Ships and the Sea

[brian daley]

This is the place for your yarns, get in quick before we run out of space! alehouse is burning up his keyboard!!

[captain kong]

1


BLUE FUNNEL`S `EURYADES`.
THE SHIP??.

Samnesse 02 08 10.43 Launched as SIMON B. ELLIOTT, lease lend to Britain
1943 SAMNESSE, MOWT (A. Holt & Co, Liverpool)
1947 EUMAEUS, China Mutual S.N.Co (A. Holt & Co) - British flag.
1952 GLENSHIEL, Glen Line Ltd, London- British flag.
1956 Requisitioned by MOT as store ship in Suez crisis.
1957 EURYADES, China Mutual S.N.Co.- British flag
1959 December changed from Glen Shiel to Euryades
1961 MARINE BOUNTY, Bounty Shpg.Co, Liverpool (Wheelock, Marden & Co, Hong Kong)- British flag
1962 Prestige Shpg.Co, Hong Kong.- British flag (same managers)
1964 Mercury Shpg.Co, Nassau.- British flag.
25.2.66 Aground at Hasieshan, China coast, broke in two, CTL.


EUMEAUS (3)/EURYADES (3) was built in 1943 by Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard at Maryland, USA with a tonnage of 7308grt, a length of 441ft 7in, a beam of 57ft and a service speed of 11 knots. Holt's acquired eight Liberty ships and the Eumaeus was launched as the Simon B. Elliott for the U.S.M.C. but completed for the Ministry of War Transport as the Samnesse with Alfred Holt & Co. as manager. She was purchased for the China Mutual Steam Navigation Co. in 1947 with whom she remained until March 1952 when she was transferred to Glen Line and eventually renamed Glenshiel. In 1957 she returned to China Mutual Steam Navigation Co. and was renamed Euryades. Four years later, in 1961, she was sold to Bounty Shipping Co. of Hong Kong who renamed her Marine Bounty. On 25th February 1966, during a voyage from Chingwantao to Singapore with a cargo of coal, she ran aground at Hasieshan in China. She was later refloated but was driven ashore again and broke her back after she was abandoned.

VOYAGE OF `EURYADES`????..
Ted , my old school mate from Bolton, and I went to the Pool and were told to go to Odyssey Works the headquarters of Blue Funnel Line and see Captain Greenwood. He signed us on the Euryades, a Sam Boat which was laid up in the River Fal. So the following day with 14 other men we met at India Buildings in Liverpool`s Water street. There was a coach and in the back were several mattresses, bed linen and lots of other stores. We climbed aboard at four pm and set off for the long journey to Redruth in Cornwall a fourteen hour drive, no motorways in those days.
We had a couple of stops on the way and had a couple of pints at each one. All the mattresses were laid out so we could lie on them and have a sleep on the way. We arrived at Redruth at six in the morning and then carried all the gear down a path to a boat landing and stowed them aboard a boat that was waiting for us. We went down River a while and came to a ship by the name of `GLENSHIEL`. A rusty hulk of a SAM boat that had been laid up there for three years.
We climbed aboard and loaded the stores A cook flashed up the Galley while we did the stores and made us a breakfast. The Engineers went below to sort out the engine room and to see if they could start her up and get power on. The ship was very damp and musty and was in need of a good clean throughout the accommodation.
We had a couple of days there, she had her anchor out forward and was moored to a buoy aft.. When everything was running we went forard to heave away the anchor. After three years the anchor cable was more than two feet thick with barnacles, too wide to go over the gypsey and through the spurling pipe, so we had to smash them with two big lump hammers. We eventually got going and made our way down the River to Falmouth and into the dry dock.
We had a few days in dry dock, they scaled bottom and gave her a good paint, we had to repaint the funnel from Red to Blue and stencil a new name on the lifebuoys and life boats, from Glenshiel to Euryades and we
also painted our cabins. They were manky. We had nine A.B.s at the time and a Bosun. We didn?t have a full crew yet, we were to take her back to Birkenhead to load a cargo for the East.
We sailed from Falmouth on the 22nd of December 1960 and hoped to be home by Christmas Eve, but that was not to be.
We got off Lands End and it was blowing a terrific Force 12 hurricane.
We were just like a balloon being blown over and everywhere. We had no steerage way or head way and even going backwards. We had to open Number 4 hatch and get several hoses and put them over the coaming and just pour water into the hold on both sides of the shaft tunnel, which would stop the free surface effect, and sink her deeper, increasing the draft. Christmas Eve arrived and then Christmas day
And we finally arrived in Birkenhead on Boxing day four days from Falmouth. We were all exhausted, had no sleep for the four days.
We were sent home and told to report back on board on the 7th of January 1960.
Ted and I got the train from Liverpool to Wigan, we had to change there to get another to Bolton. The next thing we knew was our compartment had two railway men putting us on shake, ?Aye Aye, lads, you are in the sheds, What are you doing here? had to much to drink then over Christmas.??
They were lucky to get out alive. We had been fighting for survival while they were with their families, and no ale. We had to climb down from the train and walk half a mile, dragging our bags, along the track to Wigan Station. No more trains today. We were stuck in Wigan and knackered. So we had to get a taxi, the ba*t*rd charged us a fortune, ?Its Boxing Day Lads, I could be home with the family.?
We eventually got home, cost us more to get home than we had earned.

Seventh of January, 1960 arrived and we joined the ship and sailed that evening for Penang, Belawan in Sumatra, and Singapore.
It was blowing a hooley all the way to Gibraltar then the weather turned and it was good to be in the warmer weather again. We had a full crowd on board now, 9 A.B.s a deck Boy and Lamp trimmer from Wales, who was a strange fellow with stranger habits. He enjoyed the company of native men on the Indonesian Coasts. Definitely strange when he could have had a beautiful mik mak. The Bosun was a plonky, we never saw much of him, he was always in his bunk with the D.T.s. If he came on deck we would shoot him with our spud guns, all the Sailors had one each so he would take out a bottle of whisky and turn in again.
The Chinese Firemen and Cooks and Stewards were on board this time.
On the way out it was Chinese New Year, so the Captain let them use the Officers Saloon for their party. The Firemen came from North China, around Tsingtao or Tietsin and the catering staff were from South China, Hong Kong or Canton and they hated each other. The party turned violent and they started fighting, wrecking the saloon then one went berserk with a fire axe and badly injured two stewards before he was over powered. He was locked up in a locker down aft until we got to Penang later where he was put ashore with the Police.
The Captain said it was the last time he would do that for them.

After passing through the Suez Canal, where we loaded hundreds of cases of eggs, stowed on the hatch, we went down the Red Sea to Aden for bunkers and delivered the eggs there. There were a few missing as we would collect a few every day and put them in a bucket and in the shower room was a steam hose that we used for boiling our dhobi, and boil the eggs with the steam. Great for taking on look out at night for supper.
Crossing the Indian Ocean to the Malacca Straits we had boat drill, where, in Blue Funnel was the real thing. We lowered a life boat and Ted, the Sparky and some Chinese and I had to take the boat away. The ship cleared off and disappeared over the horizon and then the Sparky would transmit a distress signal and the ship would come and find us. Ted and I would be turning the handle for the dynamo. The ship would get a DF bearing on the signal then come and get us. Meanwhile an American ship turned up first and tried to come alongside to `rescue` us.
We were shouting ?Go Away its only a boat drill?. The American Captain on his Loud Haler shouted something about `Crazy Lymies`.
The boat was leaking quite a bit of water, The Chinese were screaming in fear with both feet on the thwarts, didn?t want to get there feet wet. Ted and I were baling out continuously as waves would break over the gunnels. The Euryades turned up and we hoisted the boat up and stowed it. A good exercise. This practice was stopped a couple of years later when one of the Blue Funnel Line lifeboats went missing in a squall in the Monsoon, they were never seen again.

We were due to arrive in Penang around noon one day, Ted?s brother, John, was in the Ghurkha Regiment in Ipoh Malaya and had said he would try to see us when we arrived in Penang.
We spent the morning rigging the Jumbo heavy lift derrick, up aloft on the Foremast, We had to send up the topping lift blocks and derrick head blocks and shackle them on, shackle on the steaming guys and then break it out and lower it to the hatch and shackle on the topping lift blocks and wires, then heave it up in position, a good sailorising job, we were covered head to foot in grease when we finished, just wearing a pair of shorts and flip flops. We were coming up to drop the anchor outside George Town. Ted and I lowered the gangway on the starboard side, it was just outside our cabin.
The Captain and Chief Officer came down , immaculate in their `Whites` with the Chief Steward and two Cadets, they were lining up in the alleyway by the gangway.
The Captain said to Ted and me, ?Go away you two men. The British Consul is on his way and we don?t want you dirty scruffy men to be seen hanging around?.
We looked out and a boat was approaching, standing erect in the stern in a very smart white Safari suit, was Ted?s brother, John, he looked immaculate. We moved down the alleyway and watched,
John marched up the gangway and the Captain shouted attention to the other Officers. John appeared on deck and the Captain saluted, shook his hand, called him Sir and introduced the Officers to him and said, ?We?ll go to my cabin for a gin and tonic while the Lunch is being prepared.?
John said, ?Thank you Captain, but before we do may I have a word with my brother Ted and Brian first. ?
The look on the Captain?s face was a picture, Ted and I were falling over laughing. ?What, What, you are not the British Consul??
?No I have only come to see `ar kid.? said John.
?You two, why didn?t you tell me??
So we said , ?You told us to go away cos we were manky?.
The Captain was not a happy man, he had been made to look a fool in front of the other Officers and us two.
We went ashore with John that afternoon. Ted had had a discharge from his pipe, I said ?Who have you been with,? we have been at sea for a month?. He said ?Julie,?
I said ?My Julie? ? He said ?Yes?.
When was that? I was with her most nights except Thursday night, and that was Amami night, when girls stayed in and washed their hair. I wondered where he got to on a Thursday.` So Ted was sneaking into Julie?s flat, giving her one while I was at the pub waiting for him.
He said `you had better have a check up as well. As someone else might have been giving her one as well as us`.
What a mate he was. He was even thinking of my welfare.
So the three of us went ashore got a rickshaw and the man drove us to the Hospital. We went into the Reception, there was a snooty English receptionist on the desk. ?Yes what do you three want?? John said, ?He has a dose?, pointing to Ted, I shouted, ?Only suspected?. The woman looked horrified and said, ?Get out of here, if you are Seamen there is a native hospital down the road, that is where people like you belong, now go away from here?, whilst reaching for an aerosol spray to rid the odour of Seamen away from her nose.
We went out and got the Rickshaw boy to take us to the other hospital. We went in and the reception was crowded with Malays and Chinese round the desk. We towered over them and so the desk clerk could see us over the crowd, ?What do you want? she shouted, John shouted back, ?He has a dose?, again pointing to Ted, so I shouted back ?Only suspected?. All the Malays and Chinese all laughed at us. At least they didn?t throw us out.
They took the three of us in a room with a doctor and a nurse, they asked questions, ?Where was the prostitute when you went with her ??
Ted said, ?I have only been with his fianc??. pointing to me. The doctor nearly fell over.
?I will have to give you a Prostate Massage?, said the Doctor. ?I don?t want one? Ted protested, He had to drop his keks and lean over the back of a chair, Rubber glove and some Vaseline went on, gulp!!! Oh Eck!. Then some nurses came in and watched. The doctor went to town on him with the rubber gloved digit, a very attractive nurse bent down with a glass slide and held it underneath . The young nurses were giggling, the final humiliation of the European.
He pulled his keks up and had to wait, the slide was taken away for tests, an hour later the doctor returned and told us he was in the clear. Ted?s discharge must have been a false one.
We went out with John and went to celebrate in several bars. Before making our way back to the boat.
We sailed the following day for Belawan Deli, in Sumatra. We sailed across the Malacca Strait and up the river to Belawan and moored up there with the ropes on the bight, the eye brought back inboard and over the bitts for easy letting go. We didn?t go ashore as there was firing in the distance, the Rebels were having a go. There was a civil war going on at the time, President Sukharno was not a very popular man with some political factions. He was very pro Communist and the Rebels were made up of Americans, Dutch, Australians and Indonesians who hated Suhkarno
Early next morning the dockers did `nt turn up, and the firing, with bullets whizzing around, was round the back of the godowns, so the Skipper shouted ?Let go?, we cast off the turns and then the eye and started to heave away just as the Rebels ran through the godown firing on the ship. We went full ahead, trailing the stern lines behind us, and we lay flat on the deck as bullets were being fired at us from down below on the wharf, making a terrible noise, I was wetting my knickers, not very pleasant being shot at and trying to scratch a hole in the steel deck to hide in.
Once we got clear down river we heaved the lines in and had a well earned smoko.
The bullets had made a lot of dents in the steel of the ship around the accommodation also chipping paint off, but none went through the steel, tough ships those Sam Boats
We went back across the Straits to Singapore, we went to the anchorage and discharged the Belawan cargo there into barges, then the Singapore cargo. The sew sew Lady came on board there and all hands had sarongs made up, we could have any pattern we wanted but not the same as the Captain. His pattern was exclusive to him as a show of Rank. I bought three, one was for working in, one for sleeping in and a good one for going ashore in, I still have one left after 48 years, and usually wear it when I have had a shower and just lounging around, I get some funny looks sometime off visitors who come to my house and catch me wearing it. But then they have never been to the Spice Islands.

Singapore was always a good run ashore, a good place to go to at the weekend was the Norwegian Seamen?s Club.
It housed the Norwegian Pool and outside was a big swimming pool and bar so we spent all the weekend there drinking and swimming. On Tanjong Pagar Road there were a few little girly bars and dancing. On the way back to the boat landing at Jardine steps I found the Deck Boy squatting in an alleyway playing Mah Jong with the Chinese and he was winning a fortune, a big pile of cash in front of him. He was from Liverpool and had learned to play there. We got him out of there with his winnings, the Chinese were shouting, he was shouting that he was on a winning streak, but I don?t think they would have let him walk away with the money at the end. The Chinese were not happy but there were more of us than them.
A couple of days later we sailed for Tanjong Priok in Java, through the perfumed seas.
Tanjong was to be our home port, we were a feeder ship. going around the islands to all kinds of exotic places, some didn?t even have a name on the chart, picking up five ton here and ten ton there and then take it into Tanjong for the express boats to pick up. It was a good life.
As we tied up in Tanjong, a young native lad with a strong Liverpool accent, ?Hey Lah, yer wanna buy a parrot?? He pulled out a sock out of his pocket and then pulled a white cockatoo out of the sock. ?Here give us a few Rupiahs,? I gave him a handful of notes and I was the proud owner of a Cockatoo, I called him Charlie Kakatoa. He could speak a couple of words in Javanese, and over the next few months I taught him many other words in English and Spanish, Clever lad was Charlie. He started to take a liking to Javanese brandy, and then was always bevied and falling off his perch rolling over on the deck one claw clutching his head saying ?Teda Bagoose? [no good]. He was the same when I took him ashore sat on my shoulder, he would walk around the bar top drinking out of every ones glass then fall off the end, I would have to pick him up and shout at him for being stupid. He was a mess. At the end of the trip I decided that I could not take him home, I could not afford to keep him in Liquor so at the last port, Padang, in Sumatra, I took him to a bar built on bamboo poles up in the air, and gave him to the man who owned it. Charlie sat on a perch behind the bar and watched as the man gave me a bottle of brandy, a tear rolled down one cheek and he just muttered one word, ?Ba*t*rd?. I was choked, he was a good mate, I walked down the steps and hurried to the ship, before a tear ran down my cheek.
First night in Tanjong, in the London Bar I met a beautiful young lady, Dedeh Suardi, with long black hair that I could tie around my waist. She was lovely. I had a good portrait photo of her but the ex wife found it and destroyed it.
When I got Dedeh I also inherited a shoe shine boy, who was the lad who sold me Charlie, I only wore flip flops, a guide, and a rickshaw boy. They came as a team. As I said we were loaded for six months and I put them on the pay roll. Every Saturday they got a wage packet each in an envelope of around two thousand Rupiahs. The other lads had similar teams. They were very necessary for our safety ashore as they were our eyes and ears. There was a curfew around ten pm.
Every day around five o` clock they would be at the gangway in the rickshaw, I would be dressed in my finest sarong, straw hat and Dedeh would be in the back wearing a beautiful sarong and a flower in her hair, and our team taking turns to pedal. It was like a scene out of `Lord Jim`.
One night we were sat on the veranda of the London Bar and at the next table were two American sailors. My lads would sit on the steps and come to me if they wanted a Fanta and then the Americans shouted to me , ?get those kids outa here they are only bums?.
A little while later the kids came and whispered ?Piggy, piggy lackass? (go, go quickly) so we legged it round the back alley into the shack that belonged to Dedeh. It was the curfew, there was a blast of machine ne gun fire and the sound of a Jeep driving away. A little later when it was all quiet we crept around to the front of the bar and the two Americans were dead, blood and cr*p everywhere, they had been blasted with a machine gun and it was a terrible mess, the front of the bar was also wrecked. We went back into Dedeh`s hut and stayed till morning. Very depressing it was. But the kids had looked after me.
Most nights nearly all hands went into the Bataan Bar, it was very lively with a band and dancing with loads of Mik Maks. [Young Ladies]
So one night I went alone to the Bataan Bar and it was full of girls and the crowd off the ship even the Skipper was there dancing, we all had our sarongs on, I was dancing with a Mik Mak, when the bat wing doors slammed open, it was Dedeh with a big panga in her hand, screaming at me, the band stopped playing, and everyone stood silent as she screamed abuse at me.
"You Number Ten Boy. Teda Bagoos, Piggy lacass," All hands laughed as I went out with her back to the London Bar and sat in silence, She just said, `Tomorrow I show you all Number Ten boys.`
We just went to bed, again in that deafening silence that only women can do.
Next morning, we all climbed into the rickshaw and she took me a ride into the country to a cemetery, there were a few graves there, of English Seamen, some were from Liverpool when I read the inscriptions.
She stood there like Boudica and pointed, `All Number Ten Boys, You Number Ten Boy, You, teda bagoos." (no good}, drawing her finger across her throat in a menacing manner.
`No, No`, I pleaded, `Me Number One Boy, bagoos, OK..?`
`OK` , she said,` You be good Boy`.
We went back to the London Bar and had breakfast. and then she let me spend the day in bed. I had had a very stressful night lying awake wondering what the fate of a Number Ten Boy was. I never went into the Bataan Bar or any other bar again.

