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

Welcome to the machine. I think there is more info about this somewhere on the forums.

The company was named Fulcrumatic Limited and was wound up under insolvency laws about 1982.

"Aquashel" floating home,

clicky

I read this today,
A bloke went diving in morpeth dock some years ago found a couple of cars and something big and round,


will post the story up when i find it.

I have hard about that. Apparently it was a prototype submarine which was being built by some exccentric from Oxton. He lived in Alfred Road in a house divided into flats, and I know someone who was a tennant of his. He drove an old Land rover.

that link off kimpri is fantastic.i fished down there a lot as a kid but dont remember ever seeing anyone actually near or on the bond pod,i know its called aquashell but i like bond pod better.never did catch anything in morpeth dock,think the fish were scared of the bond pod.

If this sank in the branch dock, it should of been found when the dock was drained and in-filled, or was it moved before it sank?

Yes he did live in Alfred road cause i used to deliver the sunday papers to the guy house.Tight fist never got a crimbo tip of him....lol

I remember the UFO well. We where told by the dock bailiff it was an experimental submersible built by John moores university and it had finished it's programme. We climbed around the gate out across the water and back to the sidewalk and went to check it out.
We were skeptical at first and coy but that didn't last long as it didn't in young boys. We still believed it to be a UFO and boarded it to kill the aliens. Upon not finding them we claimed it as our own and dared them to return. They never did.
By the end of the week it was ours and no one else's. We scared off groups of boys our age and older (as there was a few of us) when they became curious. (SORRY) we then took to stone bombing the docks daily to kill any aliens lurking I'm the water of the dock that may have been hiding.
We played on the submersible for the remainder of the school holiday until it gathered water to the point it was to far gone and starting to fall apart. It eventually sank lower and lower and eventually fell below the water level leaving the small White dome on the top just visible. The following day it was bearly visible below the water. It sank futher each day eventually we couldn't see it any more. The last day we visited the dock it was full to the brim of eels. That many they were writhing on top of each other. Hundreds if not thousands. Writhing on the steps. Dried out dead on the slope. So many it was unbelievable.
It was the Evil spawn of the aliens. I didn't kill any but my friends killed as many as they could it seemed to take all morning. They lay hundreds dead and the hostile planet earth invasion was over. We were about 9-10 years old and it was about 1979-80. Obviously I dont agree what we did then seems good now I have matured. Oh dear- oh very dear.

Hi Igsy et all,

I have been looking on the net and found this forum post thus I joined this forum to make contact with you directly concerning your pretty substantial knowledge of the comings and goings of the Ellipso by Aquashel. You mention some names like Taffy & Tony and moulds. Are there any leads to track down any of these characters or the whereabouts of the moulds if they survived? Would it be possible to dig a bit deeper and find a living contact who might shed some light on the final outcome?

Thanks

Eric