Wayne Pritchett on Rivers and Harbours
And as for the petrol and oil you see, of course when it started in Newport, the first oil tankers to come to Newport was before the First World War.
A boat called the ‘Morning Star’ used to discharge where the Quay Arts and the Bargeman’s Rest is now. They used to bring up fuel, paraffin and oil in barrels. Of course, there weren’t many motor cars on the roads in those days. I’m talking about 1905.
Well, of course as more traffic got on the road, I mean Newport couldn’t possibly keep up with the petrol and oil which they use today, so as I said, the Oil Companies moved northwards to Kingston where they are today so, that’s the way it was going really. It was only a matter of time before we would lose everything.
There’s a lot of people don’t realise that. Fairlee petrol station was the Esso Oil Company Depot there. That’s where all the Esso Oil was kept at one time in big tanks, where that petrol station is. By our hand crane on the Quay, you see these steel covers with Esso on.
The oil tanker used to come up from Fawley, a coastal tanker, connect in to a valve, pump that petrol up across Seaclose Recreation Ground, under the football field in to there ‘cos I’ll always remember, the old chap I worked with said to me, “I came to work one morning Wayne” and this was about 1940’s, he said, “you’ve never seen nothing like it.” He said, “The petrol pipe line in Seaclose Field broke.” I said, “Did it?”
He said, “Yeah, as they were pumping” he said, “in Seaclose Field, neat petrol was going up in the air 20 feet high” and he said it killed all the grass in the field for about two years. And that was Esso Oil Company was there, and BP were across the other side where Odessa Boatyard is, BP and the harbour coastal tankers like that came here and they all moved down the river.