What is it I like about going down to the waterfront in Portsmouth? It’s not as if you’ll see hundreds of different ships coming in or going out. Little boats and big boats come and go, without any particular frequency, except perhaps the ferries; the gosport ferry going from side to side, the Brittany ferries. They (the Brittany Ferries) do change, Instead of the Normandie at the moment, it looks like the Barfleur has taken on that route.
We do get to see the occasional HMS vessel, and the Queens Harbour Master can be a very useful source of information, QHM publishes a daily ship movements list and also provides details about occurrences in the harbour such as failed lights on on hazard warnings.
There are other ships that come and go, such as Split Two, which is a small cargo ship and there’s also a ship (the Bladerunner) that every so often brings a blade for a wind turbine. I don’t know where it takes the blades, presumably to a berth where they are collected ready to go out to an installation.
There are some strange little ships small almost flat tops with cranes or diggers on that all appear to rush around doing maintenance tasks in the harbour. Interesting to watch. It’s fair to say that usually there is usually something going on in the harbour, which always makes the waterfront an interesting place to visit.
Bills Posts 