Since the last update here, maintenance and restoration work has continued aboard the Ross Revenge, with the crew being on board typically every other weekend and all bank holidays.

Through the remainder of the winter, work was mainly confined to indoors, where the crew cabins have received a great deal of attention, with a full rewire, and complete redecoration with the ceilings stripped and repainted, and all the woodwork sanded back and revarnished.

The dog kennel which had been left whilst other areas of the ship took priority, has been worked on, with all the painting finished, a false ceiling put up, along with insulation and new lighting, the floor levelled with the fitting wooden ramp, and the cabinets and worktop donated back in 2006 assembled and fitted.

When weather allowed work outside has continued, with areas of the gunwales and ships railings receiving attention through the earlier part of the year. As Easter approached it was time to start work in ernest again on the hull, with a large area around the bows being stripped, de rusted and repainted, some of the sacrificial anodes being replaced, a generator service, along with several other small jobs being achieved over the easter weekend.

May and June saw work continuing on the hull, this time tackling the areas we couldn’t work on at our previous locations within Tilbury due to the high quaysides. In our current location, known as the old barge dock the quayside is level with the water allowing us to strip, de rust and paint right down to the waterline, and now we have a large area forward and aft of the raised quayside area under new paint, all that remains is from the messroom area to the stern, about twenty feet forward of the boarding gate, and from the bow a section of about forty or so feet in length. Along the way we have also cleaned up and repainted any areas that show signs of rust, as this is the side of the ship that was first tackled back in 2005. It has held up very well, and we have found very few areas needing attention. A couple of wet weekends saw more work inside, with work started on refurbishing the toilet and shower room in the engineers cabin, which required all of the walls and ceiling to be stripped back to bare metal and primed with zinc oxide primer before repainting.

Also in late June we set to work on the superstructure as well, with the entire length of the port side from the deck to the height of the boat deck being cleaned up, de rusted where necessary, and repainted, from the trawl winch right to the door into the dog kennel.

The front of the superstructure has also received a new coat of white up as far as could be reached with a paint roller on a twenty foot pole, which is about the height of the bridge windows. Also the port bridge wing received some new white gloss along with the funnel, although further work is needed there to remove rust and repaint the red stripe round it

The deck received a great deal of attention too, with all the grass and weeds etc that had been growing between the deck planks removed, ropes stowed below in the forepeak, and the clearing of scrap cable and other debris cleaned up and removed

Inside the ship, the dog kennel finishing off of the cabinets took place, along with some of the main companionway receiving a new coat of paint. And in the galley, the cupboards had to be rearranged to accommodate our newest crew member, who is called Candy, and she’s a bit of a dab hand at washing up. This was done during a Saturday evening, along with some lighting repairs, whilst dinner was being prepared, making it hot work! But inside a couple of hours (including the time it took to eat a shepherds pie and consume a beer), Candy was doing the washing up.

July so far, has seen work start on the trawl winch, which has seen little attention for a long time. It took most of a single weekend to remove all the rust and old paint from just under the half of it, creating no less than ten rubbish sacks, and a couple or three good sized bucketfuls of rust and old paint before priming it and getting topcoats of paint onto most of the re primed area.

During the same weekend the emergency lighting batteries were cleaned and work started on building a cupboard around them to box them in, along with other small jobs around the ship, tidying up and finishing of things like the cabin companionway, which during previous visits earlier in the year was also stripped, rewired, and repainted and varnished. The only thing left downstairs now to do is the far aft cabin, or the old Dutch cabin as it is known, which will be started on either when the we have a wet weekend, or come the onset of winter, whichever comes soonest. Lee

Some photos of the Ross Revenge, still in closed dock, looking much better thanks to the efforts of the volunteer team.

More photos from our hard working volunteers still working hard on The Caroline radio ship Ross Revenge in closed dock at Tilbury...

Hi all,

Thanks for dropping in on our web site.

Horizon is so packed full of news, interviews and articles that we`ve found room for Lee`s excellent updates but no pictures from the hard working engineering team. The top gallery is from the May bank holidays which combined restoration and broadcasting!

