On Captains Wharf at the South Shields riverfront is a familiar and much loved piece of public art that looks out across the Tyne. This bronze sculpture is called “The Spirit of South Shields” and was created by Irene Brown in 2000. The sprightly statuette symbolises the town’s maritime heritage as she cradles a golden ship under her left arm, while her right hand is raised to welcome seafarers from every corner. The official description of the monument states:
“The Spirit is seen as the protector — guiding the ship through the seas safely. She stands strong and optimistic, unafraid, and invigorated by the winds of change. She is the prow, the figurehead for South Shields’ future.”
“The Spirit is seen as the protector — guiding the ship through the seas safely.”
This is the role and duty of the Spirit. She is the very embodiment of a safe harbour for shipping and the fact that her namesake vessel, Spirit of the Tyne, is moored 300 yards away on the ferry landing, makes the following story all the more remarkable.
Many will remember Storm Desmond, a devastating cyclone that struck the British Isles on 4th December 2015. That evening, the Tyne Ferry crew were caught out by the storm as unrelenting gale-force winds blasted down the river.
The Chronicle later reported what happened as Spirit battled 50mph winds when both of her engines overheated then failed and an emergency rapidly unfolded:
“The cross-Tyne Shields ferry was rescued by lifeboat volunteers in a dramatic mission after its engine failed on its final crossing of the night from North to South Shields.
As the Spirit of the Tyne lifeboat was being launched, the Port of Tyne pilot launch Collingwood managed to evacuate the small number of passengers from the ferry, leaving just the skipper who was desperately trying to get the engine restarted.
The drifting ferry was then carried several hundred yards downriver by the powerful wind and current until it was caught on the river bank.
The Tynemouth RNLI lifeboat approached the ferry and in a difficult operation the volunteer crew managed to get a tow rope attached and the lifeboat then pulled the stricken vessel away from the rocks, almost becoming grounded itself in the extreme wind.”
Full story: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/storm-desmond-shields-ferry-rescued-10555402
When the engines cut out just as the ferry was starting its crossing, the ferry was blown eastwards, hurtling down river to crash into the staithes supporting the jetty on which the Spirit of South Shields stands. The three passengers and three crew were immediately rescued by the pilot cutter Collingwood with help from Tynemouth RNLI Lifeboat who attached a towline to the vessel.
This was an incredibly fortunate outcome, only smashing the upper part of the boat. If the ferry had landed anywhere else along the river, from the Landing to Satellite Quay, the rocks at the edge would have easily split the hull and sunk the boat.
Image from the Tyne Ferry FB page
So we can genuinely say that the Spirit of South Shields really did save a ship from South Shields that was in distress and also happens to share its name. A ship whose every move she watches over, day in, day out.
A bizarre turn of events, or too spooky to be mere chance? Maybe there is a spirit in the air there…
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No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers,
But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers,
Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze
Of long past years, and tales of other days.
Pride of Northumbria!—from thy crowded port,
Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort,
Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores,
To buy the varied wealth of distant shores.
Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height,
Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight.
Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length,
The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength,
Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below,
To guard the coast against th’ invading foe.
Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings,
And woos the sufferer to her saline springs;
And, here the antiquarian strays around
The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground.
Jane Harvey
From ‘The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale’ (1806)
Photograph: Lee Stoneman
Photograph: Lee Stoneman
No air-built castles, and no fairy bowers,
But thou, fair Tynemouth, and thy well-known towers,
Now bid th’ historic muse explore the maze
Of long past years, and tales of other days.
Pride of Northumbria!—from thy crowded port,
Where Europe’s brave commercial sons resort,
Her boasted mines send forth their sable stores,
To buy the varied wealth of distant shores.
Here the tall lighthouse, bold in spiral height,
Glads with its welcome beam the seaman’s sight.
Here, too, the firm redoubt, the rampart’s length,
The death-fraught cannon, and the bastion’s strength,
Hang frowning o’er the briny deep below,
To guard the coast against th’ invading foe.
Here health salubrious spreads her balmy wings,
And woos the sufferer to her saline springs;
And, here the antiquarian strays around
The ruin’d abbey, and its sacred ground.
Jane Harvey
From ‘The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale’ (1806)
