April/May 2023

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April dawned with the same sense of urgency as March had departed – jobs to be done and little time to have Kerne ready for our 1st sailing of the season to Canning Dock for the Eurovision Festival. The steering was non-functional as the starboard sheave (pulley) had been removed to facilitate the replacement of a corroded section of deck. Removal of the sheave also revealed that the oak base onto which the sheave sat was rotten and had to be replaced as did the adjacent bulwark stanchion. Removing this also revealed that the bulwark itself was in poor condition and also needed replating. A large section of deck in this area was replaced in the 1980’s, but rather than replate this particular area the platers had cut round it for simplicity – now we can see why. Alan, our welder, did a great job of a difficult repair which was completed just in time for our sailing, with a watertight Captain’s Cabin and functioning steering. The necessary repainting was completed in Canning. Prior to sailing the funnel was also painted in Ukrainian national colours, which look rather good. Bunkers were taken on 21 April – but not quite as intended. Coal in normally delivered in large ‘rubble sacks’ which are craned over the bunkers, the bottom of the sacks cut, and in just a few short seconds the contents are in the bunkers. On this occasion it was delivered in 25kg bags – and rather a lot of them – not to mention it costing us over £600 per tonne for Columbian coal which is somewhat inferior to our usual fuel that is unavailable due to the situation in Ukraine. That said we were able to raise steam and on 25 April locked out into the river and sailed into Canning Dock and mooring adjacent to the Pumphouse mid-afternoon. The engines ran without any problems and the work carried out on the starboard boiler check valve ensured that the live steam injector performed faultlessly. The vessel was open to the public on several days leading up to and including the Eurovision Finals on May 19th and a good number of the 100,000 revellers took advantage to a free tour of the vessel, with particular interest in visits down into the Engine and Boiler Rooms, and the explanatory talks given by our volunteer Engineers. Kerne’s appearance at what is essentially a music event was poignant as in the 1950’s and early 1960’s the tugs deckhand was Ron Wycherley, known to people of a certain age as Billy Fury. He went on to have a very successful career in the music charts until his untimely death in January 1983. He never forgot his time on Kerne and remained in touch with Skipper Ron Hayes right up until his death. Work aboard, including further work on the pipework to the new duplex pump, wiring installation for the new wind generator and painting continues during our extended stay in Canning Dock. Volunteers are on board on most Saturdays when we are happy to show people around the vessel.

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