This email was just posted on the blog!!! You mean the Irvings made little ones cry and ran on the streets???? How come there were no warning???? Of course this is only Charles being ANTI-IRVING again!!! SHAME ON THE IRVINGS!!!!!Here's the comment!!!
Just in from Saint John..It's official!!! The cranes at the ship yard are now gone!
They were blown up this morning at about 7:06am,The residents of the south end of the city were awoken this morning to a very loud explosion including myself,I have never seen that many people awake this early on a saturday morning as far back as I can remember..the curious were out in the streets and on rooftops with all eyes looking east to the refinery you could hear different voices carried in the air saying,I wonder if it has finally happened???((accident at refinery))
some of my neighbors drove over the causeway to see what had happened.
I believe this was a message from the irvings to announce that the shipyard is truly shut down! THE IRVINGS HAVE SPOKEN!!!! LOUD AND CLEAR!!!
14 comments:
Hey Charlie,Good morning,Yes I must say I was one of those who had my head out my 3rd floor window as I was awoken by a large bang and a lingering rumble of what sounded like the trail of thunder after the initial bang.
My first instinct was to look east as there was not a cloud of any size in the sky to be seen so I immedietly thought the worst
I waited to hear syrons but there were none I waited to see a large black cloud rise but this did not happen either so my mind was bewildered as to what happened so my neighbor took a drive over to the eastside to find out what took place and that's when we found out what it was.
But everything aside this was also a strong reminder of what sits within the reaches of the population of this city and kind of makes your blood go a bit cold thinking about the lng that will soon be here too.
Here's the TJ story from theis morning. Media..at least Irving media was notified. I'm not one to go for conspiracies but if video of the cranes doesn't show up on ATV and Global, that likely means only the Irving media were notified. In which case I'll have to rethink my position on the whole Irving paper conspiracy. We'll see tonight.
NB Telegraph-Journal | Saint John
As published on page A1/A2 on August 27, 2005
Giant symbols of era of shipbuilding coming down
Giant cranes scheduled to be brought down by explosives this morning
(David Nickerson/Telegraph-Journal)
One of the cranes at the Saint John drydock site scheduled to be brought down by explosives early this morning.
Sarah McGinnis
Telegraph-Journal
For decades giant cranes stood guard over the Saint John harbour, their steel frames perched on waters edge, ropes appearing as bowed heads searching for food.
The mechanical creatures are symbols of Saint John's shipbuilding past, tools of a now silenced trade.
When residents wake this morning, the cranes should be gone.
In eight decades, 149 vessels were built by generations of families employed at the dry dock. At its height more than 3,000 people bustled about the site riveting together nine navy frigates.
The last boat was launched in 2000. Since then the shipyard has remained all but empty, its cranes standing silent and still.
Now they're being removed to make way for a new biomass power plant and other industries.
"This is a bittersweet day," said shipyard owner James K.
Irving. "The shipbuilding era in Saint John has come to an end. Times have changed and we know we must move on.
"We are left with many fine memories of good people who built and repaired some of the finest ships in the world, from the top management on down: platers, pipe fitters, welders, engineers and many more," Mr. Irving said. "There were many vessels that came through this dockyard and we can take pride in the quality work that continues to serve around the globe today." Demolition experts spent the past week laying charges and positioning explosives to bring five industrial cranes down. At 7 a.m. Saturday explosives are to be used.
Bringing down the giant steel structures is a matter of simple physics, said Thom Doud, project superintendent for U.S.-based Controlled Demolition Inc who have been hired to remove the cranes.
"It is like a table top with four legs. If you take two legs out of that table it is going to fall towards those two legs you removed," he said.
Once the legs have been removed gravity will take over.
The body should lean forward, hind legs bending under crushing weight as the frame falls towards cement.
It will be a hard fall, but mostly silent, with a wall of rocks acting as a barrier by muffling the noise.
Instead of loud bangs the explosions will sound like the opening of a fireworks display, Mr. Doud said.
Explosives were to go off at 7 a.m. Saturday. If all goes well, within seconds all five cranes will be resting on the shipyard's cement surface, Mr. Doud said.
CDI has imploded buildings, chimneys, towers, bridges and other structures worldwide. In his 16 years demolition experience there have been few surprises.
