A sister ship for the Cutty Sark

A sister ship to the Cutty Sark come to call!

On Friday 18th October a most unusual ceremony will take place at the Water Gate in the Royal Naval College before the hull of the clipper ‘City of Adelaide’ is transported by sea to Australia. The Duke of Edinburgh is fulfilling his promise made in September 2001 to organise the necessary ceremony to confirm the ship’s name so as to placate ‘Neptune’ and the other sea gods in the time honoured manner.

Her long voyage on board a towed barge will compliment the arrival of a squad of container cranes for the new port of Thames Gateway which has taken three months to travel from Shanghai.

As I pen this piece the Clyde based paddle steamer ‘Waverley’ loaded to the gunnels with London day trippers heads down stream to the coast – an annual visit which we much applaud. Here, again, financial aid is in need to keep her fit and well,

Soon the ‘Medway Queen’ will voyage from her birth place in Bristol to her new cruising ground on the Medway and across the Thames Estuary – a new ‘paddler’ set to intrigue. Meanwhile, her mini sister ship built by Brian Waters at Chatham – 42ft long and steam driven has been cruising in Cornish and Devon waters.

The ‘Monarch’ began her tripper career along the Kentish Stour which my family enjoyed as a birthday treat and I look forward to greeting the new ‘Queen’ on the Medway and home waters.

PS Later tonight

Paddle Steamer ‘Waverley’ returns bejeweled in lights as she glides past my house towards The Pool still laden from stem to stern with weary trippers.