew are required to operate a steamer.

However it is the cost of fuel that makes the difference.

Marine diesel averages at $1.35 per litre ( after application of govt rebate / source Orima Research 30/3/2008).

An "economical" tug of comparable bollard pull typically uses 55 l / hr, thus costing $74.25 per hour fuel only.

12 hours continuous operation therefore costs $891.00 in fuel.

The "Alwyn Vintcent" burns coal at a rate of 3.0 mt per 24 hr day at full capacity.

Furnace Coal is presently priced at $70.00 mt.

Over the same period, the vessel will burn 1.5 mt (maximum) of coal, equating to a cost of $105, a difference of $786 every 12 hours!

Additional Crew not found on diesel craft include 2 x Stokers and 1 x additional engineer.

Wage costs are approx $384 greater than the diesel vessel for the same period. (Source WBCI award Qld)

Despite the wage difference a saving of $446 (over 12 hr operational period) is still gained which is substantial.

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Cedric's Story

bashfordg — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:38:42 CDT

South Africa’s Last Breath of Maritime Steam
My story of the steam tug ALWYN VINTCENT
By Cedric Hunter

An abiding interest in the designs and workings of ships’ engines compelled me in late 1990 to join a small team of volunteers who had begun to restore the South African Maritime Museum’s steam tug, Alwyn Vintcent. Our task for the maritime museum was to get her back to working order under steam power, after years of neglect, and prepare her for safely taking passengers on harbour excursions.

The A.V., at an overall length of 90ft (27m), was built in Italy as one of five sister tugs for service in South African ports. Though built as late as 1958, not only were these tugs steam propelled (as opposed to diesel), each fitted with the orthodox triple-expansion engine, but their boilers (all of 3.3m in diameter) were of the hand stoked, coal-fired type, as opposed to the oil-fired boilers of virtually all new steam ships of that time. Yet, this archaic power plant with its modest output of 360hp (at 130 revs./min.) was, despite the Vintcent’s 200 displacement tons, able to drive her deep hull through the water at a very respectable ten knots, and much more quietly than a diesel engine would have.

The classic marine steam engine’s enormous torque (turning power) and direct reversibility enabled it to be directly coupled (i.e. without intervention of any gears) to the shaft of a big efficient propeller – in the Vintcent’s case of 2.1m diameter. The A.V. and her sisters were therefore endowed with powerful and rapid maneuvering ability, enough to rouse the envy of the crew of any present day single-screwed diesel tug.

Thoughts of such tug performance inspired us volunteer workers as we laboured on, weekend after weekend, below decks in the engine room and boiler room. Sadly, over the first three months at least, our on-board workforce seldom exceeded four, which at times rather taxed the general morale. One of our paltry number was retired ex-Royal Air Force engineer, Richard Carne, who headed our A.V. project and chaired its committee, apart that is, from being our boss aboard and very hard working himself. Another was Tim Parks, a Welshman in his mid-30’s, who was some years later to become a sea-going engineer. Equally devoted, he had joined Richard some weeks before a small appeal in the press (four volunteers), had my wife drop me off at the V&A Waterfront, to board the tug and look in on the action.

The two of them were on the main engine’s catwalk and had just unbolted and lifted off the cover to the valve that transfers exhaust steam from the high pressure cylinder to the medium pressure cylinder. My obvious interest, and more than a hint at knowing exactly what I was looking at (from that ample book-learned knowledge of ships’ engines to which I like to lay claim), hardly drew any gesture of welcome from them. I was surprised therefore, when leaving a while later, to be stopped in my tracks, by Richard’s abrupt command that I join them on the following Saturday morning.

After some weekends aboard, toiling in old shabby clothes, I donned a spanking new boiler suit, to such applause from R and T, that I promptly ordered Richard to reserve only the cleanest jobs for me. His expected scoff was telling enough, for a week later I was in the boiler’s smoke box using a long iron bar to ram repeatedly at the uptake’s great “butterfly valve” above, which was jammed shut. The reason? Years of accumulated carbon and rust deposited on the valve from inside the tug’s tall funnel. The valve eventually yielded and Tim, who had eagerly awaited that moment, yanked at its external lever above the boiler causing the valve plate to jettison all its smothering sediment down into the smoke box overwhelming its forgotten occupant. He, gasping, and his prized boiler suit, then emerged, blacker than the Ace of Spades. But, as it had been a good productive day, I couldn’t help but join in the all round laughter, and probably smiled my way into sleep that night – not before at least three baths in a row, of course.

The success of our project so seriously depended on the soundness of the tug’s boiler, that its reconditioning was priority no 1. Of about fourteen valves bolted to it, ranging from its big main and safety valves right down to the connections serving the water-level gauge glass, some needed to be disengaged in order, at least to re-seat them on fresh steam-tight gaskets. But many of the nuts and studs holding the valves down were so rust-jammed, that they sheared off at efforts to unscrew them, leaving their threaded bases embedded in the boiler shell.

This grave problem had to be handed over to specialised boiler fitters who actually materialised some weeks later, courtesy of an engineering company kindly disposed towards our A.V. project. Though the fitters managed soon enough to rectify the problem, I think a further couple of months went by before the boiler was finally deemed ready for its crucial hydraulic pressure test. On the appointed day, a long-levered pump was connected to the boiler’s prefilled water space. Then, in the presence of an officially appointed inspector and others, four of us, taking turns at the lever, got the water pressure up to the test-required 300 psi, being 50% over the boiler’s designed maximum working pressure of 200 psi. As the boiler had held up well throughout the test, the inspector declared it fit for service, to the great relief of all concerned.

A major focus of work all along, had been of course the Vintcent’s complicated engine room, which besides its 3m high main engine, boasts six steam driven auxiliaries, and a vast maze of live and exhaust steam pipes. Many steam space cover plates and fittings had to be unbolted and lifted so as to fit new steam-tight gaskets, studs and nuts, etc. Sections of loose asbestos insulation were in urgent need of rebinding. Pump valve chambers, including that of the big main-engine-driven Edwards “air” pump, had to be opened for inspection as did various pump-suction filter boxes, for cleaning. The hot well’s louvre cages had to be cleaned and repacked with fresh oil-absorbing material, not to mention the pipe and tank repair, electrical and many other jobs, both below decks and above, begging our attention.

Our seemingly intractable list of tasks was coupled with mounting concern over whether or not the buoyancy figures of our heavy-displacement tug would be officially acceptable for its vitally needed passenger-carrying certificate. Such was our need therefore for a surge of renewed confidence in the weeks leading up to the pressure testing of the boiler, that its hard-earned stamp of approval couldn’t have been better timed.

Almost immediately, our weekend workforce was boosted, not only by the more regular appearance of occasional volunteers and new ones, but also by the addition of none other than one Garnet Audie, the Vintcent’s chief engineer during her Mossel Bay years until she was finally decommissioned by the then owners of all our national tugs, the S.A. Railways and Harbours Administration. Garnet, employed by Portnet as a key manager of Cape Town’s harbour tugs, joined our committee in its early days, so he had already been of great value to the A.V. project by the time of the boiler test, given his wide circle of contacts in marine engineering and other fields of maritime service. But following the test, Garnet joined us on board where, for obvious reasons, his input was of the utmost importance as we feverishly pressed on preparing the tug for her eagerly awaited trials under steam power.

After a few weekends (+ some week days) of intensive making ready, including of course the charging of the Vintcent’s bunkers with several tons of coal (about 25% of full capacity) and filling her reserve feed water tank, we started up the boiler fires at about 4pm one Saturday. It was strict practice when heating the Scotch boiler from cold, to do so very slowly, over at least fifteen hours to working pressure. Richard and Tim with much sound advice, took turns through the night at tending the fires in both furnaces, until a couple of us took over from them early the following morning, freeing them for a breakfast break.

Garnet arrived later, as the most watched gauge was already telling of rising steam pressure. Hamish Matheson also joined our below-decks team on that momentous morning. As a professional ship surveyor, he was certainly an important member of our committee, but of consequence to us on-board workers then, was his background as a marine steam engineer, and that in his quiet way, he had very often toiled alongside us before.

There were about eight of us below, most moving between attending to something in the engine-room (oil can in hand), and helping in the boiler room, when a furnace door was opened to allow the blazing coal bed within to be raked, and then added to with shovel loads of fresh coal. Palpable all-round excitement mounted with the rising steam pressure; until Garnet finally ordered the “cracking” open of all the boiler’s steam supply valves and its feed water inlet valves.

Test starting of the steam auxiliaries then followed, beginning with the condenser’s circulating pump and the reserve feed water pump. This latter was of the non-rotative type as was our G.S. pump which we later put to pumping out the tug’s bilges. Starting any of our three rotative auxiliary engines had to be aided (after opening its throttle valve) by turning its single crank off centre for the steam to take over, by which instant it was of course vital to have withdrawn the turning-bar from its notch on that engine’s heavy flywheel.

The most awaited moment that morning, was heralded by Garnet’s opening of the main engine’s big stop valve. In silence and with bated breath, we watched as he then edged open the throttle and rocked the bypass lever. Fully visible on such steam engines, the big cranks, rods, crossheads, eccentrics and quadrants, all started to move together, to everyone’s great delight. But the motion was abruptly arrested by Garnet’s handling of the ahead/astern control, forcing the cranks to reverse their turning. This procedure, coupled with the frequent opening of the noisy cylinder drains, was repeated a number of times for the required warming through of the engine, after which Garnet set it to continue turning in the dead-slow ahead mode. The propeller was turning at about 30rpm, causing both our mooring lines to take gentle strain, and those of our fellow museum ship S.A.S. Somerset, alongside which the A.V. had been moored for some months. While some of us were still watching the mechanical motion, a few wonderfully stentorian blasts, way above us, signalled to all Cape Town that our tug’s steam whistle was in fine working order. And so too were found to be the stern steering gear and anchor’s windless, that morning.

