Ray, Those shell fish boys run empty up from Spain,Portugal or France. The way the tanks are built inside them you cant
really carry anything apart from shellfish. They are seperate tanks each side of the body with a walk way through the middle.
They would be loaded with lobsters in one,brown crab’s in a couple,spider crab’s in another one etc.
Really hard graft that job as often they would be loading out of the top of Scotland ,meeting boats at all times of the day and night.
Them boys could seriously work.
David -Keith, Yes an Ultraliner and it was a tidy motor that stood out and they used it for a good few years.Probably did have the V8
as those boys always had top of the range motors with full power as it was all about geting from A to B as quick as posible with live
produce. Trust me they did not hang around and always double manned.One sleeping,one driving.
Always had alot of 142’s ,F12’s then 143’s and F16’s on that job.
Ray,nice story about helping the Dutch driver out with directions ! That brings back some memories asking and helping fellow
drivers out with directions in Europe.
If the Spanish Mack had the V8 in it, you wouldn’t have been able to tell the Mack & the 142 apart by the sound - they sound remarkably alike. Apparently, back in the early 60’s, Mack & Scania shared much of the V8 engine development, and many of the specs, including bore & stroke are identical.
One evening a couple of weeks ago, I was sat outside a cafe in Mclaren Vale, 10 minutes from here, enjoying a ‘first date’ coffee with a lady, and a Mack V8 with a bulker kept driving past every 15 min or so - unfortunately, the lady I was with could talk, and talk…, so eventually I had to ask her to be quiet next time the Mack came past - jeez it sounded good.
She took it quite well, and actually stopped talking next time it came past… completely true.
Nice photo by Rick Vince taken in December 1966 at quai 350, Port of Antwerp. Doric Ferry on the Antwerp-Tilbury shuttle just loading the weekly Bass trailers.
Doric%20ferry_1266.JPG
kmills:
If the Spanish Mack had the V8 in it, you wouldn’t have been able to tell the Mack & the 142 apart by the sound - they sound remarkably alike. Apparently, back in the early 60’s, Mack & Scania shared much of the V8 engine development, and many of the specs, including bore & stroke are identical.
One evening a couple of weeks ago, I was sat outside a cafe in Mclaren Vale, 10 minutes from here, enjoying a ‘first date’ coffee with a lady, and a Mack V8 with a bulker kept driving past every 15 min or so - unfortunately, the lady I was with could talk, and talk…, so eventually I had to ask her to be quiet next time the Mack came past - jeez it sounded good.
She took it quite well, and actually stopped talking next time it came past… completely true.
Sorry to hijack the thread Ray,
Cheers Keith
Keith, I bet you are grateful that she didn’t give you a S MACK. Cheers, Ray.
Early in 1992, just a few weeks after my trip to Belgium, I got a request from a close friend of mine
to do a partial removal job to Mojacar in Almeria Province in Southeast Spain. He and his wife had
bought a new townhouse in 1989, and now decided to go and live there permanently.
A furniture removal company called Northovers from Winchester were hired to do the main house
move from Sutton Coldfield to Mojacar. Northovers tended to specialize in removals to and from
the area. My job was to carry many personal and valuable items which they didn’t want to put on
a carrier, it wasn’t that they didn’t trust Northovers, but things do tend to be sometimes misplaced,
particularly if it is a mixed load.
I loaded their hightop Ford Transit van at Sutton Coldfield and set off to Plymouth to catch the 24 hour
sailing to Santander and boarded Brittany Ferries " Duke De Normandie ". The usual ship " Bretagne " was
away at Brest in Brittany having its annual refit and maritime MOT. The crossing to Santander across the
Bay Of Biscay was as calm as a millpond, despite what I had heard from some people. Having left the ship,
I headed south, and after about 35 miles, I ran into the worst snowstorm that I had ever seen.
Had to keep stopping while the local workmen continued to clear the snow away, with JCBs, bulldozers and
artic tippers. Judging by the red and white marker poles at the sides of the road, it was 4 metres deep in places.
