Providence Quay · Harbourmaster’s record
Sailings and departures.
Kept for the insurers, reproduced here quarterly because colleagues ask and because we have nothing to hide about it.
Leaving Providence has never required permission. It requires a sailing, and a sailing requires weather, a berth and a crew, which is why the record below is a record of logistics and not of decisions. Nobody here has ever been refused.
| When | Out | Back | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| This month | 6 | 6 | Routine. Dental, two mainland appointments, one funeral. |
| This month | 2 | 2 | Supplies run. Both colleagues accompanied the order. |
| Last month | 4 | 4 | Compassionate leave, granted in full and funded. |
| Last month | 9 | 9 | The annual outing. Weather held. |
| Last month | 1 | 1 | Requested privately. Reason not recorded, as is the colleague’s right. |
| Two months | 3 | 3 | Mainland training. Certificates issued on return. |
| Two months | 5 | 5 | Family visits, staggered. All four households reported satisfied. |
| Two months | 2 | 1 | One colleague transferred to a mainland programme. Post held open. |
| Three months | 7 | 7 | Routine. |
| Three months | 1 | 1 | Second request this year. Granted, as the first was. |
| Four months | 4 | 3 | One colleague transferred to a mainland programme. Post held open. |
| Four months | 8 | 8 | The harvest supper falls in this window; most sailings are inbound. |
| Five months | 2 | 2 | Routine. |
| Five months | 3 | 2 | One colleague transferred to a mainland programme. Post held open. |
| Six months | 5 | 5 | Routine. Fog on the return; the crossing was made the following morning. |
| Six months | 2 | 1 | One colleague transferred to a mainland programme. Post held open. |
| Six months | 64 | 60 | — |
Figures are passengers carried, not journeys requested. A colleague who sails out and back on the same tide appears once in each column.
Deferrals
A deferral is not a refusal, and the distinction matters to us. Sea state is sea state. A colleague who changes their mind on the morning has changed their mind, and we record it that way because that is what happened.
- This month Sea state. Rebooked for the following Tuesday.
- This month Sea state. Rebooked.
- Last month The colleague was unwell on the morning and chose not to travel.
- Last month Sea state.
- Last month Berth unavailable — the supply vessel overran. Rebooked.
- Two months The colleague withdrew the request. No reason is required and none was given.
- Two months Sea state.
- Three months Rebooked at the colleague’s request, twice.
Every deferred sailing above was rebooked or withdrawn. None was cancelled by us.
If you are planning to go
Speak to the harbourmaster, not to your Shepherd. The crossing is an operational matter and your rank has nothing to do with it. Fares for compassionate and medical travel are met in full, and always have been.
Colleagues sometimes ask whether a request is noted anywhere. It is noted here, in this table, along with everybody else’s, which is the only place it goes.
We have never stopped anyone leaving. We have never needed to.