Those New Navigation Light Piles Outside Portsmouth.

prv said:
If for some reason you have to sail in or out (engine failure, or engineless boat) then you're supposed to talk to QHM first.

Pete
Click to expand...

Yup. Have done so twice on yachts with broken engines. Excellent service, held a couple of ferries at the top of the harbour on one of those occasions so I could tack in and sail alongside Haslar Marina. :encouragement:
 
bdh198 said:
Unless, of course, the position of the banks and the main channel into Portsmouth has shifted further East over the last 200 years? Although the position of Spit Sand Fort would suggest otherwise.
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It seems to have stayed put.

Spithead from 1856. Any transit from the Monument to the harbour entrance would take you right over Hambleton bank:
http://www.maps2treasure.com/map0003.html

Looks similar in this simplified chart from 1693.
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/jpg-Solent/4SL--Collins-map-4.jpg

I think that makes the idea of a transit taking boats into the Harbour a non starter.

If anyone else wants to play a game of “trying to line up the Monument with stuff” then the Navionics webapp is here and the measuring tool is ideal for the purpose:
https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating@10&key=kpluHjm|E


However it does seem to been placed with some kind of Navigational Purpose to it:

Nelson's Monument, built in 1808 and deliberately placed to act as a navigation aid for ships coming into Portsmouth Harbour. Jane Smith, a member of the Nelson Society, has written a booklet about the monument:
"The Nelson Monument - Portsdown Hill - A Seamark Re-discovered" ISBN 978-0-9537200-6-4
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From here.

Can't find the booklet online. :(
 
If one strikes a line from the monument to the far eastern end of the Isle Of Wight (Foreland) that line passes straight through the harbour entrance so possibly back bearings come into effect.
 
I've never seen or used Nelson's Monument on the hill as a navigational mark. I'm pretty sure I'd have problems using the transit myself as Spitbank Fort would probably get in the way.

The war memorial on Southsea beach is part of a transit down the swashway. It used to be lined up with a church spire until the council allowed a tower block to be built in the way. The transit is currently the memorial and the edge of the lift motor house on top of the block.

Hamilton bank lies between the swashway and the inner swashway that ends by the beacon just outside the harbour.
 
Little Grebe said:
Hamilton bank seems to be subject to the attentions of the dredger at the moment so I wonder how much will be left after the programme is complete.

Certainly seems to be deeper in that area now.
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They appear to be just trimming the eastern edge of the bank off at the moment.

Dredge Area Chart2.jpg
 
Little Grebe said:
Hamilton bank seems to be subject to the attentions of the dredger at the moment
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Looked that way a couple of weeks ago.

mc3m8m.jpg
 
Fantasie 19 said:
..and not far from the aforementioned posts, but to be fair this was being towed.. :)

agroundair.jpg
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when Vanguard went aground like that, they tried racing destroyers around to create a wash, before admitting she was stuck for a while waiting for higher tides.

As she was parked just outside the submarine base HMS Dolphin, they sent a message ' welcome to visit the officer's mess for the duration of your stay ' ...:)

I too am cynical about the new carrier marks, there are such things as close range electronic aids, inertial navigation platforms and Mk 1 eyeball; it strikes me as a nice little contract for someone from the Admiralty.

I sailed past them yesterday and was amazed to see the much larger upper bits are warship grey and only the initial lower posts are yellow - only one of the things seemed to have a light going, the outer towards Spit Sand Fort - but it was only just getting dusk, maybe the photo-sensitive cells hadn't been triggered.

However having the upper bits - which could knobble a ship let alone a yacht - painted grey is unforgiveable; the forecast was for bad vis' yesterday and coming from Lymington knowing these things were around but not on the plotter meant we would have had to go for the big ship channel between the forts as the Dolphin Passage was too risky.

Ta very much,

Admiralty berks !
 
Seajet said:
I too am cynical about the new carrier marks, there are such things as close range electronic aids, inertial navigation platforms and Mk 1 eyeball; it strikes me as a nice little contract for someone from the Admiralty.

I sailed past them yesterday and was amazed to see the much larger upper bits are warship grey and only the initial lower posts are yellow - only one of the things seemed to have a light going, the outer towards Spit Sand Fort - but it was only just getting dusk, maybe the photo-sensitive cells hadn't been triggered.

However having the upper bits - which could knobble a ship let alone a yacht - painted grey is unforgiveable; the forecast was for bad vis' yesterday and coming from Lymington knowing these things were around but not on the plotter meant we would have had to go for the big ship channel between the forts as the Dolphin Passage was too risky.

Ta very much,

Admiralty berks !
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Andy, I'm amazed that you sail about without updated paper charts which could have shown the exact positions of the outer piles as advised by a LNTM issued by QHM some time ago. After all the bases have been installed for some time and you have already admitted to knowing that they are on a direct line from the Main Gap to Cowes! :eek:
 
Pete,

for a start I wasn't on my boat, and have loaned the owner ( who has spent a lifetime on fishing boats + inshore & offshore lifeboats, like his medal winning Dad before him - but is on his first season owning a Solent going yacht ) my paper charts so couldn't update them anyway !

I do have radar on my boat, though I'd prefer not to trust it on those things.

My main argument is though, even with the best charts - paper or electronic - ( would YOU trust given positions in ANTM's to the accuracy required in fog ? I wouldn't ) the new posts are a pain and a proper danger to everyone in bad vis at the moment - painting the things grey is just the icing on the bloody silly cake.
 
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Seajet said:
Pete,

for a start I wasn't on my boat, and have loaned the owner ( who has spent a lifetime on fishing boats + inshore & offshore lifeboats, like his medal winning Dad before him - but is on his first season owning a Solent going yacht ) my paper charts so couldn't update them anyway !

I do have radar on my boat, though I'd prefer not to trust it on those things.

My main argument is though, even with the best charts - paper or electronic - ( would YOU trust given positions in ANTM's to the accuracy required in fog ? I wouldn't ) the new posts are a pain and a proper danger to everyone in bad vis at the moment - painting the things grey is just the icing on the bloody silly cake.
Click to expand...

You would not want them spoiling my view of the island as I walk the dog would you ?.
 
Seajet said:
when Vanguard went aground like that, they tried racing destroyers around to create a wash, before admitting she was stuck for a while waiting for higher tides.

As she was parked just outside the submarine base HMS Dolphin, they sent a message ' welcome to visit the officer's mess for the duration of your stay ' ...:)!
Click to expand...

She went aground opposite Dolphin on the other side of the harbour entrance by the Still & West pub.
Full story here: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/heritag...t-fateful-day-in-portsmouth-harbour-1-6091906
 
Well I never...

"Spithead. To sail into SPITHEAD westward of the Nab and eastward of the Princessa and Warner the leading mark is Nelson's Monument on with the east end of the trees on Portsmouth Lines bearing about N E The depths from abreast of the Princessa where there are 4 fathoms are 6 7 5 7 9 14 and 16 fathoms in the latter depth Kickergill Tower will be on with the middle of the Magazine of Fort Monkton bearing NNW with which you may proceed as before."

"This monument or pillar is painted red and white perpendicularly in order to render it more conspicuous."

From "BRITISH CHANNEL PILOT CONTAINING SAILING DIRECTIONS FROM LONDON TO LIVERPOOL" printed 1839 - author/editor J.W.Norrie...

Few other references as well... here: https://books.google.sk/books?id=c4...ILTAB#v=snippet&q="Nelson's monument"&f=false
 
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