One beautiful place that we went to, had no name on the chart, it was inside a lagoon, a tug had come from Borneo towing teak logs and just left them floating in the lagoon. Opposite the entrance was a tiny village on stilts over the water. We anchored and had to lower a boat to pull the logs alongside and load them ourselves. There were about twenty logs and then four of us would dive with a sling in our hands and swim under the log and rig it ready for the lift then they were heaved onboard. We went ashore in the lifeboat and the natives were fascinated by us, they had never seen a white man before. The little children were hiding behind the trees, watching us in fascination, we must have been like Spacemen to them. One man was scraping my skin with a knife to see if I was black underneath. My hair was sun bleached platinum blonde, and they were cutting lumps of my hair off with their knives and looking at it as something they had never seen. It was an unusual experienced to be amongst them, probably one of the last places ever to be like that. I think we were very privileged to be there. It was only a small island, we walked around it in less than half an hour with an escort of all the villagers. The trees had monkeys and parrots and birds of paradise. Beautiful.
It probably has a load of ski boats, an Airport, Holiday Inns and Disco Bars now, destroying one the last true paradise on earth.
After two days we had loaded and went off to Tanjong again.

Tanjong Priok. We were soon established there with contacts from the rebels, they came alongside in canoes, who wanted to buy the flat tins of 50 ciggies like State Express 555s and the round tins of Players. We made a fortune with them, and became Rupiah Millionaires. We found out much later that they used the flat tins as land mines, a little explosive and a pressure detonator, when someone stood on it , it blew their foot or leg off and the round tins of players were used as hand grenades, a little explosive, a few nails and a fuse.
We had loads of money, as I said we were Rupiah Millionaires.
Sometimes we did a trip to Singapore and at the anchorage, arrangements had been made for a boat to come alongside the stern in the early hours, and a few boxes were heaved up, these were stowed in the old Gunners Quarters, and locked until we got back to Java and then another boat would come alongside during the night and then the boxes transferred to them with a huge wad of Rupiahs, in the millions. It was unbelievable, how much money we had.

The Rebels where made up of Dutch, Americans, Australians and Indonesians opposed to the Sukharno Government. They were anti Suhkarno as he was taking Indonesia into the Communist Bloc. Whilst we were there in Tanjong, Khruschev visited Suhkarno just up the road in Djakarta.
We were in Padang, Sumatra, when we had an air raid by one plane of the Rebs, with six ships alongside four of them were hit with bombs and set on fire, two settled on the bottom alongside. We were untouched, maybe they knew us. The anti aircraft guns shot the plane down and it went screaming into the jungle exploding in a big ball of orange flames. The pilot baled out, he came over the wharf and his leg hit the end of the wharf and he fell into the water. The Troops got him out and were battering him, he was screaming in pain, his right leg was obviously broken and couldn?t stand up. All this was about fifty yards from our poop. They dragged him to the wall of the godown and propped him up, we could see what was going to happen and all hands were shouting to the soldiers and then they pointed their rifles towards us so we hit the deck. There was a volley of shots and the pilot lay dead in a pool of blood. It was quite sickening to witness the execution. He was a young American.
Up the coast of Sumatra was Sabang, we had loaded some rice and on the gangway was always an armed soldier as well as on the wharves. At noon one day two of the dockers ran down the gangway, the Soldier shouted for them to stop, they carried on running and the soldier on the wharf fired his rifle and shot one in the head, the force of the bullet lifted him completely off his feet and he crashed on the ground with most of his head missing, spurting blood. It was quite gruesome. The other fella stopped with his hands up and the soldiers battered him with their rifle butts. We felt quite sick at the sight of all this. At smoko that afternoon the soldier came into our mess room and was boasting at what a good shot he was, to hit a moving target. He said they had stolen some rice, it was down their shirts so he shot him. These poor people were starving and on very poor pay, they just wanted to feed their families. We couldn?t do much, just agree with him as we had to go ashore and didn?t want to upset him again. I looked at the rifle, it was a Lee Enfield 303, British made in 1906. It was the same as the ones we had when we were Sea Cadets, so I did the rifle drill for him, ?Shoulder Arms, General Salute Present Arms, Slope Arms and Order Arms, and so on?. He was very impressed, I thought we had better keep this killer on our side.
The Indonesian Government kept the people under control by having Javanese troops in Sumatra, Sumatran Troops in Borneo, Celebes Troops in Java and Borneo Troops in the Celebes and so on. That way there was no sentiment between the troops and the local population, so when they killed they were not killing their own people.
In Tanjong Priok, the Militia at the gate were easy to get past, first time I ever went there I did the rifle drill for them, they were quite impressed and I acted like a Sergeant and had them all lined up outside the hut doing rifle drill, all same as British Army. They were like school kids in my hands, though we had to be very mindful that they could quite easy kill us if something went wrong. So every time we went ashore they just let us through unchecked. , On our last night there after six months while I was doing the rifle drill with them I removed the firing pins from some the rifles,

Dedeh and I would eat every day at a small bamboo hut across the road from the London Bar,
We had some of that UDANG, I thought they were small chicken legs in a batter, ?What are these? ? I asked, ?small chickens? ?No this is UDANG, After my second plate full I found out they were frog?s legs. They were lovely. couldn?t eat enough of them.
Another good feed there was Bami Goreng and Nazi Goreng.
Dedeh wanted to come to live in England with me, so I gave her the address of the Queen and told her she had to write to her. I am still awaiting for a knock on the door and finding an aging Javanese lady in a sarong saying, `Hi, .at last I have found you, .you Number ten boy, Teeda Bagoos.


We did many ports around the islands, from Singapore, Tanjong Priok, Tegal, Semerang, Surabaya, Macasser, Wallace Bay, Sandakan, Tawau, Probalingo, Kutching, Balikpapan, Bali, Ujung, Balitung, Molucca, Padang, Belawan, Sabang, Sumbawa, Brunei, Sarawak, and many others some without a name. A lot of these ports were anchor ports, and we had to keep a Pirate watch every day and night. At night we would have two AB.s one patrolling on either side of the ship watching for small boats trying to come alongside., we had light clusters over the side around the ship so canoes could be seen. One night in Semerang, around 2 am I was down aft by Number 5 hatch when I heard a clunk amidships, I walked for`ard with a ten ton shackle in my hand. There was a native just climbing over the rails by Number 4 hatch just abaft the accommodation on the port side. A grapelling hook was hanging off the rails, I ran up and hit him on the left temple with the shackle and he fell back into the sea. I looked over the side and just saw a ring of ripples and bubbles and a canoe with one man in disappearing into the darkness. I didn`t think they would come back again. I shouted to Ted to get the stand by man to get the Captain and report the incident. He came down and had a look around and then complemented me on the action. These Pirates can sneak on board and cut peoples throats in their bunks and steal anything they can. It is and still is a big problem in those waters.

Apart from the killings by the Militia, it was a paradise of a trip. We always returned to Tanjong to discharge for the big fast Blue Funnel ships. Deedeh and my team were always waiting for me.
We were in Surabaya and ahead of us on the same quay was a Soviet Liner, with passengers of the Soviet elite, I forget her name now but she was sunk by the Germans in WW2 and then refitted for the Vladivostok fleet.
We had a game of football with them on the quay and the Second Mate invited us aboard that evening. He was Victor, a big big man.
So that evening, Ted, Blondie, Paddy and I went across and met Victor.
He took us to his cabin and with the Sparky, pulled out a bottle of `Moscow Visky`, it was Vodka really. He poured out five half pint glasses and shouted `Babushka`, which means `Old Woman` in Russian, and we had to drink it in one gulp, or you were an old woman. This nearly blew our heads off, powerful stuff. Then there was more and more. We were drunk as rats, unbelievable stuff that `Moscow Visky`.
Mean while as we were getting bevied, Paddy was going through Victor?s drawers and putting gear down his shirt, he was robbing him.
Then the Sparky wanted to show us his Radio room, so as we were staggering out of Victor?s cabin, he stopped Paddy and removed several articles out of his shirt and muttered a few words in Russian that we didn?t understand. What a ******* Paddy was, it was embarrassing, stealing off the man who was giving us his hospitality.
We went to the Sparky`s Radio Room, and at that time we had never ever seen such an array of equipment, it was space age stuff compared with what we had seen before, on our ship, an old Sam Boat all our Sparky had was a Morse key and a transceiver.
We left the ship and were walking back past the old liner, there were a lot of port holes about waist height above the quay and in one a big Stewardess was getting stripped off ready for bed.
Blondie went up to the port, which was open, and bent down to have closer look, the Stewardess saw him and waved her arm to beckon him closer and closer, Blondie, thinking he was onto a good thing put his head through the port.
She got a head lock on him with her left arm and proceeded to batter his face with her right fist. He was screaming as she did this, pulling him closer, we had hold of his legs and tried to pull him out of the port, but she was a strong woman. She continued to batter him for quite a while before letting go and then battened down the port and closed the curtains.
Blondie was a mess two eyes were swollen and cut, nose busted and bleeding and his lips cut and bleeding. We couldn?t stop laughing at him, what a plonker. We dragged him back to the Euryades.

The following day, Victor and the Russian Sparky arrived on board, The Sparky wanted to see our Radio Room and equipment. I called our Sparky and told him, all about theirs and how embarrassing it would be if they saw he only had a Morse key.
Sparky went6 to see him and told him that it was all top secret equipment and was not permitted to allow anyone near it.. The Russian accepted that,
We took them both into the mess room with some beers, there were already four Danes in there from another ship that the other lads had brought on board. There were a couple of cases of beer on the table and everyone was getting stuck in.
Then one of the Danes who obviously did not like the Russians said something to Victor in Russian, Victor was exceedingly angry at this comment and leaned over the table and thumped the Dane knocking him to the deck. The other Danes jumped up and a big fight started. We were in the middle and we were getting thumped. The lads got the Danes out eventually and got them off the ship, I got Victor and took him and the Sparky back to our cabin.
There were three of us in the cabin, me, Ted and Blondie, so we all sat on the two bottom bunks and opened another case of beer. Victor shouted ?FRIENDSHIP? and thumped me in the ribs, Kinnel Victor, take it easy. He could only speak a couple of words in English. Friendship was his favourite word, every two minutes he would shout ?Friendship? and thump me in the ribs again.
We were sat there in our sarongs, drinking and smoking, when I could smell burning flesh and cloth, I looked down and my sarong was on fire, Victor?s cigarette was against my sarong and set it on fire, I was leaping about and dived through the door into the shower and put it out. My leg was blistered and the sarong had a big hole burned out of it. I still have it in my drawer at home here. I came back and sat down again and Victor shouted ?FRIENDSHIP? and then thumped me in the ribs again.
I was getting a little sore by now, a burnt leg and bruised ribs. Then fortunately, we heard a voice shouting on the quay at the bottom of the gangway, ?VICTOR, VICTOR?.
I ran out on deck and looked over and at the bottom of the gangway was the Russian Political Officer, ?Ver is VICTOR and Radio Officer? Tell them come now.?
What a nice man, he was coming to take Victor away. I went back to the cabin and got them out, the three of us helping them down the gangway, we were all bevied and could hardly stand. The Political Officer was shouting at them in Russian and ordered them back to their ship Pronto. He was not amused at his men being drunk on our ship so I think they would be in trouble when they got back.

We sailed to Wallace Bay, Borneo, it is not a bay but a small village up a river surrounded by thick dense rain forest, where we were to load teak logs, The logs were cut down upriver in the forest and floated down river to us.
There was a grass clearing with a few small bamboo huts and a small bar run by the English expatriates. They were as usual, in those far flung outposts of Empire always ****ed on the gin. We had a good drink with them and during the conversation one of them suggested that we could play football against the local Dayak tribe. He knew them when he went into the forests to search for suitable trees for logging. A match was arranged for Saturday morning and it was to be played on the grass clearing outside the bar. An old pick up truck falling to pieces amid a huge cloud of smoke appeared out of the forest and about twenty of these Dayaks climbed off, A fearsome looking bunch, wearing just a loin cloth and a bone necklace round their necks, and hair standing up, they play football in their bare feet and play their own rules. With the British Consul looking on, it was a real primitive outpost for him, we were told not to score any goals or we would be speared to death, we lost 16 goals to nil. Later, a Dayak who seemed to be a little educated, he could speak pidgin, English, invited Ted and I to his village in the jungle. We went in the old battered pick up truck tied together with string; we were squashed up together with all the other Dayaks. The British Consul told us to report back to him when we returned as nasty things could happen to a white man in the jungle there.
We took off and with all the Dayaks chanting songs we drove through the rain forest bouncing on a track with a truck that had no springs followed by a dense cloud of smoke, it was exciting.
We arrived in the village, it was straight out of `Lord Jim`, there was a long hut on the left, about 50 feet long where all the single men lived and facing it across the Soah, (open space,) was a long hut for all the single girls, and across the bottom of the Soah was another long hut for all the old people who looked after the children.
We were introduced to the Chiefs and Elders of the tribe. It was like something out of Conrad, unbelievable. We stayed in the men?s long hut sleeping on rattan mats and a log for a pillow. Around the `beds` of the men were skulls off men of other tribes that they had killed. A bit gruesome trying to sleep next to dead men?s skulls. I asked my `friend` what do you do if you want to get your leg over with one of the young ladies across the Soah. In Pidgin he replied that you went into the girl?s long hut and took one out and gave her one and then send her back. If she gets pregnant then the old folk look after the children. That night they had a feast in our honour, a huge fire was lit in the Soah and the men were dressed in straw tied around their waists and faces painted in white, a fearsome looking bunch. They danced and sang their songs, as we sat cross legged on the ground and watched. While this was happening the ladies were roasting chunks of meat on the fire and making kava, an alcoholic kind of drink. My friend told us it was long pig, and served to us on big leaves, and it was Pork, lovely.
The following day we had to get back so our friend drove us back and bade us farewell, a wonderful experience of a bygone way of life very few people have ever seen. We reported to the British Consul in his bamboo hut and he asked us all about our trip out there, we told him that they had a feast for us, he asked us what we had eaten, so we told him, Long Pig, ?Do you know what Long Pig is???, we said No, "It is human meat, they usually go to the next village and kill someone and then it becomes Long Pig, human flesh is the same flavour and texture as pig,?.
So we had become cannibals, it was good though`.
A wonderful experience of a bygone age in a world that no longer exists. It can never happen again.

The rain forests have all but gone now, they have been cut down and burned to grow palm oil trees for bio fuels. This has killed off most of the wildlife including the `wild man of Borneo`, the Orang Utang, and the Dayaks displaced and their way of life destroyed. This can never ever be replaced, it has gone forever. All in the pursuit of profits and these mad people who think growing bio fuels will save the world when they are the very people who are destroying it

Since the 1970s, the Dayak have been baffled by the existence of mining projects, logging by forest concessionaires, plantations and industrial timber estates. Socio-economic expert Mubyarto said the presence of the giant projects in Kalimantan and Sabah changed the Dayak?s source of wealth.
The rattan monopoly has impoverished the Dayak in East and Central Kalimantan. The gold mining in Ampalit (Central Kalimantan), coal mining in East Kalimantan and gold mining in Monterado (West Kalimantan) have caused the locals to suffer. The same thing has happened to the Dayak Bentian, Dayak Pawan-Keriau and Empurang. They struggle against the plantations, which are partly financed with foreign loans. They are forced to give their land to the investors. After the land transfer, all the plants, all the sacred places and cemeteries were demolished and replaced by palm oil trees. They are forced to pay the investors for the privilege of living on their own land in installments.
The project ruins the environment, as well as the social, cultural and political patterns. They have marginalized the sovereignty and dignity of the Dayak over the Land and natural resources.


