No longer the friendliest port?
Is Amble no longer the friendliest Port?
Should Amble give up its Friendliest Port epithet?
We’re asking people to vote on whether our name should in fact be the Kindliest Port.
The origins of the Friendliest Port stem from a telegram sent in 1935 by RMS Mauretania to Amble.
On Wednesday July 3, 1935, on her final voyage, RMS Mauretania sailed past Amble on her way to the docks at Rosyth to be broken up.
At 10.25am, Mr Goodger, clerk to Amble Urban Council sent the captain of the Mauretania a message of greeting:
“Amble to Mauretania. Greetings from Amble, last port in England, to still the finest ship on the seas.” Back came the reply: “Mauretania to Urban Council, Amble, to the last and kindliest port in England, greetings and thanks. Mauretania.”
Decades of retelling this story means ‘kindliest’ has now turned into ‘friendliest’.
The telegram is owned by Aline Wood, whose late husband Colin bought it in a shop in Amble in the 1960s for 10 shillings.
Vote for your choice
• Amble the Friendliest Port
• Amble the Kindliest Port
Vote for your favourite on our homepage (scroll to bottom of page, on right hand side)
