REGULAR Looking Back correspondent Brian Jackson has been in touch with information about a featured ship plus further details of the Air Service vessel Rafmoor.

He writes: “With reference to Looking Back in the Echo of July 19, I can add the following details.

“Firstly ‘Name the Boat’ it is either the Roebuck or the Reindeer – two sister vessels constructed in 1897 for the Great Western Railway steamer service to the Channel Islands.

“Roebuck sank three times, firstly in Milford Haven in January 1905 following a fire. In July 1911 she ran onto a group of rocks known as The Kaines off Jersey, having survived both these events she was sunk for the third time in Scapa Flow while on war service during 1915, this time it was not considered worth the effort and time to raise her.

“Sister vessel Reindeer apart from war service remained at Weymouth until withdrawn in 1928, becoming the last coal fired passenger vessel used on the service.

“The full history of the entire Great Western fleet at Weymouth is to be found in Weymouth to the Channel Islands, A Great Western Railway Shipping History, which is published by the Oakwood Press.

“The launch of the Rafmoor was an event I was involved in as an apprentice at Messrs Cosens & Company at the time.

“I was waiting with the motorboat to take the Rafmoor in tow as soon as she left the slipway.

“However, halfway down the ship stopped dead and refused to move. After hauling her back up Des Townsend the diver went down and found one of the rails which ran out into the harbour had lifted causing the slipway to jam.

“Temporary repairs were made and several attempts were made to free the Rafmoor, including the almost comical sight of the paddle steamer Consul pulling on the slipway cradle.

“Cosens’ two divers Des Townsend and Fudge Hanger eventually managed to relay the rail in difficult circumstances and the Rafmoor was successfully launched.

“The slipway which had existed on the site since at least the 1870s was rebuilt by the Admiralty in 1942-3 in preparation for D-Day for the repair of landing craft, unfortunately there were problems with the contractors at the time and faults with the rails which were out of level and had to be rectified.

“An additional factor was that after the war the rails of the slipway, which had been extended further into the harbour for wartime use, had to be shortened as the Great Western Railway claimed their right to swing the Channel Island steamers just beyond the slipway and feared the additions would cause an obstruction and their removal could have weakened the remainder of the structure.

“In general the 1958 affair was blamed on wear and tear and the fact that several years previously the James Farley, a former Mersey ferry converted by Cosens into an Admiralty floating laboratory, was too heavy for the slipway and caused its failure.

“However the slipway continued until after 1962 when the last paddle steamer departed and the sight of a paddle steamer or other vessel on the slip has become a thing of the past, along with ship repairing and other harbour industries.”