Name Nore-Crest

MEECHING is a tug of steel construction built for British Railways by P K Harris of Appledore.  She entered service at Newhaven in 1960 and remained there until she was put up for sale in late 1999.  Her principal work was the towing of mud barges out of Newhaven Harbour.  She also assisted cargo vessels and British Rail Dieppe ferries in and out of the harbour and was involved in salvage jobs.  She was taken out of service at Newhaven on 21 January 2000, sold to Sub Search Marine Ltd of Newhaven but they decided not to use her.  It was almost another year before she finally departed Newhaven to work for Tug Manning Ltd.

She was involved in many incidents over the years she served at Newhaven and October 1968 arguably saw her most famous incident involving the Norwegian tanker SITAKUND.  She caught fire in the shipping lanes off Beachy Head after three explosions in her tanks.  For two days, MEECHING led the fire fighting operations.  MEECHING is the only tug built for British Rail still in the UK and remains in original build condition.