THE HEUGH BATTERY, HARTLEPOOL

 Whilst we were up in Hartlepool to see the Trincomalee, we also visited the Heugh Battery, a coastal defence battery dating back to the First World War. It's just a small museum run entirely by volunteers but worth a visit even if it's just for the fantastic bacon and egg butties!

The Heugh Battery is unique as it is the only WW1 battlefield on British soil and commemorates the Bombardment of the Hartlepools which took place on 16th December 1914 by the Imperial German Navy. Again, I am just starting this post with images but will add descriptions at a later date.

As well as the gun emplacements, there is a small armoury displaying various firearms including the original "anti-tank" rifle which was called a "two shot rifle" -one shot for each broken shoulder. There is also a reconstruction of a WW1 trench down in the magazine, some very interesting early black powder breech loaders and the observation/control tower, the windows of which are engraved with outline images of the German fleet. I tried to line them up properly with the horizon but I'm just too short!😊

From its banded construction, this ship's cannon must be very early.

The gun at the top is the first ever "Anti-tank rifle." As you can see from the normal infantry rifle below, it is huge! I could barely hold it level! British tanks attacked using these were said to resemble Swiss Cheeses. They did not disable the tank but could kill the crews.

HMS TRINCOMALEE

HMS Trincomalee is the oldest wooden warship still afloat in Europe, her keel being laid in Bombay in 1816. She is a teak built vessel, hence her longevity. Although teak doesn't splinter in the same way as oak or pine, sailors hated teak built ships because any wound caused by it had a tendency to fester. Last September, Jenny, my wonderful wife, took me up to Hartlepool for the weekend, partly to celebrate my birthday and partly to cheer me up after losing my Mum. She had been to see the Trincomalee years ago when she had been senior care worker at a housing project for adults with learning disabilities and knew that I would absolutely love it, especially as my family had been involved in ship-building for many generations, going back to wooden ships such as Trincomalee. We had a wonderful weekend, staying in Seaton Carew at a marvellous B and B. This post will initially be just photos, but I will add descriptions at some later date. There are quite a few of details such as the way guns were frapped un against the gunwales, the breaching ropes,and rigging of the steering.

There is another ship just along the quay from the Trincomalee and I would have loved to pay her a visit too. She is the Winfield Castle, one of the old Hull Ferry paddle steamers and she holds a special place in my heart. In my early years, we used to travel across the Humber aboard her on the way to my Grandparents on Tyneside and then later, in my teens when she no longer ran as a ferry, I used to go to "Riverboat Romps" or "Steamboat Shuffles on her, during which she would sail from New Holland Jetty up to Spurn Point and back. There would be a disco on deck and an amazing Dixieland jazz band down in the saloon. There used to be some really dodgy dancing by turn-around time -even in CALM weather!!

Sadly, no-one is allowed on her. She is rusting away because the Council can't afford to restore this beautiful and majestic vessel. I remember, as a child, standing and watching this magnificent, huge steam engine turning over and over so quietly and sharing mugs of scalding hot builders tea with condensed milk in you could practically stand a spoon in, sat around an enormous pot bellied stove in the Hull waiting room on a bitter December night with a screaming North Easter blowing in from Scandinavia. It's no longer there of course. It's a pub now -the "Minerva" and, like the old ferry, it has a window so you can see into the engine room, though in this case the "engine room is a brewery.