“Ready for sea trials,” was finally declared to the appointed tug captain for the day, on whose subsequent orders, from the wheelhouse, the deck hands began to slip the mooring ropes. The alarm-like bell of our engine-room telegraph signalled the first order down to us, the dial indicating “slow astern”, then, after the A.V. parted company with the Somerset, by “slow ahead”. At this pace we left the Alfred basin through The Cut, in which an important blast of the tug’s whistle was always to give unsuspecting onlookers ashore a very evident fright.

We then at “half ahead” steamed through the Victoria Basin to the open water beyond, where the captain’s order for “full ahead” allowed Garnet finally to open the throttle to its limit. As there was no shortage of us below on that day, we took it in easy turns to enjoy the thrills on deck as the A.V., in typical heavy steam-tug fashion, ploughed its way through the water at about nine knots, its voluminous bow wash and boiling of the sea astern inspiring awe to say the least. An experienced stoker aboard helped us novices to keep the fires burning cleanly and strongly enough to sustain the demand for steam while our tug was being put through its paces. These included also a sharp turn or two to port and to starboard, and I think even, the anti-collision measure (when at full ahead) for rapidly stopping the ship by “slamming” the engine into full astern.

The Vintcent’s performance on that historic Sunday of her trials was hailed as a great success, the date being 28 April 1991, as on record in a letter to each of us committee members from Tom Graham, then curator and head of the Maritime Museum. The euphoria was of course short-lived, given all that had yet to be achieved for the tug to obtain its necessary classification for passenger carrying. Though we had occasionally steamed the A.V. in the interim, it was only in October that she was granted a certificate to carry a slightly disappointing maximum of 54 passengers, based on the findings of the buoyancy/stability tests. But in good faith, work had continued all along boosted too by input over the weekdays from the museum’s workers who did all the above-deck cleaning, scaling and painting, and by the generosity of the growing number of companies which between them, donated specialised services, materials and equipment, and even free use of the syncrolift for our painting of the hull, down to its keel.

All of which resulted in an immaculate looking steam tug, by the beginning of her first season as a harbour-excursion ferry, being the December holiday period of that year (1991). Regulation required that the A.V. be crewed by a captain and a chief engineer, both fully qualified, a “coxswain” (for steering), an engineer’s assistant, two stokers and four deck hands. She was therefore to steam only on those days for which commitments had been obtained from enough appropriate volunteers, to make up the full crew. The list, boosted a bit by offer of a very modest rank-based, earning per steaming day, had grown ample enough to allow for an easy spread of on-duty days between us.

There were at least three available ex-tug captains, and even more “chiefs” (engineers). And, as for deck hands, three of the Maritime Museum’s pre-trained staff were to be available for most steaming days, much reducing dependency on volunteers for that task. Hopefuls, without any relevant skills to offer, were to be assigned to on-the-job training as stokers, many of whom, as it turned out, becoming so disillusioned by the heat and arduous labour over long hours, they very soon deserted, leaving only a few dependable listed stokers. It was to ease this shortage that I was called upon to serve most of my on-duty days that season, as a stoker, on the remaining day or two, assisting instead in the engine-room.

Each steaming day began with the arrival of the stokers who had first to bring back to life, the “banked up” (ash smothered) glowing remains of the previous day’s coal beds. Then, with the arrival of the chief, and later the captain, standard procedure followed (as earlier described), leading of course to the day’s first trip, solely for dumping the previous day’s ash at sea, and steam-blasting the carbon dust from the boiler’s fire tubes. Our paying passengers joined us on the hourly trips that followed,
during which the A.V. steamed in both the Victoria and Duncan Basins, on occasion briefly loitering near a visiting sailing ship, or some other special attraction. One such was the vast cavernous remains of the bow of a massive tanker (in port for temporary repairs) that had lost most of its bow to very heavy seas off our notorious south coast.

The first steaming season (of over four weeks) went very well, due in no small part to the excellent all-round handling of the A.V. by captain Peter Moon, who had been appointed as her primary master, and as new head of our committee. Richard Carne had gladly stepped down, in favour then of restricting himself to being one of our crewing engineers.

Because of my reputation of enjoying it, I was generally tasked (whether on engine-room or stoking duty) with inviting small groups of curious passengers down to tell them briefly what they were looking at, and how it all worked, which usually led to amazement all round, most of them having probably never before imagined an engine other than a car’s. A little more knowledgeable, on another occasion, was a refined old lady who, professing to be in her mid-80’s, and to have sailed on steamships in her youth, requested an exclusive engine room tour. So the day’s chief and I helped her down the ladder. For quite a while, she watched the engine working and then asked such intelligent questions as greatly impressed us. She then, in the fierce heat of the boiler-room, watched the stokers at work, before finally thanking us, and being reunited with her anxious family.

Equally memorable was a day with my wife and 22-year-old daughter aboard. Among the least mechanically-minded people I knew, I was delighted to see them entranced for some time by the motion of the engine’s cranks and rods. After which, at Peter Moon’s invitation, we joined him for a chat in the tug’s beautiful wheelhouse, with its abundance of varnished wood and polished brasswork. There was also the time when Tim Parks (one of our chiefs by then) abandoned the engine room for an entire docking procedure, leaving me alone to man the main-engine controls. A dangerous trick as I had only ever been at those controls in steaming situations, between the manoeuvring spells.

Avoiding the winter months, those anecdotally-rich steaming seasons of the A.V. came and went, until finally came a day, one of engine room duty for me, on record as 10th January 1994, singled out to be the final day of that steaming season. Shutting down our tug’s steam plant took rather longer than the other day-end jobs aboard. So, on my days of duty, being commonly the last to leave the ship, I was the one targeted late that day with the instruction to “close down ship” for the season.

Not long after our docking, I was alone aboard, dismayed by the stokers having left fires far too ample for when no more steam is needed. Its rising pressure, halted briefly by my use of the reserve feed pump, compelled me finally to rake out the fires, dousing down (with piped sea water) the loads of burning coals as they piled up on the floor plates, spewing plumes of sulphurous ash and steam.

As the A.V. has never again moved under steam power in fifteen years since then (my writing now in 2009), and was the last South African-based ship (as opposed to launch) to do so, through my actions aboard that evening, I unknowingly gained the poignant distinction of being the one to have physically closed down the era of South African maritime steam – dating right back to the 1830’s. This is assuming of course, that none of our four remaining steam ships afloat, three being museum ships, is ever to steam again, highly unlikely given all it took to get the A.V. to do so, being the smallest of them by far.

Yes, she is still afloat, but not without a thwarted post-steaming history to say the least. With dwindling benefactor input, the A.V. eventually proved too expensive under steam power to earn her own keep, which obliged the cash-strapped Maritime Museum, later in 1994, to lease her to a private Waterfront-based company. Which with the Museum’s blessing installed a diesel-hydraulic propulsion unit in the tug’s after cabin. This unit was to infuriate many a passenger lured aboard by the sign’s “Steam Tug Rides” only to hear a diesel engine piping up below. But the venture managed to drag on until the tug was finally returned, in 1999, to the Museum, by then too short of staff and in serious financial straits.

So, unable to be cared for, and up for grabs, the A.V. languished at an isolated mooring, attracting little more than sea birds, and the mounting impatience of the Waterfront management. Word got around on the internet, attracting two Dutchmen who flew here in 2007 to inspect her, with a view to having her shipped back to their team of volunteer tug restorers in Holland. Though disgusted by the tug’s filthy state, they agonised for three weeks over estimated costs before finally withdrawing. Then, three Italians flew out. They were the captain, the mate, and the chief engineer of a steam tug owned by their employers, who wished to acquire a second one for use as a steam yacht. They too declined the offer, but only after the exchange of many anxious emails over at least two months. The only S.A. contender was the Mossel Bay Museum, wanting the Vintcent back in her home port as a shore-mounted heritage attraction. It was the red tape-linked failure of this mission that finally broke the patience of the Waterfront Company.

In April 2008, just when the Vintcent’s scrapping was about to commence, word came that Australian shipping enthusiast, Gordon Bashford, had bought the tug from the Maritime Museum for an undisclosed sum. Since then, through the efforts of Gordon’s appointed Cape Town-based manager and contractors, she has been thoroughly cleaned and spruced up for her grand trip to Australia, hopefully aboard a heavy-lift ship.

There, the A.V. is to be restored to steaming order, and perhaps work alongside other commercial tugs.

The transporting of the Alwyn Vintcent out of S. African waters by ship presents the most fitting moment for me, not only to bid our small ship farewell, but also on which to round off the story, based as it is almost entirely on my own first-hand experiences.

My connection with the SA Maritime Museum survived the disbanding of the A.V.’s volunteer steaming crew, one reason being my long-standing employment at the SA Museum, Cape Town. So, remaining the most immediately available of them even after my retirement in 2002, I was requested by Iziko Museums’-employed maritime archaeologist, Jaco Boshoff, to show the Dutch and the Italian visitors around on board the A.V.

