大象传媒

Rain or shine Barry Martin spent more than a year visiting Swan Hunter on an almost daily basis until April 2009.

In that time the famous shipyard's iconic cranes were steadily dismantled, changing the Tyneside skyline for ever.

The last ship was towed out of the Wallsend yard in July 2006 and the cranes have been taken apart to be sent to India.

Barry in one of his regular spots

Barry's work will help make sure the name of Swan's lives on for future generations when there is no longer a visible trace of the shipbuilding that went on there.

Remembers noise

The 72-year-old's interest in Swan's goes back to growing up within a stone's throw of the yard.

He was born on Joan Street and clearly remembers the sounds of the ships being built.

He said: "Because everything was riveted, you could hear the noise all day long.

"The huge oil tankers when they were launched had these huge drag chains attached to the side of the ship. The noise of it, the dust and everything else, I had never seen anything like it."

Barry remembered going to watch a container ship called Atlantic Conveyor being launched.

He said: "I went to the other side of the river. I wondered why everyone else was halfway up the bank.

"It created such a wave. The other people realised what was going to happen. I was drenched, it came up to my knees."

One of Barry's photos

Famous name

Barry decided to start taking his photos of the cranes being dismantled after feeling that no one was bothered about them going.

He felt they were an important part of Wallsend's history. Barry started taking his photos in 2007 and continued until the cranes were shipped to India in April 2009.

He said over the months a small community of photographers and those interested in the dismantling of the cranes had come together and visited the site regularly.

Barry said: "People my generation grew up with this. Nobody in their wildest dreams thought Swan Hunter would close.

"It's such a famous name. Anyone involved in the maritime business must have heard of Swan Hunter because they built such famous ships."

Some of Barry's photos have been used on Mike Adie's website. He set up the site because he was worried future generations would not know about Swan Hunter and shipbuilding on the River Tyne.

Barry in another favourite spot to take a photo

It includes photos, stories, diaries and details of the ships built at Swan's.

Lost for words

Barry believes one of the cranes should have been kept for a museum piece and said recording the dismantling of the cranes has been sad but he is proud his photos are being used to record the process.

He said: "At first it was really sad. But it just became a normal thing for us to come down.

"When it's all stripped down I will be lost for words... I am just wondering what on earth is going to take its place."