THE PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY MAGAZINE P ISSUE 6 P WINTER 2008

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Editor:Doug KempsterDesign:

Eureka Marketing Solutions 020 7801 1480Photographers:Samuel Ashfield Ferrari Press Agency John Neligan Gavin ParsonsJason CarterNiels SlothHM Coastguard

Port of London Authority London River HouseRoyal Pier RoadGravesend DA12 2BG, UK

Enquiries:editorial@pla.co.uk

Telephone:01474 562 305

For more information on the Port of London Authority, go to:

www.pla.co.uk

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Search teams have recovered a trawlerfrom the bottom of the Thames followingthe tragic disappearance of a fisherman. The 12 metre, steel-hulled

Louisa was discovered by the Port ofLondon Authority’s survey vessel Verifier.It was sitting upright in 12 metres of

water off Shoeburyness, Essex – roughly a kilometre from its last reported position.The boat and its owner, Colin Dolby,

disappeared on November 10 as badweather lashed the Estuary.Mr Dolby radioed his father to say he

was returning to shore in deterioratingconditions, but the 47-year-old neverarrived back at his base in Leigh-on-Sea. Coastguard rescue teams, the RNLI’s

Southend and Sheerness lifeboats, andhelicopter 125 from RAF Wattisham, set

out in rough seas and strong winds to rescue him, but found no trace of the boat. The following day, the port authority

searched the area with sonar equipmentnormally used for charting the sea bed,and discovered the trawler on the bottom.Verifier’s crew dropped buoys to

mark the boat’s location and police laterdived the wreck, but they found no signof Mr Dolby.Just hours after the dive team surfaced,

PLA crews aboard the salvage vesselCrossness lifted the Louisa.The beam trawler is now in the hands

of officers from the Government’s MarineAccident Investigation Branch.At the time of going to press, Mr Dolby

was still unaccounted for.

A judge has jailed the captain of achemical tanker for being drunk incommand of a ship.Volodymyr Gonchar, who was

sentenced to two months, will bedeported when his prison term’s over.He’s also been relieved of his

command.Snaresbrook Crown Court heard the 53-

year-old Ukrainian was arrested by policein November after his ship, Cypriot-registered Elousa Trikoukiotisa, arrived in the Thames from Germany.The officers had

been alerted by aPort of LondonAuthority pilotwho’d boarded the tanker in theNorth Sea.Judge Judith

Hughes QC toldGonchar, whopleaded guilty to being over thealcohol limit, thatshe had taken hisprevious goodcharacter intoaccount, but that

she could not ignore the dangerousnature of the cargo.Speaking after the case, port authority

harbour master Roy Stanbrook said: “Thisman was in command of a ship that wascarrying dangerous cargo; it also had 15 people on board. His actions weregrossly irresponsible.“However, during its passage through

the Thames at least, the vessel was underthe control of the chief officer and ourpilot, so there was no risk to othershipping in the port.”

Fishing Boat Found

Drunken Sailor Jailed

A venomous fish which grows up to half a metre long has beenhauled from the depths of theThames.The greater weever, infamous

for its poisonous spines, has sucha bad reputation that theNorwegians call it Helvetesfisk -the fish from hell.Scientists from the Environment

Agency and the Zoological Societyof London made the discoveryduring routine river monitoring in September.The species, Latin name

Trachinus draco, ambushes itsprey – usually small fish – byburrowing into the river beduntil only its eyes and dorsal fin are showing.It pounces as its victims swim

by, despatching them using afearsome set of teeth.The predator’s venomous spines

aren’t used in the attack; they’reonly for defence while the fish islying in wait.It’s here that unsuspecting

anglers, divers, and bathers, whostep on or grab the fish, sufferpoisonous puncture wounds thatcause two hours of excruciatingpain, and up to two weeks ofirritation and discomfort.The scientists who discovered

the fish believe it’s been attractedto the region by the river’s goodwater quality.Matthew Gollock, the Zoological

