Rye Harbour Image Library

Picture No:	212
Courtesy of:	Mary Lestocq
Year:	1980

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Coaster Ivy - B

One of the regular coasters visiting the wharf.
Picture Added on 12 January 2007.

Comments

Hi, stayed overnight in Rye & visited Rye harbour last week hoping to see a ship or two ! on the Rye Wharf, no luck, I went into the office of the Wharf & spoke to a very helpful/interesting gentleman who told me about the trade & development of the Wharf (Rastrum Ltd Shipping & Warehousing), I have a shipping Web Site www.shipspotter.co.uk which covers mostly the shipping around North Foreland but i am keen to get a photo of a coaster on the River Rother either in or outbound from the Wharf, i will credit one with the Photo if I am lucky enough to receive one to put on my site if that is o/k, i believe ther is a ship due around now 18th-19th Feb 07 with cargo of Talc frm Rotterdam. Nice to see the Photo of the "Ivy-B"
Regards all at Rye thank you for very interesting break Chris & Cris(Wife)
Added by Chris on 18 February 2007.

What a lovely picture of the Ivy b i used to work on the Georgena b there were 4 coasters there other two were Doreen b and Jennifer b.
Added by Robert Berritt on 19 January 2011.

I hitched a ride over to Rye on the Ivy B from Rotterdam in March 1981. I was working at the Missions to Seamen in Rotterdam at the time. (Yes, I was the "Mission Man!") Great times! Great people!
Now please can anyone tell me what year & month the "Ivy B" got sunk for gun-running in the Med, possibly somewhere off Cyprus? I'm working on a painting of the "Hoomoss" that I photographed from the "Ivy B" somewhere off Dungeness, and just wanted to put a bit of history of the 2 boats behind the picture.
Thanks a lot!
Added by Paul Mallett on 02 August 2011.

I got a job as D.H.U. (deckhand uncertificated)on the Ivy B from Nov 1981 to July 1982. I was a professional yachtmaster but needed to get commercial seatime to get a Seamans Discharge Book and seatime towards a second mates certificate. The Ivy B and Georgina B were both running out of Rye at this time owned by a company called Van Broek Marine. Each ship ran with a Skipper, a Mate and three deckhands. There was no engineer on board, once a month a shoreside engineer came on board and gave the engine a lookover and assured us that it would run for another month! There were little notice plaques at various places on the engine saying such things as "2 squirts of oil every 3 hours" or "Turn greaser every 2 hours". We followed this advice and amazingly, although we had many adventures on our trips over to the continent going as far afield as the Rhine, I don't recall any major engine failures. Wonderful days of my youth! I wish I could re-live them!
Added by Cedric Hellier on 16 January 2012.

Hi and WOW, Love the pic of the Ivy B, I worked on the Doreen B 1976/77, I'm sure it was oil the rocker/tappet cups every hour, yep and grease the sturn tube on a regular basis. Anyone remember another ship thats not been mentioned the Caterina W? It was also a van Broek Marine vessel, I dont know how long it lasted because it was quite rotten and needed plenty of welding repairs before she could be classed as sea worthy as the rest of the fleet, cough cough. Anybody have any pics of the Doreen B? Love to hear from anyone that also worked on the ships. Steve
Added by Steve Mason on 23 June 2012.

Ooops, having read what Robert Berritt wrote, my mistake, The Caterina W was renamed the Jennifer B, I would love to know what became of the Doreen B, was a great time of my life now I look back on it but was also at time the most frightening times of my life when we were out there in all sorts of weather and extremely rough seas. Paul Putwaine was the skipper and a very nice person as were all the crew. Used to love going up the Rhine, stop of at Rotterdam for a night or 2 on the way to pickup the pilot, Yohan an old world war 2 bargie, he told us many stories about the spitfires and bombers flying up the Rhine. I still remember waking in Dueseldorf at about 6am with the worse hangover of my life and having to go start throwing the hatch boards about, oh for Magreggar hatches, would have been lovely. I went back to St Valery sur Somme just a few weeks ago, it's not as it used to be but still brought back lots of good memories.
Added by Steve Mason on 23 June 2012.

What ever happens to all the boats? It would be interesting to know what happened to them, I had so many memories of them when I lived at Rye Harbour - I used to tied them up at the wharf.
Added by Robert Berritt on 16 June 2013.

I got a job with van broek marine at tylors wharf in Isleworth London in 1970 on the edna b the owners where brian and neal they had a boat yard in twickenham london we run from london to france holland belgium and germany there was another ship called the catherina w which was owned by someone called denise and audrey in 1971 van broek marine got georgina b then they bought the ivy b in 1972 we then moved to rye harbour under new owners which was tylors from isleworth who then bought the doreen b in 1973. We ran to st valery sur somme for talc and rubber for firestones rotterdam and up the rhine some names skippers neal golding philiph latham kenny marsh morris hughs dave saddler brian the owner mates purcy leemam vic ling pat patanosta deckhands little john larry wooding rod from rochester marcel from st valery yoggy from ipswich malchom from twickenham bill from stains who took over the copper kettle in rye. I left in 1974 when I got married to the niece of the cafe owners in st valery who was roland and elaine the owners of the inkerman arms in rye harbour where we used then was pat and patrica who use to come on trips with us I ended up becoming a mate of the ivy b and larry wooding the mate of the doreen b I have wrote a list of who was where on the boats.
Added by Tom johnson on 22 August 2013.

What happened to the b boats it would be interesting to know.
Added by Robert Berritt on 28 December 2013.

Single Ship Report for "5087998"
Keel Type:Cargo; Launch Date:15.9.56; DOC:22.11.56; Tons:350; DWT:413; Length:45.0; Beam:7.6; Builder: Hanseatische (Hamburg); Subsequent History: 1964 CARAVELLE - 1972 IVY B.
Disposal Data: leaked & beached near Ras Gharib (Egypt)19.8.83 & looted. Alleged gun running.
Added by Chris Coleman on 07 January 2014.

I was on Georgena B from 1974 till 1978 I had some very good times with mole skipper and John Matei left and went to sulley freight.
Added by Donald Ager on 05 February 2014.

It was great looking at ship spotters saw all the b boats it's a shame they are not running anymore. I miss seeing them in Rye Harbour where I used to tie them up. May they rest in peace
Added by Robert Berritt on 18 March 2014.

Hi Steve
I was on the cath w, then the doreen B
Added by Frank on 03 June 2014.

Hi Robert
I think I can remember you, I used to be on the doreen b with brian the skipper and lennie as mate
Added by Frank on 03 June 2014.

Those were the days, they were good ships, it's a shame they went, I do miss them, may they rest in peace, they done a lot of work between them...
Added by Robert Berritt on 14 June 2014.