Saturday evening dinner

115 sat down to dine on Saturday evening in the City Quay Suite of the Apex Hotel. Before dinner, Commodore Richard Martin took time to introduce the diners to the General Committee of the MOA and appreciation was shown by all to Alison Martin for the support she had given to Richard during his two years in office.  Fantastic food, good wines and great service from the staff together with a most solicitous Banqueting Manager made for a relaxed and enjoyable experience.  Dinner was accompanied by a great background of photographs of Scottish sailing scenes assembled by Howard Williams, Secretary of the MOA Scotland Branch.Following dinner, we were treated to a wonderful illustrated insight into the maritime history of Dundee given by speaker Iain Flett.

To provide a fitting end to the evening, a few tunes from the Scottish Welsh Male Voice Choir … only in the MOA!!

HMS Unicorn

On the recent trip to Dundee for the Moody Association AGM a group of us visited HMS Unicorn. We approached what looked like a long shed on a barge but is a 19th century sailing frigate built in Chatham in 1824 shortly after the Napoleonic Wars ended. Since the country was at peace she was not immediately needed for active service so rather than being rigged she had a roof built over her main deck and was laid up ‘in ordinary’ as part of the reserve fleet. This protection preserved her structure which we were told is 95% original. She is the 3rd oldest ship afloat in the world and equal in importance to HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. She was towed to Dundee in 1873 to be used as a drill ship for the city’s naval reserves and remained in service until 1964. During both World Wars she acted as the headquarters for Senior Naval Officers in Dundee.  HMS Unicorn was saved from the scrap heap by the formation of the Unicorn Preservation Society.  The ship was donated to the society by the Ministry of Defence and is now run as a museum ship by volunteers.

Verdant Works

The Jute Mills had occupied a large part of Dundee but now many had been demolished or converted, the Verdant Mill is the only surviving one.  We were told of the working life and the terrible conditions; the air being so thick with fibres that colleagues could not see each other. Women were expected to work two looms at a time.  They needed to be slim as the looms were positioned close together to fit as many as possible on the floor.  The whale oil from the whaling industry important to Dundee in the 1800s was used to soften the jute so that it could be spun.  In later years, mineral oil was used.  Jute was mainly imported from India; following Indian independence, export of the raw material ceased and the jute was processed in India where there are still many jute mills in Calcutta, with the same appalling conditions for the workforce.

We were taken through a working section of the mill and given demonstrations of the various machines used for preparing the jute, the spinning process and then weaving.  As we passed from room to room we came to a part which had working machinery which was operated by a gentleman called Billy who demonstrated and explained how each machine was used  in order for the Jute to reach the final stages so it could be used for rope making, sailcloth, coarse weave for sacks of vegetables, close weave for sacks for flour and even clothes; production of backing for Axminster and Wilton carpets was very important and jute was a main component in the manufacture of linoleum

RSS Discovery and the Discovery Centre

RRS Discovery in  was built in 1901, the first vessel to be constructed specifically for scientific research. While the design was based on the great Dundee whalers (it was a wooden ship as it was judged that a wooden ship would stand up to being trapped in ice better than a steel one)  Robert. Scott applied for the post of expedition leader. He was appointed in June 1900 at the age of just 33.

Forty-eight men started the journey south, each one hand-picked by Scott. Scientists apart, the complement were a mixture of merchant and naval seamen. After five months at sea, Antarctica was eventually sighted on January 8th 1902.  Following many harrowing adventures, the aims of the expedition were met  Discovery returned home in September 10th 1904 to a rapturous reception. Scott was acclaimed as a national hero.

RRS Discovery’s adventures continued, first with the Hudson Bay Company, then running munitions to Russia during the First World War. She was to make two further voyages to Antarctica before being laid up in London. In 1986 she made her  return to Dundee and her final berth, a fitting memorial to the heroes of Antarctica.

By 1979 RSS Discovery was in a serious state of dilapidation. The first stage of her restoration was funded by a grant of £1/2 million from The Maritime Trust. Today, over 100 years after leaving Dundee, RSS Discovery sits proudly as the centrepiece of the Discovery Point Visitor Centre.  The Visitor Centre is both a conference centre, where the AGM was held, and a museum holding many artifacts from the Antarctic voyages

Walk to the ‘Dundee Law’

On Sunday, Bill Faerestrand led a party of intrepid MOA explorers to the top of Dundee Law. Its about 600ft above sea level, where we started.  A good walk! The last bit was certainly quite steep and we all needed a rest. Coming down wasn’t much better, but we made it without getting soaked as the promised rain did not materialise although it was VERY windy at the top.