We took our cargo back to Tanjong again. more precious nights spent with Dedeh.
That was the pattern of our trading and our way of life, we thought it would never end.
Then one day it was all over, our time in paradise had come to an end, we had orders to load for home after six months there, even the married men didn?t want to go home.
So the last day was one of tears from Dedeh and my team of boys, I gave Dedeh over a million Rupiahs to share with the boys. That would make them all very wealthy and a good start in life. It was a lot of money in Indonesia, but it was like Mickey Mouse money outside. Couldn?t even change it in Singapore. It was worthless to take out, so I hope my team made good use of it to improve their lives. We all said tearful goodbyes to our `teams`.
Then we were homeward bound and feeling very sad. After loading a cargo in Tanjong, rubber, latex, copra, mahogany and teak logs, spices and so on, we topped up in Singapore, and Padang in Sumatra where I also said good bye to Charlie Kakatoa, in exchange for a bottle of brandy. I felt like Judas. He could still be alive today, Cockatoos live around 80 years, maybe I will go out there one day to find him.
We sailed across the Indian Ocean and up the Red sea to Suez. Once through the Canal it was a fourteen day trip to London where we paid off. It was the end of a very fascinating voyage.


No one can live those lives again, the world has changed so much, we are the very last people ever to experience it, in that paradise we had death, love happiness , sadness, beauty and the ugliness of the dictatorship. Poverty and wealth, violence and tenderness all in a few bamboo huts, the ultimate human experience was in those Perfumed Seas of the Spice Islands.
It was a world that no longer exists, sadly it has gone and can never return.
We are so lucky to have been there, even though we thought it would never end, it did, and for ever.

Shore people could never believe what we did, what we experienced and saw, I never tell anyone about it here, they would not understand.

[kevin]

Kinell,
I was wondering where he was and when he arrives, eventually, he swamps us.
:PDT10

[brian daley]

But what a wonderful way to be swamped Kevin,the old skipper has'nt lost his talent for a good yarn!

[kevin]

But what a wonderful way to be swamped Kevin,the old skipper has'nt lost his talent for a good yarn!

Dunno - haven't read it yet. Printed it off in instalments as it'll take me a few days to wade through.
:rolleyes:

Brian,
Passing by your way on Friday, past Bolton and up to ****heroe on our way to Slaidburn. Staying at the Hark to Bounty for a few days with Ruth - it's her birthday.

Welcome aboard our new home.

[naked lilac]

Ta for the great read Captain Kong..of the Spice Islands..
fascinating..Sounded very spicey indeed..

I hope the parrot lived happily there after.. :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[kevin]

Dunno - haven't read it yet. Printed it off in instalments as it'll take me a few days to wade through.
:rolleyes:

Brian,
Passing by your way on Friday, past Bolton and up to ****heroe on our way to Slaidburn. Staying at the Hark to Bounty for a few days with Ruth - it's her birthday.

Welcome aboard our new home.


Will it accept Cl1theroe?

[captain kong]

2



Hi Kev,
Last time I was in Cltheroe was in 1965, I am not sure if it is still open.

Here is the RMS FRANCONIA.
She sailed on her maiden Voyage on 23 June 1923 from Liverpool to New York and she continued on this route during the summer months until the outbreak of war , Her maiden voyage was between Liverpool and New York on 23 June 1923 and she continued on this route during the summer months until the outbreak of war Her winters were spent on 133 day world cruises.
On 10 April 1926 she was involved in a collision leaving Shainghai harbour. While leaving her wharf she ran aground, her stern swinging around and hitting a Japanese cargo vessel and an Italian gunboat, the Libya. A buoy then became tangled in the Franconia?s propellers, sinking a lighter in the process and killing four members of its crew. I saw a phot of that event with the drowning men in the water alongside the Franconia.
In September 1939 she was requisitioned as a troopship and refitted at Liverpool. Her first convoy was to transport troops to Malta, but while travelling in convoy with the Alcantara and Empress of Australia the Franconia was involved in a collision with the Alcantara, As a result of this accident the Franconia had to undergo major repairs at Malta. Later, during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France, she was damaged by air raids while carrying 8,000 troops. For the rest of the war she continued as a trooper, travelling to India and the Middle East via Cape Town and taking part in the invasions of Madagascar, North Africa and Italy. A friend , who is no longer with us, was on the Franconia approaching Scycily for the invasion with troops, she was attacked by German bombers, A stick of six bombs exploded underneath her and he said the ship was lifted completely out of the water by the blasts. This damaged the engines and shafts, but she was able to carry on. In 1944 she carried American troops from New York to the Mediterranean. During her period of Government service she covered 319,784 miles and carried 189,239 troops.
The Franconia?s moment of war time glory came in January 1945. The ?Big Three? - Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin - were to meet at Yalta on the Black Sea to discuss the shape of post-war Europe. The Franconia acted as the base for the British delegation, returning to Liverpool in March 1945.

After the end of the war, the Franconia, like many of the requisitioned vessels, continued in government service repatriating troops and prisoners of war. She returned to Cunard?s control in June 1948 and was sent to the Clyde for a nine-month reconditioning. On 2 June 1949 she resumed a passenger service, this time sailing from Liverpool to Quebec, and later Montreal, In 1956 she did the Liverpool New York run.
The Franconia?s withdrawal from service was announced in October 1956. He last sailing was on 3 November between Liverpool and New York and back again. The return voyage she broke down with mechanical faults and she was four days late when she reached Liverpool. She had been meant to carry troops to Suez, but the unreliability of her engines meant that she was withdrawn from this duty. She was sold to the British Steel & Iron Corporation and left Liverpool on 14 December 1956 to be scrapped at Inverkeithing.

A Voyage on the RMS FRANCONIA
I was on the Franconia in the summer of 1956, The Master was Captain Donald Murdo Maclean, DSO, RNR. later to become Master of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as Commodore of Cunard. The Bosun was Nelson and Bosuns Mate was Charlie Chin.
The Franconia was a good job , plenty of money, with the overtime, and a good run to New York. A week across, a week in New York , a week across and a week in Liverpool.
I remember when a first class waiter dropped dead whilst serving passengers, Our watch on deck had to go into the saloon and carry him out, the first class passengers rather disturbed at having their evening dinner disrupted.
We took him to the Medical Centre and the Doctor certified him dead then told us to take him to the cool room down below. We took the lift to the working alleyway then we had to use the stores lift which was four feet high and about four feet wide, so we folded him up in it and sent it down. There were no fridges on the Franconia, the Chill room was full of blocks of ice and the meat was stowed on top of this also the vedge. He was naked and we laid him on top of the ice.
The following day the Doctor wanted him up in the Medical Centre to do a post mortem, so we had to go down to get him. He was frozen solid when we got there. We didnt like to touch him, he was icy cold like a marble statue. The Bosuns Mate said dont be so soft and then slid him off the ice and stood him up. So we had to get a hold of him, a bit gruesome. we got him to the stores lift and he was stiff so we had to struggle to get hin in, he was put diagonaly from the bottom corner to the opposite top corner we had to get Tommy Miller to get inside with him to get him position. Then the Bosuns Mate slammed the lift door on Tommy, and pressed the button for it to go up, then he pressed it again when it was between decks and stopped it. Tommy was screaming , he couldnt get out. The Bosuns Mate shouted Smoko and so we all went forard for a ciggy and a brew. Meanwhile in the lift which was against the engine room bulkhead was getting warm, it was dark in there and then the stiff started to move as it melted, Tommy was screaming in fear as this corpse started to move against him in the dark, he was demented.
When we returned the screams were terrible, The button was pressed and the lift arrived in the working alleyway and Tommy was there with the corpse lying on top of him. I have never seen so much fear in a mans eyes as then. we lifted the corpse of him and put him on a trolley and Tommy was told to go and have a smoko. Tommy went straight into the Pig and got himself drunk and 52 years later Tommy is still drunk.
The dead Steward was carried ashore at the Landing Stage in Liverpool and into an Undertakers van.
On the next trip homeward bound again a very large American female passenger died, she must have weighed about twenty stones. The night before we arrived in Liverpool, Paddy Dirkin and I had to take the coffin forard to the crew gangway shell doors ready for taking ashore when we docked. Paddy and I had had a few drinks before we did this and she was so heavy we couldnt carry her so we were dragging the coffin, which was only a rough box lined with cotton wool, with a rope. we stopped half way along and sat down on the coffin for a ciggy. Paddy told me that I had fallen asleep on top of the coffin. he had to wake me so we could carry on forard. Next day alongside the Stage, Paddy, Johnny Golbourne and I dragged the heavy coffin down the crew gangway and with the Undertaker lifted it into his van.
New York was always a good run ashore, The beer, Wrexham Lager, in the Pig on the Franconia was an old 8 pence a pint, that was 30 pints for one pound. the Pig on the Franconia closed at 8 pm in New York, so we supped up and went down the gangway across the shed and up the gangway of the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth and carried on there in the Crew Pig, they didnt close until 10pm., then we would go ashore to the Market Diner across the road.on the corner of 52nd Street and 12th Avenue. The beer there was 10 cents a glass so we got ten glasses for a dollar. about twenty five to the pound. At those prices ale was cheap. Some times we go up to Broadway and do the bars and clubs, In Jack Dempsey`s Bar, for one dollar you could have your photo taken , shaking hands with the hand that shook the world, across the road Tommy Dorsey`s Orchestra was always on there, always full, and a good night was to be had. There was good shopping there, Nylon stocking for the girls back home were cheap, Dupont Nylon, 15 denier, Always had a pocket full and at home in the Locarno dance hall, throw a couple of packets around and the girls would be screaming after me. We bought our suits from the Salvation Army store on 8th Avenue and I had a beautiful pure silk midnight blue drape suit with the bullet holes in the back sewn up by my Mother. $10, the suits and shirts were got from the City morgue so they were very cheap, I looked a million dollars in that suit, with a mid Atlantic accent, we were Cunard Yanks and the girls back home couldnt get enough of us. Records were good swag in those days, In the States they came out 12 months before you could get them in England due to a musicians strike. So they were always in demand for the most popular artistes and always made a few bob out of them. They were good days, Another good thing was the washing machines and fridges from the Salvation Army store, they were about 5 to 10 dollars each, the ship was full of them all in the working alleyway lashed to the bulkhead hand rails and on B Deck Square where our accommodation was. At the Stage in Liverpool, Daley`s big van would deliver them for five shillings. A few of the Stewards on big money would buy second hand cars. Big Yankee ones with tail fins, Buicks, Dodges, Chryselers and so on. they sold them cheap in a Dock yard around 33rd Street. Cars that had been pounded by the cops for parking violations and so on were sold cheep every weekend, they still do it today, I was in New York in April this year and the yard was still there full of cars waiting to be sold.
Cunard allowed them to carry the cars home, without insurance, if we loaded and unloaded them ourselves. So the Stewards would drive to the Pier 92 and pay us a handful of dollars to rig the derricks and load them and stow them on the hatch on B Deck square lash them down and pay us again to do it at the Stage in Liverpool where they would drive them home. A lot of those Stewards were like millionaires, there were all kinds of rackets going big money could be made mostly from the dropsies from the Bloods. We could make a load of dollars from washing up and polishing glasses in the passenger bars, paid for by the cocktail bar tenders.
In the Pig there were all kinds of gaming machines, Roulette, Cock and Hen Boards, Crown and Anchor Boards, Crap games, and so on, with big time Poker schools that lasted for days, with men being paid to do the players work and also to fetch coffee and sandwiches. pots going for thousands of dollars. A lot of wealthy passengers including movie stars would come down to the Pig for the gambling. There were no casinos allowed on ships in those days it was illegal under United States Laws.
All good things have to come to an end, I was in the Pig having a pint with Joe Finnegan when I should have been on look out up the crows nest, the Masters at Arms dragged me up on the Bridge and Captain Maclean had me logged and sacked. Jo Finnegan then gave me the name of Alehouse.
Three months later the Franconia was taken out of service and taken to the breakers in December 1956.

[captain kong]

3


I am putting this story on this thread so to keep ships together, hope you like it.

This was a hard ship,

SS BEECHFIELD
W. SAVAGES, Ltd. ZILLAH STEAMSHIP CO

I joined the BEECHFIELD in Liverpool in at the end of November 1952, she was built in Lytham, around 1900, a coal burning steamship, tall woodbine funnel, and an open wheelhouse, oil skins and sea boots were required when on the wheel, I was 17 years old and an Ordinary Seaman.
We lived in the focsle underneath the chain locker, a square hatch on the deck next to the chain locker with a vertical ladder going down to a dark and smoky open focsle with two firemen, two ABs and me, it was a death trap down there
There was no electricity on board, all the navigation lights and accommodation lights were oil lamps, and my job was to keep them trimmed daily. Down in the fore peak where we lived was one grimy oil lamp, and it was still dark with that on, there was a coal bogey in the middle surrounded with ash, cinders and coal and the smoke was thick, there was no ventilation down there, we were below the water line when she was loaded. There were five filthy bunks, a black with coal dust mattress, one filthy blanket, of course no sheets, pillows or towels. There was no bathroom sinks or toilet, it was unbelievable.
One old fireman was 84 years old and permanently bent over at an angle of 90 degrees, he had never paid off for over 25 years he had no where to live and would have lost his job if he had paid off so he was there for ever.
The other fireman was a completely mad Irishman, always talking to himself and sometimes he had terrific arguments,
There were two ABs, one was over 80 years old, and had no where else to live, the other one joined with me, he was OK but after one week he leapt ashore, I was going as well but the Skipper, Captain Jim Marshall, made me up to AB, with a big increase in pay, so I stayed on for a bit longer.
We loaded coal for Dublin, Belfast, Londonderry, and stone from Paenmenmawr and Trevor in North Wales and Peel Island back to Liverpool. If you wanted a cr*p or a shower you had to wait until you got to the other side and leg it to the Seamen?s Mission.
It was December, the weather was atrocious, and on the open bridge the wheel was six feet in diameter with chains and rods to the rudder. When she was shipping seas they would go right over the open wheel house and you would get swept off the wheel and if you hung on to the wheel and a sea hit the rudder it would spin and throw you over the top and across the bridge if you tried to hang on.
The Captain?s way of navigating to Belfast or to the North of that would be ""Keep it on this magnetic course and if you see a light ahead it would be the Isle of Man so bring her round to port and when the light is abaft the Starboard beam bring her round to the next course, I will see you tomorrow," then all hands would turn in, I would be up there for about ten hours clinging to a spinning wheel, the sea, hail, snow and rain blinding my eyes, soaking wet and frozen.
During one of these storms after leaving Derry, with big heavy seas and swell coming in from the North Atlantic, the Cook got burned to death, A large pan of chip fat was flung off the stove and went all over him when the ship took a big roll, and then it burst into flames when some went onto the galley fire and he became a ball of flame and collapsed on deck into the scupper screaming his last.
The Cook was dying in the scuppers, blackened by the flames, the Second Engineer caught sight of him leaping about and then collapsing. He got a bucket of water and flung it over him to dowse the flames but it was too late. He had gone to where all good Cooks and not so good Cooks go to, that great Galley, with unlimited stores, in the sky.
All this time the wind was blowing a hooley and seas crashing over the decks.
We had to pick him up and we laid him on the hatch, Captain Marshall certified him dead. He told us to lash him on the hatch, a line around his wrists and ankles and star shaped, he said the salt spray, would keep him fresh and stop him from stinking. He looked gruesome lying there especially at night. He stayed there until we arrived in Liverpool two days later. A Policeman and an undertaker came down and took him away.
The Mad Irishman would sit on the hatch and have some terrific arguments with the dead Cook, and became worse when the Cook was ignoring him.
The Captain told me I was to be the Cook, until they got a replacement but I still had to do the night watches on the wheel. There was not enough food to go round, what the Cook had done with the food money no one knew, but he had a few empty whisky bottles in his bunk.
On those Coasters, known as Weekly Boats, you got paid weekly and out of your wage you had to pay the Cook for the food every Friday, and then he went ashore shopping including getting drunk in the alehouse on the way.
I was knackered doing the night watch as well as Cooking, but a few days later he found some dead beat `Cook` from somewhere.
Then he got rid of the Mad Irishman, he was in the focsle and started an argument with the coal bogey and because it would not stand up and fight he kicked the cr*p out of it, flaming coals and hot ash and smoke was all over the focsle, fire was burning every where. We had to leap up on deck and throw a heaving line with a bucket attached over the side and the pass the bucket of water down the hatch to pour on the flames. After a few of these the focsle was full of smoke and steam.
"That?ll teach the ba*tard not to fight wid me". said Paddy
The Captain kicked him down the gangway. I was going to follow, `I?ll promote you to Fireman` said Captain Marshall, `it is a good experience`.
It sure was, four hours on and four hours off, two furnaces, do your own trimming. Feed `em, throw a pitch on, a little twist of the wrist and jerk and spread the coal evenly across the fires, rake and slice, dump your own ashes at the end of the four hour watch, keep her on the blood, 180 psi, and watch the water level, I got myself a belt with the buckle at the back. A buckle at the front could blister your belly with heat of the furnace on the metal. No lights down there, just the light from the flames in the furnace, like something out of Dante. After dumping the ashes and handing over with a load of coal on the plates for the next man it would be twenty minutes later, then fight my way forard between the waves and then crash on my filthy mattress still covered in ash and coal dust, at seven bells, three hours later, get down to the galley have a bacon butty and then stagger down the fiddly to the furnaces.
After one month I had had enough, and paid off, a much wiser and fitter man. Even though Captain Marshall pleaded with me to stay on, "I will teach you Navigation if you do, and then you can go Mate".
Next week I went back to the Pool, Mr Repp said, "Why didn?t you stay there you have only been there for a month" it seemed like a lifetime to me, I had aged ten years, "Here is another coaster, one of Everards, the `Amity." . That is another story.

