Description
Object description
Royal Navy and foreign salvage vessels clear blockships from the Suez Canal at Port Said and move the wrecks to the Avant Port.
Full description
I. Reel One. MS pan over a group of salvage vessels moving wreck No 7, the hopper Neptune - ahead is the tug Expert, with LC.10 and LC.11 either side and Uplifter astern - the cameracraft crosses the bows of the two lifting craft to run past LC.10 and circle onto Uplifter's port quarter. CU of a wreck with a diving boat alongside - a man sits on the superstructure, his feet dangling just above the water. MS of a wreck (possibly No 19), partially supported by lifting pontoons - the French LCT 525 is alongside the wreck, lifting gear set up on her focsle. CU as an aqualung diver flips backwards over the side of diving boat. Sequence shot through barbed wire entanglements to Egyptian prisoners under guard in a temporary detention centre. LS of a row of MOT and WD LSTs along embarkation hard - including Empire Cymric, Empire Petrel, and Evan Gibb (ex-LST 3010, 3520 and 3037 respectively). MSs of two LSTs, the War Department's Charles Macleod (ex-LST 3021) and HMS Reggio (L.3511) - in different shots a Bedford truck and a group of solo motorcycles are parked before the open bow doors of Reggio. MSs of RFA Blue Ranger taking on the last oil from Port Said. MSs of the German salvage vessels Ausdauer and Energie moving wreck No 10, preceded by the tug Hermes. Sequence onboard the survey ship HMS Dalrymple during a visit by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Hailsham, and the C-in-C Mediterranean Station, Admiral Grantham. Lord Hailsham addresses crewmen fallen in on the focsle, then descends onto the Z-craft Z.7 secured alongside where he addresses another group - his speech is also listened to by crewmen of the small tug Robuste which lies next to the lighter - the ship's launch from Sea Salvor is also alongside, and the depot ship Forth is visible in the background. One of Dalrymple's crew rows the cameraman past the tug Antic to the raising of wreck No 7 by Expert, LC.10, LC.11 and Uplifter.
Full description
II. Reel Two. HA.LS aft along the starboard side of the quarterdeck of HMS Tyne to the French Georges Leygues - the cruiser is closing for a formal exchange of salutes between flagships after the final Allied withdrawal from Port Said. Cut to passing shot of the Suez Canal Company building at Port Said - in the foreground is LCT 525 alongside the two-funnelled wreck No 17 (tug Hercule). MS broad on the starboard quarter of the German tug Hermes and pan left over the salvage vessel Energie, with its companion Ausdauer in the background, and the British fleet tug Careful. CU on a diving boat as an aqualung diver (named YORKY on his gear) checks his equipment. A Lieutenant gives the group of four divers their instructions, and they go over the side and submerge. MS of lifting vessel LC.10 alongside the wreck of the hopper Neptune at the entrance to the Canal - in the background is the wreck of the Paul Solente with the salvage vessels Sea Salvor to starboard and Salveda to port - the camera moves right past LC.11 and on to the wreck of the bucket dredger Peluse, with the wreck of the Pollux visible in the background, frame right. HA to bubbles on the surface from divers working on the wreck of the Paul Solente - the men surface. Back in the diving boat, the four men report to the Lieutenant. MSs of the tug Hermes, and the two German salvage vessels Ausdauer and Energie either side of the wreck of the hopper Triton which they are preparing to lift - close by is the tug Careful, which is to help move the wreck to the 'graveyard' in the Avant Port. Cut to MS of the bows of two coastal salvage vessels, both equipped with horns and heavy rollers, as they lie facing each other - on the left is Dispenser, and on the right Uplifter (?), with wreckage held by lifting wires from the horns - in the background are two more salvage vessels, the furthest away being RFA Kingarth.
Full description
III. Reel Three. HMCS Magnificent enters Port Said, her deck crowded with transport - she wears a UN placard on her island. Tugs manoeuvre her to a mooring. Cut to HA.CU pan over the wreckage of the tug Hercule after the second lift - an encrusted water cannon has broken the surface - nearby is the Kingarth, her lifting wires fouled by the lifting pontoons. Kingarth's CO talks with an Italian Salvage Bosun - Captain Fell, the Principal Salvage Officer, and Captain Podger, NOIC United Kingdom Salvage Unit, are also present. LA from a small craft to the island superstructure of the Paul Solente - a stream of water is being pumped out of the wreck. HA over the encrusted forebody of the Paul Solente with the salvage craft Salveda to port and Sea Salvor to starboard. A group of salvage experts, including Captain Fell and Captain Podger, watch the operation from onboard one of the Hartlepool lifting craft which has manoeuvred itself close to the blockship's stern. Cut to MS of (left to right) Captain Fell, Lieutenant-General Wheeler, commander of the UN salvage force, and Captain Podger, onboard HMS Striker, HQ ship of UKSU, on the occasion of the General's visit to the vessel - in the background, the Striker's CO, Commander Dannreuther, approaches with Mr Connors, a member of Wheeler's staff. Wheeler, Connors and Fell depart in a UN launch. MSs of the Canal Company buildings and a group of three salvage craft - in the foreground is RFA Kingarth with LCT 525 lying behind her and the Uplifter off to the left - they are grouped about wreck No 17, which is being explored by a diver. CU as a helmet diver regains LCT 525 - he stands on the side ladder while a crewman disconnects his air hose and safety line. Cut back to a LS of salvage craft grouped about the Paul Solente - in centre frame is Sea Salvor. CU of the stern anchor on one of the salvage craft. On the forward superstructure of Paul Solente stands a group of men from the Salveda responsible for operating the pumping equipment. The cameracraft circles the wreck's starboard quarter, passing close to one of the Hartlepool lifting craft which is alongside aft, with the tug Careful. HA from aft on the Paul Solente to the water gap between Salveda and forebody of the wreck, where air is bubbling up from the pumping operation - the cameraman pans up to the wreck's mainmast. Men drag pumping equipment drag across the Solente's island superstructure. HA pan from a position on the mainmast, left to right over the afterbody of the wreck showing the tug Careful, the two lifting craft, and supporting the stern, the RFA Succour. Careful manoeuvres stern first up to the bows of the wreck to take her under tow after the successful second lift - on the starboard side Sea Salvor and one of the lifting craft have to pass close to the capsized wreck of an 80-ton crane, No 827. HA to Succour keeping station astern and pan past the Paul Solente's funnel to the portside lifting craft - the wreck and its attendants are passing the Casino Palace Hotel.
Physical description
35mm