1972 - 1984 | Dredging for Sand

NOTE: Some of this is identical to what is written on Wikipedia, as both were written by the author of this website, stardust5980 (aka celesteshipping5980). 

NOTE TWO: Huge thanks to Kenneth Kennedy and Kerry Kennedy for providing Kenneth's book 'ALL AT SEA' which provides almost all of the information on this page.

Dredging for Sand

- Kenneth, Jack, Rusty, and John would take the ship out to the upper end of the loch at high tide, and as soon as possible got the buckets out, beginning the long loading process. Making about 7 tons an hour, making over 100 tons in all over the weekend. Understanding that the current method of loading was not ideal, Rusty recommended buying a Ruston-Bucyrus 10 crane.

Come Monday morning there was a good tide and the ship was once again afloat. The ship was significantly harder to steer due to most of the sand being up forward in the hold, a result of minor inexperience but despite this they carried on as well as they could. After six months of hard work, they had their first cargo. On the way back to Dunoon, the safety valve on the engine blew off, and after rounding Toward Point they left her secured at a mooring for the night, carrying on to Dunoon the morning after.[1]

They offloaded the ship's cargo that morning, small trucks taking the sand to a local plasterer, and by afternoon the hold was empty. The tired crew took her out to the mooring in West Bay, taking a dinghy home right afterward.[1]

Some weeks later, they were heading to Loch Riddon for more sand. Kenneth had bought the Ruston-Bucyrus 10 crane that Rusty had recommended, and it was fitted by the mainmast. In order to fit it, they had to remove the standing rigging from the starboard side of the mainmast. It had a grab and swivel base, being able to service both hatches, but it could only load and discharge from the starboard side. In all, the crane took two weeks to assemble and would be having its first run on this voyage. Upon arriving at the marker buoy they left there on the last trip, they were ready to try out their new strategy, which involved dropping a stern anchor upon reaching the spot where the best sand was. The way was narrow, so extra care had to be taken to not run onto the sand. Kenneth shut the engine off about double the length of De Wadden away from the marker buoy, and as it fell out of view under the bow Kenneth called for the anchor to be dropped. Rusty, who was holding the end of the wire fastened to the anchor at the bow, ran with the wire as it was dragged by the falling anchor, moving towards the stern anchor and attempting to fasten it. He struggled, and even with Jack's help, it was futile. The anchor dragged the wire into the water along with it, and thus they were met with a new problem: running aground. Jack shouted for the engine to be started, Rusty calling for the main anchor, but Kenneth said both were impossible, as if they went astern the bow would swing onto the bank, and if they dropped the anchor, the stern would swing and do the same.[1]

They continued to drift, only having about one foot of clearance between the ship's bottom and the sand and the marker boy was a quarter mile astern. Spending the rest of winter on a mud bank was not a desirable fate, but it seemed like the ship's fate was sealed. She ended up motionless, seemingly having touched the bottom. With everyone starting to accept the position the ship had gotten stuck in, Jack called out that the ship was beginning to move back down the loch on its own. The ebb tide and the river water were enough to push the ship back towards the marker buoy. With that, the dinghy was lowered, and Jack and Rusty set off to retrieve the stern anchor wire that had gone overboard with a boat hook. As they did this, Kenneth dropped the anchor, locking the bow in the middle of the channel. Luck seemed to be on their side, as Jack and Rusty had the stern anchor wire up and soon secured to the ship, their original plan fulfilled. Securely in place, they had some lunch as they waited for the tide to fall so the ship came to rest on the bottom of the river. Upon going back out on deck, they started by opening the hatches and then raising the crane boom. In about an hour, they were ready to start loading, but the water had not fallen low enough to expose the sand just yet, so they retired for more food. Once the sand was exposed to the open air, they set about loading, with Jack handling the loading as he had gotten the hand of the crane. Since the sand was waterlogged, the bilge pump had to be used frequently to stop the sand from flowing into the corners of the hold. The whole cargo was aboard after two days, with the ship drawing ten feet aft. Both anchors were raised, and the engine was started fifteen minutes before full tide. They began a hard turn to starboard, swinging the ship around, the stern now the only part of the ship still aground. With the engine in slow ahead, the ship crawled out of the channel and into the deep water of the Kyles, marking the end of another trip.[1]

On the way back to Dunoon, they pumped out excess water, and upon arrival, they tied up at the coal pier without issue. Kenneth was able to rent the berth at a reduced fee thanks to a council member. Within a few weeks, the sand was sold off to various local builders and the ship was ready to go and do the same operation once more, however, Kenneth would not have Jack and Rusty's assistance this time.[1][2]

References

1.  Kennedy, Kenneth M. (1985). All At Sea. Retrieved 2023-12-16. 

2. Love, R. (1975). Carter, Craig J. M. (ed.). Sea Breezes, The Magazine of Ships and The Sea, Volume 49, Number 0349. JOC Publications. pp. 57–59. Retrieved 2024-02-17.