The Durability of Concrete (2)
by David Long

The Fiddlers Ferry-built concrete barge CRETECOVE certainly made an impression on the Norwegian village which is her last resting place. When the people of Røssøyvågen decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of the occupation in 1995 my correspondent, Svein Rød, and three friends put together an exhibition on her part in their war history. It proved so popular that they went on to expand it into a permanent display in a house in the village used as the local hunting and fishing sportsmen's club. The exhibition tells the story of the evacuation of the village by the Germans in 1942, and the building of a wooden landing strip on their island of Gossen by the Germans, using Russian Prisones of War, in 1942. The barge arrived full of materials, and has remained there ever since. She is now a permanent part of a new yacht marina in their small harbour, while her birthplace now lies next to the Fidlers Ferry Yacht Club. Doubtless her centenary in 2020, which will also be the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the country, and their island, will not be forgotten. A little footnote in our history of naval warfare is the centrepiece of their village's war history.

Right, a scene from one of the models made in 1995. The CRETECOVE's hull is being emptied of its cargo of timber by Russian PoWs, carrying planks to the German lorry, under the watchful eye of an armed guard.

Since the barge's stern had been radically altered since 1942, (as seen right in a view from 1954) and no superstructure remained, the model-maker guessed at its appearance.

The first barge launched at Fiddlers Ferry, the ELMARINE, seen left under tow to a Bridgewater Canal tug after her launch, has stayed around - and still exists. She foundered carrying grain across Morecambe Bay late in 1919, but was salved soon after, and spent her working life in the ownership of the Liverpool Grain, Storage & Transit Co Ltd.. After being laid up in Birkenhead docks for some years, she and a WW2 concrete barge were towed up the Dee and scuttled to form a base upon which the ex-Belfast to Heysham ferry DUKE OF LANCASTER was settled at Mostyn. There is presently quite a bit of interest being shown in this former "Fun Ship", of which you can read more at: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/askalocal/pages/gen11.shtml and www.dukeoflancaster.net.

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