VIEW FROM THE TOWER!

Mayday Relay!   A dramatic event made the headlines during the summer as can be seen from the newspaper extract above. Watchkeepers Janet and Mike were on duty that evening in the NCI Lookout tower at Fort Blockhouse; the following is Janet’s account of what happened…… "Back in the summer I was on watch with Mike for the evening. The tide had just turned and being ‘springs’ it was rushing out of the harbour. Things were quietening down from a busy day with swimmers, jumpers and large groups of youths on the beach. When we saw a group that had been playing with an inflatable ball at the waters edge watching the ball floating out with the tide. One of the youths started to swim after it. We realised he was not going to be able to catch it up and decided it looked as though he was going to get into difficulties. We initiated a mayday relay to the coastguard on Channel 16. After the initial call it was a case of following the instructions given by the coastguard and answering their ...

Mayor of Gosport 100 Award. The Mayor of Gosport, Cllr Jamie Hutchison, presented special awards in November to help mark the 100th anniversary of Gosport becoming a borough. Cllr Hutchison said: "As part of the borough's 100th anniversary, I wanted to celebrate the achievements of people who make a difference in our community. They could be people who organise community events, or who do valuable work like caring for others or litter-picking. The list of possibilities is endless - I'm just looking for people who have made a positive contribution to their neighbourhood or the borough as a whole." NCI Gosport was nominated for an award, which was presented to Station Manger Colin Church at a recent ceremony. This is his account…. "Following his recent visit to the Signal Tower, home of NCI Gosport, we were fortunate enough to be nominated for the Mayor of Gosport’s Volunteer Team award. The Ceremony, held at the GBC offices, was attended by myself (Colin Churc...

    Gosport National Coastwatch Station Honours The “Eternal Watchkeeper” Several of the National Coastwatch personnel based at National Coastwatch Institution Gosport are veterans of the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service which was based here at HMS Dolphin for many years before the Submariners’ Training School was finally moved to HMS Raleigh at Torpoint in Cornwall in 1998. HMS Dolphin had been the headquarters of Flag Officer Submarines since 1901 and it is only fitting that all those who served in the “Silent Service” should be commemorated by this fine memorial sculpture of Leading Seaman Reginald Read who had served as a Torpedo Gunner in submarines between 1939 and 1947.   He is depicted as the “Eternal Watchkeeper” on lookout duty at sea with his binoculars at the ready, a scene still replicated today by highly trained National Coastwatch Volunteers as they watch over the safety of people and vessels in the congested waters of the Eastern Solent. The original full-...

Donation 'Thank You' Following receipt of a generous donation from Wightlink, Watchkeepers at NCI Gosport wanted to present a 'Thank You' certificate to them. Having turned up at the car ferry terminal in Portsmouth, the team was surprised and delighted to be invited aboard the Wightlink flagship, Victoria of Wight to do the presentation on the bridge to the ships master while en-route to Fishbourne and back . Escorted by Karen Woods, head of Communications and PR, the team met and spoke with Capt A Grocott. The pictures here show Station Manager Colin Church presenting the framed certificate to Capt Grocott, and also other members of the team - Bev Livermore and DSMs Caroline Hildrew and Richard Suggitt - who were mostly wondering what all the buttons do. Finally, a friendly wave as we went past the Signal Tower from on-duty Watchkeeper Neil Richardson (who only got slightly damp in the rain). A magnifying glass may be helpful here....

NCI Gosport and The Big Red Button We have to begin by admitting to a bit of artistic license here… there is no big red button (BRB) that we press to raise the alarm when we see people or vessels in distress; mostly we use VHF channel 16 instead. But for every occasion when we do raise the alarm (and there has been some recently which were very well publicised), there must be a dozen or more occasions where we see something that has our hands metaphorically hovering over that big red button, only for the situation to resolve itself. For example…. There were these youngsters jumping into the water from the top of the round tower. Anyone in their right mind will agree that this is not a clever thing to do. Apart from all the other dangers, the jumper has to run fast enough to ensure that he (and it’s almost always a he) clears the 2-metre wide concrete apron that encircles the base of the tower. A few of the group did this with no evident trouble, exiting the water by climbing over the ...

  Sound Signals This is an informal summary of the signals which are defined in The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, Part D, Rule 32, with our comments in itialics. These signals are delivered by means of a ‘short blast’ (one seconds duration) on the ships whistle or hooter. Here they are… 1 blast “Vessel altering course to starboard” 2 blasts “Vessel altering course to port.” These could mean that the vessel is making a 90 degree turn to the right or left, or just moving to the right or left, possibly to go past you. Most often we hear them used when ferries are turning from the main channel into the swashway (and vice-versa) to warn smaller vessels in the area. Just recently though we have started hearing vessels use one blast as a general ‘lookout’ warning. 3 blasts “I am operating astern propulsion” This does not mean that the vessel is going astern, only that the engines have been put astern. The vessel m...

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