[naked lilac]

Aloha Captain Kong.. At 17years old.. you certainly had a lot to endure on that SSBEECHFIELD.. Your writing is marvelously discriptive.. ta.. I enjoy the read of the real accounts of seafarers like yours..

It was so unfortunate about the Cook...Almost like he became the French Fried Chip..:shock: But, to lash him to the Hatch for 2 days..??? well, :002: all I can say is ,I could never of stomached it for 2 days looking at him..

You sounded like you were a very brave young man..

aloha and peace..

[captain kong]

Aloha, our Lilac,
Thanks for the comments.
There was nothing brave about the experiences, it was something we did because we were there and the conditions in those days were just like that.
But I like it when you say I was a brave young man, it will make me feel good for the rest of the day.
Aloha.
Brian.

[captain kong]

4

S.S. CORRALES,
ELDERS AND FYFFES, BANANAS

The Steamship CORRALES was built at Alexander Stephen and sons at Linthouse on the Clyde.
she was completed in March 1930
SHP 3750,
Dimentions, Length 400 feet, Beam 51 feet and depth 33 feet
GRT 5362.
She was scrapped around the early sixties.

She sailed out of Garston, Avonmouth, Southampton and London to Tiko in the Cameroons, West Africa and the West Indies to load bananas for the UK.

I joined the Corrales, one of Fyffes Banana boats, in Garston for a voyage to Tiko in the Cameroons in West Africa. The day we joined we had to load all our stores, boxes of food, sides of beef and so on.
The following day we sailed down the Mersey, it was lunch time, and as we sailed close past the Pier Head all the girls from the offices were there cheering for us as we sailed close by.

We had a six day run down to Las Palmas where we stopped to load bunkers, It was during the night, a lorry came alongside the gangway as we finished rigging it. Then we were told to carry the stores we loaded down the gangway and onto the lorry. And at the end the Chief Steward with the Mate and Captain pocketed a wad full of notes. We got nothing. We had 12 passengers on board so we thought there must be plenty of food left on board. There was for them. The feeding was bad after that, we went hungry. Every meal was made of bananas, fried bananas, grilled bananas, roasted bananas, stewed bananas, boiled bananas, sauted bananas, mushy bananas, frappe bananas, we were going bananas.
We couldn?t sleep at night because of hunger pains.
The Captain, `Mighty Joe` Young was a huge man, and when I was on the wheel he would be on the wing of the bridge lifting a 400 pound barbell, ?Can you do this ?? he would say to me.
?If you gave us some food I could, I am weak with hunger.?
?Don?t be so soft ?he would say.
All we had for evening dinner one night was a thin soup with bananas instead of potatoes, called Irish stew.
I was voted in as the one to go and kick to the Captain, `Mighty` Joe Young.
I went up the boat deck with my plate of "Stew", I knocked on his door and he opened it, towering above me, ?What do you want? he said, ?The crowd want to complain about the food, it?s diabolical. This is supposed to be Irish stew. ??What`s wrong with that? he said. Me forgetting he was an Irishman said ?It?s alright if you?re Irish, but??. ? .
and with that he smashed me in the face with a big iron fist and I did a somersault down the ladder to the boat deck and ended up under a life boat. My face covered in blood from my nose and lips. I crawled down aft and all hands laugh at the state of me. They had eaten theirs, mine disappeared somewhere over the boat deck. So I went hungry again.

On the outward bound voyage on the Banana boats the big job was to clean all the holds and tween decks for the new cargo of bananas, they were swept and then mopped out with disinfectant. The big problem being down there was the spiders, uncountable thousands of them, most were giants, bigger than an out spread hand, some were poisonous and a bite could make you very ill or even kill you, the ship carried serum if you were bitten. Sometime if we caught a big one it was put in a glass jar and taken back to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine for research. These spiders would get into the accommodation, and I have woken up in my bunk with a huge one sat on my face. Not very pleasant looking up a big spider?s tail pipe with one eye. Too scared to move, until it went off on its own. Sometimes there were snakes and banana rats, the snakes got aboard by being coiled around the stem of the stalk of bananas, the banana rats were small and black with a bushy tail, like a small black squirrel, also Rhino Beetles, big black ones around five inches long with a head and two horns just like a Rhino. This menagerie of wild life in the holds would make their way to the cabins at some point in the voyage.
We arrived in Victoria in the Cameroons, and anchored in the bay we had a few tons of cargo, usually items for the Expatriates who lived and worked there.
These were discharged into a barge and towed ashore, and then we would have to wait for the tide to get over the sand bar into the creek that went for several miles to Tiko our loading port.
On board we had a sheep dog for an expatriate family in Tiko, he had a kennel on the after deck and we looked after him and took him for walks around the decks.
One day the dog was demented, crying and rolling over and over in obvious distress.
We examined him and his fur was full of spiders galloping around and biting him.
We rigged up a bath for him and gave him a good shampooing, and removed dozens of spiders off him. We up anchored and started to go up the creek, the dog began to get excited again. On the way up the creek, to get around the sharp bends, it is necessary to run aground, the bow is rounded for this, and the focsle crashes into the jungle, with trees crashing on deck, dropping monkeys and other wild life on deck. Then the ship goes astern and then does it again and again, working its way around the bend. An unusual and interesting way of rounding the bend in the creek. Then it was straight up the creek to Tiko, There just a small wood jetty in the middle of the jungle, with a few people stood waiting for us.
The dog was really excited by now and as we were approaching the jetty he jumped over the side and into creek, he was swimming alongside of us heading for the jetty.
We were cheering for him and on the jetty an English couple were also cheering him on
and as he got by the jetty he scrambled up the bank and onto the jetty and was reunited with his owners.
We moored alongside the jetty, there was a small narrow gauge railway line there, and the small train brought the bananas down from Tiko village, several miles inland through the plantations. When we went ashore we had to go on the train, the carriage was a bench where we sat back to back facing outwards, and this took us to Tiko which was a collection of mud huts and a bar. There was an Expatriate club there for the Colonial types and that is where the Officers went. We were not allowed in there, on a previous voyage two stewards went in there, got drunk and robbed the gramophone, so we just had the one bar to go into.
There was no electricity there just oil lamps, we walked into the mud hut bar, it was lit by a couple of oil lamps, and against one wall was a huge Westinghouse Refrigerator.
The man greeted us and said ?Ice beer for de sailors?, he opened the fridge and it was full of Heineken cans. The beer was warm, no electric, but the man was excited about his fridge, some super salesman must have turned up in the village and sold him one.
He also had a wind up gramophone with a big horn on top and HMV and the picture of the dog on the front. He only had one record, it was Gene Autry singing, `Riding Down The Sunset Trail`. We all sang it while supping warm Heineken and he put it on again and again, and again, and again.
Even today I know that song off by heart; we had a good time though, being simple sailors. Afterwards every time we had a beer anywhere we would always imitate the man, ?Ice beer fo de Sailors`.
After a good bevy in the mud hut we staggered to the rail line and waited for the train.
I was wearing Khaki keks and a khaki shirt, I had taken off my belt, the warm Heineken was blowing me up and buckled it and put it over my shoulder so I wouldn?t lose it, it looked like an army `Sam Brown`, Some of the Africans asked if I was Army, I said yes, I was here looking for recruits for a new army for Camaroon. They seemed interested so I got them lined up and got them marching up and down, I got a brush that was leaning against the shed and showed them the Rifle Drill. They were very keen to do this, Then the train turned up so I told them to keep on marching and do not stop until ordered to, `Quick March`, and off they went. I climbed on the train and off we went. I often wondered where they ended up, Mombasa maybe on the East Coast of Africa,
I sat on the train facing outboard with all the crowd, I could hear the booming voice of Mighty Joe Young behind me. I looked and he was directly behind the first trip Cadet, `Ding Dong` Bell who was sat next to me.
My nose was still swollen and buzzing like a fire alarm from when he thumped me.
So as the train rattled on in the darkness through the jungle, I decided that some action was required to even up the score. I turned around and thumped Mighty Joe as hard as I could on the back of his head. He shot off the train and straight down the monsoon ditch head first. The screams were terrible, the driver stopped the train when all hands were shouting that Joe had gone.
I could hear his foot steps coming down my side of the track, crunching on the gravel, I closed my eyes and waited for death.
?Its you, you ? ******* *******" I heard him say, and then he grabbed the Cadet, young Ding Dong, who was sat next to me. He flung him down into the monsoon ditch and dived in after him and battered him, then he picked him up and flung him back in his seat, ?Don?t ever, ever do that again? he said, and then walked around the other side to his seat.
They were both covered in blood, mud and slime.
I was lucky that night. Thank you Ding Dong. I felt better, honour had been regained.
We completed loading Bananas the following day and sailed down the creek over the bar and into the Guinea Gulf, a few hours steaming and we anchored off the island of Fernando Po.
It was a small island covered in trees, palms and banana plantations. A few barges came out to us and we loaded the bananas through the side Shell doors. That completed we heaved up the anchor and then set a course for Liverpool and Garston calling in at Dakar in Senegal on the way for fuel bunkers. During the voyage home, every day we had to inspect the bananas and if we found one banana turning yellow we had to take out the whole stalk and throw it overboard. Sometimes we had young Ding Dong with us and we would turn all the lights out and leave him down below in the hold, we could hear him screaming in fear, as the holds were full of spiders, snakes and banana rats. I think it was his first and last voyage to sea, I don?t blame him, it must have been horrific for him.
We arrived in Garston after a month long voyage and paid off. We always had a big stalk of bananas to take home with us.

[M6AJJ]

Great story, remember the banana boats well, everyone in Garston had tons of green bananas for weeks after they docked. Used to put them in the airing cupboard to ripen.

[Tabnab]

S.S. Cairnesk, Cairns Noble of Newcastle. I did a few runs on her to St. John's in the Winter and to Quebec and Montreal in the spring/summer.
Anyhoo, I am the galley boy, 1953 winter run to St. John's Newfoundland. Cargo of Ford cars from Dagenham inthe holds, deck cargo of Terex trucks. A Terex is a monster the wheels and tyres are about 12feet across and they are are about 20feet long.
Going across the western we hit bad weather with snow and ice, the deck cargo was soon covered in the stuff. All hands were out with chipping hammers and steam hoses to get rid of the ice from the trucks. Meanwhile as the galley-boy I had to go for'rard to the foc'sle where the spud locker was located. This meant going across the open deck, hanging on to the safety line and climbing on to the foc'sle head and hauling out a 112 lb. sack of potatoes and going back to the galley with it on my shoulders.

We made St. John's O.K. but on the way back it was worse. She was a coal burner and we were hit by everything in the way of weather. I cannot remember just how many days it took us but we were running out of coal and we had to burn doors, messroom tables and whatever would go in along with what coal we had left.
We managed to make it into the Shetlands and bunkered there. Then we carried on to the Tyne.
Happy days?

Tabnab.

[captain kong]

5

Hi Fred, John Wayne did that, burning doors and mess room tables in the film SEA CHASE,
EEH, we had it hard in those days, they dont know they are born to day.




CUNARD`S ?PARTHIA? -
The PARTHIA was built in 1947, at Harland and Wolff at Belfast, the only Cunard ship to be built there, , to be used on the Liverpool-New York service. She was a sister of the MEDIA, By 1960 they were becoming uneconomical and were both sold in 1961, the PARTHIA was sold to the New Zealand Shiping Co, and after rebuilding and the accommodation extended to accommodate 350 passengers, instead of the original 250, she was renamed REMURA.. She entered service in in the NZSC`s London New Zealand service in June 1962. (Both Parthia and Media were used on the Liverpool-New York services. In 1953, she was fitted with the same Denny-Brown stabilizers which her sister MEDIA had fitted a year earlier.
Cunard Line?s all first class RMS PARTHIA and MEDIA were very popular ships, smaller than the great Liners and more intimate.
?The Cunarders? the Media and Parthia are my favorite ships?? Katharine Hepburn
Hollywood stars and celebrities like KATHARINE HEPBURN preferred to travel from New York to England via Liverpool on the smaller, deluxe, all-first-class liners like Cunard?s PARTHIA and MEDIA. They could avoid the crowds and have much more privacy. Hepburn made many such trips.

I joined the PARTHIA on 21 September 1961 then we moved from the dock around to the Liverpool Landing Stage and the loaded our Passengers and baggage.
We had an uneventful voyage across the Atlantic until we got off the Nantucket Shoals. Then there was a big crash and the ship lurched, I thought we had been in a collision with another ship. We ran out on deck and look over the bow, the ship was stopped and there was a large whale impaled on the bow, it had cut into it at the middle. about half way in, it was still wriggling around and blood pouring out of it. A few minutes later it stopped moving. It must have been sleeping on the surface and never heard us approaching. Very sad.
The Captain investigated it and then went back on the Bridge and went astern , nothing happened , we did this a few times , stopping and then going astern again. It was stuck fast. We carried on to New York and the US Coast Guard was informed and off the Ambrose Light, a Coast Guard Cutter came out to us and we stopped in the water again, the Coast guard got a couple of lines around it and then heaved away and then pulled it off us. They towed it clear and then we carried on, the Coast Guard disposed of it.
We moored at Pier 92, opposite the Market Diner. at the bottom of 52nd Street and 12th. I always enjoyed New York, everything you wanted was in a walking distance. After having a few drinks in the Diner it was a short walk up 52nd Street to Broadway, past the 21 Club where Edward G Robinson was appearing, then on to Broadway to Jack Dempsey`s Bar, so you could ?shake the hand that shook the world? and have your photo taken with him for a dollar.
Across the Road on the Strip was all the Clubs, with the Tommy Dorsey Band playing to dance to and many others with the famous musicians, Dizzy Gillespy, and singing recording stars, You could be with all the famous show biz stars and it was affordable. It was a Technicolor world up there. We would go to bed at 6pm and get a call at 11pm and then go up to Broadway and dance the night away until sun up around 5am. New York came alive at midnight until the early hours, `The City that never sleeps.`
After a week the PARTHIA sailed from New York for the last time,
We sailed through Long Island Sound and into the Cape Cod Canal. What a beautiful place that was in the Autumn, all the trees the full length of the Canal were Gold, Yellow and all shades of colours, a fantastic sight.
Off Boston the Pilot came out to us in a sailing ship, and took us in.
We tied up outside the city in a place called Maverick. Not a lot there just a couple of bars, we took a subway to Boston City centre but it was very quiet, not a bit like New York. We came back to Maverick and had a few drinks there.
Six of us were staggering back to the ship through the dock area. It was quite a way so we stopped for a relief against the wall of a cargo warehouse. The six of us were stood in a line with it all hanging out when searchlights lit us all up, and a loud haler shouted `FREEZE, DON?T MOVE OR WE SHOOT, POLICE. HANDS ON THE WALL AND SPREAD `EM`.
We froze, Kinnell, with hands on the wall all with our nudgers still hanging out. I think the whole of the Boston Police Department were there behind us.
The cops came over to us and frisked us for weapons and tuned us around, we were blinded by the search lights. `And put those away` the Cop said pointing his night stick at our nudgers. We zipped up quick.
We are Limies, we kept saying ,but didn?t make any difference.
One at a time they took us to a Patrol car, `Hands on the hood and spread `em`. Geof went first, a big black Cop towered over him, `Where ya from?`, Geof said `The Isle of Wight`, the Cop hit him over the head with his club, AARRWWGGHH, said Geof, as a large lump appeared on his head. The big black Cop said `Ya trying to be funny wise guy.?. `No` said Geof, `I am from the Isle of W-I-G-H-T not W-H-I-T-E. its in England`.
They went through all our pockets and found our US Immigration Passes.
A bunch of Limies off the Parthia, eh. So we got a Police escort back to the ship to make sure we got on board. The cops who were taking us back told us they had a stake out on that Warehouse as they had a tip off that it was going to be raided and we had ruined it. They were not amused.
We sailed the following day bound for Liverpool.
One of my Mates was my next door neighbour, Shaun, he had been in the army and then working as a steel erector, but he got laid off so I got him a job as an Uncertificated Deckhand. The Bosuns Mate, I think his name was Steele, was a big hardcase and he hated UDHs, and always tryed to wind Shaun up, Shaun was good on deck, having been a rigger and erector on the steel he was as good as any ABs I have seen.
The day out of Boston, Steele got onto to Shaun and a fight started in the alleyway.
It went down the alleyway out on deck, Stewards started taking bets on the outcome, Steele was first favourite as he was a well known fighter.
Shaun had been in the Army in the war in Malaya and was also the Regimental Boxing Champion.
They stood on deck slugging it out, their faces being covered in blood then rolling over on deck battering each other then up again, It was the `Duelo de Titans`
No one had seen a fight like it, they were fighting to the death. smashing each other, covered in blood their shirts ripped off, hammering and battering each other, it was terrifying just watching. As time went on they started slowing down, rolling over on top of each other gasping for breath through the blood in their mouths, spitting out broken teeth.
Eventually Shaun gave a last punch and rolled off Steele who lay there semi conscious in a pool of blood and broken teeth.
Shaun crawled over to us, we were sat on the Hatch, and pulled himself up, his face was just a mask under a curtain of blood, he smiled and his two front teeth were missing. Then Steele slowly got up onto his hands and knees and crawled over to the hatch, `I think he want`s another go` I said to Shaun.
Steel pulled himself up, his face a like a piece of battered liver, swollen and covered in blood with his front teeth missing, he held his hand out to Shaun and they shook. `You?re the best ` he grunted through his swollen lips. They both lay back on the hatch to rest. The Stewards paid each other the winnings from the `book`. Most had lost, with Steele being first favourite and Shaun the outsider.
After a while and a couple of ciggies later one of the Stewards took them both to the Medical Centre to see the Doctor who had the job of trying to patch them up. Their faces looked a mess for the rest of the voyage going home without their teeth and black and cut eyes swollen lips and noses.
It was the fight of the Century. They were friends for the rest of the trip.
We arrived in Liverpool on 16th of October 1961 and paid off, leaving the ship in the hands of the Shore Gang, After discharging she was taken away to Belfast for rebuilding for the New Zealand Shipping Company, and renamed
REMURA.

