3rd January 2019: Roland’s Reminiscences

A miscellany of pictures and stories of various ships researched over the years, presented by Roland Whaite.

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Branch Notes - January 2019

Roland Whaite was our January speaker. He described in detail two projects he had investigated recently. The first one started in 2011 when he saw photos and a diary of a 1926 cruise to Greece and Turkey to visit WW1 war graves. The ship involved was found to be STAR D’ITALIA owned by Cosulich of Trieste. After the break Roland’s research into a luxury motor yacht, DONA AMELIA of 1929, photographed in Falmouth in 2007 gave us a fascinating glimpse into the lives of wealthy individuals who had owned it. With a wide emphasis on the human stories behind both vessels it was an enjoyable start to the New Year.
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Branch Notes - April 2018

The ‘Beast from the East’ came west in time to cancel our March meeting. The first part of our April open evening was taken up by admiring a selection of a member’s scale models (1/1200) showing cargo ships belonging to British companies in the 1950s and ‘60s. He also brought along photographs of ships in the Bristol docks taken over many years. Another member talked about his projects involving wrecks near Clevedon and tugs from Germany working in Bristol. We finished with a slide show of more local ships taken from a selection of 5000 slides given to our Chairman.
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Branch Notes - December 2018

There was a good turn out for our December meeting. After a straight forward AGM we enjoyed some seasonal refreshments before our speaker was introduced. Carl Merry pilots ships to and from Sharpness Docks. The River Severn has the second highest tidal range in the world and beyond Avonmouth the river narrows in places, there are very strong currents and the water depths vary considerably. The size of ships continue to increase, latest record is 8,800 deadweight, and the window for entering Sharpness can be as little as ten minutes. It was an excellent talk and was of great interest to all present.
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