Volume Thirteen - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - even more aspects - Articles from the Great Western Railway Magazine - 1922 - 1948 . . . .

The following was published within the May 1925 edition of the Great Western Railway Magazine [1348] [1349] : -

Docks Department - Another Despatch Record at Penarth Docks — There was a remarkable case of quick work in connection with the loading at Penarth Dock of the French steamer Sainte-Adresse and her passages between that port and Le Havre. The vessel arrived at Penarth Dock on Sunday evening, March 22 ; loading was commenced at 6.20 a.m. on Monday and completed at 4 p.m., the vessel sailing at 5.15 p.m. the same day with 3,931 tons of coal.

The steamer arrived at Le Havre on Wednesday morning, the 25th, at 5 a.m., and discharged and sailed again to Penarth the same day. Arriving back in Penarth at 7.30 a.m. on Friday, the 27th, she commenced loading at 8 a.m., was completed at 7 p.m., and sailed again for Le Havre at 7.45 p.m. the same day with another cargo of 3,919 tons of coal. The Sainte-Adresse therefore made two sailings with cargoes of coal from Penarth in a period only about two hours over four days, which not only constitutes a record in the history of the port, but is also a record in the career of this French collier.

For 17 years she has been carrying cargoes of coal from the Bristol Channel to Le Havre, for bunkering the mail and passenger lines of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. There is also a further notable record in the fact that this collier has now sailed with her fifth cargo from Penarth in the month of March, with a total tonnage of nearly 20,000 tons.

The celerity with which this vessel has been turned round at the Welsh port reflects credit on all concerned, and great appreciation has been expressed by the representatives of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique.

New Works— The Directors have authorised the following new works :—

A number of cranes in use by the Engineering Department at Barry and Penarth Docks are old and expensive to maintain ; seven of them are, therefore, to be replaced by four modern appliances — three of 3-tons and one of 10-tons capacity.