Passing Ships

The Diary once worked a passage from Tilbury to Cape Town on a cargo ship. One of the more enjoyable jobs was turning out during the night with one of the apprentices because the officer of the watch was bored and wanted someone to use the Aldis lamp to signal to a rare, passing ship. 'What ship?' 'Whither bound?'

In the same way, when a ship passes in the Sound, it's good to be able to check it out using the excellent AIS site. This neat little boat is a Dutch ship, the Aspen, 2,300gt, 3,200dwt, built in 2000 and carrying a cargo of wood from Corpach, near Fort William, to Holland.

And this is the palletised cargo ship Foss, 4,471gt, 3,600dwt, destination Skogn in Norway. She seems to be very high in the water so she may be in ballast.

This boat, which looks like a converted lifeboat, came into Kilchoan Bay on Wednesday night. Being under 300 tonnes, she doesn't have to register on the AIS system, and her crew didn't come ashore in the morning, so we don't know where she was bound - but what a super boat for cruising these waters at this time of year.

Lastly, this is the Red Duchess, a 1,285 gt, 1,298dwt British registered ship. She is mainly engaged in the carriage of timber out of Scottish ports. Looking her up on Google led me to this site, Life at the end of the Road, which writes about a place even more remote than Ardnamurchan.