Iziko is today the name of the umbrella body of 13 listed museum “sites” in and around Cape Town, examples being Iziko SA Museum, Iziko Slave Lodge, and Iziko SA Maritime Centre. This latter is, in terms of space and viewable collections, the very much shrunken descendant of our former maritime museum. Having been squeezed into rented upstairs space in an office building, the Maritime Centre shares a small main entrance below with a bank. And this, amidst the vast and lavish developments of the V&A Waterfront. A shame, to say the least, given that Cape Town is indisputably the mother city of South Africa’s maritime heritage.

Cape Town, March, 2009.

Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent

Canberra1 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:26:24 CST

On this page are listed stories about the Alwyn Vintcent by people who had an association with the tug. Click on the link to read the individual stories.

Bob's Story

Thomas' Story Part 1

Thomas' Story Part 2

Anton's Story

Martin's Story

Cedric's Story
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Alwyn Vintcent Revisited: Part 2

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:56:48 CDT

Thomas - Australia

The establishment of the SAMM, and the re-steaming of the AV, coincided with the development of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A). The V&A was established as a company in 1988, the Pierhead precinct opened two years later, and thereafter it evolved rapidly, with additional development phases, notably Victoria Wharf, to become the highly successful retail, recreational and residential facility it is today. Its impressive annual visitor growth reached 21 million in 2006 – equivalent to the total current population of Australia!

I was fortunate to witness the V&A change from a working harbour, without any visitor facilities, other than the fantastic view of Table Mountain, the odd historic building, ubiquitous seals and seagulls, to become the city’s premier tourist destination. The AV was one of the prime visitor attractions of the V&A.

When she arrived the AV was double banked, alongside the Somerset, at west quay. In those days west quay was solely a working harbour. It was dirty, seedy, and smelly; without tourist amenities (the Cape Grace Hotel was only built seven years later). No less than five tall grey derelict cranes stood side by side, on the quayside next to the vessels (within a few years they were cut up and sold for scrap).

The fully operational Robinson Drydock was alongside and the rest of the quay was shared with Irvin & Johnson fishing trawlers. The trawlers were a menace and one weekend both the Anemone and Erica collided into the AV while turning circle within the basin; fortunately with limited damage.

The north quay, with its warehouse, later to be converted into the Victoria and Alfred Hotel, also acted as a berth for a number of fishing trawlers from a rival company. At the southern end of the basin was the syncrolift, one of the harbour’s main repair facilities, to which both vessels would pay future visits (the AV annually).

Behind west quay was a large quarry containing huge petroleum storage tanks. The storage tanks were removed several years later and the quarry flooded in 1996 to create another inner basin which today is encircled by residential apartments, the Two Oceans Aquarium and One-and-Only Hotel (the latter under construction in 2008).

In 1989 the Somerset and AV were located where the future cut to flood the quarry was to be made. Today there is a drawbridge across the cut where the two vessels used to be moored.

By the time the AV arrived at the V&A the SAMM had a year’s experience restoring the SAS Somerset, the museum’s first floating exhibit. The Somerset was a former Royal Navy and South African Navy, Boom Defence Vessel, built in 1941. I think the SACHM purchased the vessel for one rand from the SA Navy (an administrative necessity!). She had been decommissioned in 1986 and laid up in Simons Town, her fate uncertain, until transfer to the museum. Captain Bob Hind, her last commanding officer, towed the vessel to Table Bay in May 1988, where she was moored at west quay.

A couple of months later the museum appointed David MacIlroy, a former Royal Navy and retired SA Navy warrant officer, who had served as an engineer aboard the Somerset for many years, to oversee her restoration. It was a good appointment as ‘Mac’ knew the vessel intimately and had many contacts within the Navy, which he used to secure extra parts and support for the vessel. More importantly, his experience and pride in naval tradition and standards motivated him to ensure the vessel always looked her best. Under Mac, and principally his crew, the Somerset (and the AV) was painted from stem to stern, funnel to decks; every piece of brass shone brightly, every cabin carefully made up, woodwork and stores flawlessly maintained and the decks spotlessly clean.

Mac was provided with a manual labour force of four. He was a strict task master and went through a string of staff as a consequence of his tough command and the hard physical nature of the work. In time, a good, stable and reliable team remained: Victor Amos, Derek Green, Morgan Andrews and his father Joseph. When Joseph retired he was replaced by Chris Adams. In addition, the museum appointed a day time attendant to deal with the public, Frank Crosbie, and two night security officers, David Ngcelwane and B. Zilwa, who together with the day crew provided all important 24 hour, 365 day surveillance.

This was the team (to be joined later by Dave Clarke [ship model builder] and Jaco Boshoff [maritime archaeologist]) and environment the AV became a part of when she returned to Cape Town in 1989.

It would be another two years before she would steam again and much work remained to be done.

For the rest of the year four additional casual staff were employed to repaint the superstructure and internal compartments (we managed to keep two positions on a permanent basis). Armed with manual chipping hammers and needle scalers operated by compressed air, layers of rust were removed from the vessel before a primer was applied followed by fresh coats of gloss paint. To paint the funnel, scaffolding was erected on deck around it to provide safe and easy access and, at the same time, to fit a specially made galvanised iron cover to stop the entry of rain water. The wooden wheelhouse was sanded down and new layers of varnish applied. All compartments were thoroughly cleaned and painted. An inventory was made of missing or broken furnishings and equipment which over time was either replaced or repaired. Electro Marine checked her wiring to ensure it was in good working order.

The AVs plans, all important for assessment and operations, were tracked down. They arrived from Portnet in large black tin cylinders, about a metre long, with a cap lid. Inside were leaves of large linen plans, neatly rolled and kept together by two wooden batons fastened by brass screws. The most relevant ones were copied for general use and the originals stored.

Once the superstructure, wheelhouse and many of the internal compartments were cleaned and painted preparations were made to slip the vessel to inspect and paint her hull.

I was supported in these preparations by the collective expertise of members of the South African Maritime Museum Advisory Committee (SAMMAC). The committee had been established to guide the museum’s direction and development. It was chaired by Bruce Black, an engineer at the Cape Town City Council, and generally met monthly, initially at the SACHM, but later on board the Somerset and after the SAMM opened in Workshop 17, in December 1990, within the museum itself.

Its membership included representatives from:

South African National Maritime Museum Trust (Bruce Black)
Portnet (Captains Antrobus, Shewell and Spengler)
Master Mariner’s Association of South Africa (Captain Ridge)
South Africa Navy (Admirals Singleton and Kramer)
South African Ship Society (Ian Black)
Cape Town City Council (Alderman Rabinowitz)
South African Institute of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects (Theo Moekli)
Community/Independent representative (Gawie Fagan).

Anton Roux (Director of SACHM) and I, as museum staff, were ex officio members, and I served as secretary to the committee in addition to my broader duties as manager/curator of the SAMM.

The SAMMAC, particularly Bruce Black, its chair, played a significant role in championing the acquisition of the Somerset and the restoration of both vessels.

Coordinating the contributions of the various members I organised to slip the AV in the first week of April 1990. She was moved to the syncrolift by the Kestrel, one of Portnet’s harbour craft, and removed from the water for the first time in many years. To protect her newly painted superstructure it was covered by thick tarpaulins and all her doors securely fastened and padlocked, for dust protection and to prevent theft (24 hour security was also a necessity).

Nautilus Marine was contracted to high pressure hose, grit blast and repaint her hull and clean her propeller. An NDT survey showed the hull to be sound except in three small areas where sections of metal plate were cut out and replaced. In other places badly pitted areas were strengthened through spot welding. New zinc anodes were fitted. This work was completed by a team from ICAL Offshore, thanks to the involvement of Louw Roodman. In addition, Valvetech checked all the sea valves and the Department of Transport completed their own full survey.

The tug remained on the lift for twenty days, longer than initially planned; the extended stay and thorough inspections, painting and minor repairs were well worth it considering this was her first major slip in many years.

Although covered with tarpaulins fine particles of black grit found their way into most spaces and took the shine off the superstructure motivating Mac to get his team to give it another coat of white and yellow paint. They also needle scaled all the bunker lids, replaced any damaged handles and applied new seals - important for below decks to remain dry.

For several months the SAMMAC had been canvassing and drawing up a list of people the museum could approach to work as volunteers to get the tug operational once more. The museum’s limited resources required this approach.

The re-steaming initiative received a major boost in September 1990 when Richard Carne, a retired Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander, and then Secretary of the Cruising Association of South Africa (now SA Sailing), stepped forward to begin and lead a work party. The group met fortnightly, on Wednesdays at 5.30pm aboard the Somerset to plan tasks, discuss technical detail, report on progress and to solicit additional help and support. Bruce Black and many other members of the SAMMAC got involved to share their contacts and expertise, and valuable contributions came from Hamish Matheson, Louw Roodman, Captain Powell, Garnet Audi, Clive Nessling, Tim Parkes, Cedric Hunter and Dave Clarke.

Discussions were energised, focused and robust. The commitment, despite hurdles, and handicaps, unwavering. Many of the team had trained on steam, had a passion for steam or were mechanically minded. There was a great spirit amongst the group and at the end of the meetings we’d walk across the caisson of the drydock and along the cobbled stones to Ferryman’s Tavern, the first pub in the V&A, operated by Mitchell’s Brewery, a family business based in Kynsna. They brewed excellent beer and many a pint of Forrester’s Lager, or Bosun’s Bitter, quenched our thirsts, and invigorated the banter of post meeting camaraderie and festivities.

Work parties were organised over weekends, generally on Sundays. In many instances Richard Carne cast a solitary figure as he worked through the engine and boiler room checking machinery, his oil smudged white overall testimony to many long hours of work. His hard work did pay off with the vessel passing a series of inspections in January 1991. In the same month a new rope fender was sourced from Portnet, winched and chained into place on the bow of the tug to complete her functional look.

