PLANET lightship and FITZCARRALDO

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In 2009 S Tome & Prince issued a MS of 4 stamps showing various scenes in Liverpool. One of these stamps shows the Albert Docks.

This stamp shows two vessels in the Canning Dock, next to the Albert Dock, at Liverpool.

The ship in the foreground is the lightship PLANET.

The PLANET was built for the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board in 1961 by Philip & Sons, Dartmouth and is probably one of the last riveted ships built. She is a most historic light vessel and was the last manned light vessel in UK waters. Her crew of seven worked on two week shifts.

As the Mersey Bar light vessel she served ships entering and leaving the River Mersey from 1961 to 1972 and was the last sight Merseyside sailors saw of their home, and the first sight of it when they returned. Coasters, deep-sea cargo vessels, passenger liners and warships were grateful for her presence at the Mersey Bar, guiding them into and out of the channel, and providing a radio DF calibration service. In September 1972 she ceased to be the Mersey Bar light vessel and was removed from her station. She was sold to Trinity House and was renamed LV23 but regained her Mersey Bar titles for display at the Historic Warships, Birkenhead.

Sadly in January 2006 it was announced that the Historic Warships Birkenhead had gone into liquidation and the visitor attraction would close. The collection was requested to vacate their berths as soon as possible as the site is required for redevelopment. The PLANET was moved to Victoria Dock for restoration. Soon afterwards she was moved to Canning Dock where she remains today but with an uncertain future. Rumours are that she may be moved to the Trafford and Salford Quays in Manchester.
Light Vessel 23, now called the MERSEY PLANET, has been removed from Liverpool on 21 September 2016. Location Sharpness docks.

On 1st September 2009 I visited Birkenhead and, although the Historic Warship Museum is now closed, the majority of the warships, including HMS PLYMOUTH which has appeared on stamps, are still at their dockside berth. The only casualty was the German U boat U 534 which had been displayed on land intact after being salvaged. She has now been cut up into 4 or 5 pieces and is displayed next to one of the Mersey Ferry terminals at Birkenhead.

U 534 had left Kiel on the 4th of May, for Norway, and was sunk 13 miles North-East of Anholt Island, position 5645 / 1152, where her wreck was discovered in 1986 by a Danish diver, Age Jensen. She became the subject of a salvage operation in August 1993, being raised to the surface intact by the Dutch salvage company, Smit Tak, financed by Danish Publisher and businessman, Karsten Ree. It was stated that she was the last U Boat sunk in the Second World War.

The vessel behind the PLANET is the FITZCARRALDO.

The Fitzcarraldo was built in 1971 as a passenger-cargo vessel by Sandnessjøen Slip & Mek Verksted, Norway for A/S Troms Fylkes D/S, Tromsø (TFDS) as the MV Bjarkøy.
GRT:286; NRT 143. Dimensions: 37.5 x 8.54 x 3.569.
One Bergen diesel engine 540 bhp.



She was, for 20 years, a general cargo and passenger ferry working the islands around Tromsø in north Norway.

In December 1991 Walk the Plank purchased the ship, renaming it the Fitzcarraldo in 1992 and registered under the British flag, the same year. Classed as a theatre ship and registered in Lancaster, UK. for its first British national tour. Its hold was adapted as a theatre. In 2008 the ship was re-registered in the Netherlands.

Each summer, from 1992 to 2006 the Fitzcarraldo set sail from the Albert Docks, Liverpool and toured ports and harbours in Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. Audiences of up to 125 people can sit the aft deck to watch as the hatches rise and the cargo holds are craned open.

In 2003 the ship went on a national tour to 19 ports with a stage adaptation of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, to positive reviews.

On 30 June 2005, shortly after the Trafalgar Fleet Review, Fitzcarraldo sailed into Portsmouth for the International Festival of the Sea open days.

Currently, the ship resides in the Canning Dock, which is part of Liverpool's Albert Dock complex, and is used as a static venue for many events including parties, cabaret evenings, live music, and drama.

Walk the Plank are currently making plans to sell the Fitcarraldo, in order to focus on delivering large scale outdoor events, creating touring performance and continue to provide pyrotechnics elements and firework displays to both public sector and private corporate organisations.

Written by Mr. Peter Crichton.

S Tomé e Principe 2009 DB39000

Sources: Various internet sites. Wikipedia. Equasis. Lloyd's Register of Ships 2001 – 2002.

Stamp photograph source:
http://www.visitliverpool.com/site/visitor-information