Modest dimensions

A North Angus reader emails to say he had reason to visit Arbroath recently. Parked beside the Inner Dock, he was intrigued to see a small red and white vessel at work in the outer area of the harbour.

“Other than yachts in the summer time, foreign flag vessels have been rare visitors to Arbroath harbour in recent years,” he says. “It turned out the vessel was the Danish-owned dredger John Madsen at work clearing the quayside berths and harbour entrance channel.

“Owned by A/S Peter Madsen Rederi and registered at Aarhus, she is fitted with a lattice-jibbed crane and grab to facilitate the clearance of the regular accumulation of mud and miscellaneous debris from the bed of the harbour.

“She was built by Schiffswerft v. Masch. Paul Lindenau GmbH. & Co. KG. at Kiel in 1972. She was lengthened by five metres in 1984 and fitted with a pair of Scania diesel engines. Her outline, excluding the crane, looked similar to the smaller US-flag offshore supply boats involved in the early gas field exploration and development off East Anglia in the 1960s.

“Being of quite modest dimensions she appeared adequate for the confines of Arbroath harbour. Of 188 tons deadweight and 30 metres in length she did well to cross the North Sea from her homeland in Scandinavia.

“At one time Arbroath Town Council had its own dredger named the Fairport, which was built at Leith in 1923. After giving many years’ service and having removed a large tonnage of dredged spoil from the local harbour, she was sold off and transferred to Perth as a sandboat on the Tay.

“Her life in this new role was not without adventure as on several occasions she sank unintentionally.

“On one occasion, the 90-ton vessel sank off Seggieden near Kinfauns and going down so quickly, the three-man crew had no time to launch their own small boat. As water cascaded over the deck and filled the engine room they climbed on to the wheelhouse roof.

“As the sandboat settled on the bottom, the roof remained above the water level and the crew were rescued by a salmon coble from a nearby fishing station.”