There was regular communication and consultation with Captain Dernier at the Department of Transport who ultimately had to declare the vessel sea worthy and issue a craft licence for 60 passengers. The white canister life rafts were serviced and renewed; new life jackets and flares purchased and stored on board; a-man-overboard iron ladder built and fitted when sailing; stainless steel stanchions and a protective wire fitted around the vessel for passenger protection; a new radio and clock fitted and gangway ordered.

An initial target date, to raise steam, was set for the 4 December 1990, the day the SAMM opened its land exhibitions inside Workshop 17. It was hoped we could add to the festivities of the opening by blowing the AV’s whistle and to turn auxiliary machinery.

It took a little longer and was worth the wait.

On the last weekend in April 1991 preparations were complete and the hard work done. The fires were lit, the boiler slowly heated, steam gradually raised, moorings released and the AV left the Somerset under her own power. With Captain Powell at the helm, Garnet Audi controlling the engine and Ian Moreland stoking the fires, as the senior crew, the AV embarked on her first sea trials after many years. She sailed through the cut into the Victoria Basin, with a blast of her powerful whistle, soon to become her distinctive trademark sound, out into the Duncan Dock and then the larger Ben Schoeman Dock of Table Bay Harbour.

It was wonderful to witness the throb of her triple expansion engine; the smell of oil mingled with steam and coal; the hot glow of her burning fires; the thrust of coal shovels into her bunkers; the blast of her whistle; and the telegraph bells ringing changes from her bridge, accompanied by commands through the voice pipes: ‘Half ahead!’; ‘Slow astern!’. The instructions repeated in turn by the engineer.

With the old South African flag and colourful bunting flapping briskly in the wind she looked a perfect picture as she eased across the water trailing a light plume of smoke.

The AV was back in business!

Over the next four years, generally over the Easter and December school holidays (when visitor numbers were at a peak), the museum operated the vessel as a passenger vessel taking tourists on pleasure cruises through the various basins of Table Bay Harbour (our licence did not extend beyond the Breakwater).

By this time both the Somerset and the AV had been moved to north quay, in front of the V&A Hotel, to be part of the main tourist stream, with west quay left for future development. We continued to use west quay for coaling, itself an interesting exercise.

Coalcor delivered 12 to 16 tons of coal and dumped it at west quay. Collectively, the SAMM staff, myself included (especially in the early days) used to manually load coal onto the ship with shovels and wheelbarrows. In time we perfected the art by building a chute made from large, round, rubber waste bins. We cut out the bottom of the bins and chained a long line of bins together, creating a long funnel which fitted neatly into the bunker hole and rose up to the top of the edge of the quay. We shovelled coal into the wheelbarrows and then dropped the load down the chute straight into the bunkers. Depending on the size of the load and number of staff available it took us between 3 – 5 hours to complete.

Added tasks were to trim the bunkers. This meant climbing into the bunker compartment and spreading the coal evenly within it. And to keep the vessel trim, coal had to be loaded on both the starboard and port sides, in equal amounts. To do so we needed to have steam up and a captain and engineer onboard.

De-ashing was a task that needed to be done daily when the tug was operating. After the 5.00 pm cruise the vessel would go out to sea beyond the breakwater and drop the ash overboard. Like many other tasks, it was labour intensive, as the stokers had to fill individual buckets with ash, which were winched up to the door in the superstructure and then manually emptied by the deck hand. The empty bucket was lowered again to the boiler room for the next load.

Once west quay was developed and provided an additional tourist precinct we had to coal the AV at a ‘dead’ pier in the Victoria Basin.

The first daily cruise left the Somerset at 12 noon and additional cruises departed on the hour until the last trip at 5.00 pm. Trips lasted between 40 – 45 minutes, cost R10 for an adult, R5 for a child under 16, and it was made clear babies in arms, or in prams, were not allowed on board for safety reasons.

There were a number of other craft, some sailing, others diesel, offering similar cruises so competition was strong.

Finding qualified and available crew remained an issue. Captain Powell and Garnet Audi, key players in the initial re-steaming and sea trials, both had full- time jobs and families and as much as they loved the tug and were addicted to steam, weren’t available each spring or summer holiday season.

We were fortunate when another champion stepped forward: Captain Peter Moon, an experienced master ticket holder took control of running the vessel during the cruising season. This included taking the wheel, organising the crew and providing me an update of supplies required or if any repairs needed to be done.

The Department of Transport had stipulated the following crew to operate the vessel: Master, Chief Engineer, 2nd Engineer, 2 x stokers and 3 x deckhands.

In addition to Captain Moon, we had Captain Nixon as relief Master, and in the engine room various personnel, including Richard Carne and Tim Parkes. For stokers we drew on a wide variety of casual staff, including Cedric Hunter, an illustrator at SA Museum, and SAMM staff Derek, Victor, Morgan, Chris, Michael, Paul, Dave – even I had a go!

Similarly, deckhands were drawn from local shipping craft although we generally used our own day staff as they valued the additional pay by working overtime.
In addition, day staff on the Somerset assisted with selling and checking tickets, handling the gangway between the two vessels and releasing the moorings.

The AV was a popular choice for tourists as she was the only steam vessel in the harbour, had good open clear decks and offered a nostalgic flashback to the past as many visitors were familiar with the fleet of SAR&H tugs that supported the mailship era.

As the V&A grew in popularity, expanded and drew more tourists, smoke became an issue! When operational in season the tug’s furnace remained burning 24/7. It wasn’t good practice to let it die and the boiler run cold. For efficiency and to put less stress on the boiler a smouldering fire was kept going around the clock. Inevitably there were times when fresh coal created fresh smoke, which at times almost invisible, could still be smelt. Patrons in the second floor rooms of the V&A Hotel began to complain.

On a second front the City’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr Michael Popkiss, began to show an interest, particularly when the V&A considered bringing the Rovos luxury train, pulled by a steam locomotive, to the waterfront as a regular tourist attraction. The city was keen to keep air pollution levels low and was out to penalise offenders. To their credit V&A management supported us in defending the merits of the tug and minimising the pollution threat. To placate hotel guests the VA was moved to a neutral quay at night, in the Victoria Basin, in the last couple of seasons.

Looking back at the re-steaming project and the tug’s tenure under my watch much was achieved over the six years. More than 20 volunteers and over 50 sponsors contributed, alongside the SAMMAC and SAMM staff, to restoring the vessel and to operate successfully as a coal fired steam vessel. The tug was extremely well cared for; her integrity kept intact without any major modifications.

I am pleased to say that the volunteers’ and sponsors’ contribution was publicly acknowledged at a Mayoral reception, by Gordon Olivier in his Mayor’s Parlour in December 1990. An honours board was also hung on the Somerset acknowledging the invaluable contribution of the maritime businesses who contributed, primarily in kind, to the project.

I also salute my SAMM team of David MacIlroy (and David Burr who took over in 1993 when Mac retired), Victor Amos, Morgan Andrews, Derek Green, Chris Adams, Jaco Boshoff, Dave Clarke, Michael Hendricks and Paul Andrews who played their part in keeping the vessel in tip-top shape, operational and a valuable asset within the V&A. Further SACHM staff provided administrative and logistical support.

I ended my formal association with the SAMM and AV in mid 1995. I didn’t know at the time that her Christmas ’94 season would be her last as a coal fired steam tug operated by the museum. Thirteen years on the tug - now a grand 50 - has more to offer. I wish her, and her new owners, well.

Alwyn Vintcent Revisited: Part 1

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:55:23 CDT

From "Thomas " Australia

My association with the Alwyn Vintcent (AV) started when I was Manager of the South African Maritime Museum (SAMM) in Cape Town between 1987 and 1995. The SAMM was a satellite of the South African Cultural History Museum (SACHM), and situated in the former South African Railways and Harbour’s Workshop 17, adjacent to the Robinson Dry Dock, in the Victoria and Alfred Basin.

The Museum purchased the tug in 1988 as its second floating exhibit (the SAS Somerset, a former naval Boom Defence Vessel, was the first). The two vessels were moored, double-banked, along west quay, and later north quay, in the Alfred Basin, as one of the first attractions of the emerging Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A). The V&A, in time, became Cape Town’s most popular tourist destination.

I have very fond memories of the AV as it was an exciting period for me, the tug and the new SAMM. With the help of a group of very committed, highly enthusiastic and experienced volunteers, and with the assistance of several maritime companies in Cape Town, we embarked on a successful restoration program to operate the coal fired vessel as a pleasure cruiser for a number of seasons. They were exciting times and having sifted through old reports, articles and newspaper clippings I share the following memories.

It all started early in 1988 when Dave Clarke, a fireman in Cape Town and highly talented ship model builder, met me at the SACHM in Adderley Street to talk about the tug. The AV was up for sale and located in the Knysna lagoon, a particularly beautiful area of the South African coast, midway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, along the famous Garden Route. Knysna is the largest estuarine complex on the south coast and possesses the highest plant and animal diversity of all South African estuaries.

Dave, a passionate ship buff, was familiar with the tug having spent many hours sketching her and, on occasion, stoking her boilers. He was one of the crew of nine who sailed the AV out of Table Bay to Knysna on New Year’s Eve 1985. They arrived in Mossel Bay, the AVs former working port, 52 tons of coal and many beers later. After waiting for conditions to improve they sailed further east to enter the treacherous Heads and moor the vessel alongside Thesen’s jetty in the Knysna Lagoon.

