Tales from the Scillonian...? (1 Viewer)

[Jhanlon]

I'm writing an article about the boat that serves Scilly - The Scillonian - and am looking for personal anecdotal tales from past trips aboard the vessel which might be worthy of a mention. They can relate to the (in)famous pelagic trips or the regular scheduled run to and from the islands, perhaps as part of an epic twitch or two. Many will relate to interesting sightings (or claimed sightings ) but anything interesting will do. Thanks!

 

[Mark Lew1s]

Not sure if you could use this, but....

On my only ever crossing over to Scilly, my friends and I got talking to a guy on the quayside. He was a nice guy but really laid it on heavy with the salty sea dog routine, telling us about his previous sea voyages and other travels.

Needless to say, after leaving port, it only took a couple of minutes for the guys ruddy complexion to disappear, and for him to turn a distinct shade of seasick green. As he got up to shuffle over to the railing to deal with the inevitable, we began to have a little chuckle at his expense. The last laugh was on us though, as the orange that he'd been munching on as we'd chatted earlier, along with everything else he'd had for his breakfast, was caught by the wind and was blown back on board, and directly into our faces.

We spent the day on Scilly dipping a sociable plover, and seeing nothing else. At least it rained all day, which might have washed some of the sick off us....

 

[Paul Chapman]

A few obvious anecdotes/stories spring to mind:-

1. The Whitehouse 70's Black-browed Albatross when returning from Scilly;
2. The 1988 (?) Sunday Scillonian trip packed with Agnes Caspian Plover dippers;
3. The 1990 Saturday sailing for the Tree Swallow - the most twitchers on the boat for a single bird and the arrival at Mary's being like the start of the London marathon;
4. The 1990 Scillonian Pelagic with the brief 'Black-browed Albatross' claim causing pandemonium before it was reidentified;
5. The October 1994 double sailing and the exodus off the islands after being fogbound for Song Sparrow and Greater Yellowlegs;
6. The 1996 (?) Scillonian Pelagic 'Black-browed Albatross' - you'll still find some believers;
7. The 1999 sighting of the Short-toed Eagle from the boat;
8. The 2001 (?) Red-billed Tropicbird sighting by the Alpine Swift twitchers - I twitched the return sailing from Bristol by chopper and with a number did the return the next day;
9. The 2001 (?) Scillonian Pelagic with the Fea's; and
10. Various stories of news breaking as the boat docks back in Penzance eg Great Blue Heron.

Dates from memory as travelling.

All the best

 

[West End Birder]

Some memories:

OCTOBER 1985

The Scillonian III steamed out of Penzance and immediately I missed a Grey Phalarope that somebody called. It all looks a bit serious, the boat is packed with birdwatchers and the deck at the back of the ship resembles a thicket made of tripods, within which there are no birds lurking as far as I can see. Tea is important, so we get a cup and with the blind leading the blind scan the sea for 'stuff' with an ear cocked on the other conversations. The voyage is about three hours and the sea is reasonably well behaved which on a tub like Scillonian III is to be thanked. Because the harbour at St Mary's is shallow the Scillonian III only has a small draft (2.89m to be exact) so it isn't the place to be when Neptune decides to give the seas of the Western Channel a bit of a shake - an experience to miss, which I don't years later.

I am on to a bird and I am fairly sure I've never seen one before, so that's good news, and I am tentatively sure that I know what it is but I don't want to make what would be a very public gaffe.

'I zhink itzha zhooty zhearhawter' I hiss out of the side of my mouth.

In a scene that Pavlov would have been pleased with my hiss elicits 'Sooty Shearwater, left to right about 500 yards away, just off the back of the boat' from one of the professionals. It's a great start and I enjoy watching this wanderer of the seas make its way along and eventually out of sight. I love shearwaters, even the boring old Manx, there is just something about their effortless flight, up, down, flat, up, down, flat, and, in the case of the Manx, the colour change from almost black, to white and black, and back to black (cue Amy Winehouse) as they shear their way across the tops of the waves.

'Trip lifer' No. 2 is not long afterwards. A bird of prey crosses above the boat and I think that it is an unusual place to see a Kestrel. Luckily I keep my big gob shut as, even without a side of the mouth hiss, Pavlov works his magic again and someone calls 'Merlin' - I just can't believe my luck. In my 'career' I have probably seen fewer than 10 Merlins and all but one have been views similar to this - rubbish. Basically a fairly short view of a small, dark (its against the sky) bird of prey. Back in 1985 I would definitely have passed it off as a Kestrel but I do think today I would know a Merlin if I saw one, well for a start it would have a pointy hat on wouldn't it?

There are no more 'lifers' to see although a grateful Willow Warbler lands on the rigging of the boat for a rest, before realising he's just flown all the way from Scilly and is being taken back to where he came from, so he disappears to pastures new or a watery grave, hopefully the former.