[naked lilac]

Aloha Capt. Kong~ Brian..

I laughed at how you wrote about the Big Black Policeman, not understanding your Scouse... , and you lot, foiling their bust for that night..:handclap: Instead they ended up busting a bunch of drunken sailors taking a p... :002: Very funny .

[captain kong]

6


Thank you for those comments our Lilac.
Here is another story, hope you like it. Seafaring today is a soft game compared to fifty something years ago.

NICHOLAS K.

I joined the Nicholas K in Liverpool at the end of 1954, she had completed discharging grain from Argentina and had loaded fertilizer in bags for Cochin, India.
She was a Fort BUILT IN 1943 and was now owned by Kiriakides of Athens.
She was manky, the accommodation was rough, four seamen to a cabin next the steering flat. the other two had three seamen in. Across the alleyway were nine Somali firemen. On deck were two mess rooms one for Deck and one for the Firemen.
We sailed outward bound for Suez and then called in at Aden for bunkers. The cabins were stinking hot and mostly we slept on deck on top of the poop. The food was diabolical, after three days at sea we were on our `pound and pint`, our `whack`
6 ounces of fresh offal per man per day per haps.
6 ounces of brackish water per man per day perhaps.
Or so it seemed. We got one small can of `Connie Onnie` condensed milk, every ten days. If you left your tin in the mess room all hands would use it, you had to keep your own stores locked up in your locker. Then we would have to stick a few match sticks in the holes to keep out the cockroaches.
The only fresh meat meat we got were the cockroaches. Did you know, pound for pound there is more protein in a cockie than in a beef steak.
So the Steward said we were well fed.
The ship was full of big rats, yellow coloured ones,, from the previous cargo of grain, These would get everywhere including the accommodation, it was diabolical. The Chippy would put rat traps out on deck every night and they were always full in the morning and he then emptied them over the side into the sea.
The fresh water was rationed, on the side of the house on the poop was a pump and we had to push this back and forth to pump up water from the after peak to a tank on top of the poop housing. There was a pad lock on the pump and the mate had the key, he would unlock it for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. Then no more water until the following day.
When we got to Cochin the Steward had ordered fresh meat to be delivered.
So one day a little Indian fellow came to the gangway with 12 goats, ?Where`s the fresh meat??.... ?This is very fresh meat Sahib?.
So we got them up the gangway and the Chippy built a pen for them on the after deck out of the dunnage. It was just as well they were on the hoof, we had no fridges on this ship. We got them a load of straw to eat while they awaited their fate.
When the Cook wanted meat he took one out, it was struggling and bleating, must have known what was going to happen. Then killed it by beating it over the head with a hammer and then cut its throat and hung it up off an awning spar, draining the blood into a cut down oil drum. The Galley boy would then gut it and skin it. Chop it up and a handful of curry powder and we were eating like champions.
We sailed then light ship to Port Lincoln in the Spencer Gulf in Australia for a cargo of wheat. The ship had a contract for two years to take wheat to Calcutta and then load iron ore in Vizaghapatam, down the coast from Calcutta, for the Steel works in Whyalla, again in the Spencer Gulf. We were going demented over that, two years, we were innocent men, what had we done to deserve a sentence like that.
We arrived in Port Lincoln and anchored on a Friday morning. They would take us along side on Monday.
That afternoon, the Captain told us to lower a boat , he, the Mate and the Chief Engineer were to go to the Agents Office. We rowed them ashore to the pier, they were each carrying a small bag.
Don?t wait for us, the Captain said, we will get a boat from ashore to bring us back.
We took the boat back to the ship and hoisted it back inboard.
A nice peaceful weekend at anchor, no work to do, lovely.
On Monday a tug came out to us with a Pilot. Where was the Captain, Mate and Engineer. The Second Mate was running around like a scalded cat. No sign of them, in the end he decided to take it alongside. When we berthed the Agent came on board and said he had never seen the three of them. They had obviously skinned out and disappeared.
It must have been a bad ship when the Captain, Mate and Chief Engineer jump ship.
We loaded the grain in bags and when we had completed and battened down the Second Mate and Agent had been on to the owners about the loss of these men. The Second Mate had a Masters Certificate, so he went as Master, the Agent found a Mate who had jumped ship in Adelaide and was awaiting deportation so he was brought up to Lincoln by the Immigration man and put on board.
We sailed then for Calcutta, what a stinking hole that was, we were moored to buoys in the Hoogly and discharging into barges. The decks were full of screaming Indian dockers, spitting red beatle juice all over our decks that were covered in spilt grain. All the accommodation was battened down, because they would have been in it, using the bathrooms, and in the cabins. It was stinking hot and a mess.
The worse part of being in Calcutta is up River they push their dead into the river and then the corpses float down and get fouled of the anchor cable or rudder, these would be bloated and stinking, with the `Shytalks` sat on them pecking away.
Then one day we got the good news. Load a cargo of manganese ore in Vizaghapatnam and take it to Birkenhead. Fanbloodytastic.
We were singing all the way home.
We walked down the gangway in Birkenhead, six abreast, whistling, we were so thin.
I paid off, thankful that we didn?t have to do the two years, when I got home Mother could hardly recognise me, I had lost so much weight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Waterways]

Why is it all in bold?

[captain kong]

WELL IT IS LIKE THIS WATERWAYS,
I GUESS IT IS BECAUSE SOME OF US ARE GETTING A LITTLE SHORTSIGHTED WITH AGE, I CAN READ IT EASIER.
If that is the only comment I guess it hardly seems worth while writing seafaring stories anymore.

[kevin]

WELL IT IS LIKE THIS WATERWAYS,
I GUESS IT IS BECAUSE SOME OF US ARE GETTING A LITTLE SHORTSIGHTED WITH AGE, I CAN READ IT EASIER.
If that is the only comment I guess it hardly seems worth while writing seafaring stories anymore.

Toys back in the pram, Brian. You know we love your yarns.
:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[Ron B Manderson]

Alehouse.
You may be getting blind and I told you before "only risk one eye."

Do you remember the barges where at one end the crew were cleaning teeth(from a bucket dipped in river) etc and the other end the thunder box was being used. Ah! they were the days.
Also the bodies on the tide where the men floated on their backs and women floated on the belly.
Or the paper send around by harbour board telling you that "even if the cold water in river is tempting please do not swin." you must be joking.
A good run ashore.
I never could work out distance there. The rickshaw boys tell you it's 3 long miles or 4 short miles.
I think everone bought the clay figures in Jock Pawanys. I still got mine
Anyone eles still have them.

I wonder if speaking about thunder box., do the tobacco company know that castella (cigars) means thunderbox or toilet.
The rep I told was not a bit happy with that.
Ron

[captain kong]

Yes that brings back the memories Ron, I can still smell Calcutta 50 years later. They did clean their teeth and gargle in it as stiffs and raw sewage were floating past.
Kidapore rings a bell, was that where we went ashore? I did nt go ashore too often there. and didnt in Vizaghapatnam.
The eyes must be affected by my mispent youth. I didnt care if I did go blind then. a little more careful today

[Tabnab]

Port LIncoln brings back a few memories.My mate the Asst. Cook jumped ship there in 1954. He still lives there, a granddad with his own fishing business he runs with his sons. He was over to see me a few times, I've never managed to get over there but who knows?
Anyhoo, there was the usual famine in Karachi and the U.S. Government bought tons of grain from Australia and we loaded up for Karachi. this grain was to help the starving and as it was unloaded, all in bags by the way, on to trucks and in full view of all it was being sold just outside the dock gates. We made about 6 trips I think along with other tramps and the same thing happened each trip.

:002:

[naked lilac]

Hi ya Capt. Kong.. per your accounts of " Nicolas K.." what a terrible experience. Calcutta, and the diseased waters, and on that ship you had to endure such quarters.. unhealthy and it seemed whoever in charge.. Didn't care...????

I felt sorry also, for the poor sheep of those countries.. and how they too had to endure the slaughter ahead of their little souls.. Knowing the crys of amongest them were of death..

My oh my.. your tales are so wide in emotions.. Some lovely, some terrible.. Glad you got off that ship.. without having ecoli eatting your body.. Wow..

Great yarn.. and truely :PDT_Aliboronz_24: awakening..

[Waterways]

Hi ya Capt. Kong.. per your accounts of " Nicolas K.." what a terrible experience. Calcutta, and the diseased waters, and on that ship you had to endure such quarters.. unhealthy and it seemed whoever in charge.. Didn't care...????


Greeks never did, until EU law outlawed them. They would sail in leaking tubs crewed by half-wits at times. They ignore every maritime law in existence.

About 20 years ago, one Greek crewed cruise liner off South Africa started to take on water. The crew ran to the lifeboats leaving the bemused passengers behind. The ship never sank and they had to go back on board.

Lifeboat drill and maintenance of the derricks is rarely done. It is common to find lifeboat ropes painted up solid, unable to launch the boats. My cousins would not be near anything Greek when it came to shipping.

Many of the ferries between the Greek Islands are death traps.

[captain kong]

7

I am writing about the sinking of the `Pool Fisher` with the loss of 13 dead including one lady. at the moment, it is taking a while because I have to have all the facts of the event, Inquest and Court of Inquiry correct, so I have a lot of documents to get through.
so in the meantime here is another one I had prepared earlier, to be going on with. ...................

SIKORSKY S61N HELICOPTER.

Details?..
2 x 1120KW or 1500 SHP General Electric 1402 Turbo Shafts driving a 5 bladed main and tail shaft rotors.
Cruising speed, 120 knts.
Ceiling 12500 feet
Range 450 nautical miles
Main Rotor 62 feet in diameter
Fuselage length 59feet. Height 17 feet 6 inches.
Main Cabin, 26 to 30 people.
Payload with a sling 1100 lbs.
Weight empty 12,336 lbs.

THE ASSIGNMENT.

In 1976, I was sent to Cape Town, South Africa by my Company, on a three month assignment to re-write and update the Helicopter / Ship Operations Manual, for the safe working practice of transferring stores, crew changes and rescues. An interesting and exciting job.
I was with Court Helicopters based at Green Point, Cape Town.
I had relatives who lived there at Sea Point, walking distance from Green Point. So it was just like home.
I was signed on as Observer and usually sat between the Pilot and
Co-pilot when flying and helped the Winch man with loading and unloading.
In those days the Cape Route was quite busy with shipping as the Suez Canal was closed after the last Israeli / Egyptian war. As the ship came around the Cape we would take out the stores, food, machinery parts and crew changes on all kinds of ships, tankers, cargo, bulkers and so on.
The first few days I made notes on the various operations and took the advice of the Pilots on what manoeuvres the ships had to take for the Helicopter to land safely.

Some Captains were very uncooperative, especially on the FOC ships,

Pilot, ?Captain please alter your course to 270 degrees.?
Captain, ?No I am not altering Course?
Pilot, ?Please alter course to 270 degrees, I want make a safe approach to your vessel, I want the wind to be 45 degrees on your port bow so I can approach on the starboard side from aft?.
Captain, ? I tell you I am not altering course for anyone?.
Pilot, ?Captain, if you do not alter course in 30 seconds I am taking your stores back to Cape Town.?
Captain, ?OK I alter course.?
We would land the sling of stores near the H with the safe working circle around, and when clear land on deck to disembark passengers and any other stores from inside.
The ships had to have the deck crew wearing fire proof protective suits and manning the fire monitors with foam in case of an accident.
I soon had the Manual typed up ready for approval by the Shipping Company, DTI , the Helicopter Company and for the printers.

The rest of the tour was interesting.
Every Friday we went to the Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, in Tokai, a suburb of Cape Town, one of the toughest prisons in the world. Mandella was imprisoned there before transferring to Robben Island.
We would land in a very secure area and then the guards, armed with automatic weapons would march out a few , maybe a dozen prisoners, feet and arms shackled, they would shuffle to the Helicopter and two at a time would board craft. The guards would shackle their legs and arms to the seat frames, then the next two, until they were all chained up.
With four armed guards on board we would then take off and fly to Robben Island, across Table Bay. a bit like the film, `CON AIR`.
On landing at Robben Island near to the main gate, the guards would unshackle the Cons two at a time from their seats and escort them off the Chopper, They were then taken over by the armed prison guards and escorted two at a time through the gate. Once they had all been taken away we would then load any prisoner who was being transferred back to Pollsmoor, usually if they were due to be released. It was top security at all times. Sometimes we had a sling underneath with stores etc for the Island. One time I was unloading stores with the Winch Man,
the Cons were not allowed in the chopper, we passed them out to them, he told me, ?That one over there is Mandella?, I said ?Who is Mandella,??, I had never heard of him at that time. ?He is a notorious terrorist, a bad *******?. Oh.
Many of the ANC terrorists, or depending on your views, freedom fighters, were incarcerated on there for many years.
In 2001, I went back to Robben Island and sat in Mandella`s cell and had my photo taken. It was a museum and tourist destination then with ex Cons as the tour guides.

Every two weeks on a Saturday we took three light house keepers and their stores to Dassen Island.
Dassen Island is situated about 8 miles west of Yzerfontein, approx 40 miles north of Cape Town. Dassen Island's name is derived from the large amount of dassies ("rock rabbits") that live there. The island is also a big bird sanctuary (it is inhabited by 68,000 African penguins) and a provincial nature reserve managed by Cape Nature.
It is not open to the public and so I am one of the very people not involved with the Island`s nature reserve or Light house and meteorologists, ever to visit there.
It is one of about 34 underwater mountains along the west coast of South Africa, whose pinnacles rise above sea level. Dassen Island is two and a half miles long and just over a mile wide. The highest point is about 30 feet above sea level.
As we approached Dassen, `Stretch` our American Pilot, he was 6 feet 8 inches tall, hence the name. Ex Huey helicopter pilot in the Viet Nam War, said ?Watch this, did you ever see penguins fly??.
The whole Island coast to coast was full of the African Penguins, shoulder to shoulder, we circled the Island and came in low from the opposite side to the Light House, I was sat with Tikki, our Winch Man in the open door with our legs hanging over the outside. As we passed over the Penguins they were flying up into the air from the down draft of the rotors and bouncing all over the others. Looked like thousands of flying Nuns. Funny to watch but I don?t think the Penguins were amused.
We landed near the Light House, there were three cottages there for the Keepers, some times they had their families with them, especially in the school holidays, The three Keepers got out and went to see their mates for the hand over while we unloaded the stores. Tikki and I then went for a walk around the Penguins, fascinating creatures, not afraid of humans, all squawking and shuffling around. They stink horribly of bad fish and crap and with up to 68,000 of them that is one big stink.
Then when the relieved Keepers were ready we took off again and flew back to Cape Town.
Once a month we were required to do the free fall test, for the aviation certificates. Just behind Table Mountain is a large reservoir. We would have to fly to 1500 feet above the lake and then stop engines.
We would then free fall and the Pilot would feather the rotors and use these as a parachute effect. A very strange feeling falling in a silent helicopter, then crash and a huge spray of water every where as we hit the surface. The Sikorsky had a boat hull, and we could float just as a boat would do. Then we would `steam` around the lake using the engines. The exercise over then fly back to Green Point. Quite exciting.

One day we got a Mayday, a Cyprian cargo ship, the `AROSA`, registered in Limassol was in distress up the coast just north of Hondeklip Bay, before we got up there she had grounded on the rocks and had a steep list to starboard, She was a traditional cargo ship, five hatches, and 10,000 tons.
The crew were on the Port side waving to us as we approached, seas and spray was flying over the ship in a strong sou`westerly gale.
Tikki got himself ready and rigged the harness and then went down to pick them up. I was in the door way and as they came up I pulled them inboard, Tikki went up and down 27 times and was really exhausted and collapsed in the doorway as I heaved him in. I got them all sat down in the seats. Lucky we had the size to do it. Then back to Cape Town. The Immigration Authorities, the Padre from the Seamens` Mission where there at Green Point waiting to receive them. They were extremely thankful for being rescued from certain death.
Two days later the gale subsided and we had a quiet day so `Stretch` said lets go look at the wreck and see what we can get. So off we went.
She was in the stages of breaking up. So Tikki and I went down in the harness and he said we wanted a fridge for the Mess room at the Base so with great difficulty against the sloping deck we got one out on deck and hooked it up, then I got a lifebuoy, with the name AROSA LIMASSOL and took that up as well. It was quite dangerous in there, she was grinding on the rocks and at a dangerous list so we got out of there. we didn?t hang around. It was quite scary. So when we got back to Base we had a fridge in the Mess and the lifebuoy was hung on the wall.


