The USS Nicholas arrived at Dockyard on Monday to pick up the families of US Navy personnel.

The Nicholas , which will be taking dependants of US service personnel home for Christmas, left the Island yesterday.

And the US-registered research and survey ship Edwin Links berthed at Penno's Wharf, St George's, on Tuesday to act as stand-in for the Bermuda Biological Station for Research's ship Weatherbird II , which is undergoing a refit in Jacksonville, Florida.

The 292-ton Edwin Links , out of Fort Pierce, will be on station in Bermuda for around six weeks.

She is expected to carry out an offshore survey for the BioStation before returning to her home port.

The Royal Navy's Trafalgar class nuclear submarine HMS Torbay left its berth in Dockyard last Thursday after spending around three weeks in and around Bermuda.

Civilian traffic showed a downturn after the pre-Christmas rush of last week.

Meyer Agencies Ltd reported the arrival of the Bermuda Islander from Salem, New Jersey, on Monday, carrying 100 containers, including 10 refrigerated ones -- and two mobile offices.

Beulah Candies , a 175-foot tug out of Auld's Cove, Nova Scotia, arrived on Sunday towing barge OC254 loaded with boulders to help build a retaining wall at the old base dump at St. David's. The tug, which left on Monday, is expected to make at least two more trips to the Island.

A spokesman for Container Ship Management said the Oleander arrived on Sunday evening from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, loaded with 153 containers, 40 refrigerated.

She was also carrying five cars and a van, plus steel beams and elevator parts as loose cargo. The Oleander left the Island on Tuesday.

At Oil Docks, the 5284-ton Liberian-registered Shell tanker Emsgas arrived last Friday from Clifton in the Bahamas. She offloaded a cargo of Liquid Petroleum Gas before leaving on Sunday, bound for Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The container ship Karen Winther made an unscheduled stop in Bermuda last Thursday to repair a faulty refrigerated container.

ON THE BEACH -- The research ship Weatherbird II which is being replaced temporarily by the Edwin Links while the Bermudian vessel undergoes a major refit in Florida. The revamped Weatherbird II is expected to be back on station early in the New Year.