CLUB NIGHT 18th JUNE 2024 – A COUNTY GOES TO WAR – LAND GIRLS, VINDI BOYS, DAD’S ARMY AND MUM’S THE WORD.
The listed talk for Tuesday was regarding HMS Thetis, a submarine disaster, starting from it’s launch date, which was blamed on neglected paintwork. This talk will be re-scheduled for a later date.
However, since in June 2024 we are witnessing the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, our speaker Paul Barnett thought it more appropriate to present a talk based on his long term research of Severn estuary, river and Gloucester to Sharpness canal war time history. Paul has given us talks before on Gloucestershire’s involvement in the war effort, which has proven difficult to research due to military records not released for decades after the events. Also there were restrictions to prevent war planning being made public at critical times.
Men of service age and fitness were conscripted into military service, except for those in reserved occupations. As a largely agricultural county, this meant that many women joined the Land Girls to work on the farms. Women also filled in the previously male dominated other professions where those men had gone to war. Apart from digging for victory to feed the populace, someone had to keep the home fires burning for combatants to return to after the conflict. Men in reserved occupations joined one of the many Home Guard units. Some units were based at village or district, and even company locations.
Virtually all metals were classified as strategic material for war production.Timber, however, was not a classified strategic material, so was not seen as much of a target for Nazi interest when the bombing started. So import of various timbers from around the world continued at Lydney, where a shadow factory was built at the Pine End Works to process the logs. Mounted between centres, the logs were were turned into clean cylindrical form before being unrolled into thin sheets, from which plywood structures could be fabricated. The DeHavilland Mosquito fighter/bomber was one such aeroplane constructed from plywood. The Horsa troop transport gliders were also fabricated in a similar manner. Gloster Aircraft built nearly 3000 Hurricane fighters during WW2, where most of the fuselages were constructed from timber.
Between 1939 and 1966, the demasted sailing ship Vindicatrix was moored at the Old Dock in Sharpness as a training hulk for the Merchant Navy.
The early WW2, from September 1939 to May 1940 was known as the ‘Phoney War’ because little action by the Nazi’s was seen locally. Children in Gloucestershire were among the one and a half million in Britain to be evacuated from populated or otherwise anticipated bombing target areas to relatively safe rural districts. However, this early inactivity caused many parents to request return of their children, even to relatively ‘safe’ towns as Cheltenham. The county had significant engineering bases to produce aircraft, land and maritime equipment to support the war effort, but the public were not aware how important a role the county was playing at that time.
After the war, Nazi planned invasion routes targeting the county as an important seat of resistance to them, were revealed by German sources. Also, much of the equipment and personnel for the Allies ‘D’ Day invasion was shipped from the Severn estuary and bound for the English channel ports ahead of the action. This was so top secret during the war, that little more than rumours circulated the local population, and decades later, few eye witnesses can be found with genuine information about activities in the war. Mum certainly was the word!
Derek England.
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT TALK 16th APRIL 2024 – “ HUNT FOR THE STROUDWATER TWO – THE DISCOVERY OF THE STONEHOUSE HULKS”
First of all, this is not the talk that was advertised for last Tuesdays’ meeting. The reason for a change of talks is that new material has come to light regarding the vessels lost on the Severn estuary along the stretch between Bristol and Bridgewater. So the talk “Run Down River – Shipwrecks and Loss from Bristol to Bridgewater” will be postponed until 17th June 2025. Last Tuesday’s talk was based on vessels lost even closer to home, on the Stroudwater canal.
Having worked for various companies based along the Stroudwater canal, I have spent many lunchtimes wandering along the banks watching wildlife, local architecture and the slow but steady reinstatement of that body of water that is bringing life and purpose back to the discarded waterway. Paul Barnett’s research shows that 7 identifiable vessels had been abandoned along the canal from Brimscombe to Framilode, for various reasons. Other vessels will be revealed during the reinstatement work now going on. Among those anticipated are 3 vessels believed still buried in the Brimscombe dock.