About 5 hours later, I was approaching Madrid where it was brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies. Up to this
trip, I didn’t know that it snowed in Spain, Stupid boy.
Pictures 2 & 3 are heading south toward Burgos, and pictures 4 & 5 are 3 days later heading north,
also not far from Burgos where I had stopped for a Jimmy Riddle. When I arrived back at Santander,
Bretagne was at the linkspan, having arrived from Brest Shipyard on a positioning trip. The Duke De Normandie
picture is not mine, but the picture of Bretagne in the rain is mine, taken while I was waiting to drive aboard.
I have tried to enlarge the first 4 pictures without success. Click on pictures twice for better image.
I photographed this vessel , ROPAX 1, about 2002, she was alongside at West Float in Birkenhead.
I am not certain, but I think it was with Irish Ferries, and doing Liverpool or Birkenhead to Dublin.
Click on picture twice for larger image.
Merchant Venture alongside Bidston Dock Sheds near Birkenhead on 2 separate days about 2002.
I think this vessel was used on services from Twelve Quays at Birkenhead to Belfast and Dublin
Click twice on pictures for larger image. One day I will learn how to edit pictures.
Stena Line HSS Stena Explorer was on the Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire route for almost 20 years.
The first picture looks like the vessel is off the coast of Anglesey, on its way to Ireland.
My four pictures show Stena Explorer going astern to the linkspan at Holyhead.
The first picture is not mine, but the remaining four are mine from about 2005. I was told that, because
of the design of the vessel at the rear, it could load and reload in 30 minutes. The sailing from Holyhead
to Dun Laoghaire, just south of Dublin, was advertised as 99 minutes, so it could easily do 4 round trips
per day. I am told that Stena Explorer is now sailing in Turkish waters. A similar vessel operated from
Stranraer to Belfast or Larne in Northern Ireland, and also one from Harwich to Hook Of Holland.
Click on picture for larger image.
mandator:
Nice photo by Rick Vince taken in December 1966 at quai 350, Port of Antwerp. Doric Ferry on the Antwerp-Tilbury shuttle just loading the weekly Bass trailers.
Doric%20ferry_1266.JPG
Thats an awesome pic “mandator” any more ■■
Heres a small article about that route from 1959. There was a film made featuring the Edwards truck and other trucks
on this ferry which if you type the following into the search box on u tube you can watch it.
" 1950’s BTF ferry load" Its the first result part 1. Great watch.
Brittany Ferries " Duchesse Anne " going astern to the linkspan at Roscoff in 1993.
This vessel was " Connacht ", when new to B + I line in 1978. It was seen regularly
on Holyhead to Dublin, and Liverpool to Belfast until 1988.
I sailed on this ship several times in the early 1990s when I was doing a few
jobs to Brittany in my Mercedes 307D. Ray Smyth.
Isle Of Man Steam Packet Co.," Lady Of Mann " is alongside at one of the ship repairers at West Float, Birkenhead.
This vessel and " Mona`s Queen " were an unusual Roll-On, Roll-Off ferry for vehicles no bigger than a Transit
sized box van. There were 3 side loading doors, at different levels on the sides of the ship, which
led to a spiral ramp, up or down, depending where the door was. The reason for this strange loading
system was so that the vessel could load and unload vehicles at high or low tide at Douglas, Dublin,
Belfast, Ardrossan, Heysham, and Fleetwood. At Liverpool, the landing stage floated up and down
with the tide, so the lower loading door was always at the right level.
From the early 1990s, and for the next 20 years or so, I did the occasional job to Belgium,
France, and Germany with either my Mercedes 307D or Ford Transit. I was doing an urgent
run to Le Touquet in France, and got a good deal from Hoverlloyd for my return crossing from
Dover to Calais. Because these vans were taxed as Private Light Goods, they qualified for the same
rate as a private car.