The tug’s move to Knysna was the start of the third chapter in her post official career. The AV left Cape Town in July 1959 to serve the port of Mossel Bay as a pilot tug for the South African Railways and Harbours, with occasional relief work in Port Elizabeth. A duty she fulfilled for the next 24 years before her official career came to an end when she was sold in 1983, together with the RA Leigh and two lighters, for a total of R11 550.

The AV was bought by Stan Martin, an Australian who with two of his countrymen, John Davis and Ted Hall, had big plans for the vessel and the RA Leigh and SJ Harrison, which they had acquired at the same time. Their ambitious plan was to sail the vessels back to Australia, over 12 000 km away, by steaming up the east coast of Africa across to India and then working their southwards to Australia.

Their efforts were plagued by bureaucratic challenges and logistical difficulties which eventually scuttled their plans. Among the hurdles they couldn’t overcome was getting the harbour authorities to approve the safety requirements; the non arrival of a bank certificate to waiver export duty and with these delays the start of the cyclone season upset their sailing schedule. Most crippling of all - their financial reserves dried up. Davis and Hall returned to Australia while Martin remained in South Africa sailing the AV to Cape Town where he operated the tug as a tourist attraction for a year, claiming it to be South Africa’s first floating museum. The RA Leigh and SJ Harrison were re-sold, the former left to rot in Durban and the latter to be converted into a trawler.

The heavy financial burden of keeping a working ship in operation forced Martin to sell the AV at the end of 1984 to ‘Pip’ Lorentz who had similar plans of running the tug as a pleasure vessel in the highly popular Knysna lagoon. The new ownership was the catalyst for the tug to start her new chapter in a different port at the start of 1985. Like those who had gone before the Lorentz venture struggled to sustain itself and by 1987 the tug was once again on the market.

In my discussions with Dave he was interested in the SAMM purchasing the tug and operating her in the proposed V&A. Supportive of the idea I asked him to gather more information so that I could make a case to the SACHM director at the time, Anton Roux.

During the Easter weekend of 1988 Dave loaded his wife and three kids, as well as his buddy, Joao Goncalves and his fiancée Ana, into his VW kombi and drove to Knysna to inspect the tug and take photographs. On their return they produced a report which recommended the tug be purchased by the museum. I submitted the report to the director, who in turn took it to the board of the SACHM, and after many months of negotiation, including getting the Department of Education and Culture to agree, the museum purchased the tug for R50 000 in October 1988.

Dave and Joao were delighted. Their reward – I eventually employed both of them! Joao was appointed first, as the SAMM first ship model builder, and later became the carpenter at the SACHM. When the latter appointment took place Dave resigned his position as a fireman with the Cape Town City Council and joined the museum officially as model builder/restorer and unofficially as deckhand and stoker for the AV. It was his ideal job.

The biggest challenge was getting the tug back to Cape Town. It was not possible to fire her up and sail her back as her certificates had expired and she needed a full inspection of her boilers and engine before the authorities would allow her to steam anywhere. Knysna had closed as a port in 1954 so it did not have the necessary infrastructure to carry out the required work.

My primary task was to organise to have the tug towed back to Table Bay at limited expense to the museum.

The biggest obstacle was getting the tug safely through The Heads, the narrow mouth between two great sandstone cliffs connecting the estuary with the sea. There were several shipwrecks lying at the bottom of the sea within or near The Heads to illustrate the area was not without its dangers. The first recorded shipwreck was the Emu, a British Navy transport, which went down in 1817.

There was no suitable vessel within the estuary to assist us. Negotiations with Pentow Marine in Cape Town secured a deal that if we could get the tug through The Heads they would tow her back to Table Bay with one of their coastal patrol vessels who sailed passed the inlet every two weeks.

Additional discussions with the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) initiated a plan of using one their rescue vessels, essentially a speed boat, to take the AV through The Heads. The plan was to lash the AV to the side of the NSRI vessel. The weather, tides and seaworthiness were other factors we had to take into consideration. The route required staying in the main channel which dog legged twice, first to the left, and then to the right, to exit The Heads. A tricky operation indeed.

To be successful ideal weather conditions had to prevail. This implied a windless day and a calm sea both of which had to coincide with high tide.

Before we could move the tug she had to be declared seaworthy and a towing clearance certificate issued for insurance purposes.

It was time to put the plan into action. Malan Skinner, the berthing master at Cape Town Harbour, Joao and I loaded the museum’s bakkie (ute) with gear and drove to Knysna on Friday 18 November 1988 to begin work. We had a list of tasks to complete to make the tug safe to tow. Over the weekend we sweated and toiled around the clock packing away and tying down all loose gear; removing the air vents and closing the air shafts to make them watertight; boarding up the wheelhouse; securing every door and porthole; fixing the rudder; securing the drive shaft and valves; manufacturing and rigging an emergency tow line and fixing a towing bridle.

Throughout the weekend the weather remained perfect with little or no wind which left the lagoon beautifully still. The question was whether the calm conditions would continue into Monday, the proposed D-day for first attempt to take the AV through The Heads. At 1.45 pm to be precise.

Monday arrived but by 10.00 am the surveyor booked to inspect the vessel and issue a seaworthy certificate had not! A phone call to Cape Town offered bad news – heavy fog over George had prevented his plane from landing and the flight had returned to Cape Town. He wouldn’t get to Knysna before 2.00 pm!

Without the survey and a certificate the operation could not proceed. Was there an alternative? Further calls to Captain da Sousa in Mossel Bay, about 110 km away, revealed he had left for Portugal the day before and couldn’t help us. A visit to the Thesen’s shipping office drew a negative response as did combing the local telephone directory for surveyors. Driving back to the jetty it looked as if the whole operation would have to be postponed.

Our spirits were lifted however when we got back to the tug to see the surveyor on the quayside inspecting the vessel. He told us that once he found out early that morning the weather was bad he had abandoned his flight plans and drove straight to Knysna instead. That’s what your call reliability at its best! He duly completed his inspection and issued us with a seaworthy certificate (regrettably I no longer remember or recorded his name).

At 1.30 pm the various parties gathered on the foredeck of the AV for a final briefing. The NSRI, striking in their red wetsuits, their speed boat alongside primed for action. Officials from the Department of Nature Conservation were also present with their small boat as a stand-by. The congenial Costa, owner of the Swedish built, gaff-rigged tops'l schooner Nancy, which was moored alongside the AV was ready to cast off his lines. The mate from Kuswag had come and board and was satisfied with the configuration of the towing bridle. On the quayside, a camera crew from SABC TV and a group of curious onlookers. Knysna has known this much excitement for ages! Everything was in place to proceed, the weather good, the tide up.

The captain in charge of the NSRI vessel then dropped a bombshell. “No go chaps, the operation is off!” He declared the wind had freshened and he wasn’t prepared to take the risk.

With the wind taken out of our sails in a few brief seconds we packed up and drove back to Cape Town too tired to feel the full disappointment of being so close but yet so far from achieving what we had set out to do.

In hindsight the decision not to lash the AV to the NSRI speedboat and get the two vessels through The Heads was probably the right one. The operation would have been very risky and I don’t think the NRSI vessel had the size, mass and speed to manoeuvre the AV which was considerably bigger, heavier and without any power of her own. There was a high probability something could go wrong and we’d become another shipwreck statistic.

Not a good look!

Two more attempts were planned over the next couple months but both were aborted because of bad weather.

It was time to consider a Plan B. Through the help of a Minister and after much negotiation Bernie Swemmer, the Harbour Master in Mossel Bay, agreed to sail Strandloper, their resident tug, to Knysna when the weather was suitable. Strandloper would lash the AV along its side, take her through The Heads, and once in open water, tow her back to Mossel Bay. The tug would then remain in Mossel Bay until one of the Kuswag vessels would tow her to Table Bay.

This was a far better and less risky plan. The Strandloper was far more powerful and larger than the NSRI vessel and the two staged approach meant she could operate independently when the weather and tidal conditions were right and not be tied to Kuswag’s fortnightly coastal cycle.

I was in Knysna over the Easter Weekend and learnt that, weather permitting, Plan B would be set in motion on Tuesday 28 March 1989. I had to return to Cape Town on the Monday so could not stay for the long awaited and highly prepared event.

Back in Cape Town on Tuesday I was annoyingly given the message late that the weather was good and Strandloper had indeed left Mossel Bay for Knysna earlier that morning (you must remember these were the days before mobile phones!) I decided to jump into the museum’s kombi and drive back to Knysna vainly hoping I would get there in time to witness the tug leaving the estuary for the final time. It was a futile chase and knowing I wouldn’t make it decided to divert to Brenton-on-Sea, an elevated resort west of Knysna. Upon arrival I saw the two vessels heading out to sea. The AV had finally made it through The Heads.

The operation which had taken so much effort to prepare and had so many postponed attempts had finally succeeded. As per plan the Strandloper made a trouble free journey and entry into the lagoon and once there tied the AV to her side. Mike Elliot, the Station Master of the local NSRI, acted as pilot and the two vessels safely navigated through The Heads and out to sea. At one point the two vessels did drift apart and collided causing some minor damage to the wheelhouse of the AV. All in all it was a highly successful operation and the AV arrived safely in Mossel Bay harbour at 8.30 pm that evening. The worst part – I was a couple of hours late to witness it!