Society’s Thames conservation

manager, said: “Heavy pollution inthe Thames Estuary once left thewaterway devoid of fish species. “However, the discovery of this

new species and the blossomingdiversity of fish are hugelyindicative of the renaissance ofthe Estuary.” The greater weever is the 60th

new species to be discovered

between Fulham and Tilbury sincescientists started monitoring twoyears ago.The latest find brings the

total number of fish speciesrecorded in the Thames to 125. These have included sole,cod, sea bass, thornback ray, John Dory, twaite shad, and river lamprey.

Wheelchair River Plunge

Predator

Lock keeper BertWolff saved adisabled man fromdrowning after hiswheelchair toppledinto the Thames.The port authority

foreman wentsearching for thecasualty after amember of the publicphoned RichmondLock and Weir to report anabandoned wheelchair belowTwickenham Bridge. Bert alerted colleagues at port

control in Woolwich and askedthem to contact the emergencyservices. Then he grabbed hislifejacket and, with a passer-by,launched the lock’s workboat.The pair found the man

under the water near mooringbuoys on the Middlesex side of the river.Bert said: “He was floating just

under the surface.“He was face-up, and his

lips and ears were blue. I thought he was probablydead, but we pulled himto the side of the boat,held his head above thewater and opened hisairway.“He started to splutter

and water came out of hismouth. He was a very

large, heavy man and, even now,I’m not sure how we managed it,but we got him into the boat. “Once he was on the deck,

I put him in the recoveryposition, and the colourreturned to his face.”Bert motored back to the shore

where police and paramedicsboarded the boat and gave thecasualty oxygen.Police and firefighters then

lifted the man out, and carriedhim to a waiting ambulance.

Bert Wolf f

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Divers and support craft have moved intothe Estuary to start work on the region’ssecond offshore wind farm.Crews will spend 18 months at Gunfleet

Sands, four miles south east of Clacton-on-Sea, planting 48 turbines in the shallows.The 10 square mile site will be large

enough to power 120,000 households –

one in five Essex homes.Gunfleet Sands will be bigger than the

Estuary’s first wind farm, Kentish Flats,which has 30 turbines.However, the region’s third site, the

London Array north of Margate, will be the biggest in the world, boasting 271 turbines.

Former MI5 agent and Port of LondonAuthority chairmanLord Cuckney has diedaged 83.

The corporate fixerand dealmaker, whowas recruited as a spyafter World War II,became a leadingindustrialist when he left the SecurityService.

He was appointedchairman of the portauthority in 1977, aposition he held fortwo years.

Positive Spin

Desk RescueLucy Owen saved a woman’s life – bylooking out the window.The Port of London Authority planning

officer glanced up from the desk in herriverside office to see a casualty beingswept away by the current.Lucy, who’s based at the PLA’s

Gravesend headquarters, alerted deputyharbour master Chris McQueen and afull-scale rescue swung into action.She said: “The daylight was already

failing and if the woman had gone intothe water just 10 minutes later, I wouldnever have seen her.”The port authority called the

coastguard, and diverted its harbourpatrol boat Gunfleet to the scene.Lucy never took her eyes off the

casualty and was able, via Chris, to directthe rescuers to the woman who was beingcarried downriver just off GordonPromenade.Gunfleet’s crew, Paul Dixon and Paul

Lingham, caught hold of the casualty andhanded her to the Gravesend lifeboat.She was later taken away by

paramedics.

Lucy Owen saved a woman’s life – bylooking out the window.The Port of London Authority planning

officer glanced up from the desk in herriverside office to see a casualty beingswept away by the current.Lucy, who’s based at the PLA’s

Gravesend headquarters, alerted deputyharbour master Chris McQueen and afull-scale rescue swung into action.She said: “The daylight was already

failing and if the woman had gone intothe water just 10 minutes later, I wouldnever have seen her.”The port authority called the

coastguard, and diverted its harbourpatrol boat Gunfleet to the scene.Lucy never took her eyes off the

casualty and was able, via Chris, to directthe rescuers to the woman who was beingcarried downriver just off GordonPromenade.Gunfleet’s crew, Paul Dixon and Paul

Lingham, caught hold of the casualty andhanded her to the Gravesend lifeboat.She was later taken away by

paramedics.

