Weak winter sunshine illuminates this scene captured in January 1967.
A pair of Tyne Improvement Commission stalwarts are going about the tasks they were designed to undertake, in this instance off Harton Staiths, South Shields, where doubtless there would be ample bucketfulls of silt and gunge waiting to be dealt with.
Of interest in the picture is the gaggle of local tugs gathered at one of their favourite spots while awaiting their next turn of duty.
The tanker BORDER MINSTREL is receiving attention alongside Brigham & Cowan's drydock, while at Tyne Dock Engineering Co. Ltd. there seems plenty of work in hand. (Is that the black funnel of a G.S.N. Co. vessel?)
The eagle-eyed might spot the lantern of a lightship lurking between two masts!
The steam hopper T.I.C. No.21 was completed in 1923 at Hebburn by Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co. Ltd. She worked until handed over to local shipbreakers Clayton & Davie in 1970.
The bucket dredger T.I.C. No.9 had no propelling machinery, she was completed in 1923 by Fleming & Ferguson at Paisley. It would seem logical to have her broken up locally after she was withdrawn from service in 1967 but I can't verify this happened.