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Good News! The venerable Steam Tug Alwyn Vintcent has been saved for Heritage ! Until recently, the Alwyn Vintcent belonged to an Australian businessman, but she has been bought by the Villiersdorp Branch of the West Cape Tractor & Engine club. Their plan is to transport her by road to a dry-land resting place in Villiersdorp, very much in the public view. Initial plans are to dismantle the superstructure and remove the boiler. If this can be done and the load is less than 4.5 meters high, then it should clear the telephone and electricity lines.
ALE of Firgrove www.ale-heavylift.com who has the trailer and prime mover, and MME (Machine Moving and Engineering) www.mme.co.za whose Johannes Uys is a member of our club, who do the lifting. So far, we have had the Cormorants removed by SANCCOB, we have washed the Alwyn Vintcent and covered her with shade netting, which so far seems to be discouraging the cormorants from coming back to nest. The Management of the V&A Waterfront are being extremely helpful. The Alwyn Vintcent will initially stand in the yard of Dennis Viljoen Engineering in Villiersdorp while the reassembly and restoration takes place, after which a decision will be made where she will stand. Please open our News page for the latest updates. |
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Advertising on the Hull During Transport During the Move of the Hull and Superstructure, the Media are going to be keeping a close eye on the Great Trek! We saw an advertising opportunity in this, and started selling space for banners of about 1 metre square, at R5 000. The advertisements are mostly in connection with Agricultural Products and Services, partly because everybody knows it's a 'Bunch of Crazy Farmers' who are responsible for saving this Historic Vessel! Partly also, it's because those are the firms we know, support and can ask! The campaign has been enormously successful, but there's still time to book your space on the Hull! Contact Elma on dviljoeningwerke@telkomsa.net or 028 840 1104. The planned date for the move, for the second week in May seems to have been delayed by ALE's special trailer having a job to do at Kariba on the Zambia side. The earliest alternative will be early June, but we will be keeping this website posted all the time! |
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Alwyn Vintcent Out of the Water! We were warned that our Steam Tug would be taken out of the water just before the Synchrolift was closed down for annual maintenance at the end of the first week in May. In the end, we were the second-last vessel to be taken out and we were informed that the operation would take place the following day, on the evening of the 3rd. |
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Captain W.D Jonker 1930-2012 Hope you are well. Just to let you know, my dad passed away last Saturday, April 14 2012, 4 months away from 82. The past 6 months he was not well... he had cancer. When is the big day, for moving the Vintcent to Villiersdorp? I follow the progress you make...allot of hard work...I admire the perseverance you all have. A few months ago my dad told me that he had two serious incidents with the Vintcent, when it almost sank. Both incidents happened in the 1970's . The one time it happened at the tanker moorings,( buoy's )when he was about to assist the tanker to dock. He arranged with the Captain of the Tanker that he will pull the tanker, towards Hartenbosh, into the channel and for some reason there was a misunderstanding. While the Vintcent was still in position with its side to the rear of the tanker,( the tow rope is attached to a winch that is near the centre of the Vintcent) the Tanker suddenly moved forward and started pulling on the towline. My dad says it all happened so fast, the next thing he saw from the wheelhouse was the bottom side of the Vintcent, and some white barnacles. All he could get out was axe the rope and that was done just in time. He says it was a frightening experience, also when the Vintcent levelled itself again. The second time when it happened was on his way to Port Elisabeth, when he took the Vintcent for it's annual maintenance. My dad says when you sail from Mossel Bay down the coast to P.E the swells run towards the side of the Vintcent and near the lighthouse at Humansdorp 3 huge swells one directly after the other ran over the Vintcent and a lot of water went down the skylights (that was wide open, because it can get very hot down in the engine room , stoke area) He says the Vintcent took in so much water that a large area of the rear end was level with the sea. He says it was a frightening experience to see the situation they were in and this while swells keep on coming on and rocking the Vintcent. He thought it was over and that the Vintcent was going to sink. He manage to turn the Vintcent head on into the swell and keep it that way while the crew pumped out the water successfully and so they could continue to P. E. Please keep me up to date. Regards. Desmond Jonker
Hello Desmond, Such sad news! Especially as he didn't live to see the Move! At least he lived to KNOW she would be saved! We were to be moving early in May, deposit paid, money collected, etc, but we were told the trailer's in Kariba! At the moment, it looks as though she's coming out of the water early in May, on the synchro, and that the move itself will happen in the middle of June, we hope! The way I read the e-mail from ALE it actually doesn't necessarily read like that, though. I'm very worried about her standing on the hard at the synchro! Too many people around in the middle of the night with cutting torches. A lot of damage can happen in a short time as we found recently :-( Thanks for those two stories, not everybody would like that kind of thing to come out, but the stories certainly belong with her history! Please pass on our deepest feelings to your Family! Please keep in touch, we don't always remember who all to contact with updates! Regards Andy and the Team
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