Canvey Island’s Aaron Lowther has been crowned the nation’s new youth powerboatchamp. The 15-year-old beat competitors from around the country during the 2008Honda RYA Youth RIB Challenge in Southampton this autumn. Among Aaron’s winningsis a new 4.8 metre Ribcraft rigid inflatable boat which will go to his Essex boating base,Island Yacht Club.

Spending Habits ThamesWreckGuarded

Tower Bridge is having a 21stCentury faceliftthat’s beingbankrolled by…medieval monks.Thrifty brothers

created a fund800 years agothat now has thefinancial muscleto cover therestoration’s £4million price tag.The monks invested money

they collected in tolls, taxes and bequests at London Bridge.Now the trust fund they built,

Bridge House Estates, is worth£700 million and is dedicated to maintaining the City’s fivecrossings – the London, Tower,Blackfriars, Southwark andMillennium bridges.Work on Tower Bridge started

in September and will last threeyears. The City of LondonCorporation estimates that 22,000litres of red, white and blue paintwill be needed to spruce up theiconic structure.

And decorators will spend atotal of 44,000 hours stripping the old paint and slapping on new coats of colour.It will be the first time in the

structure’s 114-year history thatits steel framework has beenexposed – earlier decorators justpainted over the existing coats.The facelift will be done in

four phases to stop scaffoldingcovering the whole bridge at anyone time. Work won’t impact on river

traffic until 2010 – when thecentre span bascules are painted.The Tower Bridge Exhibition, with

its displays, tours and walkways,will stay open throughout.

The Government has slappeda protection order on theremains of HMS London tosave it from wreck hunters.Divers and salvage teams

are now barred frominterfering with the remnantsof the 17th Century warshipunless they have a licence.The Department for

Culture, Media and Sport saysit’s taken action on the adviceof English Heritage.Culture minister Barbara

Follett said: “These rare andwell-preserved remainsprovide a unique insight intoone of the most significantperiods in English history – a time when British navalpower was emerging on theEuropean stage.”The London – a three-deck

warship built in Chatham in1654 – saw action during theFirst Dutch War (1652-4).She later formed part of

an English Squadron thatcollected King Charles IIfrom the Netherlands andrestored him to the thronefollowing Oliver Cromwell’sdeath in 1658. But the ship was sunk by

an accidental explosion inthe Thames Estuary sevenyears later.Samuel Pepys logged the

disaster in his diary entry for March 8, 1665: “…a littlea’this side the buoy of theNower, she [the London]suddenly blew up. About 24[men] and a woman that werein the round-house and coachsaved; the rest, being above300, drowned: the shipbreaking all in pieces…”

hree mockcasualties took a drubbing insimulated 9ftwaves… for the sake of sea safety.Phil Wilkinson,

Dave Hurley and Nick Westbrookwere roughed-up by the Port ofLondon Authority so they couldput lifesaving gear through its paces.The trio were bussed to the Royal

National Lifeboat Institution’s state-of-the-art crew training pool inDorset, and kitted-out with aselection of lifejackets and flotation equipment.But the gear had been sabotaged

by port authority health and safetyadviser Gary Davies so that hecould see what would happenwhen he cranked up the waves.“One lifejacket had loose straps,

another wasn’t done up, and athird’s gas cylinder wasn’t screwedin which meant the jacket couldn’tinflate fully,” he said. “The poorly fitted jackets

inflated on impact with the water,then flipped straight off thecasualties. The one with the loosecylinder just sprayed carbondioxide and water around butprovided no buoyancy.”To make matters worse, health

and safety officer Jason Ruddcaptured the PLA team’s sufferingon camera. The footage will nowbe used to show new boat crewswhat happens when faulty orbadly fitted equipment meets the sea.Phil, who served with the Royal

