A SEAFARER, who has had links with Dartmouth since a young age, brought a special visitor into port this week.
The 86m long Trinity House flagship THV Patricia cut an impressive figure in the harbour when she arrived early on Tuesday evening.
Her captain is Richard Eggleton, who lives in the town and is a board member of Dart Harbour and Navigation Authority and one the crew of the RNLI Dart lifeboat.
Patricia works the coasts of England, Wales and the Channel Islands, maintaining and repairing offshore lighthouses, lightships and navigation buoys and benefits from a helicopter landing pad.
She stopped off in Dartmouth en route to Plymouth and then Torbay where she will undertake a wreck survey before going on to the Channel Islands to carry out some buoy work.
The multi-functional tender also carries passengers who are able to share in the experiences of the working ship and 12 new guests were welcomed on board at Dartmouth.
Capt Eggleton, who piloted the vessel into Dartmouth, said bringing the ship into home port was a bit special.
‘It’s good for the town and the harbour,’ he said. ‘It’s lovely to see her here.’
Capt Eggleton moved to Dartmouth from Oxford in August 2011 with his wife and two children. He was appointed to the Dart Harbour board in October 2013.
He used to sail into the Dart on board Provident when she was part of the Island Cruising Club in Salcombe.
In 1999, he joined the Merchant Navy and started working for an oil rig supply and rescue company in the North Sea. At the age of 21, he become second in command.
In 2005, he moved into sail training becoming chief officer onboard the Tall Ship Youth Trust’s sail training vessels Prince William and Stavros S Niarchos, travelling the world and regularly visiting Dartmouth. It was in Dartmouth that he met his wife during a visit to Britannia Royal Naval College.
He has also served as a captain working for a large Norwegian company specialising in oil rig supply and subsea construction, giving him a strong marine operations background.
He is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute.
Trinity House is the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, providing aids to navigation and responsible for marking, and dispersing wrecks which are a danger.
Responsibilities also include the annual inspection and auditing of over 10,000 aids to navigation provided by local port and harbour authorities and those provided on offshore structures such as production platforms or wind farms.