In beautiful sunshine and with a very gentle breeze blowing we arrived at the Thames Estuary Pilot station at 08.00 for our 4 hour journey up river. Tilbury is located about half the distance up the river of what it would take to get to Greenwich and thus we could arrive just after 12 pm, near the dock instead of 16.30 for Greenwich. As it was my intention to swing on arrival and dock nose out the expected gangway time out would be just before 1 pm. We were going to arrive with the flood tide and that meant that by the time we started our docking procedures at Tilbury I would have to contend with about 3 -4 knots of current in the river and about 2 knots when giving the ropes ashore. So I was planning to take it easy as I had not been to Tilbury since 1988. At that time I was 2nd officer standing aft and not really involved with the maneuver itself. When in unknown territory it is better to go slowly slowly until you understand exactly what the river is doing to your ship. The river does not have the same depth everywhere and as a result there are eddies and back currents that can push the ship all over the place if you are not careful. So I was going to take my time and had built this time into the schedule.

As the river is of the estuary type, the river mouth is very wide and very shallow. Due to the widening of the river banks, the current is losing its velocity and that gives time for the sand in the river water to deposit itself right in the entrance. Hence there is constant dredging going on and very deep drafted ships can only enter during high tide, when the flood pushes the North Sea water up the river mouth. The Prinsendam with its 7 meter draft is not considered “deep draft” and we can go in any time. We just have to go slow over a 9 meter patch when going through Princess Channel which is a sort of canal through the sand bar of the estuary. And so we sailed past the town of Southend on Sea, on the starboard side and the Isle of Sheppey and the Isle of Grain on the portside. By noon time we were off the big power station next to Tilbury and that is where we swung around on the current. I started the swing about a mile east of the dock and swung 180o around while the current set us up the river. By the time I had completed the swing we had moved at least 2000 feet up the river. From there it was easy, the current pushed us towards the dock I only had to regulate the speed of the Prinsendam by giving the occasional kick ahead.

Docking with current is a balancing act. Finding and keeping a balance between the current pushing the ship up stream faster and faster, the wind slowly setting the ships towards the dock, the current at the same time playing around the bow and the need to stop the ship on time. The latter was important as a Ro-Ro ship was docked at the pier behind us, so I could not over shoot. The way to solve that problem is quite simple; you make your safety margin a bit bigger. Come alongside where you know you still have a fair margin between the two sterns and then have the officer on the stern count you down, while you bring the ship into the position that works best for the gangway. It took just over 30 minutes before we were all fast and The UK immigration and Customs officials could step on board. Tilbury has a floating dock that goes up and down with the tide and long bridges which connect the floating dock with the terminal on the shore side. It is ideal for us, because we do not have to adjust our lines at all. Once the ship is tightly alongside, the dock is rising up and down with the ship on the tide.

tilbury terminal
Clearly visible are the bridges that connect the floating dock with the shore side terminal. Photo courtesy, London International Cruise Terminal webste.

In front of our bow a little ferry was mooring every so often, keeping a regular service going to the other side of the river where the town of Gravesend is located. Although most guests opted for London as they had a complete afternoon extra available now, some guests took the ferry and visited the grave of Pocahontas who is buried in Gravesend. The weather remained glorious the whole day and will be the same tomorrow. Sunny but not too warm, so a good day for a change over of guests.