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Is the cargo industry your field of endeavour? We'd love to hear
from you with, or without, pictures - don't worry about your talents as
a writer, we can edit if needs be - what probably seems commonplace to
you is a source of fascination to those of us who know nothing about it
except that when we are passed by your vessels they blot out the sky!
To start us off in a slightly unusual way, we thought you might like to
see a cargo ship called the 'St Peter' (of course if you read Russian
you'll have been able to tell that from her bow name-board reproduced on
the left.
 
This replica of an 18th century Russian cargo ship, belongs to Bob Williamson,
otherwise known as H.R.H the King of Redonda, (but that's a long story,
to be told elsewhere in the magazine, at some point) and is currently
undergoing a re-fit in English Harbour, Antigua in the West Indies. The
ship won four prizes in Antigua Classic Week 2000, including
one for being the slowest vessel in the fleet!
  The
St.Peter is 75' long on deck and was designed to consist almost entirely of
hold space down below.
She's not just a copy of a Russian ship, she was actually built in
Russia and Bob went there to fetch her himself which, again, is a story
for another time, perhaps! The transom is quite extraordinary - looking
rather like the end of a royal gypsy caravan when seen from directly behind the
ship.
  On
the aft deck, the huge tiller carved like a bird's head is a
wonder, as you can see, in the detail on the right, whilst in the
accommodation, there are some delightful touches - the Cariatides
separating the galley from the dining table, for example, seen in the
photo on the left.
In
the engine room, just aft of amidships, a brand new John Deere engine is
still under wraps, nestling between two diesel tanks, one which holds
750 gallons and another which has 500 gallons capacity.
A small Yamaha generator provides the power to keep the bilge pumps going -
When we visited, the ship was having a leak problem. During the last haul-out, Bob heard a
cracking sound as the ship was being lifted and after she was
re-launched found one of her beams to be cracked.
Bob had plans to sail the ship back to St. Petersburg once repairs are
completed, on a courtesy visit.
We later heard, to our great
sorrow, that the ship sank. Whether this is true or not we have been
unable to ascertain. Next issue: Carry On Mooing - Cattle transport between islands
If you have a cargo vessel, whether unusual or typical of its type,
E-mail us and tell us all about it - we'd love to see your pictures, too!
If you like reading about interesting old ships you
may like to read our Tall Ships page
in the Yachts section of All Afloat.
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