tarboat's photos with the keyword: dredger

'Borr', seen here in Liverpool Docks, is a water injection dredger that was built in 2015 at the Dutch Technical & Maritime Services yard, Werkendam. It is transportable by Road. and can be equipped with a multi-purpose unit for a cutter system, various grabs or pile drivers and is capabile of dredging to a depth of 14m. The name comes from Nordic mythology and means ‘son’.

It was mainly used to dredge Gloucester Docks and the Sharpness canal to a depth of 16ft and to dredge the dock at Sharpness to 24ft. At times SND No.4 also worked in the entrance and tidal basin at Sharpness. These operations typically removed 35,000 to 40,000 tons of mud from the canal and docks each year until 1981, when SND No.4 was replaced by a diesel-electric powered dredger. It is now a working exhibit in the Gloucester Waterways Museum.

The 'Rhone' is an Ultra Low Emission Vessel designed for water injection derdging. It was built at VAHALI Shipyards in Serbia and launched in 2023. Outfitted by Kooiman Marine Group in Zwijndrecht it was commissioned in spring 2024 and is seen here at work keeping the channel open on the approaches to the Mersey.

The Lantic Bay is a grab hopper dredger built in 1958 at Brazen Island, Polruan, Fowey for the Fowey Harbour Commissioners. The ship undertook dredging and other works at Fowey and other harbours around the Cornish coast until 2003 when it was sold to Sea Boston Ltd in Plymouth who immediately sold it on to Wyre Marine Services of Fleetwood. Dredging works were then undertaken at a range ports in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. With contract dredging prices rising the Fowey Harbour Commissioners repurchased the Lantic Bay in March 2014 and the ship has continued in service at Fowey ever since. Lots more about the history of the Lantic Bay can be found here: www.foweyharbourhistory.com/uploads/2/0/9/0/20909932/the_history_of_dredger_lantic_bay_2014.pdf

High Lane Colliery was established by Joseph Wright after the closure of Norbury Colliery in 1892. I believe that Wright was at one time the Secretary of the Norbury Colliery for Messrs Clayton and Brooke. In 1907 the Great Central Railway granted Wright permission to drive an adit to the New (Accommodation) Seam from the bank of the High Lane Canal Branch. This ran under the cricket club and subsequently under the Buxton branch railway for which the LNWR gave permission for a heading 4ft square under its property. Wright wasted no time in getting to work and these workings started production of coal on January 1st 1908. From Jan 1st to June 30th 1908 the output was 614t 19cwt 0qr @ 6d per ton royalty to the Legh estate at Lyme Hall = £15 17s 6d. He laid down a tramway from the mine entrance along teh towpath to the old abandoned Norbury Colliery canal branch and filled it with spoil from driving the tunnel. The mine closed in 1917 and Joseph Wright retired. The photo shows the view from the towpath bridge over the canal branch. The remains of Wright's mine entrance can be seen just left of centre next to a leaning tree. The timber lintel over the entrance survives and can be clearly seen.

Lough Neagh sand suction dredger barges Ballyronan and Toomebridge at Northstone's Sandy Bay wharf. These are two of eight identical vessels built by James W Cook Ltd of Wivenhoe, Essex, between 1968 and 1974 for Scotts of Toomebridge. They are 120’ 6" long by 19’ 3" beam and all loaded and discharged by pump. They were built at the largest size for the locks on the Lower Bann which gives access to the lake from the sea. The sand trade on Lough Neagh continues to occupy several companies and a large number of barges in dredging around 1 million tonnes of sand annually.

A number of bucket dredgers were built in the bed of the Manchester Ship Canal during its construction. This plate from Bosdin Leech's tome on the Ship Canal show the nearly completed derdger 'Bollin' at Partington.

Millbank Lock was the second of the original locks on the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. It had a rise of 6ft 6ins. The river course was dredged extensively to create the channel of the Manchester Ship Canal. When this photograph was taken the lock and weir had already been removed, but the paper mill in the background marks the site of the lock. Another photograph from Bosdin Leech's tome on the Ship Canal.

Abandoned dredger lurking amongst the mudflats along the Shannon estuary.

The MSC Ince was one of two dredgers sold from the Manchester Ship Canal in 1989. The other one (MSC Irwell) sank whilst being towed to Ireland in 1991. This vessel was used on dredging contracts around the Shannon Estuary and at Waterford but has been abandoned for some time. This follows up an earlier image in my photostream.

The MSC Ince was one of two dredgers sold from the Manchester Ship Canal in 1989. The other one (MSC Irwell) sank whilst being towed to Ireland in 1991. This vessel was used on dredging contracts around the Shannon Estuary and at Waterford but has been abandoned for some time. The ship in the background is the Matrisha, of which more anon.

The sad remains of the 1936 built steam dredger 'Mannin 2' sunk at Weston Point Docks.