| Here is a photo of her loading coal at Bluff after the operation. Presumably the bit Tonga referred to is the extreme top of the stem, which is flat, but when built by the Verolme Cork dockyard as Irish Spruce she had a prominent bulbous bow, which has also been removed. You can see that the frames and shell plating start to curve out about boot-topping level to where the bulb once was. I have no idea why it was removed but, apart from being a little longer than the average Panamax, the Irish Spruce had some other unusual features. Rather than the normal side-rolling hatches she had McGregor jack-knife hatches which were hydraulically operated and, according to the Irish Shipping newsletter of the day, were watertight, always a useful feature! Her propulsion was also unusual, comprising a pair of MaK 6 cylinder medium speed diesel engines driving a controllable-pitch propeller. |
Dave Edge
