by hartlepoolmonkey » Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:14 am
I had an email yesterday from Derek Hinds who has provided some information regarding the vessel alongside CORONIA in Hartlepool Marina. He says:
With full credit to Philip Simons & Anthony Holtham I've found out that the small boat alongside is the AJAX. It was a 45ft Range Safety Patrol Launch, completed in July 1976 with water-jet propulsion by Watercraft Ltd., at Shoreham, was allocated number RSL 7443, and was issued to Portland. Shortly after she was transferred to the Clyde and was known locally as the FIRECREST. She was then converted to conventional propulsion and transferred to the MoD police on the Clyde. By June 1989 she had joined her sister ship RSL 7442 with the MoD police at Rosyth. She was listed as 'for sale' in April 2008, then being used as the TS AJAX by the Methill Sea Cadet Corps. The owner of CORONIA purchased her and usually has her berthed on the Tees near the Barrage.
Stan Laundon