New 24 August 2008;
revised 05 September 2008

TEESSHIPS
PERSONAL SIGHTINGS

11 August 2008
River Trent

After a weekend in Peterborough we took the usual route home! Very unusually we drew a complete blank at Gunness, Keadby and Flixborough. But from there we spotted an outgoing movement some way ahead, so a dash ensued to Cressey's Corner!
The SEA RUBY was by then almost abreast and I managed shots with my conventional SLR cameras. Our digital, however, was not quite set up because my wife and I have separate memory cards - she had taken her's out ... but I had not put mine in!! By the time I did the ship was quite a way ahead and the following blurred image resulted!! Of course, I should have tried to take fairly broadside with the inbuilt camera memory and transferred later to my memory card - that's called hindsight - although that is probably already full!!!

TOLD YOU IT WAS BLURRED!!!!!

SEA RUBY (9006447), Cayman Islands (British), 1382gt, completed by Yorkshire D.D. Co. Ltd., Hull, 11-1992, ex Union Ruby-04, ex Hoo Larch-03

River Ouse

Better luck here, inward movement detected as we passed Blacktoft so off we went to wait at Swinefleet. From there (and listening to the radio) it became apparent there was also an outgoing vessel.

(nearly got her all in!!)

RMS RIGA (8324749), Belize, 1296gt, completed Hamburg 4-1984, ex RMS Homberg-06, ex Tudor-02, ex Kirsten-88

SCOT ISLES (9243930), Hohebank Shipping Ltd., British, 2594gt, completed Kootstertille 12-2001, ex Somers Isles-06

Goole

A barge has also passed us at Swinefleet inward bound but did not record there as I had to wait until she was passing to check her name on her stern. But we caught her coming into Goole.

INLAND NAVIGATOR, ex Humber Navigator-01 (and that's all I know!)
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05.09.08: Details gleaned from RIVERSEA INTERNATIONAL
202gt, built 1964 by Yorkshire Drydock, Hull (37) as HUMBER NAVIGATOR; 
Later served as the bunkering tanker FALMOUTH ENDURANCE;
Converted for heavy-lift cargo on the inland waterways and renamed INLAND NAVIGATOR;
On this voyage, making a trial trip from the Trent to Leeds with steel.
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Owned, as can be seen, by Robert Wynn & Sons. Their website states: 
Robert Wynn & Sons Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wynns Limited, but functions independently of Wynns Limited and has a separate management structure. Robert Wynn & Sons Ltd. will operate the Multi-Purpose Pontoon vessel, the TERRA MARIQUE, and its daughter vessel, the INLAND NAVIGATOR, on a 'not-for-profit' basis. The company will be subject to regular Government audit and its operations will be governed by a legal framework put in place by the Department for Transport.

This seems quite an interesting concept?

Their main website records something of the history of the barge:
Previously operated by Whitaker Tankers as an inland tanker barge, the HUMBER NAVIGATOR was identified by Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd as a vessel which could be converted to carry loads weighing up to some 300 tonnes. On Friday 30th March 2001, Wynns conveyed an 11.5m long, 5.2m wide, 4.8m high representation of a transformer weighing approximately 270 tonnes, through the centre arch of the historic Town Bridge in Newark, Nottinghamshire a seven span masonry arch bridge built in 1775. Before this trial was undertaken, it was previously thought impossible to navigate the river Trent with such huge loads beyond the first lock at Cromwell. On completion of the trial, the vessel was purchased by Wynns Limited and renamed the INLAND NAVIGATOR.
In conjunction with Foster North Associates, naval architects of Hull, Whitaker Tankers, certified by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and surveyors Liverpool and Glasgow Salvage Association, the vessel was comprehensively strengthened over a period of 5 months to carry large single piece Abnormal Indivisible Loads. The INLAND NAVIGATOR will carry single pieces up to some 300 tonnes or subject to surveys, single pieces or multiple loads up to 300 tonnes. The Inland Navigator provides unprecedented penetration of the inland waterway network and is capable of carrying abnormal loads to locations such as Leeds, Nottingham, Rotherham and Worcester.

YUKO (8605375), Netherlands Antilles, 920gt, completed Westerbroek 11-1986, ex Noordzee-03, ex Hera-99, ex Soyanara-99, ex Laura-93