Protestors, politicians and Press greeted the first of the Ghost Ships yesterday. Gavin Havery was among the news scrum.

UNDER the dark, grey, heavily skies of Teesside, the nose of the first ship sidled into view.

Slowly, the massive grey hulk edged out until it almost seemed to blend into the industrial skyline, silver turrets poking up like the many smoking chimneys.

From the first sight it was obvious why it needed to be scrapped - a rusting chain dangled from the front with patches of rust along the body.

The jaded colouring showed it has aged during its lengthy stay in the James River.

Caloosahatchee was towed up the River Tees by The Englishman, then local tugs took over and turned the ship around before edging her slowly into the basin at Graythorp.

About 200 people, half of them from the world's media organisations, edged up the side of the dock, stopping just behind Able UK managing director Peter Stephenson, the man in the eye of the storm.

Mr Stephenson has an £11m contract in his pocket to transport and dismantle 13 of these vessels, an unwanted part of the US Naval Reserve.

Protestors say he shouldn't be allowed to do America's dirty work and that the risks of sailing condemned ships halfway round the world is just too great.

Yesterday, Mr Stephenson was consumed by a media scrum which bombarded him with questions about the story that has put Hartlepool under the spotlight.

Mr Stephenson said he believed his lawyers would sort out legal wrangles with Hartlepool Borough Council and the Environment Agency.

Work on the ships could begin in the New Year provided Able UK wins a High Court case next month. If not, the picture looks grim.

Simply garrisoning the ships is costing the company a fortune. Delays in the work will cost about £220,000 a week. If the company loses the contract it will also forgo a £3.4m bond and have to shoulder the cost of returning the four ships already here.

Mr Stephenson said his team was submitting key documents to the planning authority to prove they have the legal right to dismantle the ships in a dry dock, despite facing a legal battle to the contrary.

He said: "I don't agree that local people don't want them. The majority of people realise the benefits and this will benefit the environment when the work has been undertaken."

"The American companies are arguing to keep the work in America because its very good work and we have fought hard to get it. We should be proud we have got it and supportive of that.

"In excess of 98 per cent of these ships will be reused and recycled. There are the facilities to do this in America, but they can't do it in as safe and environmentally friendly manner."

There was a jovial atmosphere among protestors gathered at the end of the breakwater on the north side of the River Tees, as the first ship began its slow journey to dock.

Local campaign leader Geoff Lilley was sporting a makeshift kilt, which he planned to raise in defiance when the ageing vessel passed.

He was ready with a pea-shooter and salt water spray which he said he hoped would cause some damage to the rusting vessel as it passed.

Local protestors called for the residents of Hartlepool to bring "weapons of mass derision" to proceedings and make light of what they maintain was a very serious situation.

Fellow campaigner Neil Marley was also in a kilt and was wheeling a customised lady's shopping bag, which he had decorated with placards.

Mr Lilley said: ''We have also got some flour bombs, as well as the pea shooter, which are symbolic of how powerless we feel.''

Four police officers stood at the end of the breakwater and were videoing protestors who had made the 15-minute walk across a golf course and wildlife nature reserve to the end of the concrete breakwater.

Scores of people, including dog walkers and mothers with pushchairs, had come to watch. Many were armed with binoculars to get a good, close view of the vessel and its three tugs.

Grandmother Jean Kennedy, 65, said: "Hartlepool deserves more. We do not want these ships and it is a travesty of justice that they are coming today. I am personally here for my daughter and my grandchild's sake and for all the other children in the surroundings areas.

"They deserve a better future than what is here and what these ships will bring.

"We have spent too many years with the filth and grime of the industrial plants, we don't want anymore of this.

"Hartlepool is supposed to be having a renaissance and we want to keep this up and make it a better place .

Michael Young, 55, of Ventnor Avenue, said he was absolutely disgusted by their arrival and said it was sailing in the face of controversy and against all recommendations.

He said: "I think we are being used as a global dump. Have a look around at all the at all the chemical plants we have already got.

"Are we an international a tipping ground for anybody with toxic materials and anything else?"