Navy before joining the Port ofLondon Authority, said: “In my 25years at sea, I’d never experiencedanything as terrifying as that pool.“We were all quite cocky about

it when we got there, but assoon as we were in the water and it started slapping us about,we just wanted out.”The pool, which can even

simulate night time helicopterrescues, was specificallydesigned by the RNLI to train its lifeboat crews.The PLA was given access to the

facilities by Gravesend LifeboatStation manager Ian Dunkley whopromotes sea safety amongpleasure boaters on the Thames.Jason said: “We also tested fully

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functioning, properly-fittedlifejackets over a longerperiod of time, to seehow comfortable they were duringprolonged exposureto the water.“And we trialled

our pilot coatswhich have anintegral flotationdevice.“They inflated okay,

but Phil had problemspulling on the sprayhood

which is designed to keep the seaout of the pilot’s face.“When he did get it on, the back

of the hood had filled with waterand its weight pulled the faceguard tight against his mouth andnose, making breathing difficult.“As a result of these tests, we’ve

gone back to the manufacturersand asked them to makemodifications to the design.“Being able to carry out our own

assessments on this equipment,before it’s used in anger, hasproved priceless.”

The survey will give us a snapshot of what’s going on

out there in the wider Estuary

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enior marine biologist Garnet Hooper has leda specialist team intothe Thames Estuaryto probe the depths ofa disused shipping route.The scientist has been called inby the Port of London Authority to

determine what’s living below the waves in theNorth Edinburgh Channel.The one-time shipping lane – abandoned by

vessels when it started to silt-up naturally – wasearmarked for investigation after sea bedsediment, dredged from the nearby PrincesChannel, was deposited there.Dr Hooper’s findings will mark the end of a

major port authority operation to improve vesselaccess into London while reducing shipping’simpact on the environment.Katherine Harris, the PLA’s environmental

advisor, said: “By deepening Princes Channel,we’ve created a shipping route which couldcut fuel consumption and carbon emissionsfor thousands of vessels visiting London.“In doing this, we’ve had to move around

2.5 million cubic metres of sea bed, enough to fill 125,000 tipper trucks.“The material we dredged-up in the first phase

of the project was shipped to Rochester riversidewhere it was used in construction work. This meantdevelopers didn’t have to source supplies from morelimited natural resources.“Unfortunately there were no similar building

projects around the time of the second phase, so wehad to put the dredged material back into the sea.“We targeted North Edinburgh Channel because

we were satisfied that it wouldn’t have a long-termdetrimental impact on marine life.“Before work started,

we carried out underwatersurveys to log the ecologyof the area. And DrHooper’s investigations now,

compared with the research we did then, willtell us if we made the right call. We’reconfident we did.” The survey team from Hampshire-

based marine consultants EMU Ltd,arrived in the Estuary in Septemberaboard the survey vessel Arie Dirk.Dr Hooper said: “We trawled

along the bottom and took grabsamples from the sea bed to seewhat’s living there.“We logged and then released

most species back into the sea, but kept a small sample for furtheridentification. We’ve taken the sea bedsamples back to our laboratories wherethey’re undergoing further analysis.“We should have the full results by

January, but we’ve already recorded a veryunusual find – a short snouted seahorsehippocampus hippocampus.”The species was first found in the

Thames nearly two years ago by theZoological Society of London.Although it’s been recorded off

Dagenham, Tilbury and Southend since,there have been no finds this far out in the Estuary.Katherine Harris said: “The seahorsewas an excellent result – having thisspecies around normally indicatesgood water quality.

