Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History James Bond at Morpeth Dock ???

as a kid in the 80's i used to go fishing in the pump dock,used to walk along from woodside and there was small bridge across the dock.in morpeth dock i remember what used to look like a flying saucer floating against the far side of the dock,the buildings were up against the dock with no walk way so you could not get near it.i was always told that it was used in the movie "the spy who loved me".does anyone remember it and why would it be there?,it was there for a while.
also remember that some army guys used to dive in the dock from the small bridge and swim,never seen anyone move so fast when me and my mates told them that there were weever fish in the dock which are very poisonous.

From what youve described, Im guessing it was the "Escape Capsule" at the end of the movie?

Click Me...

similar to the picture but definatly not what i saw,long time ago but i remember it being blue on the bottom and white on top with porthole type windows all around it,wish we had camera phones in the 80's. dont think there was an antenna on top either..........oh and for all you who are thinking it, i dont do drugs now or in the 80,s.lots of my fishing freinds at the time saw it too.

actually it was morpeth branch dock

I remember it. Like a giant smartie with windows.I'm sure my Dad knows something about it, will ask him tomorrow

Just found this, all is explained
clicky

I remember it well, was parked on the middle of the dock so it was a good target to throw stones at.
It sat there for months and in the end got burned out,

Prob at the bottom of the dock now.

"Now, he says, the tiny company he formed - which employs just four people - could begin full-scale production of their floating homes.

"The 25ft diameter glass-reinforced plastic structure accommodates six people and presently costs between £15,000 and £60,000."

Hmmm, what went wrong?

the bottom fell out of the market

nice one guys,my wife thinks i was nuts,i am glad someone else saw it and remembered it,i thought it was there a lot longer than a few months though,wish someone had a picture.

I saw a picture of this a few months ago, but gawd knows where, I can't find it now. At the time it led me to this website...

The Haunted Pod Village of San Zhi.

...similar looking buildings but on a different scale.

Here's a picture unfortunately this photo appears to be no longer available in high Res

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancyo23/121019021/in/set-72057594095382976/

absolutely fantastic find,well done,see missus i am not an idiot there was a flying saucer in the dock,some nice other pictures in that set as well,i vaguely remember the rabies sign but dunno where it was

Pity information on the internet is only really good for 15 years. Most of it is lost forever.

My first post so i may ramble.
I think that was the 'Ellipso' hanging over the edge of the Morpeth branch dock.
It was made from 32 glassfibre sections bolted together (16 top half & 16 bottom)the sections were laid up in moulds kept in the last shed on the Morpeth tongue. It was rented by a guy known as 'Taffy' who worked the night shift at Champion spark plugs and spent his days at the dock. He kept moulds for those who wanted to build their own hull or would charge to build it for you. He had some arrangement with Tony Cardona-Smith (i think that was his name)who designed the Ellipso. He told me he got the idea while in the south of France and seeing caravans getting blown over in the wind.
Apparently he intended there to be three versions; land-based {as an alternative to caravans, maybe}, an aquatic one {prototype at Morpeth} and a submersible version.
I remember talking to a caulker/seamer he consulted about the submersible; he seemed to have his doubts.
Hope that helps