One day I heard that my brother was on his way to the Gulf and was coming around the Cape. The wanted some engine parts to be repaired at Globe Engineering in Cape Town. This was quite a common practice, we would head north and rendezvous with a ship about 400 miles north of Cape Town pick up the parts, like a motor that needed rewinding, take them to Globe, they would fix them and we would fly them back out when the ship got past the Cape.
When my brothers ship was due we flew up to the Orange River on the Namibia border, refuel and then we headed out into the South Atlantic.
We saw the ship as a tiny dot through the blue haze then we descended and landed on deck, the parts were waiting for us, we loaded them and then `Stretch` said ?You stay here and we will pick you up in two days when you get off Cape Town?. Good idea. `ar kid was turned in, watch below and so I would have missed him.
The chopper flew off back to the Orange River and then on to the Cape.
I walked down aft with the crowd and then up to the bridge and introduced myself to the Captain. He took me down to his cabin and got a couple of cans of ale out of his fridge, and then he ask me to describe what I was doing down here. I then asked to see my brother, the Captain said ?Tell him he is finished working until Cape Town so you can spend some time together?. and then I left to find him. On the stairs I met the Second Mate and he said come to the Officers bar and tell us all what your doing, so I was having a pint with them telling my yarn when he said come and have lunch in the Officers saloon. I said I am going to see my brother, so he said he can come as well, so I said can he come in there all the time and he said no he is only a rating. I said I wouldn?t embarrass him, I would eat in the Sailors mess room.
I went and put him on shake, he was surprised to see me in the middle of the ocean, `Kinnell, where have you come from.`?.
We went on the ale then and all hands joined in, one big party, it went on all day and all night and into the following day and night.
I was totally bombed out of my skull don?t remember anything.
When the ship was off the Cape the chopper was returning with the stores and repaired motors, the crowd put me on the stores barrow and pushed me up the foredeck to the H. The chopper landed and the crowd lifted me up and put in in the chopper and followed me in, I climbed out and was waving Good Bye to them all, they were all bevied as well. They thought they were going to Cape Town.
The Mate had to sort us out and get the crowd out of the chopper and then get me back into it again.
I don?t remember any thing after that until I woke up in my hotel room next day with a king sized hangover.. The mates from the Helicopter had taken me back and turned me in.


One night I was on duty from 10pm, we loaded the sling and then filled the inside with boxes for the `KATRINA MAERSK` a BIG, 350,000 ton tanker, she was light ship and outward bound for the Persian Gulf.
These ships were always around 15 miles south of the Cape, as per South African Regulations, that was to keep tankers away from the land in case of any mishap.
It was blowing bad that night, around 60 plus knots, it was in the middle of their winter and the gales were atrocious with that big heavy swells and seas that come up from the Antarctic. It was going to be a bumpy flight.
Around 2am we came across the KATRINA MAERSK 15 miles south and came in to land on deck after landing the sling. All the deck lights were on and the men standing by.
Tikki jumped out on deck and I was passing the boxes out to him when a huge green sea crashed over the bow and covered the helicopter, the wave swept Tikki down the deck with the boxes and with some of the sailors, The tanker had a freeboard of over 60 feet so it was some big wave. Then another one came over and then a third one.
`Stretch` shouted ?Let`s zap?, and heaved on the throttles and began to take off ?Get in your seat? he shouted, as we had lift off,. We left Tikki behind on deck.
I strapped myself in and we climbed to about a hundred feet up and the whole aircraft started banging and shaking, bouncing up and down, ?Oh ****? shouted `Stretch` Both pilots were pumping the throttles frantically. I could see the tanker deck lights below us and saw them getting closer, we moved over the side just as we plummeted past the deck level and it went dark as we crashed into the ocean.
I could see the side of the tanker gliding past us and hoping it didn?t hit our rotor blades or we would have flipped over and good bye world.
I looked ahead and could only see water and then I looked vertically upwards and could see the top of a huge Cape roller towering above us.
All this time the two Pilots were pumping the throttles frantically. We went back wards and we slid all the way up this huge wall of water until we hit the crest then we fell forward down the valley of the next one.
I could hear `Stretch` calling ?Mayday? Mayday? on the radio. I was wetting my knickers, this was real fear approaching, my scalp was ice cold, and my hair standing on end. I was gripping on to something with white knuckles. Fortunately the Sikorsky has this boat hull and that kept us afloat as long as we could stay upright, and the only way was to get some revs on the rotors. With continuous pumping of the throttles we got a little rotation, the Tanker had moved away from us now and was trying to give us a lee to keep the worst of the wind and sea off us.
We then got a couple of feet of altitude and then we went up and down with the swells, The only thing we could do was to try and make fo land, we turned and headed for the lights of Cape Town in the far distance, and eventually the Coast Guard cutter came out and stood by us.
`Stretch` told them we would try and make the shore but if we couldnt then we would have to abandon and they could pick us up from the water. We continued on our way at a walking pace and around a couple of feet above the water going up and down It took nearly three hours to get the 15 miles to the shore, the Pilots were exhausted pumping continuously, I relieved them in turn to take the pressure off them.Then we arrived at Green Point and just slid into the concrete ramp and the engines stopped. Just made it. What a relief that was.
What happened was the salt water from the waves had gone into the twin turbines and the water evaporated and left the salt crystals to jam the turbines. We were the luckiest men alive that night.
`Stretch` then had to get the small chopper out of the hanger, a Sea King, and said they had to go and find Tikki on the Katrina Maersk, some where off the Cape. I had to stay behind and get the fresh water hose and give the turbines a good flushing out to clear out the salt while they went for Tikki
A couple of hours later they returned with Tikki who was quite relieved to be back. What a night. The day crew had turned up and relieved us, they started to check over the Helicopter and made it safe to fly again while we all went back to my hotel to have a few whiskies. It felt good to be alive.
Soon my time was up and it was time to go home on leave, I was sad to leave my mates, we had had a few adventures together.




POST SCRIPT?..

Eleven years later, I had taken early retirement from the Company, I got a telephone call asking me to go for an interview by a Pipeline Company. They knew that I had the helicopter experience in South Africa.
They had petroleum pipelines running the length of the country, Milford Haven to Birmingham, to Manchester to Glasgow.
These were 36 inch diameter pipes buried to a depth of about six feet, and under very high pressure. If a construction operator with an excavator hit one of these lines then the devastation would be terrible.
Helicopters were used to fly the line every day to see if there was any digging or construction near the pipeline.
The Manchester to Glasgow line had just come on stream and they wanted air crew to monitor the line, which ran north from Manchester and most of the way alongside the M6 Motorway.
I got the job, I was home getting a little bored, What does action man do in retirement.?
It was the ideal job for me , just what I wanted. I jumped at the opportunity. I was given all the plans and location and other documentation all ready to start next Monday. There would be a Pilot and me as the observer to fly the line daily from the Manchester depot.
A few days before I started to have a strange feeling about the job, voices in my head told me not to do it.
I phoned the Company, and told them I did not want to do it, they were not pleased, as another man would have to be trained and delays incurred, they pleaded with me to change my mind, but I could not.

Six months later the helicopter came down near Preston by the M6 Motorway. Pilot and Observer were both killed.

[kevin]

Greeks never did, until EU law outlawed them. They would sail in leaking tubs crewed by half-wits at times. They ignore every maritime law in existence.

About 20 years ago, one Greek crewed cruise liner off South Africa started to take on water. The crew ran to the lifeboats leaving the bemused passengers behind. The ship never sank and they had to go back on board.

Lifeboat drill and maintenance of the derricks is rarely done. It is common to find lifeboat ropes painted up solid, unable to launch the boats. My cousins would not be near anything Greek when it came to shipping.

Many of the ferries between the Greek Islands are death traps.

A lot of truth in this but there are exceptions. I only sailed on one Greek ship but safety procedures were the equivalent of any British ship I sailed on.

[captain kong]

The tramp, `NICHOLAS K` was owned by Kiriadides of Athens, a Greek ship owner, the Ship was registered in London, under the Red Ensign, as were many Greek owned ships in those days. They were know as `London Greeks`.
but the ships still had to pass their surveys for the Board of Trade and Ministry of Transport.

[captain kong]

The tramp, `NICHOLAS K` was owned by Kiriadides of Athens, a Greek ship owner, the Ship was registered in London, under the Red Ensign, as were many Greek owned ships in those days. They were know as `London Greeks`.
but the ships still had to pass their surveys for the Board of Trade and Ministry of Transport.

[brian daley]

Short sighted and given to memory loss,we'll have to remove your pilots licence Brian,
BrianD

[captain kong]

I was beginning to stutter then as well.
I will have to go back on the ale.

[kevin]

I was beginning to stutter then as well.
I will have to go back on the ale.


As I heard on the radio this morning:

There are 3 signs of ageing. The first one is memory loss. Can't remember the other two.
:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[captain kong]

A quick short story of my medical professional abiltities.

I was Mate on a 300,000 ton tanker in the Gulf when the Arabs swung the chicksan arm over to the manifold and it caught an AB on the head, he was not wearing his hard hat.
He came to me covered in blood and I cleaned him up. there was quite a large gash on the top of his head and he was complaining of the pain.
I got a bottle of 4 Bells Rum and gave him a large glass and had one myself,
I got the sutures ready and gave him another large one followed by one for myself, I started to stitch and he was still shouting about the pain so we had some more rum until the litre bottle was empty, then I got stuck in with some big `homeward bounders`. [ large stitches ] I had to hold him down with my leg across his chest until the job was done.I sent him off to his bunk to recuperate , an hour later he came back to my cabin complaining that he couldn`t sleep, why not I asked , ` cos I can`t shut my eyes `he said,
I examined him again and the stitches had been pulled up far too tight on the top of his head, it was like a toffee bag all puckered up sticking up. His head had also swollen on top with post operative swelling, so the skin was so tight it was pulling his eyelids up. He wanted another tot of rum to make him sleep and to kill the pain. I told him , no chance , he`d had half a litre , so I told him to get a bag to put over his head so he could sleep better.
A week or so later I pulled out the stitches without any rum and the swelling was going down so he could now close his eyes, But months later he still had a large lump of skin sticking up on the top of his head and he always complained that when he combed his hair his comb caught on it.
Some Sailors were never happy.

[brian daley]

Jeez Brian,I near wet meself reading that,people ashore just don't appreciate what fun we had in those days.Was this before you got the job as head surgeon at St Claires?

[Paddy]

Scared of blood :002:

[brian daley]

When I was on the Austility we went up the River Fal to a place called Malpas,a beautiful little hamlet north of Penzance. We were delivering the winter fuel oil and it was a neap tide. That meant that instead of being there for a few hours ,we were there for a few days. Malpas is miles from anywhere and in those days(the very early 60's) it was an artists colony.The local pub,in fact the only pub was right on the quay and mine host was a jovial ex navy pilot. Licensing hours did not apply whilst there was a ship alongside and the landlord was an excellent host.Our captain ,a marvellous Irishman called Dermott O'donnell ,liked a drop of the hard stuff and he liked company when he was quaffing,as a consequence our small crew spent most of our time in that wonderfully snug hostelry supping some of Scotlands and Cornwalls finest whilst being fed by the landlords beautiful wife. Our chief engineer ,a Newry man was not used to such Bacchanallian excesses and after 48 hours passed out from exhaustion.Dermott and I decided to get him to his bunk aboard the Austility,everyone else was a bit too far gone to help so I took his top end and Dermot took his bottom end and we struggled out of the bar and along the quay to the gangway. We dropped him once or twice as he wriggled in his drunken slumbers and he collected the bruises consequent from his hitting the concrete. All went moderately well until we negotiated the gangway,Dermot was ahead of me with his legs and I was coming up the gangway with his head and shoulders when he gave a lurch and I dropped him.I being drunk never felt a thing ,but he incurred a hell of a gash above his left eye. We took him to the wardroom and Dermott fetched the first aid kit and proceeded to do some rudimentary needle work while I sat on poor old Pats chest and held his head. We left him there on the wardroom table ,we too exhausted to lift him again and he too drunk to care where he was.
Next morning he came to ask us had we battered him,there was not a part of his poor old head that was'nt bruised and those stitches? The poor bugger looked like Quasimodo. He had to get a lift to Truro hospital so that they could undo our handiwork .

[captain kong]

8


A voyage on Empress of Scotland.

I joined this very famous war heroine, Empress of Scotland on 8th of July in 1955, it was my first trip since leaving the dreaded SUEVIC and after the 1955 Seaman?s Strike. I was broke, skint, crabs nada in my pocket. I had been sleeping in the porch of St. James Church on Park Lane. It had a wooden bench so it wasn?t too bad being summer and all.
I was due for a decent bed and some decent food and some ale money.
I had never been on a passenger ship before so it was a new experience for me. Mr Rep from the Pool sent me to the ship in Gladstone Dock. I had to see the Bosun, Harry Tonks, who went through my discharge book like a fine tooth comb. I had never seen this before, being vetted by a Bosun wearing a full uniform with a cap and badges. . He looked like a fearsome fella, I certainly did not like him at first sight. But Harry turned out to be a lovely fella, a real good Bosun. At the same time as I was in his cabin his son young Harry Tonks turned up and said `Hi Dad.`, `Kinnell` , was the response.
Young Harry Tonks had just got a double DR. He had been on the St. Tudno, a day time excursion vessel that took day trippers from Liverpool to Llandudno and Bangor and back, 8 hours. I once did a trip on her when I was 14 with Mother and Dad,
Harry was the only man ever to get a double DR on the St. Tudno, on an eight hour trip, he had filled in the Mate and threw him over the wall. Luckily he survived so Harry got the sack. They were a good double act during the voyages, quite funny.
The Empress of Scotland was a good job, we had the best of food, not like the cargo ships where we were always on our pound and pint.
There was a Pig, a bar, I had never seen one before, usually in the past we just got two cans per day per man or per week perhaps.
As much ale as you could sup at only 8 old pence a pint for Wrexham Lager. That was thirty pints for only one pound. could not believe it.
The cabins were rough Six ABs to a cabin, but we didn?t mind , we had a good crowd of comedians.
We took the ship round to the Landing Stage and loaded the Passengers and baggage and the Mails. This gave us time to leg it up to the Pig and Whistle on Chapel Street for a few bevies before sailing. And then we sailed up to Greenock the following day. We anchored there and a tender came out and alongside and we loaded some more Passengers and baggage and Mail.
I was a Lookout man, which I thought was great, instead of working on deck like the cargo ships it was good to be in the crows nest sat there reading a book with the occasional glance through the window to see if there was any ships around.
What fascinated me was when we got most of the way across the Atlantic during the night watches was watching the Northern Lights, an impressive sight. a splinter of light would shoot up into the sky then zap, spread across the sky like a fan then it was a fantasia and kaleidoscope of lights zapping every where. The greatest free show on earth I was getting paid to watch this show. We had a tranny radio in the Nest and it was great when we were nearing Canada when we started to pick up the Canadian radio stations. We could hear new records we had never heard before in England. Magic.
Then we went up the St. Lawrence River, what a big river it was. At Father Point a tender came along side as we were still steaming along and we put out a long wooden shoot to the tender and hundreds of bags of mail were thrown down it, The Train was waiting ashore for the mails to get a good start to their destinations. Our first stop was at Quebec, moored under neath the Ch?teau de Frontenac, known as chatty front and back. Only there for a few hours then let go and carry on to Montreal. Montreal was a good run ashore, I loved it, bright neon lights every where, not a bit like the dismal sights back home, still suffering from the effects of the war. The shops sold good gear we could not get at home, dungarees, Wranglers, Lee Riders, Tartan lumberjack shirts, Nylons for the girls back home. and so on. Good night clubs, the Volkland, dancing with the girls and closing time not until the early hours. instead of 10pm in Liverpool.
Good pubs, The Liverpool House, known as the House of Scouse, opposite the CPR berth and Joe Beefs opposite the Cunard berth and Ma the Greeks in between. for a late supper of steak and a quart of milk.
We had four days in Montreal which included the weekend, On Sunday Derek Noonan from Fazakerley and Suevic, and I went up to Mount Royal, which gave a magnificent view all over the city and St Lawrence and to the Seaway.
The Scotland was a good job, we had a good crowd on deck, Joe Finnegan, who now lives in Perth Oz, and Tommy Lawless, now dead, always put on a good show every night in the Pig with their singing and Guitar playing. They had won the Carol Levis show on TV but refused a recording contract because they preferred to go to sea,
In the Seaman?s Mission in Montreal on a Sunday night they had the Bulova Watch Radio Show, with a singing contest, live on Radio, the winner got a Bulova Watch, Joe Finnegan won every time. over the years he won dozens of watches. I got on singing on the Radio every time singing. "Way across the blue water, lived an old Germans Daughter, on the banks of the old River Rhine. and I swear by the stars above her, I will always love her, she is my pretty Fraulein." and so on. The latest song at the time. I never won. It was always Joe.
Later after the show they had free bingo, I won that one, the first prize was a SEVEN POUND TIN OF GREENGAGE JAM.
That tin is still lying on the bottom of the Belle Isle Straits.
That trip I had my first burial at sea. One of the passengers had died, so watch on deck had to go and get him, we had to sew him up in canvas with the bars tied to his legs, it was a bit gruesome. but Harry Tonks had given us a bottle of Four Bells Rum, which we drank before the task of sewing him up. We had a board painted white with two handles at each end like a stretcher. we put him on it and carried him down aft to the after mooring deck. and at 6am we stopped engines and the Staff Captain read a service for the burial of the dead, his widow was there with two other passengers, a very solemn occasion.
Then we tipped the stretcher up and the dead man slid from under the Red Ensign and disappeared into the Atlantic.
We arrived in Liverpool and had three days there. The trips were 17 days, with four days in Montreal and three days in Liverpool. so she sailed every three weeks, I think sailing day was every Thursday arriving in Liverpool on a Monday.
I did two trips on her then paid off and had two weeks at home before joining the `Georgic`. She was a good job but I couldn?t afford to stay on her , we were spending too much on ale and shopping in Montreal, there was no overtime to make it up.