“The survey will not only give us guidance on how marine life in the North Edinburgh Channelhas recovered, but it will also give us a snapshot of what’s going on out there in the wider Estuary.”The port authority will be sharing

the findings with the Department forEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Katherine Harris

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ondon’s future kayakchampions are cutting their teeth on the Thames. The river, hailed as one of the best training groundsin Britain, is being harnessedby the Royal Borough of

Kensington and Chelsea.The local authority, with Lottery Fund

backing, has pumped £600,000 into theCremorne Riverside, a state-of-the artboating facility north of Battersea Reach.Now its instructors are using the site as

a base to launch young paddlers into theadrenaline-packed world of kayaking.Centre manager Harry Whelan said:

“The Thames is a fantastic trainingground. It’s unique.“I’ve circumnavigated Britain and

Ireland in a kayak and there’s nowherethat comes close.“If you can master the tides and

currents ripping through here, you can kayak anywhere.”But learning on the Thames comes

at a price – the river can be a fierceenvironment for novices.The instructors at Cremorne drill

rookie paddlers on the water’s perilslong before they come into contactwith it.“It’s not just about explaining how

to use the kit,” said Harry. “It’s aboutteaching newcomers how to stay safeon the river.“All our youngsters learn rescue

techniques, and we show them how to readthe currents and to steer in the tides.“When they’re paddling into the flow, we

teach them how to use eddies behind thebridges, barges and piers so they can makeprogress against the tide or rest in safety. “And, most importantly on a river like

this, we introduce them to vessel trafficand explain the ’rules of the road’. Wemight have the right of navigation on theThames, but that doesn’t give us the rightof way.“We want our paddlers to be expert

kayakers and, just as crucially, responsibleriver users.”The centre holds a range of play boats

and touring, slalom, and sea kayaks whichgive the novices, aged nine and upwards,the widest possible grounding.The Royal Borough is confident that

some of these rookies will one day excel at the sport.Harry’s line manager, Mackon Khela,

learnt and trained on the Thames offWapping 20 years ago. He’s a former Britishwhite water racing champ and was rankedin the world top 20.Harry said: “We don’t charge any of the

young people to use the centre, which isopen to those who live locally and go toschool in the Royal Borough.

“We’ve even started running sessions forthe over 50s.“As far as I’m concerned, we’re not only

promoting the sport, we’re promoting theriver. It’s London’s greatest asset. Millionssee it everyday, but few people reallyexperience it. “Our paddlers develop a deep

appreciation and respect for the river. Andthey see London the way it was supposedto be seen - from the water.”

Capsize practice

Cremorne Riverside, whichofficially opened in October,was designed to be dismantledand moved in the face ofsudden flooding.

Architect Sarah Wigglesworthwas tasked with producingblueprints for a centre thatcould be lifted clear of dangerif the river overtops theembankment walls.

Cremorne’s two buildings – onehousing a boat store andoffices, the other comprising of changing rooms – are madeof timber clad in a Core Tensteel skin, making the structurerelatively lightweight.

The walls are packed withsheep’s wool for insulationand the roofs are planted to attract wildlife.

Cremorne can accommodate 30 children, boasts disabledaccess, and has its own pierand floating pontoon.

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MS Illustrious is more than 15 miles from the Port ofLondon Authority’s outerlimits. She’s coming in fromthe North Sea at 16 knots (18 mph). It’s not fast fora family hatchback but,

for 209 metres of aircraft carrier andweaponry that displaces a total of 22,000tonnes, it’s an impressive speed. On her bridge, port authority pilot

Cerwyn Phillips, who’s guiding the vesselinto the Thames, can’t see the land or themouth of the river. Visibility’s moderate at three nautical

miles. But he knows the warship is being watched…Nearly 60 miles from the fighting ship’s

position, PLA Vessel Traffic Servicesofficer Wayne Whitehead is tracking its approach at Port Control.A virtual river, from Crossness (off