OCTOBER 1996

All aboard the Scillonian III for St Mary's. We've driven from Dorset in the early hours of the morning and stopped on the quay for a masterclass in 'heart attacks on plates' a truly awesome feast that any trencherman would be proud to devour. We get on board, after I do my own version of 'Relate' with Mr T who's having some girlfriend issues. The weather seems okay, until we get out of Penzance harbour and onto the open sea, where it is rough. We stand towards the back and from there the sine wavy sea gives me a view of the horizon both well below and, get this, well above the bridge. I do a double take, are we really pitching that much? Yes we are and my God do I feel ill. A cup of tea doesn't do the trick and I am fighting a battle here because the heart attack on a plate really wants to see the sea for itself. I've only been travel sick once before in 1970 when I was on the way to, funnily enough, Cornwall. It was a family holiday (just my parents and I, and you know how much I loved those) and to pass the time I made a model of a Blackburn Shark (FROG not Airfix for those interested) in the back of the car. I'd thrown up by the New Forest and then again in Bridport and Liskeard - what were my parents thinking?!

I am determined to beat my stomach so apply a bit of physics to the situation. The best place to be is as near the centre of gravity as possible, so off I go in search of that spot. I get a bit nearer by going downstairs but it's not much good because then I can't really see the horizon so my brain starts worrying about that instead. I decide I'll brave it back on deck and as I appear I'm met with much jeering - 'Here he comes, Captain Bob the old salty pukey sea dog' that sort of thing. Somehow, and I really didn't know I had such willpower, I manage to keep the contents of my stomach in their rightful place and we reach the lee of St Mary's and I am saved. It's amazing how quickly you recover when it all calms down and there's pastie, chips and a beer just round the corner!


OCTOBER 1985

The Scillonian III's horn blows and we're on our way back to the mainland, tired but very pleased. Just to top it off we are treated to an astronomical wonder on the way back…a Bonxie appears and stays with the boat for a considerable time framed by a cloudless sky, a deep pinky orange setting sun complete with a great big sunspot on it, it's an astronomical 'lifer' and a fitting finale to the stellar cast that graced me with their presence over the previous few days - magical!

 

[Jon Turner]

A friend did one of the early Pelagics out into the Western Approaches. It was rough and his sea-legs deserted him so he sought sanctuary below, where he met a couple clutching each other and being unwell. The journey had only been going about an hour, when the fella of the couple asked my friend "When do we get to St Mary's?"
"Ah" he replied, "This is a pelagic trip for seabirds and we dock back at Penzance in about- 15 hours" oops.

 

[Farnboro John]

Its October 1984 and after a great week that included Eyebrowed Thrush and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler we're going off at the end of the day, having spent our last afternoon ticking Little Bunting along the North side of the Great Pool on Tresco. On the Association boat on the way back to St Mary's, the boatman asks whether we scored. "Yes," says my Mum, "just in time as we're on the Scillonian this afternoon."

"Oh, that's gone already," remarks the boatman, causing a collective heart attack as many of the birders are also due to leave on the Great White Stomach-pump.

It hadn't yet left of course, but it was a top-class wind-up: sitting low in the boat we couldn't see the quay ahead at all. Not bad off the cuff - or perhaps he used to frighten customers regularly.....

John

 

[Jhanlon]

Great stuff, guys, keep it coming. Anything for a bit of reminiscing...

BTW John you were not the only one to leave your lights on on Saturday (not at the twitch but on a dodgy Luton backstreet). I completely drained my battery so that even the central locking wasn't working. Luckily it only set us back half an hour or so.

 

[birdboybowley]

Only bothered to do the Scillonian pelagic once...the infamous 1997 'Tragic Pelagic' where we had more species of flycatcher than shearwater.....!
But the Wilson's and ad Sabs were nice

 

[Paul Chapman]

Only bothered to do the Scillonian pelagic once...the infamous 1997 'Tragic Pelagic' where we had more species of flycatcher than shearwater.....!
But the Wilson's and ad Sabs were nice

Nothing tragic about that - a string of maybe three or more (?) in the early 90's without Wilson's Petrel!

All the best

 

[birdboybowley]

I dunno, any pelagic where I see only one species of shearwater (and that was only Manx!) and two of flycatcher would go down as tragic in my book!! And has done!

 

[Jhanlon]

There is also a request for records (esp photos) of rare/ scarce birds (specifically migrant passerines) on board. Eg red-eyed vireo in 1995...anyone have any pics of this or anything else?

 

[Farnboro John]

I dunno about scarce, but:

 

[lewis20126]

12th October 1985, Scillonian inbound to St Marys for the Myrtle Warbler, CB chatter about "......a....Cuckoo". The anticipation as a request for clarification went out from a CB on the boat.."which cuckoo...". A tense delay until "...Yellow-billed... Holy Vale". Half of the boat cheered, half sighed! Presumably some of those sighing only needed Black-billed. By the end of the day, we had all see both!

cheers, a