With the ship stemming the northeast-going flood stream she was facing in the wrong direction. This is confirmed by the photo below looking aft which shows one of Brooke Smith's runners leaving the Fo'c'sle and the Anglesey shore close on the left of the photo. The expanse of gardens in front of Plas Newydd can just be discerned to the right of the nearest mast.

With that accomplished and a following tide she moved away with little effort from the tugs^[4]. Captain King remembers the moment vividly, "To those ashore it must have presented a brave spectacle and for those of us on board it was a moment of excitement and exhilaration".^[7]

On the shore the headmaster Mr. Browne along with Captain Goddard (the Conway's previous Captain Superintendent who had brought the ship from Bangor to Plas Newydd), Mr. Alfred Wilson (Management Committee member) and Dr Wilson Read (the ship's honorary medical officer) watched her depart before driving to the banks of the Swellies outside Menai Bridge where they would have a grandstand view of the passage^[6]. The Marquis of Anglesey's blue and gold pennant on Plas Newydd dipped in salute as the ship passed. Conway's ensign dipped in acknowledgement.

The scene on the left was almost unchanged 51 years later in June 2004:

Almost immediately Captain Miller found difficulties communicating with the stern tug. Conway could transmit messages to Minegarth but could not receive them from her, so whistle and simple semaphore signals were adopted as agreed^[1].

The Inquiry noted that "The passage to the Britannia Bridge was uneventful, the tugs towing easily to arrive at the bridge at the agreed time of 8.45am." This observation was slightly misleading. The actual point of arrival was Pwllfanog Creek some distance short of the bridge on the Anglesey shore (the left hand shore above).

   

Captain Hewitt ordered that the ship be stopped and held in position. As the ship came to a halt the stern tug took up the strain against the flow and held her in position. Captain Hewitt would hold the ship in this position and then set off so as to pass under the Britannia Bridge at 9.20am, exactly on schedule.

   
   

Pilot Richard Jones was of course watching the water. The northeast-going stream would have been weaker than usual, suggesting that when the stream reversed direction the contrary stream was likely to be a lot stronger than anticipated by the planning Committee. He recommended that the ship proceed immediately^[11]. Captain Hewitt's overriding concern however was the depth over Cheese Rock, which his calculations (based on false parameters) suggested would not equal the draft of the ship before 0920^[TwoBdge-12](apart from any effect of the wind, and unknown to Capt Hewitt, the ship had better than her own draft over the rock as early as 0840 that morning.)^[TwoBdge-11] Given the many months of quite unprecedented planning which reflected the obvious concern about the very feasibility of the outward transit, perhaps the most astonishing fact to emerge was that all that planning had been purely theoretical, and no thought had been given to correlating soundings over Cheese Rock with the nearby tideboard which would have eliminated all the guesswork.^[TwoBdge-13] Instead, on the day Capt Hewitt adhered rigidly to his Committee's timetable and told the pilot: "The ship goes under the bridge at 0920 hours and not one moment before".^[11] The only opportunity the ship would have of making the transit that day had been lost.

With the ship waiting for her allotted time we can quickly examine the passage she was about to attempt.

Starting at the left side of the above chart the ship was now held in position to the left of the Britannia Bridge (in fact just off the chart) close to the northern shore. On the photo she was at position A (in red) just off the picture. The passage can be described in a number of legs:

1. They had first to cross from the northern to the southern shore to enter the main channel between the southernmost of the two arches of the bridge. Point 0c on the chart, marked B on the photo.
2. They then had to pass safely over the first major hazard, Cheese Rock, midway between points 0c and 1c on the chart.
3. A cable's distance from the bridge to the marker pyramid on the Gwynedd shore they would shape course slightly to port (the left), midway between points 1c and 2c on the chart to line up on the transit markers which defined the safe passage through Cribben Gutter past Cribben Rock. The top of the rock is just breaking the surface at point C on the photo but on the day it would have been completely submerged. The navigation channel is to the right of point C along the wooded bank.
4. At Price's Point (4c on the chart, D on the photo) she had to haul out to clear off lying dangers before making a sharp alteration to starboard (the right) to bring the large chimney on the house 'Garnet' just open northwards of the southern pier of the Suspension Bridge and so clear Swelly Rock (marked E on the photo).When that was astern (after point 5c on the chart), and when with the cross on Llandesillio island just forward of the beam, haul out again to make offing past the Platters until the boathouses on the mainland were abeam before steering to pass under the centre of the Suspension Bridge (F on the photo). All this within eight ship's length, which with the degree of control needed in the narrow channels presented an obvious challenge for tugs on long scope single hawsers.
5. She would then be clear of the Swellies and free to navigate the much wider and fairly straight channel to her temporary mooring at Glyn Garth (G on the photo) off Bangor pier, also just visible in the photo.

Captain Hewitt gave the order for the forward tug to resume headway. Captain Durrant's report states that the tugs held her off Pwllfanog from from 8.45 am to 0915 am.^[5] The Log Book records from 0850 until 0908.^[12]

The ship was close to the Anglesey shore and had to work across to the Caravans side in order to line up for the very narrow passage under and beyond Britannia Bridge . As they passed by the buildings of the TS Indefatigable on the Anglesey shore her colours dipped in salute.^[7] It was fitting that Conway's last acknowledgement came from "Indefat". The two ships' fates had always been intertwined. They had long been neighbours on the Mersey and "Indefat" had preceded Conway to the safety of the Menai Strait during the war. Her own vessel had long since been relinquished and she had become a shore establishment.

The statue of Admiral Lord Nelson on the Anglesey shore (erected by one of the Marquis of Anglesey's naval forbears) looked on as Conway's figurehead - also of Admiral Lord Nelson passed by.

The tugs manoeuvred the ship across the Strait and aligned her to pass between the right hand towers and into the Swellies i.e. from point A to point B on the photo. Note that since 1953 the Bridge has had an extra deck added along with supporting metal arches.

   
   
   

Just 3 minutes later than Committee's 'timetable' Conway's bow passed quietly under the bridge at point 0c on the above chart, B on the photo.^[12] Captain Hewitt drew the pilot's attention to their being three minutes late. The pilot answered that they were early rather than late,^[4] a strange observation given that the pilot had wanted them to proceed much earlier.

  
  

Captain Durrant reported the north westerly wind had freshened considerably and it was noted "by a local pilot stationed under the Britannia Bridge" that the anticipated 10 minute slack water period did not materialise. The south going ebb stream set in immediately at 9.20 am^[5]. The identity of this "local pilot" has never been established. The only two local pilots were part of the tow and no arrangements had been made to have anyone standing under the bridge. 'Taffy' Oliver, one of the ship's Warrant Officers, who had charge of the Water Boat on her trips through the Swellies to Bangor during the long drought of Summer 1950 was also credited with being a local pilot so it might have been him. However no arrangements had been made in their planning to station anyone under the Bridge.