Volume Four - An Era of Change, Uncertainty, Depression & War - Some thoughts regarding the apparent reluctance of Pounds to remove the pontoon . .

The Penarth Esplanade - A view [069] on a mild day taken from the pier about ½ mile from the dock entrance. Imagine sailing anything in that!



Larger cranes had to enter the dock through a long tunnel (being 100 yards or so long) with restricted headroom under the railway bridge or down a steep hill, probably a 1:4 up to the headland. Access to the dock was extremely limited being close to the cliffs on one side and river Ely estuary on the other; only a road width and a few railway sidings distant. You would obviously require some substantial equipment to lift the c.2,000 tons of steel of the pontoon to enable reclamation to be achieved on the dockside.

The main factor is that they must surely have missed the deadline for the ports authority dock closure which I believe was the British Transport Commission; thus the lock gates and hydraulic gear would have become redundant and the manpower relocated prior to any attempt to salvage her.