- Author
- Editorial Staff
- Subjects
- History - general, Letter to the Editor
- Tags
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 2013 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
A number of our readers have pointed out an erroneous comment made in the article regarding the Hammerhead Crane contained in the June 2013 edition of this magazine. This concerns the lifting ashore of the famous steam locomotive Flying Scotsman. With plentiful supply of articles from railway enthusiasts the correct version is as follows:
Locomotive No 4472 named the Flying Scotsman was built in Doncaster in 1923. Many years later on 11 September 1988 she and her tender were brought to Tilbury Docks and hoisted aboard the container ship New Zealand Pacific by the floating crane London Samson. Here they were safely contained on deck on a heavy duty platform fitted with rails and sleepers and surrounded by containers to afford protection against sea and weather during the long voyage to Australia. The ship arrived in Melbourne on 11 October where it was originally intended that the Flying Scotsman be unloaded. However that port’s high capacity floating crane had recently been disposed of as scrap and no other suitable unloading facilities were available. Subsequently the New Zealand Pacific made her way to Sydney, docking at Balmain on 16 October. Here the floating crane Titan lifted both the locomotive and her tender off the deck, and then with the aid of tugs Titan was moved to No 12 Wharf Pyrmont where rail access was available. Following the Flying Scotsman’s successful tour Down Under in November 1989 the reverse procedure was undertaken with the locomotive and tender being brought to Pyrmont where they were lifted again by Titan this time on to the container ship La Perouse for the return voyage to the United Kingdom.
We thank readers for bringing this to our attention and trust this corrects the record.