Through Pentow Marine we arranged for Kuswag IV to collect the tug on Saturday 8 April 1989 and tow her back to Cape Town. This time, armed with advanced notice, I made the four hour trip to Mossel Bay accompanied by Dave, Joao and Louw Roodman, who worked for ICAL Offshore, one of the companies involved in building the MOSSGAS drilling platform. MOSSGAS was the owner and operator of South Africa’s first offshore production platform on the FA field, 85 km south of Mossel Bay. Louw became a good friend, a great supporter of the AV and the Maritime Museum and together we initiated and implemented several interesting projects.

Upon arrival we visited Captain McCawley on board the Kuswag IV and attended to three final logistical tasks: set up emergency lights for night time visibility, fitted a portable pump to the deck and reinstated a canvas air vent cover which had been lost during the first towing operation.

Shortly after 2.00pm the AV was lashed to the port side of the Strandloper and sailed out of Mossel Bay with Kuswag IV in their wake. Through a skilled manoeuvre the Kuswag moved ahead of the other two vessels, lines were thrown across and the tow line fixed to the bridle. Strandoper released the AV, the tow line took hold, and the two vessels disappeared, enveloped by a thick coastal mist.

The next time I saw the AV was through a pair of binoculars a day-and-a-half latter as she lay off Sea Point, waiting to enter Table Bay Harbour. It was roughly 30 years since the AV had been towed into the same harbour for the very first time. On the 26 May 1959, at 7.59 pm, the Hudson, a Dutch tug, entered the harbour with two brand new tugs in tow: the Alwyn Vintcent and her sister ship the SJ Harrison. The two tugs had made their first and only Atlantic crossing from the Cantieri Navali shipyards in Venice, Italy. The event was given limited coverage in the daily newspapers the following day.

By contrast the arrival of the AV on a cold, cloudy morning on Monday 10 April 1989 drew strong media coverage, making the front page of Die Burger and featured prominently in the Cape Times and evening Argus. The AV, at 30, had suddenly assumed celebrity status.

The next task was to make her operational once more.

Alwyn Vintcent's Workplace - Mossel Bay

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:52:57 CDT

The "Alwyn Vintcent" spent most of her working life at Mossel Bay, one of South Africa's most historical and important sea ports discovered long before what was to become known as Cape Town.

After being blown around the Southern tip of Africa, Bartolomeu Dias, in search of a route to India, became the first seafarer from Europe to round the Cape and sailed into Mossel Bay on 3 February 1488, 165 years before the Dutch settlement in Cape Town.

It was at Mossel Bay that the first Europeans set foot onto South Africa, some four years before the first voyage of Christopher Columbus.

Dias did not complete the journey to India as he had to turn back to avoid mutiny, and upon rounding the Cape on his way back, he then named the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1500 the Portuguese ships under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral took shelter in the bay after being buffeted by a severe storm. To inform others of their ordeal, Pedro d’Ataide, captain of one of the ships, left a letter in an old seaman’s boot which he hung from a milkwood tree near the spring. Since the bay had become a regular stopover for Portuguese ships to replenish their water supplies, d’Ataide knew that his letter would be found by a Portuguese fleet returning from India. His letter was discovered the following year by João da Nova.

Thus was started a tradition whereby sailors bound for India left letters and messages to relatives which were collected by ships returning to Portugal. (On the 20th of December 1963 the postbox at the Post Office Tree Monument received its own unique postage stamp.)

1601 brought the Dutch captain Paulus Van Caerden named it Mossel Bay, as, when looking to replenish their meat supplies they found instead mussels.

Throughout the years, the area became reknown for its fishing and seafood, and slowly expanded to become an important Port of Call for ships engaged in both the passenger and cargo trade.

However there were no deep water berths available at a wharf, and so the ships had to anchor out in the harbor and tugs towing lighters would travel out to them, pulling up alongside and thence load / discharge both passengers and cargo by basket from the ship!

Such was one of the roles of the "Alwyn Vintcent," to service these ships when they called in to Mossel Bay, transporting passengers and cargo to and from the port.

The most famous of all these vessels were the ships of the "Union Castle" line engaged in the Royal Mail Service from Southhampton to Durban.

Throughout their visits to Mossel Bay, the "Alwyn Vintcent" serviced many of these Union ships, including, the "Carnarvon Castle", "Pendennis Castle", "Stirling Castle", "Winchester Castle", "Athlone Castle" and "Capetown Castle" along with other vessels from different shipping lines.

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Triple Expansion Engines

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:51:44 CDT

The Alwyn Vintcent is powered by perhaps the best known of all marine steam engines, a reciprocating triple expansion.

Work is underway to recommisson the boiler and the steam plant to operating condition.

Pre Refurbishment Works Gallery 2

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:51:17 CDT



Wheel And Telegraphs	Chart Table
Solid Fuel Stove In Galley	"Charlie" demonstrating the spacious deck

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Pre Refurbishment Works Gallery

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:50:48 CDT

Bow view complete with birdnests!	Stern looking fwd
Starboard Side Looking Fwd. Teak Decks and Fire Fighting Gear. Note Coal Bunker Covers	Starboard Deck Looking Aft.

Wheelhouse Roof	Foredeck and Anchor Winch

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Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Engine Room Gallery 2

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:50:13 CDT

Top Of Main Engine	Main Engine
Main Engine Gauges	Engine Room Telegraph and Voice Tube

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Engine Room Gallery 1

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:49:14 CDT

Boiler Furnace	Unlike earlier steamers the "Alwyn Vintcent" has Hydraulics. (Steam driven pump)
Generator and Switchboard	Main Engine
Condenser	Another view of the Steam Driven Hydraulic Powerpack

Australian Use Simple Facts Technical Detail Gallery Notes Various Pics Eng Room 1 Eng Room 2 Pre Refurbishment Pics Pre Refurbishment Pics 2

Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Various Pics Inc Sister Ships

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:48:11 CDT

Cecil G White and the larger "Danie Hugo" (Photographer Unknown)	"JR Eaglesham" (Photographer Unknown)
"Alwyn Vintcent" after layup post 2000. Photographer Unknown	"Cecil G White" circa 1980. Pic Seamus Martin
Circa 1995 - 2000 Tourist Vessel (Photographer Unknown)	Pre 1994 (Still in steam then) Unknown Photographer
View Of Bow	Stern View looking fwd

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Triple Expansion Engines Memories Of The Alwyn Vintcent Mossel Bay Contacts Credits And Links

Gallery Notes

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:47:37 CDT

The Galleries featured on this website are a combination of contributed photographs in addition to those taken during works inspections.

"Various Pics Including Sister Ships" illustrates this class of tug from this period that they were in service.

Photographs posted in both the "Engine Room Galleries 1 and 2 " and "Pre Refurbishment Gallery" were taken on the 27th March 2008 by Stuart Burgess and Dylan Knott of Cape Town whilst conducting a pre work inspection.

Many photos are also posted in the "albums" section of this website and continually updated.

Wheelhouse taken 27th March 2008 (Stuart Burgess). Note the "twin telegraphs"

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Tech Detail

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:45:52 CDT

Name:
Alwyn Vintcent.
Ex Names:
None.
Vessel Type: Harbour and Coastal Passenger Tug - Tender.
Built For:
South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H).
Contractors:
Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico, Trieste, Italy.
Builders:
Cantieri Navali e Officiene Meccaniche de Venezia
Hull No:
167
Year Ordered:
1956
Date Launched:
2/7/1958
Delivered:
1959
Dimensions:
27.43 x 6.10 x 3.36 (meters)
Material:
Steel with teak decks and wheelhouse.
Watertight Bulkheads:
5
GRT:
111.02
Disp:
212.95
Class:
Built Lloyds 100A1 / tbi AMSA 1C/D 2B/C/D
Boiler:
Single "Scotch Type" 2 x Furnace.
Boiler Rating:
Max Pressure 250 psi
Working Pressure:
200 psi
Main Engine:
Triple Expansion.
IHP:
390
Max RPM:
140
Speed:
11Kts Service.
Fuel Type:
Coal
Bunker Capacity:
46 tons total. (23 Port & Starboard)
Consumption:
3.0 tons / 24hrs full load
Accommodation:
10
Passenger Capacity:
52+ (1D)
Towing Gear:
Quick Release Hook / Towing Bollards.
Bollard Pull:
5.5 tons

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Martin's Story

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:30:05 CDT

The 1983 Australian effort to save the AV, SJ Harrison and the RA Leigh
From Martin - Sedgefield, SA

"About ten of us flew into South Africa from Australia in June of 1983, and came down from Johannesburg (by steam train!) and boarded the RA Leigh in Cape Town harbour - she was moored where the V & A hotel is now. Some of our party left for Luderitz (Namibia) and returned with the SJ Harrison. We stayed a few more weeks in Cape Town, eventually getting around the bureaucracy by registering both vessels as British yachts, thereby exempting them from survey & safety requirements!

We were given a terrific sendoff by the port authorities: the 'full monty': water jets from a firetug and a procession escort of pilot boats, tugs and workboats to the breakwater. Only once we were outside the harbour in these little things and they started to roll in the swells, whilst we all knuckled down to our various duties, did we realise what a task we'd taken on!

I can't remember how long we were at sea, but I do remember the rolling! The decks were constantly awash, and getting anywhere on board meant timing your run across the deck perfectly to avoid being soaked. Luckily we'd rigged lifelines before we left Cape Town, or we'd surely have had at least one 'man overboard'.

The one-way outlet flaps for the toilets on the outside of the hull were all seized in the open position, and sitting down for one's constitutional involved timing one's own motions with those of the sea - you had to jump up as the boat rolled to one side and seawater rushed back through the outlet pipe and up and out of the toilet pan like a geyser!

