As RML (Rescue Motor Launch) 497 was prepared for her epic journey north – under tow in a special barge – we talked to her “mother”, Arabella Roberts (picture), who’s kept 497 alive and as well for 3 long years, as the Fairmile’s future was planned in great detail. Not least of course by Arabella herself, (picture) who as Historic Ships Manager at the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in Portsmouth cared for her charge at a mooring on Southampton’s River Itchen. It was nothing if not a long haul – 3 years in all. With shipwright colleagues, Arabella pumped and patched, checked and re-checked to ensure 497 would make it to her new home at NMRN Hartlepool safely. As Arabella told us (catch our second film about 497 at https://www.maritimefilmsuk.tv/films/fairmile-2/ ) : “It’s great to see she’s just as excited and game for this project as I am!”
FAREWELL MY FRIEND
31 May 2019
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About Rob
Rob is a TV producer, reporter and camera operator with 30 years of experience at the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN, in news, factual and documentary production. He is a four-time award winner, whose awards include a coveted Royal Television Society award for his work on Channel 4 News. His association with the Maritime Foundation goes back to 1995 when he won the first Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award for a series of reports that led to a major documentary on the loss of the bulk carrier Derbyshire.