Once down, the blue and white painted steel will be chopped up and hauled away by Simpson Truck and Tractor Parts Ltd who will sell the metal for scrap because it couldn't be re-used or sold, said Mary Keith, spokesperson for J. D. Irving Ltd.
Before ending as a tangle mesh of steel, the cranes had a proud history.
The largest is the youngest of the flock and foreign too, having been imported from Australia in 1980 when the drydock was enlarged. At 100 tonnes it is expected to be the hardest to destroy, with multiple layers of support beams to knock out to bring her down.
Next are a pair of 75-tonne cranes whose blue and white paint has chipped away leaving exposed rust spots. The coupling were perched midway between the harbour and the roadway. They arrived in 1962 and helped assemble countless ships.
Crouched near the water are three smaller cranes. Little is known about them, not their size nor their arrived.
Photographs taken in 1957 show their presence, as if they've always been here.
When the shipyard opened on October 29, 1923 there was a parade through the city, schools were closed and the mayor declared a half-day holiday.
Ms. Keith remembers when the final vessel was launched.
That day was hard, she admits, staring down at the now empty concrete cavern where ships were assembled piece by piece. Despite the bleak outlook, back then there was hope of finding new contracts and reopening the shipyard. Bringing down the cranes to her means it's really over.
"This is quite conclusive. This is really it," she said, eyes gliding over crews laying explosives among the steel frames. "Certainly the announcement of what we would be doing with this site and the biomass plant and the energy plant was a turning point. This really is a visual indication of that turning point." The shipyard was a piece of Canadian history. In war and peace it built ships, those that protected us and those that transported what was needed, Ms. Keith said.
"(This) does mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter as we go forward trying to find a new purpose for this site," she said.
"As much as we look to the past with pride in terms of the work that was done here by a tremendous group of people, we're also looking forward to what the new future might be."
I agree with Draken that CBC would have kept us fully informed as it goes after local news. Now we have to put up with Spinks long post from Telegraph Journal.
CBC is the best:):)
Please no mention of Spinks or CBC. Off topic.
Ha ha Draken. I don't know if CBC would have known either. If the Irvings wanted to keep it a secret, they'll keep it a secret but who knows? Maybe the Irvings told everybody but it doesn't seem like it since the privates had nothing on this on the radio.
Just a point on CBC, they do a dpretty lousy job on weekends of covering news because they have no one scheduled for TV and I think one for radio for all of N.B. That's really not meant as a bash of CBC, just reality.
10:59am, I just posted the TJ story for those who might not get the paper and might enjoy reading it. Sheesh, you try to do something nice and it still doesn't pay.
Great CBC. I truly miss Anita Sharma, the best anchorperson in the Maritimes. Hopefully they will settle their dispute soon. CBC is what distinguishes us from Americans. After maple leaf it is our national symbol and identity.
Could anyone tell me what power source that the Irvings will be useing at this " BIOMASS " plant that they will be building ? and where will this power be utilized ?
Hmmm...interesting Draken. Having grown up in Saint John, I'd call that a fairly big story for the people of Saint John at least. Odd that no one covered it.
It was on the front page in today's paper! Do the Irvings believe that everyone rushes out to buy their paper early in the morning! I might add there's many many many people who don't read the Irving papers!!! This stroy should have been on the front page on Friday! Boy? I can only imagine the callers on Talk of the town Monday morning!!!!
I drove by the Dock Friday after work. No I don't work for the Irvings!LOL
They had all the parking areas taped off.
I don't really think they wanted to deal with crowd control like the old Regional Hospital when they knocked it down.
draken, please, you mentioned CBC again. Have mercy. Spinks will start again and go on and on and on...................
Now that Spinks don't say anything??? you guys are still talking about the guy!!!...sighhhhh.... deep inside? You must love the guy!!! Maybe really deep!!!!..lol
OK, it was on ATV so the Irvings must have sent out a news release or something so the station could have someone there at 7am. Was this on the private stations in Saint John on Friday or was it sent out by Irving so late in the day that no one could get it on the air by the last newscast? Does anyone know? Any Irving insiders visiting here? Just like Crime Stoppers we want your information not your name...not that many put a name to their comments here anyway. LOL
Constable Spinks of Crime Stoppers, is Spinks your real name or are you under cover???
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