Paul illustrated the history of these known vessels using photographs and documented details of their builders and owners that he has gathered from his research. Paul’s recently published book “Fore and Aft” documents other vessels lost in the Purton, Lydney and Sharpness area, and no doubt this current research will lead to a future publication for the Stroudwater area currently being refurbished. This talk was centred on 2 of the 7 vessels. These were pulled from the water at Ebley onto an adjacent field to avoid payment of duty during the nineteenth century. They were the ILA and the PERSEVERANCE that had finished their useful working life on water, and subsequently been utilised as chicken coops. Through a series of photographs and documents produced since then, a picture emerged of their fate. Topographical ariel photography taken over the last hundred years show outlines of the vessels in that location as they slowly rotted into the ground. Until 1977, ariel photography was strictly monochrome, which gives good definition to objects on the ground or near the surface, despite grass and tree growth obscuring them. Since 1977, ariel photography has become exclusively colour, which make good pictures for commercial work but the greenery becomes dominant and obscures the decaying detail. That is until modern LIDAR ( Light Detection and Ranging ) came along. This technology carried by modern radio controlled Drones is economically and commercially available and yields excellent results in the search over large areas of the earth from above.
Paul has also linked his investigation with Dave Smith of the Cheltenham based CHADS ( Cotswold Heritage and Detecting Society ). The ILA and the PERSEVERANCE have all but disappeared above ground, but using the CHADS metal detecting equipment, the iron based remains were traced in the field where the vessels were located. CHADS are an organised group who work for personal enjoyment and historic research reasons, and have close ties with local archeologists.
The Ebley site where the ILA and PERSEVERANCE are located is less than half a mile up the canal from where I saw 2 steel narrow boat hulls placed just 20 feet from the canal bank. This was about 15 years ago, and within view of a friend’s house. He told me that the vessels were returned to service as pleasure craft, but retained their former working history and appearance as bulk carriers, with authentic paint livery, modern propulsion and facilities on board.
Such is the fate of individual vessels in our ever changing economic world. Their service life contributes to our economy and our recreation, but when they are no longer needed, they are often left to be reclaimed by the Earth.
Derek England.
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT TALK 19th MARCH 2024 – “ FAMILY QUIZ – LOCAL PLACES AND EVENTS”
Our very own Ted Tedaldi produced a quiz to test our members and guests on their knowledge of local places and events. That is those of us who live in the Gloucestershire county or near by, and regularly attend club nights. These quiz nights are not meant to be taken too seriously and much banter and gentle barracking is the norn, so long as good interaction between the participants allows everyone a chance to let off steam (pun intended). Steam for tea and coffee was raised by Dan Cutting and the distribution of said beverages ably assisted by Mary and Sandra. Chris and Liz took care of the raffle as always which just goes to show that the ladies are always there to make MSRVS club nights memorable.
The twenty of us gathered in groups of 2 or 3 to form teams, then Ted led us through a fairly informal 32 question quiz that initially resembled a schoolroom (or playground) fun event. After the first couple of fairly easy questions, which Ted let slip some fairly easy answers, things settled down as the quiet in the room became testament to some serious head scratching. Yes, the mild and gentle mannered membership at our gatherings are seriously competitive. Besides, it can be fun to get one over on the next team! One or two of Ted’s questions were suitably vague enough to make more than one answer possible. In at least one case, the internet was consulted to verify a few facts about the subject in question. The net result of this is that we all ended up learning a few things we may not have known before.
Just when you think you know the area where you live, there’s no better test than a quiz! I like to watch TV panel games and quiz shows. The questions are usually general knowledge that armchair pundits find easy. Those in front of the camera are under more pressure to win the big prize, and do not always succeed. Entertainment is the name of the game, win or lose, which is why we have these events on MSRVS Club Nights. Did I mention that we were gathered in groups of 2 or 3 ? In fact there were several groups of 3 and one group of 4 – and I was on my own, because I was taking notes for this report. This is no excuse for the fact that I only scored 11 from 32, which was the lowest (reported) in the room, but then, I learned a few things I did not know before!
It was good to see 2 new members in attendance at our gathering, Matt and Harry Long, who as owners of a road going steam engine, are looking forward to mixing with kindred spirits who participate in the world of model steam road vehicle ownership and operation. Experienced club members are usually on hand to help newcomers with their engines. That’s what being a club member is all about. I am sure Matt and Harry will be at our Tewkesbury steam up in June, and possibly at other events our members are looking forward to this year.
Derek England
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT TALK 16th JANUARY 2024 – “RELENTLESS WAVES – OIL ON THE WAVES”
Approximately 18% of world trade is transported around the world by ships. These are the carriers that work around the clock to deliver every day goods, bulk materials for industry and fuel necessary for our daily life. We rarely give this industry a second thought until something goes wrong. A ship that has sunk, or wrecked on the rocks and spilling oil into the sea then makes headlines. Losing ships this way means human, financial and environmental losses. Despite the risks, huge profit is the reward for those who gamble with investment.
