Radio Phoenix and the Cedarlea

This story about the so-called Radio Phoenix project paints a somewhat rosy picture of Cedarlea which made me smile and needs some context.

Most notably these two statements:

"Unlike Birchlea, Cedarlea was in excellent mechanical condition. Almost all equipment was operational, including two generators capable of supplying enough power for a 100-kilowatt transmitter."

"In January 1981, final preparations were completed. Cedarlea’s engine was tested and found to be in perfect working order."

There was nothing perfect about the vessel at all, quite the reverse in fact.

I was asked to skipper the Cedarlea from Aberdeen down to Kent early in January 1981. Met by at the quayside by Peter Moore the first thing that surprised me was seeing some welding being done to fix a small hole in the bow.

After a good look over the vessel in my opinion it was a floating wreck, in very poor structural and dubious mechanical condition and despite repeated assurances I seriously doubted she could make the voyage. None of the navigational equipment was working properly either.

With the support of Peter I refused to take it to sea and a heated discussion with the others on board followed. Peter and I travelled back to London by train the next day.

They quickly found somebody willing to take the risk and what happened next was inevitable.