The radios all failed within the first 24 hours, so we brought both vessels close to one another at one stage (about 50 metres) and tried to shoot a rocket line across from our tug, the RA Leigh, to the Harrison in order to get a hand-held radio to them so we could communicate. Well, the rockets were out of date and didn't work, so it was decided to try and throw a line across. I heard all this going on whilst I was on watch in the engine room, and stuck my head out of the aft port door on deck only to be greeted by the sight of the Harrison's enormous propeller churning away, half out of the water as she rose up on a swell not 20 metres away from me! Both skippers frantically steered in opposite directions to avoid a collision, and that was the last communication we had until we dropped anchor in Mossel Bay.

As far as I can remember, we stayed overnight in Mossel Bay, at anchor near Seal Island, as we were not permitted into the harbour - I don't know why. One of our party, the skipper of the Harrison at the time, Stan Martin, had bought the Vintcent for himself, but it seems we left her there in Mossel Bay for the time being, and he continued on as skipper of the Harrison until Port Elizabeth. I had forgotten this until I hauled out all my old photos the other day - the Vintcent doesn't feature in any of the pictures I took in Port Elizabeth. I think Stan must have gone back for her later, taking her to Cape Town and - well, that part I don't know much about, just what I've read on the internet. He did, however, go into the harbour for a few hours accompanied by the harbour master who'd come out to castigate us not only for not answering him on the radio (we had none!) but also because we'd unknowingly dropped our anchors in a restricted area of the bay - on top of the oil / gas offloading pipeline ! This is when Stan took the people / post transhipping wicker basket from the Vintcent and put it on the Harrison (see the picasa pics in this link) Why he did this, I don't know. Perhaps he intended to use it for bunkering at sea later. The original plan to get to Australia involved towing lighters filled with coal (and oil for the Leigh) and bringing them alongside when necessary to bunker at sea. We never actually tried to do this, and I recall that the prospect of trying was another major factor in the decision to abandon the whole voyage in Port Elizabeth.

I recall going up to the wheelhouse once when I was off watch and talking to Ted Hall, our skipper. He showed me our course and waypoints on our chart, and I asked why if we were heading east our current position at the time showed us to be west of our last position. Ted replied that this was because we were heading east at 5 knots in a 7 knot westerly current! I think it was at this point that it dawned on me not only the craziness of the whole venture, but also the danger.

After some days at sea - again, I really can't recall how long it was - we found ourselves off Cape St. Francis and trying to locate the navigation beacons to line up our approach to Port Elizabeth harbour. The SJ Harrison was ahead of us, chiefly because on board the RA Leigh we were running out of fuel. Steam pressure was dropping, and I was sent by John Davis, one of the owners and chief engineer on the voyage, to look into the bunkers to see how much oil we had left in them. They were tanks of about one and a half metres square and three metres deep, on either side of the vessel. Pumps in the engine room drew oil from strainers located about 500mm from their bottoms - I would guess to avoid sucking up the muck which collected at the bottom. The oil was heated and then fired into the furnaces (4 in total if I remember correctly) through injector jets which were about the size of a soda stream gas bottle and which blocked up constantly and needed cleaning and changing on a regular basis. We had sourced our fuel oil from a variety of sources in Cape Town harbour - I&J's fish factory, the railways vehicle workshops old engine oil, used hydraulic oil from the harbour cranes workshop, even 20 litre plastic cans of used cooking oil from the old Harbour Cafe!

Anyway, I went back to John Davis in the engine room and told him I could see the pickup strainers in the tanks exposed and sucking air as the vessel rolled on the swells, and plainly this was why the fires kept spitting and going out. Luckily at that stage the furnaces were so hot that when the oil feed was restored, they re-lit themselves immediately. John asked me to grab a stick and dip the tanks to see if there was good oil and no solid matter all the way to their bottoms. After crawling in and nearly getting drowned in oil as the boat rolled, I reported back to him that, yes, it seemed there was plenty of good oil left in the tanks, but it was all below the level of the pickups. We both went up to the wheelhouse to see Ted Hall, the skipper, and after a brief discussion it was decided that we should pump some seawater into the tanks to raise the level of the oil up to the point whereby the pickups would be able to suck it. Well, this would have been a fine idea had the sea been calm, but we were rolling terribly in some fairly large swells and all that we effectively achieved was to fire hot water into the furnaces, putting out the fires.

Another conference in the wheelhouse. This time it was all hands on deck. They were told to find every piece of timber they could, and throw it down into the stokehold so we could put it into the boiler furnaces. I still remember watching in horror as one after the other sections of solid teak gratings, SAR&H monogrammed furniture from the aft officers cabin and even the chart table from the wheelhouse were thrown onto the fires. We were desperate at this stage. We could see Port Elizabeth harbour, but I recall it was getting late in the day, it was overcast and windy, and we were still some way from the breakwater and the safety of the harbour. I was told to fetch the used cooking oil in 20 litre drums that we'd stored in the paint locker forward of the wheelhouse: the 'emergency' fuel supply! There were about 20 or so drums. I ripped off the lids, and one by one, poured the contents of used cooking oil into the bunker tanks, tossing the empties behind me - I didn't care where at that stage. We were losing speed and steam pressure all the time, and the rhythmn of the engines we'd all gotten so used to over the days and nights of sailing from Cape Town was slowing down. The breakwater and harbour entrance were getting closer, but ever so slowly. I'd finished emptying all the drums and looked up to see a trail of them like buoys on a net strung out behind us, bobbing up and down in all their bright yellow glory on the swells. It was then I saw the Navy from Port Elizabeth following us! (SAS Donkin?). My first thought was that they'd arrest us for littering! We discovered later they couldn't believe what they were seeing, and were desperately trying to raise us on the radio to offer assistance.

I went down into the engine room to discover John had cut the steam to one of the engines, and we were only running on the one. Ted was shouting down the voice pipe from the wheelhouse:

"How the hell do you expect me to steer this thing if you can only give me one engine?"

-to which John replied quietly to me, 'sotto voce' and not back up the voice pipe:

"it's either you come in on one engine and no steering or you don't come in at all"

We were at the breakwater at last. I was so busy in the stokehold smashing furniture and hacking into teak gratings from the wheelhouse floor with a little emergency fire hatchet that I didn't really notice we'd stopped rolling. All I remember was watching the boiler pressure gauge falling constantly whilst burning my hands on the furnace doors trying to stuff pieces of teak into the boiler through little doors which weren't designed for the purpose.

We drifted up alongside the quay with the help of the Harrison and all breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was dusk. The steam pressure was almost zero, the generator had long ago stopped and it was getting dark. That was the last time the RA Leigh turned her propellers.

We spent a couple of weeks tied up in Port Elizabeth, but it didn't take long for us all to realise that this was the end of the voyage. The plan to sail two antiquated steam-powered harbour tugs ten thousand miles across open oceans now looked foolhardy in the extreme. We'd had a taste of the danger and difficulties involved, and it wasn't pleasant. This was to be the end of the line.

John Davis, Ted Hall and Stan Martin briefly entertained the idea of finding someone who would take them on a ship, 'piggy-back' style, but even their optimism was floundering. I remember John coming back from a meeting saying if we renamed the tugs "Kreepy" and "Krauly" we might have ourselves a sponsor, but nothing came of that plan either.

We had a few visitors - mainly curious local folks who'd heard there was a bunch of Australians down in the harbour living on a couple of old SAR&H steam tugs and were soon setting sail for their homeland. Well, we knew otherwise. One day, we started removing fittings from both the boats and taking them to a store loaned to us by the harbourmaster. The ships' wheels, compass binnacles, navigation lights and various other bits and pieces were unbolted and locked away. I'm quite sure they are decorating a few pubs in Port Elizabeth today. I remember the shunting drivers on the steam trains moving freight around the harbour took a liking to us, and we spent one evening doing wheelspins with a SAR&H steam locomotive up and down the quayside, chatting with the drivers and drinking beer together. They were nice guys.

I left Port Elizabeth and went to Cape Town, meeting up with some new-found friends and celebrating Alan Bond and the crew of Australia II taking the America's Cup from Dennis Connor and the New York Yacht Club. I went back to Australia soon after, but soon missed South Africa. I came back in 1984 and was working in Johannesburg when, on my Christmas holidays I decided to drive down to Cape Town via Port Elizabeth. I stopped in at the harbour and there, some 14 months later, still lay the SJ Harrison and the RA Leigh, exactly where we'd left them tied alongside the quay. I went aboard and took a look into the engine rooms. They were both flooded about a metre deep in water. It was a very sad sight. I heard much later that the RA Leigh had gone to Durban - I can only guess she must have been towed. Apparently her wheelhouse ended up doing service as a bar in a restaurant there. Very sad. I only found out that the Harrison had been converted to a workboat after visiting the ST Alwyn Vintcent website.

I have never seen or heard from anyone who was on that voyage with me ever again. Myself? I stayed in South Africa, met my wife, and we live here in Sedgefield.

So there's my story. I have tried to keep it brief - I have a reputation for verbosity (so my wife says...!) ".

Anton's Story

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:26:37 CDT

Conversion of Alwyn Vintcent to Hydraulics & Diesel Power 1996
From Anton – Cape Town

I did part of the conversion when the Alwyn Vintcent was converted to hydraulics and diesel power in 1996. I did all the mechanical works as a design, fabricate and install sub-contract to Hytec who were the main contractor. Hytec provided the hydraulic motor, diesel driven hydraulic power unit and hydraulic controls.

