Re: [MV] Floating HMV Spotted- one here too.

From: NIGEL HAY (nigel@milweb.net)
Date: Sat Sep 02 2000 - 14:28:13 PDT


Geoff,
Rex Cadman and I plus various others have been to look at it on various
occasions over the last 10-12 years, what happened was the boat got stuck in
the mud bank in a storm. Owners stupidity overcame him and he decided not to
have it craned out, despite the offers of help -there was at the time a
huge mobile crane about 60 yards away (plus parked next to the crane my Ward
La france M1 and an M1A1 and no end of recovery kit), but to try and do a
get rich quick insurance claim. Insurance co declined to pay out, owner
stoopidly said "f*** it, let it rot. Mind you this particular crane driver
had an unenviable reputation with a long catalogue of disasters from
dropping boats to crashing into a house to his name.........
When we went past the E boat today the tide is unusually very high and its
totally covered. We would have got it out if it was salvageable believe me,
but sadly its now virtually broken up. A criminal waste of a very rare
survivor..

As to the Vosper MTB's there used to be one in Dovermarina, but I am not
very well up on boats.
Cheers, NIGE

----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Winnington-Ball" <gwball@sympatico.ca>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <>
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Floating HMV Spotted- one here too.

> Nige,
>
> It's not like there's one in every port! Hasn't anyone looked at this with
a
> view towards building a cradle and lifting it out of the mud? Sounds like
a
> really NEAT project...
>
> Are there any Fairmile D or Vosper MTBs left anywhere? Talk about the
ultimate
> reenactment - 37mms at dawn, at 40 knots! The Coastal Defence Force guys
were
> nuts, modern-day pirates... gotta love 'em!
>
> Geoff
>
>
>
> NIGEL HAY wrote:
>
> > About 2 miles from where I live is the (regrettfully now virtually
submerged
> > in the mud, ) WW2 German E boat that was for many years used as a
> > pleasure/living boat based at Ramsgate harbour. Ironically it has come
to
> > rest over the last 10 years in the mud banks due to the total
> > incompetance/indifference of its last owner. It lies at Port
Richborough,
> > one of WW2's "secret" ports, where amongst other things the treadway
bridge
> > links for the Mulberry harbours were built and assembled and ultimately
> > towed out to the invasion beaches. Port Richborough is now part of the
giant
> > Pfizers factory who of course are the manufacturers of Viagra. (yes we
had
> > thought that they might sponsor and turn it into an advert on the lines
of
> > "Viagra- Raising the "E" back to life... etc etc )
> > It is far too far gone now to save, it would be likely to collapse in
any
> > recovery event, literally the mud is now holding it together. It is
located
> > just 20 yards from the main Sandwich -Ramsgate road. And there it will
> > remain.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Geoff Winnington-Ball
> MAPLE LEAF UP! ==>
> Zephyr, Ontario, Canada
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Maple Leaf Up - The Canadian Army Overseas in WW2
> http://www.mapleleafup.org
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment
> http://www.1cacr.org
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
> #############################################################
> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
> the mailing list <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>.
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <mil-veh-index@mil-veh.org>
> Send administrative queries to <mil-veh-request@mil-veh.org>
>
>



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 24 2000 - 20:55:34 PDT