'T.S.S. St. Julien in Dry Dock at Penarth Pontoon' - A pencil sketch by an unknown artist depicting the 'T.S.S. St. Julien in Dry Dock at Penarth Pontoon' dated c.1940. From the above mid-image it could be surmised that she had undergone repair to her hull plating on the pontoon during her refit at the dock during 1944-45. The sketch was acquired in 1985 by Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum of Wales. [439]

I think you would agree that it is simply too lovely to be held away from public view in an archive! Note the hospital ship number '29' painted on the hull and the staff painting the ship's hull from a suspended scaffold with access only via the long ladder - one hand for the brush, one for the pot of white paint, a prayer on your lips and would the person climbing the ladder please stop rocking the scaffold! [025]

These images were previously used in Volume Four - An Era of Change, Uncertainty, Depression & War - Back at the dock.

An image dating from June 1944 with the 'St. Julien' hospital ship (No.29) moored at the southern quay opposite the pontoon. It is said that she steamed over 30,000 miles in the Mediterranean and carried over 90,000 patients during her activities there during WWII. She arrived at Penarth from Taranto on the 20th April 1944 where she underwent a refit which was complete by the end of May 1945. She resumed her role ferrying injured men, returning American and Canadian soldiers and German prisoners of war soon afterwards. [255]

The empty pontoon behind her with the iron ore wharfs more distant on the river Ely and far distant, the entrance to Cardiff Bute docks with its landmark pierhead building. In the sidings, in the foreground, the numerous coal wagons seen in previous images are now substituted with goods wagons including a “meat” wagon for the war effort. The lower image has been colourised. [061]