Unfortunately I no longer have any of the drawings or details of what we did so I will just tell you from my memory.

The AV, as I am sure you will remember, had a steam engine which drove the propeller via a 6” tail shaft that came from the engine room through the stern accommodation flat (in a bilge channel) and out the hull at the stern via a stuffing box.

Working backwards from the stern end of the bilge channel where the tail shaft goes through the stuffing box there was a bolted flange just forward of the stuffing. Between this flange and the bulkhead to the engine room there was about a 2.4 m long shaft which bolted onto the flange from a stub shaft from the engine room. This stub shaft from the engine had a radial and thrust bearing inside the engine room. The thrust bearing took the thrust from the propeller to the hull.

About a metre forward of the stern stuffing box there was a radial bearing in a plummer block housing that supported the shaft.The bearing incorporated a white metal split bush in an oil bath.

We removed the 2.4 m shaft and its radial bearing and replace it with a new 8” shaft about 1.5 m long.This shaft was turned down to 6” in the position of the radial bearing mounting to give a 1” annular shoulder; and we replaced the radial bearing with a new combination thrust bearing and radial bearing.

The old shaft and bearing unit were taken to the museum but they have subsequently been lost.

The new bearing which I supplied had a split-housing and contained a bronze bush either side which projected beyond the housing to provide a thrust face to bear on the 1” annular shoulder. The grease was pumped into the housing between the two bushes to lubricate both the radial and the thrust faces.

Moving forward from the bearing in the revised arrangement we have the new bearing, with the new shaft extending forward marginally to a flanged mounting for the hydraulic motor front face, and bolted on the back end of the hydraulic motor is an upstanding torque plate. Welded to this torque plate is a stub end of a 6” pipe with a termination flange.

Onto the top of the 6” pipe flange a 6” pipe torque arm was bolted which extended to the top of the accommodation flat where it was secured with a rubber mounting.

The diesel engine and hydraulic power pack used to be down below next to the hydraulic motor but is now gone, and the controls were on the bridge which were just variable speed of the motor either forward or aft. Steering remained by operating the rudder.

In a nutshell:

The 2.4 m long 6” intermediate shaft and the supporting radial bearing were removed;
A new combination thrust and radial bearing was installed on the same bearing mounting. This bearing had grease grooves to feed grease to the radial as well as the thrust faces;
A new 1.5 m long 8” shaft was made up compatible with the tail shaft flange, the new thrust/radial bearing, and the front flange of the hydraulic motor;
This new shaft was installed inside the bilge channel;
The new hydraulic motor (radial piston motor I think) was bolted onto the new shaft;
The torque plate and 6” pipe stub flange was bolted to the back of the hydraulic motor;
The torque arm 6” pipe was installed between the torque plate and the roof; and
The diesel HPU was installed and piped up to the motor with the controls taken to the bridge.

The performance of the tug I believe was identical to what it was when she was steam operated (the hydraulic motor delivered the same speeds with the same available torque and obviously the same power).

When we initially installed the system we did not have the extended torque arm, just the torque plate extending downwards into the bilge to increase the available space. I was unfortunately not there for the initial sea trials as I was managing the construction of the new harbour in Port St Francis. During the trials the bearings severely over-heated with smoke billowing from the bearing. On later inspection the thrust faces were seen to be completely damaged.

I reviewed the matter telephonically with a colleague, a Mechanical Engineer in Cape Town, and we came to the conclusion that because the thrust face was destroyed there must be a lubrication starvation on this face. We researched thrust bushes and identified the best way of lubricating a thrust face was to incorporate a tapered land face (rather than the set of simple radial grooves that I had initially employed).The tapered land bearing apparently could introduce the lubricant onto the bearing face much as a radial bearing does in the small annular space between the shaft and the bearing.

We machined and installed new bushes which had a tapered land face to hopefully improve the lubrication issue.

We then embarked on the second trial with heat sensors installed to see what was happening with the grease temperature, and alas the same thing started to happen. We stopped the trials straight away, before damage could set in, and removed the bushes.

It was fortunately just before the Easter Weekend (’96) so I drove to Cape Town to discuss and attempt to resolve the matter.On inspection of the bushes I was surprised to see that the initial heat bluing was not on the thrust face but on the radial face - and the penny immediately dropped. The radial loads on the bearing due to the torque application from the motor were too great because of the shortness of the lever arm on the hydraulic motor torque arm (something I had omitted to check). The solution was then obvious – extend the length of the torque reaction lever arm.

The torque plate was turned around to point upward, the 6” pipe was added using a rubber mounting anchorage on the roof, and from then the system worked wonderfully.

For the original conversion from steam to hydraulics I used Allwright Engineering to do the mechanical fabrication as a sub-contractor, but they no longer exist.

The works which we are now considering doing together with TEC Engineering is to take out the new shaft and hydraulic motor, convert the existing bearing unit back to a greased radial bearing only and fabricate and install a new 2.4 m tail shaft. At this stage we are pricing this conversion.

Nigel's Story

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:11:07 CDT

Hello all,

I am also delighted that this vessel has found a new home.

I must point out that the smaller tugs of the SAR & H fleet such as the SG Stephens, RA Leigh and the sisters of Alwyn Vincent, the Cecil
G. White, SJ Harrison, JE Eaglesham and the William Weller were, after the introduction of the diesel powered pilot boats, used as
ship assist tugs for smaller vessels and only occasionally filled in as pilot cutters when the regular vessels went out of service for
maintainence.

As Les pointed out, the larger steam tugs were designed and equipped for ocean towage and salvage work; to a lesser extent the first
batches of tractor tugs were also similarly equipped although they were not good sea boats.

For this reason, those wishing to join the Harbour Service as Deck Officers were required to have a Master' Foreign Going Certificate;
and for Engineers, a Chief Engineers ticket and this requirement lasted well into the late 80's. Quite what the qualification is now,
I am not sure.

The smaller tugs such as the Alwyn Vincent required a Master Home Trade were crewed differently to the bigger tugs.

The Harbour Service provided a golden opportunity for those of us deep sea mariners sailing with such companies as Safmarine, Union
Castle and Clan Line to come ashore and still be able to work in a marine environment; the job and working environment that the Service
provided was excellent.

For those that wanted to get on and move up the ladder, coming ashore as soon as possible after obtaining a Master's Ticket was essential.
Tugs carried a Master and a Mate and after joining, deck officers started their career as a "spare" mate filling in as required for
anything up to five years depending on the port; then mate assigned to one particular tug for another five year period before becoming
a "spare" Master and finally permanent Master. After that, is was question of waiting for a Junior Pilots job.

Progression could be accelerated if you were willing to take postings to such places as Walvis Bay or be willing to move around the country.
Crews were large by todays standards, two deck officers, two engineering officers, a bosun and five ABs, two greasers and a messman.

Hope this is of interest,

Nigel from Vancouver, Canada

Bob's Story

Canberra1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:02:19 CDT

From "Bob D" South Africa

"I was the Marine Radio Technician at Mossel Bay during 1958 when the Alwyn Vintcent arrived (named after the chairman of the Mossel Bay Boating Company).

I can remember standing at the end of the jetty with a couple of interested people as the tug arrived alongside.

As mentioned my part to play was maintaining the radar and radio. The radar was a Decca 220? which used valves (remember the vacuum tube glass valves) and the Radio (R/T equipment as we called it) also with valves. Thinking back transistors were still in the embryo stage. The Vintcent would sail to Port Elizabeth once a year for a month for her annual overhaul and her sister from PE the William Weller would relieve her for the period. It was during one of these overhaul trips that she collided with a ships overhang? in PE and damaged her wheelhouse. Of course true to the old SAR traditions they built an exact replica of the the wheel house. When she came back one could hardly tell the difference. Only her mast was slightly changed compared to her sister tugs. There were five coal burning Pilot tugs built in Italy: Alwyn Vincent, William Weller, J E Eaglesham, S J Harrison and Cecil G White.

I have fond memories of the Alwyn Vintcent. I always thought it had the most under used single triple expansion steam engines that I have ever known. Once a fortnight a Union Castle mailships called at MSB and anchored in the bay. The Vintcent would tow the lighters out in the morning and bring them them back again before the ship left. Her deck was specially designed for the basket that was used for transshipping passengers between the ship and the tug, of this I have personal experience. Also later when they built the oil terminal near Hartenbos she would together with the Korhaan berth the Oil tanker. This was something like once a month.

I moved to PE in 1974 and after retiring in 1993, Marie and I went to Cape Town and I was so glad the see the Alwyn Vintcent at the Waterfront, but was so disappointed to hear that her steam engine had been replaced by a diesel engine. Sacrilege, absolute sacrilege.

If memory serves me right she and one or other sister tugs were sold to somebody in Oz years ago but they could not make it due to the coal problems??.

I used to go on board every Friday morning and top up her radio battery which was housed in a lead lined box on top of the wheelhouse. And of course everytime they had a radio or radar problem I was also responsible for taking out the Valve radio equipment and replacing it with the VHF equipment. This used transistors in the receiver but still valves in the transmitter. The radar was also replaced after I left MSB for PE.

Another thing that I remember well was that she also did cruises around Seal island for the tourists in her early years. I remember it was very inexpensive, until (I heard at the time?) someone started wondering what will happen if someone gets hurt and wants to sue. That put an end to that part and the private boat owners took over at a very much higher price.

I knew her from 1958 to 1974. Rather there and survive, than the possible cutters torch here.

To refresh my memory on tug names I have referred to David Reynolds book, A Century of South African Steam Tugs.

Cheers

Bob D"