Naval Pilots Reluctant To Berth The Britannia

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30054, 12 February 1963, Page 12

Naval Pilots Reluctant To Berth The Britannia

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, February 11. Over-confidence by Royal Navy officers aboard the Royal yacht Britannia, plus their reluctance to allow an officer with local knowledge of harbour conditions to intervene in the handling of the vessel, were mainly responsible for drastic revisions made to Royal tour arrangements in the capital today. Early this morning, when the Britannia was still outside the harbour, the Wellington harbourmaster, Captain D. .M. Todd, sent a radio message offering his assistance in berthing. He was thanked for his offer, but told: “We have expert pilots aboard.”

Once the Britannia entered the harbour, however, the experts appeared to have a change of heart. A brisk northerly breeze was blowing down the harbour, which produced a chop in the vicinity of Clyde Quay wharf. Whether or not it was decided not to risk the Britannia’s high-gloss paintwork against the fenders at the quay is not known, but the Britannia anchored off the berth she was intended to occupy at 9.40 a.m. and, in fact, did not come alongside until after 4 pjm. Conditions at no time

exceeded the Wellington norm, and. according to the weather report released at 9 a.m., the wind was a gusty north-easterly of 15 miles an hour.

In these conditions, the experts aboard the Britannia brought the Royal barge alongside on the weather side —an action which caused some surprise to maritime authorities ashore.

As a result, the Queen was put to the inconvenience and danger of boarding a wildly tossing barge in boisterous conditions.

When finally the barge came alongside a work barge

at Queen’s wharf, and the Royal party landed, the Queen looked wan and unhappy. The Duke, as a naval officer, seemed at home in the conditions, and handled the task of the Royal greetings with aplomb. Captain Todd, whose services had been refused earlier, was on hand to assist the Queen from the Royal barge to the work barge, and so to the wharf. He was rewarded by a Royal smile. But it was noted that later in the morning, at the Town Hall reception, the Queen s gown carried the unwanted starch of a seawater soaking.