Progress from Albert Dock, Hull

 Running along the Humber to the west of the River Hull is the Albert Dock. It was built between 1863 and 1869 and named after Prince Albert; Victoria Dock was built earlier on the east side of the Hull (sickening the sycophancy of our ancestors). It was extended in 1880 by the addition of the William Wright Dock (he was chairman of the Dock Company). It's the best part of a mile long. Surprisingly (well it's a surprise to me) the dock is still in use for general cargo and a few fishing boats. There's also a training place for the North Sea oil rigs. Far off in the background you can just make out the Humber Bridge.

Below is the view eastwards through the dock gates showing (just) the P&O ferry to  Zeebrugge and Rotterdam in King George dock (another dock, another royal).

 Finally here's the wide brown Humber that the dock leads into. The name Humber might come from an ancient , pre-celtic word meaning river, or it might be, as  Geoffrey of Monmouth has it, named after Humber the Hun. Whatever the history, it's a wide old stream and now a very important waterway with the modern docks of Hull and North Lincolnshire being some of the busiest in Europe.

Stable door

Albert Dock at high tide

As the horse goes clip-clopping down the street those who ought to have known better have come to the astonishing conclusion that the stable door was open all along. Oh yes, they say in what is called an official investigation into the floods of last year, the Albert Dock defenses were the lowest in the city and yes, they couldn't lock the gates because the tidal force would have buckled the gates but the flood would have happened any way as there was too much water. So to close the stable door temporary flood defenses are been piled up along the dock and a permanent fix has been brought forward by two years [ 1 ]. Let's hope old man river will wait that long.

Weakest Link

Exceptional conditions show up the vulnerable spots in any defense. So it was earlier this month when the highest tide ever recorded breached Hull's defenses at this spot by the Albert Dock. There's local dispute as to whether or not the dock gates failed but what is known is that the dock quay was overtopped by a couple of feet and water rushed across town as far as Ferensway. There's another predicted spring tide round about New Year's Day, let's hope there's no low pressure system wandering down the North Sea at that time.

A foreign country

I don't know what the protocol is with photoblogs regarding showing photos of photos; I did it before and no-one said anything so I'll try it again. So above we have the Princes dock as it was some time ago with trawlers parked up against Maurice Lipman's tailor shop (yes, that Lipman's dad). I have no idea who took it or when it was taken (1940s/50s early 60s even, someone will know)  and I do hope that lady crossed the road safely. The picture is on display in Zebedee's Yard as part of a memorial to lost trawler men, I'll show more tomorrow. Nowadays there's no road,  no trawlers and no tailor shop either. I think it's selling Apples (not the fruit). 

There were two other photographs on display so here they are to make the full set.

This is from what is now the Maritime Museum, that dinky little bridge in the distance is now Castle Street...

...and this is from the exit to the Albert Dock if I'm not mistaken.
(And I am mistaken; it's St Andrew's Dock!)

Defences

Half Tide Basin entrance, Victoria Dock

If, twice a day, you have an enemy rising up and threatening to engulf you then defences akin to a medieval castle are appropriate. This weekend there have been exceptionally high tides (8.4 meters at Albert Dock on Saturday evening) and the tidal surge barrier has been doing its job again. Along with that there are miles of sea walls, completed in 1992, keeping the Humber at bay for the time being. Astronomy is conspiring against us with the approach, in September, of that point in the 19 year solar/lunar cycle when their pull on the tides is highest. It's only a matter of time ...

The Emigrants

This statue on the waterfront near Humber Dock commemorates the more than two million European emigrants who passed through Hull on their way to America in the 19th century until the outbreak of war in 1914. That's a lot of people moving themselves out of Europe and into America; I wonder if America would be so welcoming to another flood if times get tough in Europe. 

If you're a Liverpudlian and you think this looks familiar that's because there's an identical copy at the Albert Dock, Liverpool. The sculpture is by Neil Hadlock, Mark DeGraffenried and Taylor Hadlock from Utah and was donated by a Mormon led foundation in 2001, here's a link to more on this.