Erith) to the North Sea, sprawls acrossseven computer screens in front of him.It details every marker buoy, everychannel, every shoal and mud bank. Radar, satellite, and radio information

overlays this electronic Thames, paintinga real-time picture of vessel movementsthis grey November morning.All around Wayne and his fellow officers,

Ian Cosgrave and Colin Lock, the air

crackles with the disembodied voices ofskippers and masters that echo throughthe river’s 14 VHF base stations. The warship’s PLA pilot, Cerwyn,

is among them… Like all approaching ships, Illustrious

makes first contact with Vessel TrafficServices before she enters Port waters.Wayne says: “The ship lets us know

she’s in good working order, gives us anestimated arrival time, and confirms shehas a passage plan – that she’s expectedon the river. This is crucial because, if a ship has nowhere to go, she can’t justdouble-park or sit in the middle of theThames until a berth becomes available.”To the naked eye, the Estuary is a vast

sweep of open sea but, in reality, it’s anunderwater road network of channels,junctions and crossing points. It’s governed by rules as strict as

any highway code. They detail whereships must give way, where they cananchor, and when they have to giveprogress reports.And it’s Vessel Traffic Services’

responsibility to police these regulations.Ian Cosgrave says: “Unlike air traffic

control, we don’t dictate every movementa vessel makes. If one wants to overtakethe other, it’s for the masters – theofficers in charge of each of those ships –

Brian Kay

to agree between themselves overthe radio.“We monitor what they’re

planning, and only intervenewhen we think they’ve misjudgedthe situation, or if they can’t agree a course of action between themselves. “We can also see the bigger

picture. We know when ships arescheduled to slip their mooringsand head out – something thecrew of an incoming vessel mightnot appreciate when they’remaking navigation plans.”The channels running through

the Estuary have light trafficwhen Illustrious powers throughthem. The ship has clear waterat the junction of Black Deepand Fishermans Gat, and thereare no other vessels at apotential bottle-neck in theKnock John Channel.“We’re clear today,” says Wayne.

“But if I thought it was likely toget congested out there, I’d slowsome of the vessels down so thatthey didn’t all arrive at the samepoint at the same time.”Illustrious is carrying a port

authority pilot, but not every ship on the river does. Some are exempt because their mastershave a good working knowledge of the river; others may be toosmall to require one.

Colin Lock says: “Despite theseexemptions, we can stop a shipfrom entering our waters withouta pilot if we feel they’llcompromise safety.“It’s rare we have to do this.

In a normal day, Vessel TrafficServices provides information to shipping – details of tides,locations of river or divingoperations – that sort of thing.“And, we also organise traffic –

we warn vessels or close the riverwhere congestion, navigation oran incident could provehazardous to shipping.“In extreme cases – in

particularly bad weather, forinstance – we can recommend

a course of action to the ship’smaster. This would normally bedone by our Duty Port Controllerwho, in addition to being a fullyqualified VTS supervisor, is also a master mariner and Class 1Thames pilot.”As the warship enters Sea

Reach, a channel that runsbetween Southend and the Isle of Grain, the VTS officers arechecking departure times forvessels leaving port.Bulk carriers, gas and oil

tankers, tugs and tows, all useterminals and jetties which linethe river from here inwards.Some ships heading out to sea

need to ’swing’ – do a three-pointturn across the Thames – whenthey leave dock. This causes apotential ’road-block’ for othervessels.In fact, Ian Cosgrave sees very

little of Illustrious when she slidespast Port Control’s window atGravesend, because he’s stoppinga container ship from quitting itsberth ahead of the carrier.“If I let her ’swing’ now,” he says

“The container vessel will be lyingacross the channel on a blindbend at the very momentIllustrious arrives.“I’ve asked her to wait five

minutes until the warship haspassed.”