An amazing thing happened 50 years later.
In 2005 I was sat in Perth Airport Western Australia, having a drink ,when Joe Finnegan appeared alongside and said ?Allo Alehouse.?
Amazing, he recognised me after Half a Century and half a world away. He was living there, he had booked a passage on a ship, the Funchal, bound for Liverpool, I cancelled my flight and booked on the ship and we did a 38 day voyage back to Liverpool together. Just like the old days.

[brian daley]

Great story Brian, you have captured the spirit of the time.Now an age away those liners were floating cities,a veritable part of our city at sea. Drunkeness and discipline and were the dual natures of the ship. Everynight in the Pig getting full of Wrexham lager and everyday turning to making the ship look spick and span. A couple of trips on those Trans Atlantic passenger boats were enough for me,enjoyable for a short time but nothing like the free and easy atmosphere on the freighters. Guess I was a deep sea hobo!

[captain kong]

9



I have just finished writing about the POOL FISHER, that sank with the loss of 13 people. I have tried to get it correct, from my records and the report from the DTI Court of Inquiry and the Coroners Court. and newspaper cuttings. I have cut out a small chapter as it is going out on the web, it could cause some legal happenings.

`POOL FISHER`Disaster.

On the 3rd of November 1979, in Hamburg the cargo ship, POOL FISHER, owned by `James Fisher of Barrow,` completed loading a cargo of Potash, destination Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal.
The bulk cargo had been loaded in the two hatches in a pyramid, it was not trimmed level.
On the way out of the dock she hit the quay, stem on quite heavily.
She then sailed across the North Sea, meeting heavy weather all the way and shipping seas over the foredeck. The canvas hatch covers at No. 1 hatch came adrift a couple of times, the sailors having to go out on deck to batten down the canvas and hammer the wedges into the cleats.
Meanwhile I was Second Mate on the tanker, ESSO PENZANCE, we sailed from the Fawley Refinery, on the Solent on the 5th of November 1979, bound up the Channel for Immingham on the Humber.
At 11pm that night I was the Navigator on watch and was 11 miles South of Brighton, my watch keeping AB was Paddy Colgan from Dublin.
The weather was rough, winds of 40 kts from the West and a big heavy sea running.
Ahead of me I saw the lights of a vessel approaching on a reciprocal course, it was swinging to port then to starboard, showing alternative red and green side lights. I called him on the VHF radio, confirmed our identities, and asked him if he had a problem, the Second Mate of the Pool Fisher, replied that he had problems with his steering. I told him to carry on with his course and I would move to the South of him and give him plenty of sea room.
As he got abeam of me, half a mile to the north, he was outlined against the shore lights of Brighton and lit up by a full moon. His fore deck was mostly submerged and his stern was high in the water, I could see his propeller and rudder quite clearly.
I called him back and told him that was why he had problems with his steering, he was well down by the head. He said he was OK and would carry on.
On the morning of the 6th of November, I went on the bridge again at 0745, the Sparky told me he had been up all night on a Mayday call with some ship called `Pool Fisher`, there was a big search for her, the Royal Navy ships co-ordinated by HMS CARDIFF and helicopters were searching for her 25 miles South of the Isle of Wight.
The Sparky said that Niton Radio, on the Isle of Wight, had heard a brief call, saying `This is Pool Fisher, we are going over now,` then silence. This call was not on the Channel 16 VHF, it was on channel 28 so no one would have heard it. No position was given, she could have been anywhere. So the Searchers had no idea of where to search.
I found the time of the Mayday around 0550 and run a course line, time and distance from 11pm when I saw her and that put her around six miles SSW of the Needles on the Isle of Wight.
After receiving the information the search pattern was brought up to the position I gave and they found wreckage and in that were two young lads Mark Fooks, 17, and Don Crane ,18, clinging to hatch boards in seas up to 40 feet high. They were on the point of death with hypothermia, the winch man from the RN helicopter went down and sent them up and took them to Haslar Hospital near Portsmouth, where they were treated, three other bodies, including the Chief Engineer?s wife, were recovered and taken ashore.
We carried on to Immingham, when we arrived at the oil berth it was full of Reporters and TV Camera men. Two big men walked up the gangway, and kept every one else away. They took me to my cabin, they were `Esso Security,` Not your usual Security, These guys could frighten anyone, they were heavies.
I was questioned and then warned not to speak to anyone, `Or else`.
I said `Or else what,?` He replied, `Just or else.` with an icy stare.
These men were dangerous. I don`t even know why.
They did the same to the Captain and Sparky. I never forgot those men.
Also Captain Vale, Surveyor, of the Board of Trade came on board and interviewed me. He took the statement and sketches that I had made of the event. He also examined me for my Masters Ticket the following June.
We did our discharge and then sailed back to Fawley.
When we had moored alongside, two Policemen, from Gosport, PC Adrian Walder and Sergeant Murray arrived on board and wanted to question me about the events of that night, 5th of November.
I gave them a statement of the events including sketches of the attitude of the Pool Fisher when she passed us, down by the head and that was that.
In February 1980, I was in College at Fleetwood, doing my Masters Ticket, when a man from the Treasury Solicitor turned up at my door and gave me a summons to attend the Inquest on the 13 dead off the Pool Fisher.
I drove down to Gosport and checked into a hotel for two days,
I met the relatives of the dead, the two lads who survived and had a drink with them in a bar. It was very sad; the widows were telling me that they were summoned to appear at the Coroners Court. They asked for assistance with fares and hotel bills, the wages had been stopped on the day the ship went down nearly three months before. Fishers of Barrow would not give them any assistance and they were really suffering. One widow told me she had to go round to her neighbours and beg for money to pay for her train fare from Birkenhead to Gosport.
At the Inquest, on the 20th of February 1980, I had to stand in the witness box and was sworn in to give evidence of what I saw and about the VHF phone call conversation I had with the late 2nd Mate. Don Crane also confirmed the conversation as he was in the wheel house at the time.
In a Coroner`s Court the Jury is allowed to question the witnesses. Sometimes difficult giving evidence in using nautical terms and they do not understand what they are.
The worst part of it was when the Pathologist gave evidence on what he had done to the three bodies that had been recovered. It was quite gruesome the way he described removing the brain, the lungs, the heart, the liver and kidneys and so on. These were measured, examined and weighed. It was like reading out a shopping list. The widows and the 17 year old son of Mrs Carvill had to listen to all this. It must have been horrifying for them.
When the Court was over, the Jury recorded at the Coroners advice an Open Verdict.
The evidence the two lads gave were as follows.
Don Crane, age 21, of Moreton, Merseyside, said, When they left Hamburg with a cargo of Potash, he thought the ship was down by the head. When he was on watch he took over the steering and the ship was not handling well.
At 4am on the morning of 6th November 1979, the Bosun, Mr Terence Morgan of Wallasey, said, `Get on deck quick, the ship is going down.`
Mark Fooks and I dashed up the Alleyway and I found my way out into the sea. I went under and when I surfaced I could see the rear section of the ship sticking up out of the water I swam away and turned and could only see lights below the water.`
He told the Court that he had heard the 2nd Mate talking to the Esso Penzance which was passing in the opposite direction.
Mark Fooks the other survivor told the Court, the Pool Fisher had completely keeled over in the gale force winds. He climbed out onto the side of the vessel where people were trying to coax Mrs Doris Carvill, aged 55, into the sea.
He said he went towards her looking for a life raft. Mrs Carvill panicked, she clung to him, she said `Don`t leave me, don`t leave me, stay with me.`
Mrs Carvill`s body was one of three recovered from the sea. Ten crew men were never found including her husband, Mr Eric Carvill, Chief Engineer.
Mark Fooks then said he was washed overboard into the sea. Amid all the wreckage he found himself clinging to some hatch boards with some other crew members, but slowly as time went on they slid off and disappeared one at a time, probably from hypothermia. Only Mark and Don Crane stayed afloat clinging to the hatch board.
Commander Doctor Frances Golden, RN, of the Institute of Survival Medicine, said, ?The two lads who survived were exceptional, they clung to wreckage for over five hours in gale force winds amongst waves 40 feet high.
It was probably their age and fitness that helped them to survive.
Coroner Mr. Michael Baker, recorded open verdicts on the ten men and one woman who died in the sinking.
After we came out of Court, the widows and the two lads and I went into a nearby pub, for a well needed drink. It had been a harrowing experience for everyone.
The following day we all went home.
..
In November of that year 1980, I was summoned by The Treasury Solicitor
to appear before the Court of Inquiry, to give evidence, in the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool.
The Court was in session from 24th of November to 9th of December 1980 before Mr G.R.A. Darling, RD, QC, assisted by Captain C.W. Leadbetter, RD, RNR. Ret`d., Captain P J Pembridge and Sq. Ldr. CF Trigg, Msc. [Eng] Ceng, FI MechE. Into the circumstances attending the loss of the motor vessel POOL FISHER in the English Channel with the loss of 13 lives on 6th November 1979.
[SIZE="3"]The result was,????.
`The Court having carefully inquired into the circumstances attending the above mentioned shipping casualty was probably caused by the entry of water into the fore part of POOL FISHER`s hold following a failure of the aftermost section of the hatch boards on her No 1 hatch, which failure was caused or contributed to by the wrongful act or default of her Master, John Maclaren Stewart and her Mate, Francis William Cooper.`

QUOTE. From the report.
`About 1300 on 3rd November 1979, Pool Fisher sailed from Hamburg with a cargo of 1,250 tons of muriate of potash, in bulk, bound for Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal. The weather across the North Sea was force 7 with a gale warning in force. On the morning of the 5th of November the tarpaulin on the after end of No. 1 hatch had to be re-secured.
There could have been some increase in the forward trim with water entering her chain locker and focsle space, through the spurling pipes, or with the cargo settling forward with the pitching, or with water entering the hold when No 1 hatch had to be re-secured. Also some change to the trim by the consumption of fuel and stores.
At 2250 on the night of the 5th of November1979, the tanker, ESSO PENZANCE sighted Pool Fisher about 1 miles south of Brighton. She was steering erratically. That is consistent with the evidence of the survivors as to her steering. At that time the wind was westerly 8 to 9.
At 0547 on 6th of November 1979 Niton Radio received a Mayday call on VHF Channel 28 from POOL FISHER in the following terms;
`Mayday anyone hear me, Mayday going over, position South west of St Catherine`s Point.`
Niton Radio requested a better position but received no rely. The Mayday was immediately relayed on Channel 16 and 2182 kHz.
The watch keepers on the Pool Fisher were the Mate, the Bosun, Terence Morgan and Able Seaman Throup, None of them survived, so it is not possible to find precisely what happened.
The two survivors Don Crane and Mark Fooks were asleep in their cabin when they were woken by the Bosun who was wearing a life jacket and shouted, `Quick lads, get up on deck, she`s going down by the head`.
Both with other members of the crew followed the Bosun, it was very difficult due to the steep list to port. When they reached the cross alleyway on the starboard side, the Bosun shouted ?She`s going?. Don Crane was swept into the sea, Mark Fooks who was ahead of Don managed to make his way to the boat deck. He said the Bosun got out as the ship went onto her port beam.
He then saw the Second Engineer, the Chief and Mrs Carvill, all wearing life jackets. He climbed up the starboard side and saw A.B. MacDonald, then he was washed over the side.
Don Crane and Mark Fooks were not wearing life jackets they were fighting for survival in the sea with the help of the hatch boards. The Fleet Air Arm helicopter crews were complimented on their efforts in saving the lives of Don and Mark, there were no other survivors.
The cause of the capsize and sinking of the Pool Fisher was probably caused by the lack of, or insufficient number of locking bars or locking wires on the No 1 hatch, combined with her low free board. When No.1 hatch board were stripped off by the sea, the forward draught was rapidly increased by the rapid entry of water into the hold. The free surface effect of the water caused her to list to port on to her beam ends and to sink by the head.
The Master is responsible for his vessel in all respects and at all times. The Mate is particularly responsible for the battening down of hatches.
The sinking occurred, as we find, the hatches were not battened down properly.
With great reluctance therefore in view of the high esteem in which the Officers concerned were held and because they could not come before the Court to defend themselves, we nevertheless feel bound to find thet they were responsible for the failure, which led to the loss of the Pool Fisher. Although we cannot but be sympathetic to men, whose arduous way of life and demanding schedule of voyages may leave then tired from time to time we do not feel that so fundamental a matter as failure to batten down for sea cannot be excused.
The advice given in M. Notice No.666 remains as valid today , as it always was and just as vital to the safety of life at sea.?

That was taken from the report of the Court.
I was questioned at great detail by the various QC representing the DTI, the Ship owner, the QC representing the Captain and so on.
Some of the questions asked made me feel as if it was all my fault, I had a hard time trying to defend myself against some of the questions, especially from the QC representing the Company, James Fisher and Son.
I had 32 pages full of questions asked over two days. A quite stressful time.


I found the treatment of the bereaved families by James Fisher and Son, the ship owner was severely lacking.
One day I was in the hotel lobby, a young lady walked in and asked me if there was a Court of Inquiry going on here.
I said yes and that I was involved. She told me that her husband had died on the Pool Fisher. No one had informed her that there was an Inquiry.
She had read about it in the newspaper and had travelled to Blackpool from Bangor in North Wales to see what was happening as she could not get any information from anyone.
I took her in the bar to sit down and she told me her story.
When the ship went down the pay was stopped that day. She still had not received the wages he had earned before he had died. They had received Nothing.
She and her husband were buying a three bed roomed house overlooking the Menai Straits in North Wales. Now she could not pay the mortgage and so was evicted from her home, she had just given birth to her third baby just after the ship went down. They were dumped into a two bed Council flat.
Then three weeks ago, on the anniversary of the disaster, 6th of November 1980, her husbands Mother had taken a train down to Bournemouth, which overlooks the site of the sinking and then walked into the sea and was drowned. I was nearly in tears listening to her story, so sad.
I asked her if she had eaten that day, she replied no. so I then took her to the Restaurant, I was on expenses paid for by the Treasury Solicitor, I ordered an expensive wine and the best dinner for two, which we both enjoyed, a lovely lady who did not deserve the treatment off the ship owner and other authorities. Even though I was confined to the Hotel for the duration, I put her in my car and drove her to Preston rail station to get her train to Bangor. It was the least I could do for her.
The AB on watch with me on the Esso Penzance, Paddy Colgan was flown over from Dublin to give evidence. It was good to see him again as we were good mates at the time, a very funny man always laughing. He was now a taxi driver in Dublin.
He made the Court laugh when Mr Darling asked him if the Pool Fisher was on a reciprocal course to our ship. He replied, ?I don?t know about that Sor, but we wuz goin` one way and she was goin` the other?.
The two lads, Don and Mark, were also good company in the evenings, we would meet up in the bar, Mark had his mother with him, and they all had a good sense of humour.
I got to know Mark and Don quite well during that time, They both thanked me for informing Niton Radio of their position as the search was concentrated 25 miles away and they would have surely died if the search had not been brought up to their position.
Mark was also lucky on another occasion, after the sinking of the Pool Fisher, he went to the Shipping Pool in Liverpool and told them he wanted a Big Ship as the small ones sank under him.
They gave him a job on a 150, 000 ton bulk carrier by the name of `DERBYSHIRE`, he flew out to Yokohama in Japan to await her arrival. She did not arrive, she went down in a typhoon with all hands, 44 people died. After a week in a hotel there Mark was flown home again.

At the end of the Inquiry, many people had various misgivings about the verdict.
In many discussions afterwards, various theories were discussed.
Such as the water may have entered the hold from another way rather than through the hatch cover. She did hit the quay wall heavily in Hamburg and in a previous incident during 1979 had sprung the rivets, in No.1 hold, this being welded up at the time.
When she sailed she had a freeboard of only 1.7 feet on he forward well deck.
Some of the securing cleats were defective and this could be the cause of the wedges being forced out by the weather. Not all the required number of locking bars or wires were fitted to the hatch. Were there enough of these on board?

Don Crane had said he thought the ship was down by the head when she sailed from Hamburg, she was definitely down by the head when I saw her seven hours before she capsized.

There was a telephone call from the Master to the Company the day before she sank. The Coroner asked the Managing Director of James Fisher & Son,
If they kept records of all the phone calls from their Ship Masters, he replied Yes. The Coroner then asked him if he had a record of this phone call. The Managing Director, replied No.
So there was speculation among some people, What if the Captain had said he had problems with the ship and could he call into another port for shelter while they sorted out their problems with the trim or hatch covers and the Ship owner said No, get to Runcorn as soon as possible. He would therefore carry on and then capsize. ????
But this is only guessing and therefore cannot be used in a sensible argument.

Today the POOL FISHER lies in 40 metres of water, upside down with her bows broken off and standing on end. 6.7 miles SSW of St. Catherines Point.
I recieved an email from Mark`s sister Jackie, she told me that Mark later took up scuba diving and went back to dive on the Pool Fisher, Now that took some courage.


