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 The
first indications that the Communicator was preparing
to leave Lowestoft, it's home for the past nine months,
a tug appears alongside during Friday 20th August, 2004.
Note that while the Communicator was still pointing
inland the tug was already pointed towards the harbour
mouth and secured to the bow of the ship. Thus when
the tug pulls forward she will turn the Communicator
round ready to head out to sea.
It was expected therefore that she would soon leave.
In these pictures you will also see the navigation lights
are burning on the Communicator and you may just about
make out doors open on the deck. These pictures were
taken at 7pm on 20th August, 2004 and a white van was
parked close to the ship on the quayside. Doors on the
ship were open onto the deck indicating people onboard,
although in the half hour we were there we saw no one,
either on the tug or the Communicator.
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The ship's destination was the Orkney Isles for the
three month broadcast of the Super
Station which started on 1st September.
At the time that these photos were taken the East Coast
was experiencing a thunderstorm and the weather was
rather windy. It might be questionable as to if the
ship was actually safe to make the long journey, under
tow northwards. From our observations over the previous
months, although lots of work had been carried out onboard,
this was mainly cosmetic. Cabins and the decor of the
ship had been improved tremendously. However it must
be said that the outside of the ship still needed much
work done on it. Back in December 2003 owner Dave Miller
said that she would be dry-docked at Lowestoft and she
certainly needs to be, however this never came about.
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Also
no work appeared to have been done on the guy wires
on the mast in the time that she was in Lowestoft. It
must be remembered that Caroline in her years has lost
several masts which have been regularly maintained.
One must question how an unmaintained mast will cope
when the vessel is not only in a high choppy and windy
sea but also undertow??
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THE SHIP LEFT EARLY AFTERNOON OF SATURDAY 21st AUGUST,
2004.
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The
afternoon of Saturday21st August, 2004, gave Lowestoft
residents and holidaymakers a special sight to see, the
Commuicator being towed by the tug Goliath and
assisted by the port tug Planter. Once she was
clear of the harbour the Planter dropped her line
and returned to port.
Contrary to some reports the engines onboard were NOT
working therefore the vessel was towed for the entire
trip.
The Orkenys are a long way but thankfully the weather
had calmed and hopefully the ship had a safe and uneventful
journey. |
The
Super Station 105.4
Kirkwall Trial service for Kirkwall (Orkney Islands)
On air from :01/09/2004 to 23/11/2004
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Additional
pictures can be found here
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Following
the two month broadcast the Communicator remained at anchor
in the Orkney Isles. An announcement on the Communicator
website announced that the vessel was up for sale and
in early February, 2005 it was confirmed that she had
been sold to an undisclosed buyer.
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