Sunday 3 April 2011

DISCOVERY - BACK HOME - 1986

This was the scene down at the docks exactly 25 years ago today - 3rd April 1986 - the moment the Discovery came back home to Dundee.
The Discovery hitched a lift inside the other vessel in shot - Happy Mariner - then after a few days sail from London, was removed like a Russian doll and placed back into the Tay where it had first originated.
The photos are more or less in "time" order, starting at the top, so those of you who weren't present at the unpacking, as it were, you can conjure up the sequence from the images.
And if it puts you in the mood, you could always backtrack to Retro's March 2010 archives and listen to the Lowland Folk, who recorded a song about this very occasion.
I can see a guy with a TV camera in the crowd, which reminded me that not only did it make the local news, the event also cropped up on national telly.
Kids tv show, Blue Peter, broadcast a feature about the Discovery on 24 April 1986, with host, Simon Groom, who followed the ships progress from London to Dundee.
Photos by The Bear.  

4 comments:

  1. copper shoutin' up at me hey you get doon affa that crane or eh'll arrest ye fur trespass, ' yes officer just one more shot, although on the crane nearer the boats aft there were several snappers allowed to stay up(probably loving brothers)
    the bear

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lordy....that means my trip to Berlin as a 3rd year art student was 25 years ago. OMG. I feel so old!

    I remember phoning home after visiting the Bauhaus and my dad telling me that I had missed seeing the Discovery arriving home in Dundee.
    I felt my Bauhaus news was a bit trounced by the Discovery piggy-back story!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The way certain bits of music always provoke memories...I always think of the return of the 'Discovery' when I hear Big Audio Dynamite's 'E=MC2'.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting...I always hear Big Audio Dynamite's E=MC2 when I think about my trip to Berlin...it must have been out just at that time.

    ReplyDelete