Approaching the port of Hartlepool
As one approached the Port from seaward the steam Pilot boat T.H. Tilly would be at anchor or patrolling in Hartlepool or Tees bay ready to supply ships with their Pilots who would be transferred from her using a small motor boat. The ship on receiving her Pilot would then enter the “Roads” called thus as it was the approach to the buoyed channel; Longscar “Bell” buoy, marking the dangers of the Longscar reef, being passed to port. As one turned to starboard into the channel No.1 “Bar” buoy, which was lit during the hours of darkness with a white light, was passed, and during daytime the clank, clank of the steam Dredger Robert de Brus with its two attendant spoil hoppers, H.P. and H.C. numbers 4 and 6 could well be heard hard at work keeping the channel clear of silt and sand. The opposite buoy to “Bar” buoy was No.2 named “Duzzy” buoy by the old Pilots, as when West Harbour entrance was open it was a middle ground buoy and they said it made them dizzy which side to pass it. A blow on the whistle might be required to get the Dredger to heave clear of the channel to let shipping pass in safety before approaching the old “Pilots” pier, built in 1473, and having passed “Spit”, No.3 buoy, inside of which was “Peggy” the old beacon pole which had been a sea mark since the 16thcentury. On the port side Middleton jetty, also known as the “Banjo” or stone jetty, was passed and the ship now entered the inner channel. To starboard was “Ipswich” no.5 buoy named after a pub which once stood on the Town Wall opposite.
If ships were having the assistance of Tugs, they would now have made them fast, or be making fast. The tugs could be any of the N.E.R.’s numbers 2,3,4 or 6, or the William Gray, all twin screw steam driven. On approaching the actual docks, one passed on the Middleton side the Foyboatmen’s cabin, and next to it the lifeboat house, inside which was kept the Princess Royal. Next to the lifeboat slipway was the ferry landing, with “Bull” Boagey the ferryman rowing the ferryboat between the Middleton and Hartlepool landings, mostly carrying the workmen going and coming from the Headland to the works of William Grays, “Richies” (Richardson Westgarth), or on the docks. The Hartlepool ferry landing had the lower of the two red lights on it which, when in line, led shipping into the harbour. Just beyond the Middleton landing was Withy’s dam which gave protection to Withy’s Quay (now known as Irvine’s Quay) and on which was the steam driven swan neck crane. This quay was originally where ships built locally had their engines and boilers, which were built by Richies, fitted, and was at this time mainly used to tranship machinery to other shipyards, mainly on the north east coast, although the odd ship built at the Furness yard on the River Tees was sometimes fitted out there.