Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Working the Ely Tidal Harbour . . .

Now the only access from the jetty to the vessel's deck was by an upright ladder fixed to the piles. These ladders, as the tide receded, always collected a film of salt, or sediment, but when the coal dust settled on it, it became a sort of ointment. On deck after our wash we found the photographer setting up the camera on its tripod. We'd forgotten the ladder, he was a sorry mess, he had even smeared his face and this, with his drooping moustache, gave him the sad look of a walrus.

However, he must have been a courageous and enterprising man for he was quite cheerful as he 'fiddled' about with his gear. After he had posed us and put his head under the black cloth, I whispered to Jack Cornish that I thought the old chap 'looked better when covered up'; this made us both laugh. The photographer was beaming when his face reappeared; That's going to be a lovely picture,' he said. 'You both smiled at exactly the right moment.' We paid him the three shillings or whatever it was for his services, and gave him the address to post the pictures to. There was no thought of distrust, not in those days. The pictures reached us quite safely and they were good. Today I would give 500 times more than each cost to possess one of them."

Some of the coastal tankers which visited the oil wharf in the river Ely and spotted by myself included the 'Esso Hythe' (1959, 856 gross tons), 'Esso Brixham' (1957, 758 tons gross) and 'Esso Lynhurst' (1958, 856 tons gross). Other visitors included F. T. Everard tankers 'Anteriority' (1954, 2,003 tons gross), 'Alchymist' (1945, 813 tons gross), 'Ethel Everard' (1957, 1,542 tons gross) amongst many others. The standard reference for shipping anoracks was the Ian Allan range of pocket 'abc' books of shipping! [177]