My thanks go to Neil Richardson and the Southampton Branch of the Word Ship Society for identifying the tug on the left hand side of the Queen Mary 2 stamp - GB SG 2448.
She is the BRIGHTWELL which was built in 1986 by Richards Shipbuilders, Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom for the Alexandra Towing Company.
Hull No. - 573
25 June 1986 launched, and completed in October 1986.
Gross Tonnage - 251 tons
Overall length - 28.80 m
Beam - 9.05 m
Depth - 4.67 m
Draught - 4.06 m
Main machine - 2 x Ruston 6RK270
Power - 3440 BHP
Maximum speed - 13 knots
Traction Force - 40 t
In 1993 the Alexandra Towing Company was taken over by Howard Smith Towage Ltd. In 2001 the company was taken over by Adsteam Marine who were, in turn, taken over by Svitzer Marine in 2007 and BRIGHTWELL was renamed SVITZER BRIGHTWELL. In 2010 the tug passed to Svitzer Lisboa and was renamed SVITZER SINES.
BRIGHTWELL was, for some years, based at the port of Felixstowe on the East coast of England where she was used to berth the container ships arriving there. When other tugs arrived she was redeployed to Southampton. After the various company takeovers she returned to Felixstowe to act as a reserve tug. With the increasing size of container ships it was thought that she was not powerful enough to handle them and she ended up being the ideal choice for manoeuvering the many barges that were coming in and out of Harwich, just across the water from Felixstowe, in conjunction with the wind farm projects in the southern North Sea. During the Xmas 2009 period SVITZER BRIGHTWELL was moved up the coast to Lowestoft before finally sailing for Portugal in 2010.
2010 Owned by Svitzer Lisboa Reboques, IJmuiden, Netherlands, under Portuguese registry and flag IMO No 8513754
Great Britain 2004 1st sg2448, scott?
Sources: Various internet sites. The Southampton branch of the World Ship Society ( there will be more tug identifications to come thanks to them).
Peter Crichton
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