Whilst waiting at Dover for the Hoverlloyd vessel to arrive, the " Seacat Isle Of Man " fastcraft
arrived from Ostend. An elderly chap from Ealing, who I had been chatting to for a while said
" Oooh Look, I didn’t know that you could sail from here to the Isle Of Man ". He went on to say
that, as a younger man, he made many trips to the island to watch the TT Motorcycle races,
having to travel to Liverpool by train, and then sail across to Douglas. I didn’t have the face to
tell him what route the fastcraft was on. The ship at the rear is Saga Rose, part of Saga Holidays.
Hi Dean, Thank you for the Weymouth-Cherbourg advert. I didn’t know that there were sailings
from your area to Normandy so long ago. I have attached a picture that I found in a book by
Paul Atterbury, he is a long time expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow, the quality of the picture
is duff. Many of the railway companies years ago operated ferries across the North Sea, Irish Sea,
and English Channel etc. This advert shows a service by Southern Railway from Southampton to
Ouistreham and Caen from 1927. Perhaps there was a small quay at Ouistreham where Brittany
Ferries goes to now, where the River Orne and the Caen Canal meet the English Channel, and possibly
a proper dockside near to Caen city centre. Maybe they carried vehicles to and from France,
which could involve being craned on and off the ship.
The Wightlink ferry terminal at Portsmouth. Picture taken from onboard Brittany Ferries " Normandie ".
To the right of the ferry terminal is the Spice Island pub at Old Portsmouth, where I have had a beer
or two, and a good meal on several occasions, prior to booking in for the ferry for Ouistreham.
I had done an urgent job delivering Counter Terrorism equipment to a sales exhibition in Brussels
which was attended by Government and Military officials from all around the world in 2005.
Whilst waiting at Calais to return home, the Seafrance Rodin arrived, and the first lorry to drive
off was a Noel Zwecker fridge artic, with Chris at the wheel, a chap from Carlisle who I knew.
Early 80s perhaps 83 or 84 working for Smiths of Scotter I tipped Turin and after tipping I went to the office and requested the extremely pretty receptionist if she would send Smiths a telex for reload details, a couple of coffees later and the reply came.
Head to Genoa and I’m booked on the ferry to Palermo, load Siracusa with oil rig equipment for Aberdeen.
Only my 2nd trip and as a young guy not long out of the army it seemed like a good adventure.
I can’t recall the name of the ferry company but they apparently only ran 2 ships, one was something like “freccia rose” and the other “freccia blue”, 24 hour crossing, shared a cabin with a Sicilian guy who spoke perfect English as he had been living in the states and was on his way home for a holiday to spend time with his family… Mafia? I daren’t ask him!
Loaded Siracusa and shipped back Palermo to Livorno before going to Edmundsons office at Navarra to clear.
I’ve tried searching for the name of the ferry company and to see if there were any photos of the ships without success, maybe Ray might have more joy than I have.
Grumpy_old_trucker:
Early 80s perhaps 83 or 84 working for Smiths of Scotter I tipped Turin and after tipping I went to the office and requested the extremely pretty receptionist if she would send Smiths a telex for reload details, a couple of coffees later and the reply came.
Head to Genoa and I’m booked on the ferry to Palermo, load Siracusa with oil rig equipment for Aberdeen.
Only my 2nd trip and as a young guy not long out of the army it seemed like a good adventure.
I can’t recall the name of the ferry company but they apparently only ran 2 ships, one was something like “freccia rose” and the other “freccia blue”, 24 hour crossing, shared a cabin with a Sicilian guy who spoke perfect English as he had been living in the states and was on his way home for a holiday to spend time with his family… Mafia? I daren’t ask him!
Loaded Siracusa and shipped back Palermo to Livorno before going to Edmundsons office at Navarra to clear.
I’ve tried searching for the name of the ferry company and to see if there were any photos of the ships without success, maybe Ray might have more joy than I have.
Hi Grumps, Thank you for your interesting post. My journeys into mainland Europe were few and far between, I probably did no
more than about 20 trips with my 16 tonner or my Sprinter or Transit in my 49 years on the road. With regard to Italy, I set foot
just over the border from France to a location near Ventimiglia, and two hours later I was back over the border into France.
That was my only connection with Italy. Regards, Ray.
Cheers, Ray. 