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Tom Southall Sea Pilot Cerwyn Phillips

Colin Lock

London VTS is split into twodistricts and, upriver of Erith, the warship moves out of PortControl’s waters and into theThames Barrier NavigationCentre’s sector.As its name suggests, TBNC sits

in the shadow of the EnvironmentAgency’s 520 metre concrete andsteel flood defence.Duty officer Brian Kay and

VTS officer Tom Southall arewatching vessel movementsbetween Crossness andTeddington when Illustriousappears on their screens.Their section of river, which

winds through central London, is dotted with commuter vessels,ferries, bulk carriers, tourist boatsand pleasure craft.TBNC tracks them using AIS – a

system that logs the details andpositions of individual vessels byintercepting the radio signals theysend out automatically.This is crucial because, upstream

of Greenwich, the alternative – radar– doesn’t work.“Radar just bounces off the

bridges and buildings and wecan’t get a clear picture,” says Tom.“Traditionally we’ve had to rely

on CCTV, radio, and river patrolsto know what’s going on. But theintroduction of the Automatic

Identification System, or AIS, hastransformed the way we work andincreased river safety as a result.“Not only can I see vessels

moving on my screen, I know at aglance who they are, what they’recarrying and where they’re going.”The Thames Barrier itself is

operated by the EnvironmentAgency, but it’s Vessel TrafficServices’ job to ensure ships get through safely.Illustrious is doing eight and

a half knots when she entersWoolwich Reach and lines-up onthe Barrier’s ’Echo’ span, betweenpiers five and six in the centre of the river.Brian says: “The tide is running

in the same direction as the ship.So Illustrious has to move fasterthan the current. If she doesn’t, if she just lets the water carry her,her crew won’t be able to steer orcontrol the vessel.”The span is just 61 metres

wide, Illustrious is 36. River pilotsDave Hocking and John Sheridan,who joined the ship as it passedGravesend, have little more than12 metres clearance on eitherside.The manoeuvre is complicated

further because, unlikeconventional ships, aircraftcarriers have their bridges off-centre to accommodate their

flight decks.This makes it difficult for a

single pilot on the bridge to judgedistances. So the port authoritypilots post themselves on eitherside of the ship and guide thevessel from there. From TBNC on the south side

of the river, it looks like a tight fitas Illustrious closes on the piers,but the warship sails throughwithout incident. The aircraft carrier’s last major

manoeuvre on its inward journeycomes just a mile further on, off the lock entrance to West India Quay.Tom warns all vessels that this

stretch of the Thames, BlackwallReach, will be blocked as thestraddling warship turns.Powered by her four gas turbine

Olympus engines, and helped by Svitzer tugs Cecilia, Mercia,Laceby and Anglia, the shipswings through the tide and eases backwards to her mooring.Just six and a half hours after

she made first contact withLondon Vessel Traffic Services, the warship comes to rest at Greenwich. Each year, the Port of London

Authority oversees the safety ofbetween 25,000 and 30,000commercial and military ship movements.

Pilots Dave Hocking and John Sheridan with DPC Gordon Price Wayne Whitehead

The Port of London Authority team aboard the ThamesWaterman Cutter Penelope finished in 2hrs 58mins,crossing the line between the Met Police Marine Unit in LenWilliams and the Royal Navy Reserve in Arthur Tisdall.Overall winner of the Ham to Greenwich race was a

Connemara Currach called The Sin Bin.

Great River Race judges kept tabs on September’scompetitors by using electronic tagging.

Two hundred and ninety craft were tracked bythe latest satellite technology as they jostled for

top slot in the 22-mile Thames marathon

The event’s organisers are now saying thenew monitoring system will be a regularfeature of future contests – it made the

judges’ jobs easier and also allowedthe supporters of 2,000 competingrowers and paddlers to watchthe race unfold live.

Great River Race chairman David Cartlidge said: “As our race is runon a ’slowest away first, fastest last’ handicap basis, the tracking

system gave internet viewers the unique opportunity of charting itsprogress as the faster, more competitive boats and crews

made their way through the field.”