PICTURES OF THE MONTH - July 2009
Paddle Tug Pert
Following on from the paddle tug Eppleton Hall and her amazing voyage across the Atlantic last month let's look this time at the Admiralty's last steam propelled paddle tug, the Pert, built by Thornycroft of Southampton in 1916.
With a length of 179ft, a displacement of 1,023tons and an indicated horse power of over 2,000, she was the largest paddle tug ever in the Admiralty service and the first and, as it turned out, the only member of the proposed Pert class. Perhaps her vast size turned out to be just a bit too big for most of what she was generally required to do so any thoughts of building sisters were shelved.
Her last master from 1956 until she was withdrawn in 1961 was Mr William Gant (pictured second from the left) of 57 West Down Road, Plymouth. In an interview with the Western Morning News in 1961 he said "Nothing will replace the old Pert in my affections. I wanted to command her when I first saw her as a youngster 40 years ago. Now she is going it will be hard to say good-bye."
The above picture also gives a good indication of how large, cosy and comfortable an Admiralty paddle tug captain's cabin could be. The stove looks like a work of art and the whole ambiance is of a place where the captain spends a lot of his time and likes his comforts. Of course Admiralty tugs could be very busy indeed when the fleet was coming and going but there were other times when the fleet was out when polishing, cleaning, keeping things shipshape and, most of all, seeing that the tea urn was always brewing were the jobs that filled the long working days as the Pert and her colleagues dozed quietly alongside the dock walls.
After her first four years based at Portsmouth, the Pert spent the majority of the rest of her career at Plymouth although she did venture forth from time to time for various events elsewhere. She was a regular at the Spithead reviews and in 1921 paddled round to Holyhead to act as a tender to ferry the Royal family to and from their Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert . The above picture shows her on the way to Portsmouth for the 1953 review in company with the paddle tug Atlas.
Pert's departure to the scrapyard did not mean the end of paddle tugs at Plymouth as the Diesel electric paddle tug Faithfull (pictured above) was brought back from Malta to replace her. She continued in service until 1981 after which she was used for naval target practice and finally sunk off Gibralter on 21st April 1983 by HM ships Alacrity, Battleaxe and Brazen. What a way for a nice, amiable and conscientious paddler to go!