Paul’s talk was based on the bulk carriers that made significant impact in commerce since their introductions during the nineteenth century, and still do today. Coal fired steam was powering industry and whale oil lubricated fine instruments and clocks. in 1850, mineral oil was being refined by the James Young process so that kerosene could be used to light streets and homes. This new and apparently abundant fuel source could not have come soon enough as 40 years of whaling had virtually decimated the whale population in the north Atlantic. British oil from Burma in 1850 was followed by Pennsylvania oil, which had become a major supplier by 1860.
The steam and wind powered vessels were basic traders that carried the oil in barrels. As demand for the product grew, it was noticed that barrels waste at least 25% of the space available. In 1861, the Elizabeth Watts was converted into the worlds first liquified oil bulk carrier, able to carry 1300 tons of petroleum. On a trip from Borneo to Australia, she struck a reef near Victoria and was sunk with total loss. The first purpose built oil tankers were being built in 1863. these were open topped vessels where the oil fumes were present in the hull causing nausea and sickness for the crew. This included the first ocean going steam vessel built in Jarrow during 1873 with a gross weight of 2760 tons.
by 1877, W.A. Riedmann entered the the oil trade. He converted former emigrant ships ‘Adona’ and ‘Derby’ into bulk carriers with inter connected tanks that could be filled with sea water for ballast after discharging their oil cargo. The oil could be loaded and discharged through one pipe and the ship balanced by pumping oil from tank to tank. On 15th March 1888, the ‘Geeste’ making for New York with a cargo of iron and water ballast, became stranded off Great Yarmouth.
In 1883, Henry Frederick Swan designed 3 vessels to overcome the ‘Free Surface Effect’. This phenomenon where liquids or bulk materials that flow like liquids, can cause a vessel to become unstable and roll over. Swan introduced design features like Cofferdams, Horizontal Bulkheads and Vapour Lines to improve safe operation of bulk carriers. Later in 1903, Combustion engines were introduced to power bulk carriers and replace steam and wind power, as the vessels were becoming larger.
In 1915, the USS Maumee (14500 tons) was a pioneer vessel that could transfer oil at sea, vessel to vessel. The ships too big to enter port to load and unload, could transfer to smaller vessels, and eventually to and from offshore piers.
Daniel Keith Lugwig, considered to be the ‘Father of the Supertanker’, introduced methods of construction for even larger vessels in the 1920’s. Welded steel hulls to replace traditional riveted hulls, and placing the engine at the rear of the vessel instead of mid ships. Welded hull construction proved invaluable decades later producing the ‘Liberty’ ships during WW2. Through the 1960’s and 1970’s, bulk carrying ships had grown up to over 500,000 tons, which were more economic for long journeys, caused by untimely closure of the Suez and Panama canals. Currently, the ‘Knock Nevis’ is the largest ocean going vessel at 564,000 tonnes. Her 80 foot draught means she is not able to safely navigate the English Chanel. Political history in the Suez and low water availability in the Panama has from time to time favoured the larger vessels on grounds of economy.
Despite the steady advance in design of shipping, disasters at sea have had major effects on commerce, safety and environmental health. Paul talked about notable disasters like the ‘Torrey Canyon’ in 1967, where the oil spillage destroyed marine birds and seals and fish. unfortunately, the detergent used to disperse the oil destroyed the same amount of wild life as the oil, but improved and safe clean up solutions are now available. The ‘Herald of Free Enterprise’, a roll on roll off passenger and car ferry sank when the bow doors were left open while leaving dock, took on board huge amounts of sea water and sank, killing 193 people in 1987. Overloaded ferries in the East are to this day are sinking, despite the lessons learned, which all goes to show how relentless the sea is, and that we have not mastered it yet.
Derek England.
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT TALK 21st NOVEMBER 2023– “SURFACE RAIDERS AND THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC”
Advertised as “Operation Beehive –Secrets of the Brean Sands Hulks” , our talk on Tuesday was switched to “Surface Raiders and the Battle of The Atlantic”. These are new talks developed by Paul Barnett from his extensive research in maritime and historical subjects. This new talk, about the capital battleships used by Nazi Germany during WW2 to deny shipped imports into Britain, was tailored from the view point of how the Nazis were able to build such a strong fleet in contravention of the Versailles treaty that should have restricted their arsenal to a defence force only.
