AN UNUSUAL CONVERSION AT NEWHAVEN'S EAST QUAY

A 'star' is born.

By Andy Gilbert

It's not often you see a film star in Newhaven, but here is a rather unusual one. This is the Ballywalter, formerly the Stevenson Clarke motor collier Steyning, a vessel more often seen in Shoreham harbour than Newhaven.

In this photo by Les Harris, she's seen at Newhaven's East Quay receiving a coat of 'dirty' paint and a tall dummy funnel. This conversion is to enable her to look like an rusty old steam-powered tramp ship. The actual motorship funnel will soon be hidden with fake packing cases. At this point she is already flying what looks like the Egyptian flag at the stern with a courtesy Red Ensign at the foremast. She's about to feature prominently in a major film, having been renamed again as Bantu Wind

When the film company first found her she was exactly the old rust bucket that they wanted for the film, but after the purchase she was done up by her sellers and delivered in a nearly new condition. The film makers had to turn her back into a rust bucket again!

If you haven't recognised her by now, think of the very first Indiana Jones film "Raiders of the Lost Ark", where she took Indiana Jones and the 'ark' away from Egypt. Does she ring a bell now?