Hi Stuart, I had hoped to include a photo with this reply but it was too large (1.2Mb). It shows a view from the bridge, of the bows, in waves running at about 20ft. It illustrates the POB's action at sea, she didn't roll too much but she did thump into waves.
I looked at the specs. published in the MAIB report and that agrees with my memory of them. Quote "The Pride of Bilbao was built in 1986 in Finland and had an ice strengthened class 1a hull with a service speed of 19 knots". I worked with the "Data Officer" occasionally, he was responsible for the computers that serviced the tills and other cash transactions performed on board. He told me that he came with the ship when it was transferred to the Portsmouth/Bilbao run, (he is Finnish), and that the POB in a previous incarnation did the "butter run" between Finland and another country in that area, (apparently butter was very cheap in one country and very expensive in the other), so when she was new she was sailing through ice. I know there have been one or two problems with the bow doors, not that they would open by accident but they jammed shut, because of the way they were constructed the bow would have to be ripped off before the doors would open I was told.
The one weakness that the POB has, she has in common with all RoRo ferries, if there is more than, (I think I'm right in saying), 6 inches of water on the car deck then she could become very unstable. The bow is sealed but the stern of the car deck is open, presumably because of fire regs. If you go onto the car deck when she is at sea, as I have, it is like being in a hurricane, I assume this is so that there is no build up of flammable fumes that could explode. The POB is 21 years old, getting on a bit but I would happily sail on her any day.
The only thing I vaguely remember about where Patrick bought his home, (I always called him Patrick, that is why I recognized the name straight away, even though he is Irish I never called him Paddy, (personal thing)), is that it was southern Spain about 20 miles outside of a large resort, it could have been Benal Medina or Benidorm, it was somewhere like that.
As with you, I miss my time on the POB, not just because of the ship but because when you work for 24/7 with people, you do make some very good friends, that when you leave a ship, you probably will never see again. I have a lot of fond memories of my time on board that cover a broad spectrum. My cabin was down on 2 deck, (below the car deck), the entainers were on the same deck and I got to know them quite well, we worked the same hours. Some of the entertainers even got their steering ticket on the POB. You had to do 12 hours on the wheel, 4 two hour watches at sea, 2 hours on the wheel approaching harbour and 2 hours leaving harbour. Unfortunately I could not do it as my duties meant I was busy whilst entering and leaving harbour.
