Well

[Mike Hall]

Yesterday and Today.

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[Graham Payne]

The London City Airport, flew out of there a few times to Barcelona, its nice small airport, pretty good as far as airports go.
Not as good as when it was filled with what I call proper ships, derricks etc .

[Keith Tindell]

the nostalgia of seeing those docks full of ships , reminds me of going to the pool, and seeing the ships on the board, and in those days we all knew the good companies, and the not so good, and the excitement of going down to join the ship, usually broke, and the new adventures that lie ahead. we were all lucky to have known that era, and people today have no idea when we talk of it, only people on sites such as this know the feeling, kt

[John F Collier]

The last remnant of what I knew of these docks was still there in the 90s, it was the swing bridge mechanism that operated bridge that
spanned the channel connecting the Albert to the Victoria Docks, the little control building had been cleaned up and it looks like it will
stay as a reminder of past, unless it still opens for certain events, it was very nostalgic to stand there looking at that channel and
recalling passing through for paying off on that occasion, I even threw a couple of coins in for posterity, talk about sentimental

[Ivan Cloherty]

Where are all the barges in top photo, standing-by aft we had to keep an eye on them so that they didn't come close to the prop, there were scores of them at any one time. It seemed hard to make the bargees understand that one swipe of the blade could cut them in two, not that we were worried about that, our concern was damage to the prop!!!

[Keith Tindell]

Ivan, i can recall being on the ships painting pontoon in dock, not sure where, but could be London, when a ship manoeuvring came toward us astern, as i recall she was light ship, Christ that was the fastest i had shinned up a pilot ladder ever. She did not come that close in fact, but down on the pontoon she loomed large, and enough for two of us to evacuate, kt

[Tony Taylor]

Where are all the barges in top photo, standing-by aft we had to keep an eye on them so that they didn't come close to the prop, there were scores of them at any one time. It seemed hard to make the bargees understand that one swipe of the blade could cut them in two, not that we were worried about that, our concern was damage to the prop!!!

Ship I was on did exactly that, along side in tank cleaning berth Schiedam. I was sent up top to check all clear, came back down and reported, ok, take out turning gear, first little burst ahead - thump, everything seemed to lurch forward.
Back up top, slops barge with definite crease in side with people jumping around and yelling, maybe they didn't understand the big notice hanging over both sides of poop deck rails.

[Graham Payne]

the nostalgia of seeing those docks full of ships , reminds me of going to the pool, and seeing the ships on the board, and in those days we all knew the good companies, and the not so good, and the excitement of going down to join the ship, usually broke, and the new adventures that lie ahead. we were all lucky to have known that era, and people today have no idea when we talk of it, only people on sites such as this know the feeling, kt

I make you right there Keith, your description brought back many memories of the KGV dock pool office.
Really Happy Days despite most of us being skint, the pool office was sometimes a godsend, "sign on" 3 meals a day and a "Advance Note" if you were lucky

[Ian Walsh]

All those absolutely beautiful ships - being able to name each Co. by the funnel was 2nd nature. I'm nearly in tears thinking about it. Thanks for the pic.

[John Dick]

Just thinking about the old Conaught swing bridge raised a few distant memories, I spent the happiest days of my life as an apprentice Marine Engineer in the Albert Docks and walked that bridge so many times to reach ships on the opposite side of the Albert dock to where the main workshops of the Company sat. The only other time I visited the docks after my apprenticeship finished and I was at sea was to watch power boat racing in the Vic dock, it was enough to bring tears to ones eyes as the once hustle and bustle of the Royal Docks was dead the place was like something from a science fiction movie.
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