Where do aircraft carriers go when they die? Hartlepool of course!

For months now we have been hearing that a retired French aircrafter carrier, The Clemenceau or "Le Clem" as it was fondly known to the French, would be making its final journey right here to Hartlepool to be recycled. It has been controversial and dubbed the "toxic ghost ship" because the ship contains 700 tons of asbestos and environmentalists worried about moving the ship, even though France or its previous address in India hadn't the facilities or technology to properly dissasemble the vessel. I am not sure what the environmentalists wanted to do but I think despite the hazard its best to take it here where we have the largest dry dock in the world and a company with a proven track record who does only this type of work. Currently there are several retired members of the American fleet awaiting the same fate as Le Clem in the dry docks of Hartlepool.

The papers finally reported mid-week that Le Clem had set off and would be arriving on Sunday around mid-day.

I woke up early Sunday morning and made myself banana pancakes and set up my computer in front of our front window so I could watch all of the action as I type. I was armed with my camera, a telescope I don’t know how to use and a pair of binoculars. Its time for… TOXIC GHOST SHIP WATCH 2009

9:12 Midway through my second banana pancake I spot a strange silhouette on the horizon. Its resemblance to a familiar Battleship gamepiece tips me off that this is the aircraft carrier I am waiting to see.

9:30 The Clemenceau, which is being towed, has begun swinging around to face Teesport (South, about a mile down the coast from me)

9:45 A bird dives into the sea in the foreground. The positioning and scale is perfect and looks like an aircraft landing on the deck. Wish I had my video camera out.

10:30 The Clem has swung around AGAIN and is now facing the Headland (North) again. I am puzzled as to why they would be towing this thing around in a tight circle, this seems to me a dangerous thing to do with a vessel containing nothing other than 700 tons of asbestos

10:43 The Clem is definitely going around in circles. My theory is that they are in a holding pattern until the tide is all the way in. The tide here is pretty extreme but it takes a long time to come in. For the ship to pass safely into the docks the tide will surely need to be all the way in.

As a side note, two pigeons have just perched on the gutter outside the window and they are cooing at me. I am really glad I shut the window earlier for exactly this reason.

10:57 Four tug boats have just left Teesport and are headed toward the ship

11:24 Managed to fiddle with the telescope and have looked at the ship. It is massive. Its hard to tell the scale of things that are so close to the horizon but when you see it next to the surrounding ships the scale begins to come into perspective.

11:44 Pigeon flew in front of the lens as I was observing the ship at the closest magnification and I nearly had a heart attack. I am leaving no details out here folks. I have heard accredited news anchors say much stupider things while trying to fill airtime during live coverage.

12:03 The tugs have made their rendezvous with "Le Clem" and she is beginning to make her advance. Some details are visible with the naked eye.


Also a group of young men has gathered on the promenade that I have seen surfing here before. Might see some surfers out today.

12:18 As it comes closer I can see through the telescope how dilapidated it is. It looks like a computer generated image from one of the apocalypse movies. A bit spooky...

12:37 Le Clem is not far off from the coast now. I can see the entire length of it as it moves closer. It appears to have 4 tug boats towing it, two in the back and two in the front to keep it as steady as possible. There is also a larger green ship out front leading the ship and its entourage of tugs.




12:52 The ship is moving parallel to the beach, probably as close in as it will get until it swings in to Teesport. It is creeping along at a snail's pace.

1:27 I went down to the beach to take some photos of the last moments before The Clemenceau pulled into Teesport. The Clemenceau has now safely entered the mouth of the Tees River and will never again sail the high seas.

A surfer getting a front row seat

Le Clem crossing in front of the snow capped Moors

I sent some of these photos into the local paper, The Hartlepool Mail, and they may be putting them in there today.

Last night at around 10 it started to snow again, and this time it was the beautiful silent and gentle snowfall I am used to. This morning was lovely, here are a few photos I took just few minutes ago of the snow-covered sea front.