Vessels as Seen in the Port Natal Maritime Museum (Part 1)

Today is #MarketFriday, a project initiated by @dswigle, and this post is my contribution to this project for this week.

If you want to learn more about this project and would like to participate, visit today's post by @dswigle.

As mentioned, today is #MarketFriday, and although that is the theme for today, my post today is an extension of my previous post on Wednesday.

We decided to visit the Port Natal Maritime Museum.

To enter the museum, there is an entrance fee of R10.00 per person and R5.00 for children between the ages of 6 and 12 years.

So, for the two of us, we were looking at R20.00 as an entrance fee.

At the time of writing this post, the exchange rate for USD/ZAR was R17.44. That means we paid a total of $1.15 for both of us to enter.

As you enter the promises of the museum, the first item you face is a monument that honors "Durban's Lady in White", Perla Siedle Gibson.

This lady was "a living legend to millions of Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen who fought in World War II". That is according to the information board next to the monument.

Also according to the information board, "more than three million men passed through Durban on their way to the battlefront. Perla Siedle Gibson, "The Lady in White", would be standing alone by the quayside, with her arms outstretched towards them, singing familiar songs like "Land of Hope and Glory" and "It's a long way to Tipperary". She never missed one convoy, rain or sunshine. Not even the one that sailed out on the day when she learned that her eldest son had been killed in action while serving with the Black Watch in Italy".

The information board is next to the monument.

I zoomed in so that you can read the story for yourself.

To the left, is the ULUNDI tug boat

According to Wikimedia, the ULUNDI "is the oldest surviving pilot tug in South Africa. Built by Henry Robb Ltd. in 1927, retired in 1982, now on display at the Port Natal Maritime Museum in Durban, South Africa".

According to this FaceBook post, the ULUNDI "began her working life in 1927 in Algoa Bay. In 1935 the Ulundi was bought by the South African Railway Administration and placed in service in Durban Harbour. Initially employed as a pilot tug and towboat, she was later used mainly to transport laborers to various work sites around the harbour. She was retired in 1982 and was moved to her present location on the cradle at the Maritime Museum by floating crane".

The ULUNDI from a different angle.

Behind the ULUNDI in the photo above, you can see another boat being visible in the background.

That is the J.R. MORE, which is on floating display at the museum.

Looking at the J.R. MORE from behind.

According to this post on flicker, by Clive Reid... "The historic tug, J.R. More, built in 1961 is now docked at the Natal Maritime Museum in Durban Harbour. In 1963 the tug went to the rescue of the American vessel Aimee Lykes which has grounded on the Aliwal Shoal, south of Durban. Together with the tug, FC Sturrock, the stricken vessel was salvaged."

I took the next photo just as we were about to board the J.R. MORE, looking back at the Museum office, where we came in. It's the little building behind the ULUNDI.

In all honesty, this is where disappointment started setting in... There were huge boards all over, saying "NO ENTRY". I went back to the office to enquire, but the lady who let us in was nowhere to be seen at the time.

So, we went back to the ULUNDI as I saw that it was opened to enter from the side.

They have opened up the side of the boat so that you can enter the engine room from here.

Getting closer...

I took the next few photos randomly to give you an idea of the space inside the engine room.

Can you imagine the noise and the heat in this room while working down here...?

This was clearly where direction (moving forward or backward) and speed were determined.

There is also a huge diagram of the whole boat in detail mounted on one wall.

That door up there...it was calling me! But once again we were faced with "NO ENTRY" signs and my wife felt we shouldn't be too adventurous...lol.

So, we went outside again, and right in front of the ULUNDI is this port helicopter on display.

The helicopter cockpit as seen from the outside...

And the passenger area...

The function of these helicopters is to transport marine pilots onto and off visiting ships for vessels to be guided in safely and efficiently according to this article.

A marine pilot is a highly qualified professional who guides a ship through difficult, small, and/or dangerous spaces.

The captain of a ship is responsible to guide a ship on the open sea. But a marine pilot has to assist the captain in guiding the ship through smaller and more difficult/dangerous spaces where the marine pilot is more familiar with the area.

According to the same article mentioned above... "The Ports of Durban and Richards Bay are presently the only ports in TNPA’s complementary port system which use helicopters to transfer marine pilots. However, the service will also be introduced at the Port of Cape Town. The new Cape Town helicopter is due in 2022."

I found this amazing video on Youtube while doing some research. It's a common site in Durban to see the helicopter flying out to the ships and back. But I have never seen the actual act of picking up or dropping a marine pilot as can be seen in this video. I can strongly recommend you watch this video if you find this interesting.

From that video, you will also find a link to a video that was taken from the ship.

The skills required of these pilots to maneuver in these situations are just amazing!

To end the post for today, I'll end with these last two photos of a harpoon gun that is on display behind the ULUNDI.

After doing some research, I am convinced that we should be able to board the J.R. MORE without any hassles. Maybe they were just busy with some maintenance or something at the time.

We definitely want to go back as there are still more that I want to see that we didn't get to during this visit.

But even during this visit, there are plenty more photos with some interesting information that I did get. I'll share that in next week's post.

But that's it for today, folks.

Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!