Image: GravesendThames3401

Description: Gravesend is in North Kent, England on the River Thames. Passenger embarking/disembarking the MV Duchess, the Tilbury Gravesend ferry, at Gravesend Pier. Mid river the Cobetfret containership Eglantine (1990 Chinese built roro,147.7 metres long, 10035 gross tons, IMO number: 8302806), coming upstream on a rising tide to Ford's Wharf, Dagenham. In the distance the Tlbury Power Station with its coal wharf and two machines that unload coal from the hold , onto a conveyor belt system. Duchess M was built in 1956 as Vesta. Diesel-powered. Their lives on the Portsmouth-Gosport ferry were fairly short, being replaced by the Gosport Queen and Portsmouth Queen in 1966. The vessel is retained until the mid-1970s as reserve vessel and for use on seasonal harbour tours. Sold to Thames Pleasure Craft in 1974, but was running for Thames Launches by 1977. She passed to Arthur Green as the Duchess M in 1978, and then to D.C & W.Tours in 1981. By 1983 Duchess M was under under the Capital Cruises banner. In 1991 she was on the River Tyne running charter cruises for Rolls Royce Limousine Hire, passing to River Tyne Cruises by 1995, when her fleet mates were the Catherine (ex-Tilbury-Gravesend) and Island Scene (ex-Blue Funnel). In 1997 Duchess M was back on the Thames at Southend, running services to Queenborough and Strood, plus local sea cruises. By 1999, Duchess M was the sole fleet member, and she was sold in 2002 to the Lower Thames & Medway Passenger Boat Co for use on the Tilbury-Gravesend ferry. Camera location 51° 26′ 43.8″ N, 0° 21′ 59.04″ E  View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth 51.445500; 0.366400
Title: GravesendThames3401
Credit: Own work
Author: Clem Rutter, Rochester Kent
Permission: Own work, copyleft: Multi-license with GFDL and Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5 and older versions (2.0 and 1.0)
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Attribution Required?: Yes