Captain comes home on the 'biggest' ship around

The captain of a huge ship docked in Hull has described it affectionately as "the biggest and baddest" around.

Robert Southwell, from the Beverley area, is master of the Wind Peak, a purpose-built vessel that is being used to transport components to the Sofia offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

He said he was proud to be back in Hull after spending 20 years at sea.

"We plan to be on this project for the next year and it is certainly nice for me, being local, to come in and out of Hull," he added. "It's the first time I have done it other than [on] the ferry."

The BBC's Richard Stead was shown around the vessel, which is 162m (530ft) long and 60m (196ft) wide.

It was built for Cadeler, a Danish firm that installs offshore wind farms, and left a shipyard in China last summer before arriving in Hull in March.

The Wind Peak is so large, it can carry enough equipment to build six turbines at a time. Mr Southwell and his crew construct them and then connect them to the grid.

They live on the ship for four weeks at a time, before taking four weeks' leave.

Mr Southwell admitted he is looking forward to being closer to his wife, 21-month-old son and relatives in East Yorkshire, after being so far away from home at sea.

"I enjoy the fact that many of my friends and relatives can see the vessel from their homes," he added of the new local landmark.

Mr Southwell said it took about 14 hours for the Wind Peak to reach the Dogger Bank, where the farm is being built.

"It is a fair way out, but there's a lot of activity out of there," he added.

"Interestingly for this area, the electricity that's generated by these turbines runs through the substation ashore at Skipsea and then up to Creyke Beck [in Cottingham], and that's where it's plugged into the National Grid."

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