A not so dull day in Hull

Wind! Hull is set on making a living out of wind power. The council earlier this week gave planning permission for a massive wind turbine construction site on a disused dock. If Siemens actually do what they say they want to do then this will greatly change Hull's prospects [ 1 ]. There's talk of thousands of jobs, many of them skilled engineering jobs. But so far it's still just talk and with the way things stand in Europe at the moment it's probably wiser not to plan too far ahead.

Here, however, is something more tangible. Here's a support platform for the Lincs Wind Farm being built off the Lincolnshire coast. It's being fitted up at the Albert dock. I showed you this on that dull day in Hull. Pure ignorance on my part to call it a drilling rig.

Ocean Seeker

Maybe it's just me but watching ships carry out intricate manoeuvres in a fast flowing current attempting to get into a narrow dock gate there always the vague wish, no that's too strong a word, idea maybe, lurking at the back of your mind they might, I don't know, overshoot or run into the bank or some such. There's probably a word for it: schadenfreude infantilis or some such.  Thankfully it never happens, at least not while I'm standing there taking pictures. This survey ship made its stately way up stream then halted and performed a very smooth almost balletic right-angled turn to enter Albert Dock. No bumps, no scrapes, no fun at all.

The Weekend in Black and White continues here.

Wellington Street Rail Track

Wellington Street runs from Queen Street parallel to the Humber all the way down to the Albert Dock. It would at one time have had many warehouses and been busy with the trade from the Humber Dock A dockside railway ran along this street and around the docks. Now the line and the street are blocked at this point and you have to cross via the marina's lock gates. On the left in the distance is Number Two Humber Quays.

Below is a dated view eastwards from the same spot showing the rail tracks. The building on the left has since been demolished and was mentioned in a previous post.

Below more tracks this time from the western side of Wellington Street. The brick wall is clearly a recent thing.

Again with those emigrants

Some time ago I posted a picture of this statue showing the guy with a thousand yard stare, well now you can see what he was gawping at; Albert Dock and the Humber. Personally I find this thing a tad schmaltzy for my taste: the man with the vision thing, the woman tending to the babe, the young lad carefree it's all a bit too much. But it's a Mormon sponsored thing so I guess we can't expect much else. 

On the subject of emigration we are still awaiting the hordes of Romanians and Bulgarians who we were promised would flood our shores once restrictions were eased this year. I guess they've found better places to go or they're waiting for the rain to stop.

Any colour you like as long as it's orange

A veritable fleet of gas platform supply vessels was filling up the usually empty Albert Dock the other day. These belong to a company called Sealion Shipping and clearly they have a favourite colour and they're sticking to it. It's like a hi-vis jacket for boats.

Docked

Here the Albert Dock stretches away towards the Humber Bridge.

Sign of authority

Tucked away in a little brick hut and behind steel grills the harbour master's office near Drypool bridge is a reminder that, from the Humber to the northern boundary of the city of Hull, the navigation authority on the river Hull is Hull City Council. HCC's website informs us that "A harbour master is on duty from three hours before high water (HW) Hull (Albert Dock) until HW or later if required, except Sundays" and that the HM is responsible for the operation of the movable bridges that link both halves of this fair city. Actually I don't think the harbour master works from this building any more as his/her address is the Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, and given that hardly any navigating seems to go on nowadays the post must almost be a sinecure. 

Up on the roof

There's been a path along the banks of the Humber for hundreds possibly thousands of years so when a warehouse was built on the foreshore at Albert Dock there was only place for the path to go: up on the roof. Whilst it can be a bit nerve wracking if you suffer from vertigo or if there's strong wind blowing the uninterrupted view of Hull and the Humber makes it all worthwhile.

Click to enlarge

Keep to the straight and narrow

Not much chance of doing anything else on this footpath from Albert Dock.

More Gloom

A nice bit of gloom over Albert Dock. Those with good vision will be able to pick out the Humber Bridge stretching away in the distance. The small bridge in the centre carries the public footpath up and along the top of the buildings on the left as I mentioned in a previous post here.

More Lifeboats

Another view of the oilrig training facilty on Albert Dock.