Floating a Vessel on to a Multi-wheeler
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11. A REMARKABLE transport feat has just been undertaken by M.R.S., Ltd. (formerly Marstons Road Services, Ltd.), which is well known as a concern that-undertakes extraordinary jobs. That which we are about to describe consisted of transporting a 35-ft. cabin cruiser built by Messrs. Husk and Sons, of Wivenhoe, near Colchester, from the River • Come, on which the shipyard is situated, to their customer, Mr. H. N. Fisher, of Wolverhampton, on the River Severn. Mr. Stockdale, of M.R.S., Ltd., by whose initiative the job was made possible, personally supervised the operations and informed our representative that the railway company refused to undertake the work. The load was conveyed on a Seammell eight-wheeler that is used for transporting boilers and other heavy components, and proved to be admirable for the purpose.
No cranes were available for lifting the load, so a most individualistic method was adopted. Taking advantage of the existence of a hard roadway used for ferry, purposes down to the river bed, and of the enormous rise and fall of the tide, the lorry was backed down to a point at which it would, at high water, be completely submerged. Here the trailer portion was jacked up, the brakes firmly applied, the back wheels adequately scotched and the motive unit removed to a pbint above high-water mark. The weight of the trailer being eight tons was sufficient to prevent the tide, which, it may be mentioned, flows extremely swiftly at this part, moving it even a fraction of an inch.
Stocks were then laid on the base of the carriage so as to .receive the boat, in the same manner as slips are con structed in a shipyard before building is commenced. Follow.. ing this the position of the trailer was marked by three tall, upright poles, and the whole was left to await high tide.
Just before the tide began to ebb, shipyard employees went aboard the launch, and having previously placed three cage anchors, with ropes attached to them, in different parts of the river, they connected these ropes to the boat, and with the aid of the ebb tide manceuvred it into position between the marks, allowing the falling tide gently to deposit the vessel on the trailer.
The exact measurements of the boat were known, so that it was a comparatively easy matter to place the stocks in such a way that the keel and bilge keels came firmly to rest in the correct position, as the water left the launch high and dry. It may be mentioned that an error of an inch or two would have rendered the load unfit for travelling. This would have caused at least 12 hours' delay, and it speaks well for the skill of the shipyard employees that the boat was so satisfactorily placed that it was driven away immediately the water had subsided. It will, of course, be realized that it was necessary to rope down the vessel in order to prevent it from slipping during the journey. Those who 'have not witnessed the loading of a boat on to a lorry have little idea how tricky an operation it can be.