Dad of two and granddad of four Chris Bright is a salvage master with the Port of London Authority
– and one of its longest-serving employees. Here he talks about skippering the PLA’s £7million superboat, MMV London Titan.

“This is my 49th year at the PLA and it’s an honour to be the first to be sailing the Titan. There’s so much technology on the boat which should make our job on the river that much easier. It can get into hard-to-reach places and I’m sure I’ll enjoy getting used to it. I love getting to grips with new technology, I suppose you could call me a grey surfer haha. I love the older boats too but sometimes when the conditions are against you, it’s a hard job to struggle back at 4 and a half knots against the tide.

I’m 64 now. I joined the PLA as an apprentice waterman in 1966 and became a junior salvage hand on the old Yantlet salvage ship. I was 15 then. My first duties involved cleaning the boat and doing what I was told in the morning. In the afternoon I’d help on deck if needed. Later, I was in lighterage, loading and unloading ships. But I loved working in salvage most. I became a salvage master when I was 31 and have been on Crossness for 33 years.

I enjoy salvage so much because the job is different every day and you don’t know what you’re going to get. Sunken ships, I’ve seen plenty of them, barges…I’ve lost count of how

many barges I’ve been to. The ‘Ness’ has been a lovely little workhorse to be on.

We were once called to London Gateway and thought we were picking up a generator but it was a Second World War mine. The Army came and dealt with it.

I’m going to enjoy getting used to Titan when she arrives, seeing how she works on the river and how much she’ll help us in the job we do. She's been called a Swiss Army knife of boats, but I'd say PLA marine services is the knife and Titan is one of our blades.

I’ve been here 49 years but I don’t intend to retire too soon. John Window’s on 50 years so I wouldn’t mind getting to that for a start.