The Versailles treaty of 1919 restricted new build naval vessels to specific weights and numbers. The same restrictions applied to all of Germany’s military equipment and personnel, but Paul’s talk concentrated on the the naval program. The coming to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party sought to change the restriction of the Versailles treaty by building a strong economy to gain the support and belief of the German people. This allowed a recently defeated country to covertly rearm in full view and defiance of the world. The Allied nations, who were also recovering from the ravages of WW1 were powerless to intervene and hoped a strong Germany would not emerge again to wage war.
Paul’s meticulous study revealed later documentation showing how capital naval ships were exceeding the gross tonnage limits set out in the Versailles Treaty. The Washington Treaty of 1935 set out to negate the advantage Germany was gaining over the Allied countries by increasing the limits for all countries. The London Conference of that year installed the Z plan, which allowed vessels of up to 35,000 tons and up to 14” guns. This would apply to all countries, not just Germany. Despite Germany being restricted by treaties, the Allied countries could see that Germany was growing in military strength that could again threaten world peace.
the British Royal Navy was the largest naval force in the world as it served the Empire and Commonwealth. Hitler resolved to break Britain by defeating the Royal Navy and commercial shipping to Britain by blockading the north Atlantic ocean. His preference was to use large conventional ships like the Tirpitz, Bismark and the Graf Spee to fight conventional sea battles. These “Surface Raiders” were to starve Britain into submission and divide the Empire. Others in the Nazi hierarchy, led by Karl Donitz, were in favour of submarines to control the oceans, but were held back by Hitler until later in the war.
The days of these “Surface Raiders” were numbered. As we heard from Paul’s previous talk on the Battle of Jutland, major surface vessels alone just eliminate each other. Huge losses on each side without definitive victory was no good to either side in war. mid way through WW2, Hitler sanctioned greater spending on the submarine fleet to seek effective strikes against the Allies in the north Atlantic. Technology moves swiftly in war, and counter measures became quickly available for each new weapon developed. Large surface ships that were vulnerable to submarines before WW2 became subjects of bombs and torpedoes from aircraft that could operate in the north Atlantic. Radar and the breaking of the Enigma machine codes could locate large relatively slow vessels, so they could be hunted down more easily. Hitler’s submarines, despite showing many early successes, also fell foul to advancing technology and eventually suffered the greatest loss for any German armed branch during WW2.
An interesting talk by Paul that showed a lot of interest from the members present, and one to recommend to other clubs looking for similar talks.
Derek England.
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT
TALK 17th OCTOBER 2023– “THE REAL COST OF OIL – LOSS OF THE PIPER ALPHA”
Tuesday night’s talk was back on a
technical theme. Oil, and the thousands of products and services that we take
for granted in a modern world, has to be won from the Earth by human effort and
ingenuity. Extracting oil from the ground is tough enough, and as the finite
sources become scarcer, it becomes necessary to extract from more remote
locations, such as under the sea, which adds to the cost of the final product,
in both financial and human terms.
Paul Barnett spoke in detail about the
discovery of high grade crude in the North sea, and how this came to be claimed
by the countries around that area. For Britain, this would become about 10
percent of North Sea oil production, and so economically important. The 1974
Health, Safety and Welfare Act was suitably in place to cover the operation of
British extraction of oil and gas, although this Act was not sufficient to
prevent the July 1988 disaster at the Piper Alpha platform that took the lives
of 165 crew and 2 rescue workers, as well as destroying the platform.
Health and safety often appear sufficient
until a serious incident shows up the short comings in the system. In the case
of Piper Alpha, a whole series of incidents contributed to create one of the
costliest man made disasters of all time. Total insurance loss of £1.7 billion
(equivalent to £5 billion in 2021) and the loss of 167 persons that in hind
sight could have been prevented. The Cullen enquiry ( published November 1990)
concluded that short comings in the owners procedures (Occidental Petroleum
ltd) had led to the disaster, and recommended a 167 new procedures, including
design of platform and information to emergency services, be installed. No
criminal charges were raised against Occidental Petroleum ltd.
This was a new talk by Paul Barnett, and
MSRVS were the first audience to hear it. Consequently we received the full
contents of technical, political and human material, which lasted an hour and
45 minutes. Paul will tailor this talk to suit his various audiences. Naturally
our questions were based on the technical issues, as well as the political and
ethical issues. Plenty of content for everyone to comment on, and a talk worth
hearing again.
Derek England.