The 70`s Mi Amigo era broadcasters tell us they were incredibly impressed with the Ross Revenge at Easter despite understandable nostalgia for their old ship Mi Amigo.  A big thanks to the restoration crew for providing Caroline with a great home to broadcast from again. Let`s hope it happens more often in the future!

Volunteer John Cronnolley  is currently building a great historical record of the ship s restoration at Martin Van Der Ven`s excellent Offshore Radio website

More news & pics  regularly via Roland`s excellent news page (see top bar for link)

WANT LIST

Alan Beech writes  a long shopping list of spares,equipment and help needed to finish restoring The Radio Ship Ross Revenge to her former glory...

“Onboard the ship we are always looking for materials to repair and improve the old girl. Anything we can beg, borrow or otherwise acquire for free means we have more money to spend on other items. Some of the parts we frequently need and will come in very useful are listed below.  For some of the larger items we can arrange collection from around the country, or perhaps you could deliver to the ship and spend a weekend helping out as a crew member? Please get in touch via the magazine if you have any of...”

Welding rods, materials, tools and accessories. Nuts, bolts, washers and screws of all sizes and shapes.

Material engineering stock such as bars and rods.

Rubber, nylon and other hoses, particularly fuel resistant types.

Airlines and fittings/accessories.

Plumbing fittings, valves and pipes - both domestic copper items and larger industrial threaded ones up to 3 inch diameter.

Paint, primer, undercoat, varnish of all shades and colours.

Paint brushes and rollers and associated items.

Good quality metal clad (ie, MK) electrical fittings such as sockets and switches. Circuit breakers and RCD's, particularly Merlin-  Gerin.

Light fittings and luminaires, particularly outdoor weatherproof types. Decent lengths of 2,3 4 or multi core SWA power cable, both old and new colours - 1.5mm to 16mm sizes. Brass BW20 type glands for armoured cable. Heavy industrial electrical switchgear.

Small and medium size electrical motors, single and 3 phase up to a couple of horsepower. Industrial power tools, such as Bosch, Makita, Hilti - drills, angle grinders, etc.

Small pumps: water and fuel, portable or fixed - electric or hand. Domestic items: towels, brushes, scrapers, cleaners, lightbulbs. Tubs of hand cleanser, grease, oils and other consumables.

Powered capstan drum or wire rope winch required. Either 240 or 415 volts AC powered, or 24volt DC powered. Something like you would find on the rear of a breakdown truck or used on an industrial site. A couple of horsepower is fine, but 12 volts ones as found on Landrovers or 4x4's are not up to the job.

Peter Clayton, Radio Caroline's ship engineer is urgently looking for a cheap or free toilet macerator, one that can be used on sea water" That sounds technical but the loo not working properly is very down to earth! As with the items below email us at Horizon Magazine and we’ll pass on your message...

We're looking for an industrial tool transformer to run portable tools. These bright yellow 110 volt units are usually found on building sites and industrial complexes. Appearance and condition is not important as long as it works and is safe. We need one of at least 1500VA (watts) ideally 2000, with two outlet sockets.

If you happen to have one in your garage or know where an unused one could be donated to the Ross Revenge then please contact us. You can write to Horizon magazine or email ship@rossrevenge.co.uk. We can arrange collection from  many parts of the country.

Are you good at sewing, or do you know someone who is?

Would you like to help the Radio Caroline ship Ross Revenge? As part of the refurbishment of the crews cabins we are looking for some new cushions and soft furnishings to cover some bench seats. The seats are about 18 inches by 4 feet and need some kind of soft covering. You would need to supply all materials and fillings, but we would be happy to give you a small plaque on the wall and credit in Horizon magazine, plus the ships crew would thank you every time they went to sit down. If you can help, please write to

Horizon Magazine, or e-mail ship@rossrevenge.co.uk.

We're always on the lookout for new members to join our volunteer crew onboard the Ross Revenge.

You do not need any particular marine skills,  but you must be physically fit and hard working, competent at DIY and over 18. Persons with electrical, mechanical or plumbing skills, especially welding are particularly welcome. You don't need to attend on a regular basis, just one or two weekends a year is a great help to the ship. A sense of humour and an ability to persevere in unfavourable conditions would be of great benefit. For more information please write to Horizon Magazine or email ship@rossrevenge.co.uk