London – Port of London Authority
October 14, 2022
HM 175. The Port of London ..... is huge!
Captain Bob Baker, Chief HM of The Port of London Authority (PLA) has the largest job of any HM I have met so far.
When your harbour is 95 miles long, covers 400 sq miles of riverbed, handles 45 million tonnes of cargo each year, employs 40,000 people and contributes over £3 Billion to the economy each year..... you can only describe it as one hell of a responsibility.
From way out in the Thames, ships (and tiny yachts) have to report in on VHF radio to get permission to enter the Thames. Bob told me a man who sailed up the river on an inflatable chair.... did not think this applied to him!
The head office of the PLA is in Gravesend, and it is here we met Bob. He works with 9 other HMs and over 100 pilots. Gravesend's river frontage is historic having been established by Henry VIII and mentioned in 1650 by Samuel Pepys on route to re-building the Royal Navy at Chatham.
Bob went to sea at 16 (like many senior HMs) and had nearly 20 years as a mariner before becoming a HM. One of his most prestigious jobs is to oversee the safe running of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. This is in stark contrast ensuring safe passage to container ships passing close by the 1944 wreck, SS Richard Montgomery which still houses 1,400 tons of high explosive nobody can work out how to remove!
Our passage up the river took us close to this wreck (photo 3), the moonlit lightship at Gravesend, under the M25 QE2 bridge, past the O2, Greenwich and the Cutty Sark before we enjoyed Tower Bridge lifting for us twice (free of charge for any yacht by the way) and into St Katharine Docks for the winter.
Thank you Bob and team for our welcome to London and very generous donation to The Seafarers' Charity.
Captain Bob Baker, Chief HM of The Port of London Authority (PLA) has the largest job of any HM I have met so far.
When your harbour is 95 miles long, covers 400 sq miles of riverbed, handles 45 million tonnes of cargo each year, employs 40,000 people and contributes over £3 Billion to the economy each year..... you can only describe it as one hell of a responsibility.
From way out in the Thames, ships (and tiny yachts) have to report in on VHF radio to get permission to enter the Thames. Bob told me a man who sailed up the river on an inflatable chair.... did not think this applied to him!
The head office of the PLA is in Gravesend, and it is here we met Bob. He works with 9 other HMs and over 100 pilots. Gravesend's river frontage is historic having been established by Henry VIII and mentioned in 1650 by Samuel Pepys on route to re-building the Royal Navy at Chatham.
Bob went to sea at 16 (like many senior HMs) and had nearly 20 years as a mariner before becoming a HM. One of his most prestigious jobs is to oversee the safe running of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. This is in stark contrast ensuring safe passage to container ships passing close by the 1944 wreck, SS Richard Montgomery which still houses 1,400 tons of high explosive nobody can work out how to remove!
Our passage up the river took us close to this wreck (photo 3), the moonlit lightship at Gravesend, under the M25 QE2 bridge, past the O2, Greenwich and the Cutty Sark before we enjoyed Tower Bridge lifting for us twice (free of charge for any yacht by the way) and into St Katharine Docks for the winter.
Thank you Bob and team for our welcome to London and very generous donation to The Seafarers' Charity.