FREIGHTERS

It was Rockhampton Star that decided to misbehave while being towed in by the harbour tug Meeching. She 'sniffed' the bottom of the harbour and swung diagonally. Her stern was perilously close to the yacht club and her bows damaged the light cabin at the northern end of the East Pier. A rising tide saw her 'recovered' a little while later. Great set of photos of the event at Newhaven Local & Maritime Museum.

Andy, the Newhaven Sea Cadets came into possesion of a lifeboat from the Gladstone Star in the late 70's early 80's. It was used as a mooring dock for the units various small boats. Any idea how that came about.?

Do you happen to know when reefers first started calling at Newhaven and when this traffic stopped? I am sure they were still calling in 1985, but after that?

I went to Newhaven to work in June 1984. I remember The California Star visiting for a couple of years at least.

I was one of the engineers on the Rockhampton Star when we ran aground across the harbour. The ship had discharged most of the cargo brought up from Brazil and Argentina in Rotterdam. There was high winds, which caught the high bow as we were being towed by the single tug, which pushed us against the quay. In response to this the ship tried to pull away but it just swung across the river with the stern near the yacht club. We stayed in that position for a couple of hours, enough time for what looked like half the town and a couple of film crews to come out and watch us. Additional tugs were called but they would not have got to us in time. About an hour before high tide we came free and was quickly pulled alongside.

i believe two of the ferries were stuck out in the storm waiting for us to get free, which I am sure would have been rough on them. 

I also joined my first ship in Newhaven in the summer of 1976 which was the Brazilia Star.