Around 11am on the steaming hot Friday of the 30th July the Ross Revenge slipped her anchorage near Chatham and, propelled by tugs, headed upriver towards Tilbury. Her passage was not rapid - we saw her passing Canvey Island at about 3.15pm. Her docking point was to be a floating pontoon at Tilbury used by overseas shipping as well as the local Tilbury/Gravesend Passenger Ferry; it is connected to land by a girder bridge whose seaward end rises and falls with the tide. The Ross Revenge hoved into view past Tilbury Fort at about 5.15pm in the company of two tugs.
The first was towing the ship on a hawser as you might expect whilst the second one was pushing it!A special bracket
had been welded to the rear of the Ross and the second tug, the Horton, was tied to it. The trio came straight in to the quayside, slowly coming to a halt a few feet from the side.
She then drifted slowly in, the bow line was attached, 
and she was made fast. The bow is just past the razor-wire-topped fence which divides off the overseas (and thus Customs-controlled) section of the pontoon. This was to make sure there was enough room left at the other end for the passenger ferry to dock.
At this moment the ferry approached from Gravesend.
This immediately caused a problem since the Horton was still tied onto the Ross and there was not enough room for all! The ferry hovered whilst the Horton swung its stern away from the quay and the ferry came in, making a rather tight sandwich!
By the time the ferry was ready to leave the Horton had cleared away.Peter Moore was on deck looking hot and tired but more than a little relieved. "How was the trip?" I called to him. "Well you know what they say - any trip you can walk away from has gotta be good!" he replied; clearly a trying day!!