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT TALK 19th SEPTEMBER 2023– “THE SEE AND HEAR QUIZ”
As autumn draws in, we would hope that club nights would be warm and cosy with good interactivity between our members. After all, that’s what club membership is for. Sharing our experiences and chatting about building and operating steam engines. We had a visitor, David Walker from Stratford upon avon, who came to see what we got up to on our club evenings. I hope he enjoyed the evening as he did stay until the end.
In that same vein we grouped ourselves into 5 teams to compete in a friendly quiz. Our speaker, Ray Sturdy, had arranged a quiz based on pictures of celebrities, sounds of every day equipment, and popular TV music themes from days gone by. There was friendly banter between the teams as Ray kept the quiz running at a good pace. The quiz was not difficult as the lowest score by any team was 49 out of 65.
There was plenty of time after the quiz to chat about steam, so another productive and entertaining evening.
Derek England.
MSRVS CLUB NIGHT TALK – “GLOUCESTER MODEL BOAT CLUB – BUILDING TECHNIQUES”
Our first club night meeting in two months! It was a splendid presentation by the members of the Gloucester and District Model Boat Club. Ted Tedaldi brought David, Mike and Brian, with a some of their model boats and associated equipment, to give us a comprehensive and interesting insight into their well organised and studied hobby. Another member, whose name is also Mike, was not able to attend due to medical reasons, but we were told that he specialised in dredgers, with fine detail and operational ability in his models.
Ted’s introduction made us all aware that the model boat world has modellers who study their subject before building a scale model, in a similar way that steam enthusiasts, like MRSVS members, study a subject before selecting plans and materials to build and operate a scale version of that subject. In the same vein, we all seek the same experience that the creators of the full sized sought when creating the original equipment. Like all modellers, the individual members of the model boat club use their personal choice of materials and methods of construction. Some construct using timber, and others prefer plastics like Glass Reinforce Plastic (GRP) and commercially available Plasticard. These options provide a friendly rivalry between the members, and a healthy club atmosphere.
Ted introduced David, who brought 3 models of naval class vessels at scales of 1:12, 1:24 and 1:48. David talked of the history of his largest vessel, a nineteenth century motor torpedo boat that was designed to travel at high speed towards its target, release torpedoes from the rear of the vessel, and turn away before the torpedoes reached their target. This class of vessel was so feared that the Destroyer class of vessel was introduced to combat it. The model is powered by two electric brushless motors, independently throttled to provide maneuverability, just like the full sized vessel. Hull is constructed of wood with glass fibre overlay to seal the wood and keep the water out of the vessel. David’s other two models were early designs of live steam powered side paddle driven vessels, also constructed in wood. Later, he demonstrated the steam plant and radio control system of those vessels.
Ted next introduced Mike, who is well known the boat club as a man who just gets on with it. Mike is not phased by any task. He just finds practical ways to overcome complex modelling problems. Mike’s preferred materials of construction are GRP and Plasticard. He also showed a model made out of cardboard. A comprehensive kit with elaborately printed detail that was primarily intended as a display subject. However by using balsa wood stiffening in the structure, the model could be sailed on the water. Propulsion units, radio control equipment and ballasting for operation upon water is also illustrated in the kit instructions. The model is of the USS Missouri, was finely detailed and took 3 years to build. Mike’s other models used traditional GRP hulls that were molded inside GRP split patterns especially made by Mike for the finished hull. Wood strips bonded to the inside of the hull gunwales providing support for the Plasticard decking and superstructure. Lead was bonded into the hull to ballast the vessel to correct buoyancy at it’s Plimsoll line. Complete with electric propulsion and radio control equipment, these models normally took a year to complete.
Ted then introduced Brian, who has a passion for the performance of his craft. Scale like wake from the bows and white water trailing from the stern to give authenticity. Brian’s passion is modelling naval vessels, which had all sunk. In a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ moment, he said this is so no-one could check the included details on the models. However, one day at an exhibition, someone studying his model counted the number of portholes on the hull and declared that it was one porthole short on his model! Brian also described the up to date technology used in the propulsion and control of his models. Also, 3D printing has many uses when creating detailed parts, such as scaled personnel, bollards and handrails. These parts are relatively cheap to produce in plastic compared to metal parts, but are time consuming to print. To contrast this, he declared that old technology, such as glow plug or petrol engines were not allowed any more on the clubs sailing ground.
The club usually meet for sailing on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons at the basin of the Gloucester and Hereford canal at Over on the A40 not far from Westgate street Bridge. They can also be seen at Gloucester docks when events are scheduled there.