tugs

[rusty]

if i remember right tugs and pilot boats crews,came mostly from the same family,pilot boats the Purvis family and had an office at the Law Top.Also can any one remember an old minesweaper/frigate used as a club it was moored just above the fery landing ?

[Jarrow Pete]

Can remember HMS Satellite it was moored down river from the ferry landing, round about Donnellys boat yard.

[pickering]

My maternal family were the Youngs, they were the pilots of south shields and lived on the Law top. They had a beach hut which was quite posh in those days! A couple of years ago a film was made about the pilots of shields but sadly I did not see it. I would be intersted if anyone had any information regarding my family

[Pilot]

Pickering hi, I served my time as a pilot apprentice from 1964 to 1968 and as a Tyne Pilot from 1975 to 2001 I have a complete rundown of all Pilots since about 1800 If you give me names I will find the infomation.......Funny but my mothers maiden name was Pickering who were also a Pilot family.

[martha]

do believe the stewarts were also pilots

[Pilot]

yes there was Stewarts

[Globalmyths]

Ok they have turned on the Pilot Light and now you will be burning the midnight oil to collate all that information required by Rusty.

[ralph]

Can remember HMS Satellite it was moored down river from the ferry landing, round about Donnellys boat yard.

When I was a sea cadet in the 1950s/60s, we used as our HQ, HMS Sattelite, which was the HQ for the RNVR. It was a great thrill to be aboard this Algerine class minesweeper, which had formerly been HMS Brave. I believe she had run aground when entering the Tyne and was 'holed'. She was patched up and I believe she replaced and earlier ship as RNVR HQ, HMS Melita. She was not there very long, and I stood on River Drive, watching as she was towed away to Dunstan to be scrapped. I could hardly stop my eyes watering as she disappeared from sight.

I believe the original HMS Satellite that had been on that site (The Coporation Quay), had been an old sailing ship. Years later, when visiting the Volunteer Life Brigade Watch House at Tynemouth, a chap there told me they had some of the crockery off HMS Brave, presumaably from the time when she went aground.