It was a beautiful crisp October day to start our trip on the Serco tug the SD Eileen at Devonport Naval Base recently.
The 14-year-old vessel is relatively new in boating terms and weighs in at 121 tonnes and is commanded by tugmaster Jan Carpenter, senior technician Richard Taylor, Mark Sinclair in charge of the deck, and Tom Farr, the tug’s relief engineer.
Westward Shipping News was invited to see for ourselves the amazing works of a Devonport tug crew in action.
With 30 vessels and barges based in Western Europe’s biggest naval base, Serco and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are in the middle of replacing many of its ageing fleet of tugs with new vessels by 2027.
“We are excited at the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 warships that will be based in Devonport as we modernise our tug fleet,” he said.
The Serco tug schedules are organised daily by the MOD for various roles and on a 24-hour call.
Serco tugs are a regular sight on our live webcam service and can be seen assisting ships and submarines on a variety of assignments in and out of the Sound.
Martyn said: “Vessels might need one or more tugs to assist, depending on the time of day, tidal conditions, and weather that may require more tugs to safely position ships, where a single tug might only be needed in calm weather,’ he said.
Jan Carpenter gets on the phone radio to the control room and manoeuvres the tug away from the dock as we make our way into the River Tamar towards the open sound.
With Plymouth’s famous waterfront’s skyline in the background, Jan manoeuvres the SD Eileen in a smooth and effortless journey across the Hoe foreshore, making our way past Drake’s Island and aiming for the Plymouth Breakwater.
“I’ve been doing this job for many years, and I love it, and especially the variety of jobs our tugboat crew is called on to deal with in all types of weather and conditions.”
“As a tug operator, you have to pay attention all around you.”
“I had a dangerous situation with a big warship where a line got caught up and was dragging our tug down on one side.”
“I have to say I nearly lost my voice shouting at the ship on the radio. A close shave, and sometimes it is easy to forget how close we are to the ships we are guiding,” he said.
The mile-long construction was built to transform the Sound into 1,000 acres of safe anchorage.
It was referred to as the ‘great national undertaking’ when work started in 1812 and took over 30 years to complete.
Plymouth Breakwater will always be a living project where continual huge rocks and maintenance works are ongoing all the time to fight against the worst of the weather and rising sea levels.
From the SD Eileen, we got to see magnificent views of the Sound that you never normally get to see.
All around the bay is the amazing history and fortifications from Penlee Point, Kingsand and Cawsand, Mount Edgcumbe, Drakes Island, the Tamar Estuary, and Plymouth Hoe.
The crew on the SD Eileen certainly takes pride in their work and a very clean vessel; you could almost eat off the floor, but I got a great cup of tea.
“There is an overt sense of teamwork from everyone on board, and when you have a great bunch of guys like this, you love coming to work,” said Jan.
On the way back into Devonport, Jan demonstrated his exemplary tug skills by guiding the vessel sideways into one of the docks – so we could see some of the vast changes going on inside the base.
We spent over 2 hours on the SD Eileen, and hats off to the crew and Martyn ‘Simo’ Sims for inviting Westward Shipping News to see Plymouth Serco tugs firsthand.
Now when I watch Serco tugs on our live webcam, I find myself envying the crew and the sheer professionalism of Devonport’s Serco tug teams.