Brian Aspinall, captainkong@msn.com

[brian daley]

A harrowing read Brian, a lot of people out there will be surprised to read of the crews wages being stopped at the time of the ship sinking. The attitude that was prevalent at the time of the Titanic disaster was still manifest nearly 60 years later. Well written,I hope a lot of people read it.

[naked lilac]

Well, Captain Kong... First I want to say.. I thoroughly enjoy reading your Sea Adventures.. I think you should publish a book.. I really do.. a few books of your sea ventures... Very well documented.. and I can picture the seas fury and calmness and the youth and knowledge of all ranks on board.. Hats off to your stories... ta..

This terrible tradgic occurance of Life on the Pool Fisher is well written, and accounts of memories that one ,(as myself), can be thankful , that I was not on that ship, or a family member ..Glad two survived. Strong and brave and stories to ever be documented and told to their offspring..

Very sad they stopped the wages for the families..as these Hardy and brave men (with small pitence ) would send home to their loved ones... and this taking place in 1980..seems shameful..

Any more news of Mark and the other lad that survived? Did you ever hear about his scuba discovery? Or, do you stay in touch???

Yours truly.. naked lilac..Sailing on with your stories mate.. cheers:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[captain kong]

Thank you for your comments, Lilac, very encouraging.

Mark is now married with four children and is a scuba diver, He had to dive on the POOL FISHER as a mark of respect to his dead shipmates and I suppose to lay the ghosts in his own mind.
A very couragous act, I could not have done it.

Don Crane never went to sea again, he emmigrated to Canada, and is married there.
I recieved an email off him while I was on QE2 between Japan and Hawaii last March, the first contact in 28 years, I repiled but got no answer, I sent another one in the summer again no answer.

[Trader]

A sad and tragic tale Brian. I was unaware that wages were stopped when a ship sank in this day and age. I know that it happened in World War 2 but not these days.
I remember the Pool Fisher well as she used to run into Whitehaven from Casablanca with phosphate when I was on the Emerald (Robertsons of Glasgow) on the same run. We were on a Marchon Products charter, this was in 1960.
She was a good looking coaster, the only drawback were the hatch boards which, from your tale, were the death of her but also saved the lives of the two survivors.

Alec.

[captain kong]

Hi Alex,
from what I can figure out from all those years ago, was the Shipowner was waiting for a result from the Inquest and Court of Inquiry before committing themselves into paying. I have had no contact with any of the dependents since the Court was finished. So if they got back pay or compensation or not I dont know.

[captain kong]

10

EMPRESS OF FRANCE, EX DUCHESS OF BEDFORD.

She was launched as DUCHESS OF BEDFORD on 24th January1928 at John Browns on the Clyde and was 20,123 tons, one of four sisters, Athol Richmond and York of Canadian Pacific making her maiden voyage to Quebec on 1st June 1928.
She had an exciting life, she hit an iceberg on 13 July 1933 off Newfoundland without sustaining damage, In June 1939 she rescued 12 French seamen from a barquentine that had sunk from hitting an iceberg off the Newfoundland coast.
When war broke out in 1939 she was taken over and converted to a troopship, again she was lucky, she was known as `the most bombed ship still afloat`. During her wartime service she carried 179,000servicemen and civilians all over the world. And covered over 400,000 miles.
She survived when a stick of bombs exploded around her when she was anchored in the Mersey during the May Blitz in 1941
In Singapore in January 1942 she escaped as the Japs were inside the streets of the City with 850 women and children, She was damaged but made it to Java to land the passengers and escaped more serious damage from another air attack.
In August 1942 she sank a German U-Boat with her thirty year old six inch gun in the North Atlantic and was reported to have damaged another. Several awards were given for this action.
She was at the invasion of North Africa, Anzio and SalernoShe was the Headquarters ship at Salerno and survived heavy bombing and credited with shooting down a torpedo bomber.
She was presented with a plaque by the Russian Navy for repatriating thousands of Russian prisoners in Odessa in 1945
In 1947 she was returned to her owners and sent to John Browns Yard to be given a refit and to rejoin the Duchess of Richmond which became the Empress of Canada on the Liverpool Quebec service. The other two sisters did not survive the war. She was renamed Empress of India, but at that time India got its independence and so she was renamed again and called EMPRESS OF FRANCE. On 1st September 1948.
She did well to last 32 years of service until she was sent to the scrap yard in Newport South Wales after she returned from her last trip to Montreal on 7th December 1960. She was a popular ship with the Seamen,


VOYAGES ON THE EMPRESS OF FRANCE

I sailed on EMPRESS of FRANCE a few times. The first was on 15 February 1956 as Quartermaster.
We sailed from Liverpool for St Johns, New Brunswick, up the Bay of Fundy. The St Lawrence was still frozen over so we were unable to go to Montreal. What a depressing place St. Johns was, No bars, it had prohibition, there was one State controlled Liquor Store, but to buy a bottle you had to go to the Police Office and apply for a Liquor permit, where you were investigated and if your history was good then at the Chief of Police?s discretion you would be given a permit. This took a few days so it did not affect us. We had the Pig and Whistle onboard. There was nowhere to go to in St Johns but to `Gars Diner` which was just like a trading store, full of Tartan Lumber Jack shirts, hanging up and thick winter coats and furs and so on, a large coal bogey was in the middle and you could buy a coffee and sit around the bogey. That was the high light of St Johns. It was freezing there the temperature down to around twenty below zero, the roads ashore covered in thick ice.
St Johns has one of the highest rise and fall of tide around forty feet. So it was an uneventful voyage, we arrived in Liverpool and paid off on the 14th of March.
Next time I joined the Empress of France was on 10th of October 1958, then we were on the Quebec to Montreal run.
I liked Montreal, just cross the road was the Liverpool House, known as the House of Scouse, next door was the Seaman?s Mission where on a Sunday night they had the Bulova Watch Radio Show, We had a few bevies and then sing on the mike and they listeners would phone in with their comments and vote, the winner got a new Bulova Watch. Some like Joe Finnegan were very good and he would win every time, but others which I would be one would sing like tortured turkeys, quite funny sometimes.
Around the corner just off St Lawrence Boulevard was the Cafe Volquelin, or known as the Vokeland Club, It was full of women and dancing all through the night, some of the regular CPR lads got married to some of the girls there. Other good bars around there, all within a few minutes walk from the gangway was the Rodeo Bar, a Country and Western band was always on, Joe Beefs opposite the Cunard berth, and Ma the Greeks.
While we were there the temperature fell to over thirty below zero and the annual freeze up came a month early, the St Lawrence froze solid, Ice breakers tried hard to get at us and eventually did so and got us out into the River, which was solid ice for nearly 800 miles. About a dozen ships were trapped in Montreal for the duration, until the end of March.
We got off Quebec and could not go anywhere near the berth, we stayed in the middle of the River so the passengers were transported over the ice to us. While we were there a blizzard started and in an hour nearly four feet of snow was dumped on us, it was incredible to see, We were out on deck all the time. In those days we had no cold or heavy weather gear, I had a towel as a scarf and a blanket over my head with one of those old kapok life jackets that came down to your goolies over the top then lashed down. with hands and feet freezing we had to try to shift the snow and ice off the decks with shovels, a terrible job, the ice breakers continued to crack ice and tow us down River. It took us three days to get to the Gulf of St Lawrence. then we cracked our own ice then as it was a lot thinner until we passed Cape Race. That was a terrible winter. We arrived in Liverpool and three days later we loaded our passengers again at the Landing Stage and set off in December for St Johns, New Brunswick.
The weather across was diabolical, the worst of the Atlantic Hurricanes, The seas were enormous, the ship was doing somersaults, then the ports in the Sailors accommodation, right up forard, were smashed, lucky no one was killed as the thick glass was like shrapnel, flying around the cabin and penetrating right through the metal lockers. Seas began to pour through and the accommodation was flooded with more and more water cascading in. All hands were up and trying to jam mattresses and timber in the holes there was several feet of water in the focsle, we were soaking in freezing water. The Captain had the ship hove to until we could seal them off. Mean while Paddy, who was nice fella, but had terrible bad nerves was a screaming wreck, he had his life jacket on and went on the bridge and was walking up and down with the Captain talking for a while, He thinking Paddy was a passenger. Then Paddy started talking about the bad conditions in the focsle and the Captain realised that Paddy was a sailor. `Get Below` he screamed at Paddy.
We eventually sealed all the smashed Ports, the cabins were flooded and all our bunks and gear were wet, there wasn?t a lot anyone could do about it, Our wet gear was taken down to the Landry and the Steam queens dried it in their dryers,
A day later, the ship still doing somersaults, I was in the crows nest, up mast was like being on the end of a whip. being flung around the nest like a pea in a rattle, the ship healing over to 45 degrees, the there was a tremendous crash over my head, I thought the nest was going to fall to the deck, The yard above had come adrift and crashed on top of the nest before falling to the deck below with wires and halyards flashing past me. I was down the mast before it hit the deck.
I went through the accommodation and up the spiral stairs to the Bridge, `Kennel Captain ` I said, `did you see that? I was nearly killed then. ` So he said stay here until the end of your watch and we?ll get the Chippy and Bosun to check the nest to see if it?s OK. The nest was found to be OK, nest lookouts continued, The Yard which was made of steel and about a foot in diameter and about twenty five feet in length was lashed on deck where it had landed, it weighed a couple of tons.
It was moved by the derricks in St John to the rails and lashed there until we got back to Liverpool where it was repaired and hoisted back in position.
We arrived in St Johns much to our relief, we had no sleep for a few days. It was still freezing there temperature down to around thirty below zero. In the Cabins, the outside bulkhead had frozen, all the moisture from breath and around us was freezing on it and the ice was a couple of inches thick. It was like living in a Fridge. The toilets were always freezing up that was another big problem,
While we were in St John it was almost Christmas, we were due to sail for Liverpool on the 23rd of December, We had a big Christmas Dinner, we were invited to use the passengers dining room and all the Officers waited on us, I still have the Special Menu, there was also free wine with the dinner and free ale. and a good show was put on later by all the `Queens` dressed up in their fine dresses. So we had a good Christmas before sailing back across the wild Western Ocean.
We heard on the Canadian Radio, that the crews of the 12 ships that were stranded in Montreal had been invited by the Mayor of Montreal to a big Christmas Dinner in a Hotel in the City. the dinner ended up in a riot as different nationalities fought each other after consuming too much free ale. The Police and Fire Department had to be called and there was a siege with a big battle to get them out. So I guess we were lucky not to have been there.
We arrived in Liverpool and paid off on the 30th of December 1958.

I was on the Seamen?s Strike in July 1960, and when the strike finished in August I had to go in front of a Committee at the Pool and I was suspended, no jobs. I was broke, not a penny to my name, sleeping in the Church doorway on Park Lane, and begging for `sixpence for a cup of tea mate.` `eff off.`
I walked it home to Bolton once , it took me nearly 20 hours to do the thirty five miles all through the night, I stopped at a building site, with a night watchman?s hut with the old coke brazier outside, he gave me a butty and a mug of tea, then I carried on. I stayed home for a couple of weeks and Dad gave me a few bob for the train fare to Liverpool again. and enough to stay at the Sailors Home for a few nights. There was no Benefit System in those days. If you had been on strike there was nothing.
Then I was getting desperate, Charlie Rep and Mr Griffiths in the Pool didn?t want to know. I went down to the landing Stage one day, 1st of October 1960, I saw the Empress of France alongside the Stage getting ready for a voyage to Montreal.
I went to have a look to see if there was anyone I knew. I knew my younger brother, John was on it, he was 16 and a Deck Boy. I thought maybe he has got a sub so he could give me a few pounds. but I never saw him, must have been working.
I saw a fella stood on the Stage and he had the coloured signing on papers from the Pool in his hand.
I went to him, `Are you the stand by man` he answered `Yes`. Have you been on it before? ` I asked, `No` said he.
`I have been on it a few times and she is no good, bad news, the Bosun is a a maniac, goes round battering everyone every day, Martin Quinn, have you heard of him?` the lad said `Yes`. So I said `If I was you I would go and tell the Pool tomorrow they didnt want anyone, you will still get your days pay for it. ` `Good idea, ` he said, `didnt want to sail tonight anyway`. So the lad cleared off. Ten minutes later, Martin?s head appeared at the top of the Gangway, `Any stand By men there`?, he shouted. `Yes me ` `Come aboard, ` he recognised me. `Get down to the Pursers Office and sign on`, I went down there gave the Purser my Discharge Book, `Where are your Pool Papers`, I felt around my pockets, `Dunno ` I grunted. Must have lost them, ` `Never mind just sign the Articles and get ready for sailing`. I signed on and went forard. found a cabin with a spare bunk, six men to a cabin on that one. I had no gear at all just what I stood up in. not even a change of Skiddies or a tooth brush, I had some bits of gear at the Sailors Home but couldn?t go back for them as Big Martin was shouting , `Fore and Aft. Stations. At last I had got a job.
We let go and swung the ship around and sailed down the Mersey bound for Quebec and Montreal.
I was 8 to 12 watch Look out man, two hours on Lookout and two hours below. In the evening watch 8 to 12 I was lookout from 8pm to 10 pm, all hands were in the Pig at this having a pint so the good thing about having a little brother Deck Boy on board is, "Come `ere lad, to be a good Sailor you have to go aloft and also learn how to do a good look out." So he did my lookout. At 10 pm my Relief was in the Pig saying, "Who?s on Lookout"? ``Ar Kid, `" Oh he?ll be OK then." and the lad was up there until midnight every night. He was not amused, only the other day in the Eldonian Club, 48 years later, he was still complaining about it.

On the Newfoundland Banks one night the was a jolt and the ship healed over for a minute and then back on an even keel again. No one saw anything, nothing on Radar, the lookout and Officers of the watch saw nothing in the darkness.
When we got into the St Lawrence River to shallower water the ship started to pull over to starboard, so at Father Point, where we put the mail ashore in a tender, we anchored and they got a boat with divers to go down and have a look. They came up and said 40 feet of starboard bilge keel was hanging down and scraping on the river bed. The Derricks at number two hatch were rigged and topped, we sent the runners with slings down and the Divers with cutting gear burned off the bilge keel. We heaved away and landed 40 feet of bilge keel on the foredeck. Amazing. They thought that when we heeled over that night we had hit a small iceberg that was almost level with the sea and it sliced off the keel.
The bilge keel was about two feet wide and 2 inches thick. Another couple of inches it could have been another TITANIC job.
We made Montreal after a short stop at Quebec, I got a big sub and went ashore up St Lawrence Boulevard to the shops and bought some gear, a change of skids and tee shirts, thick warm Canadian lumber jack shirts. and shaving gear and tooth brushes and paste. I felt almost human after a shave and a good brush of the teeth and a change of clothes.
We were in the House of Scouse one night having a bevy, Martin Quinn was sat at another table with the Chippy and a Bosuns Mate. The French Canadian Dockers hated Martin, he had given them a hard time over the years he had been going there, Then Martin went to the Gents, and four Dockers with their hand hooks over their shoulders followed him in. Then there were all kinds of banging, screams and shouts, more banging then silence. Kinnell, Martins been killed, a minute later Martin opened the door and walked out and sat at his table with his mates. and had a beer, the dockers never came out. Hard man, Martin.
Home ward bound a bedroom steward staggered into the Pig for a bevy, he was plainly knackered, He said he had a cabin with four female Canadian School Teachers in. Every day he had to service each one. If he didn?t they would report him for sexual harassment, He had to spread it out during the day so he could have a breather between each one and get his strength up again. He had loads of volunteers to help out but he said it was only him they wanted. They were on a sex marathon trip. I guess some guys get all the luck. I don?t know if he got a good tip at the end of the voyage when they got off at Liverpool.
We arrived back in Liverpool and paid off on the 25th of October, Six weeks later Empress of France was finished after 32 years good service. They don?t make ships like that anymore. Sayonara, Adious, and good bye.
After my leave I went back to the Pool and saw Charlie Rep, `How did you get on the France`? he said. So I said , "You gave me a job last time I came in, don?t you remember?, ` OK then here is the MEMPHIS, a Medi boat, six weeks down the Med and back, I couldn?t believe it, I thought he would get me a two year job on a Baron boat So I was back on the Pool again




Here is a view from the crows nest on the EMPRESS of FRANCE while doing her somersaults.
taken with my old 1930s Box Camera





[captain kong]

[

[Tabnab]

I well remember Gar's Diner. what a weird place St. John's was, it reminded me of the sets of the Keystone cops. The police wore long coats and helmets and carried nightsticks. The whole population seemed to be interbred, and probably were.
It was so bloody cold I remember going ashore and the haircream I had froze on my hair!

Happy days Brian.

[captain kong]

Yes it was the most dismal and depressing place on the planet, A big night out, sat around the coal bogie in Gars drinking coffee. Temperature 30 below freezing.
The second most dismal place was Halifax, NS. At least they had a couple of bars, but what dismal bars they were.
Six of us went ashore there. In a bar, giant Bartenders, No Standing, No more than four to a table, No talking in a loud voice, No talking to the next table. Just sit and drink in silence.The Bar tenders stood over you, they served you so you didnt stand up.
Four of us sat on one table the other two sat on the next, No talking.
I have never been back since 1961. No intention of going back there.
So, So depressing.
maybe it was the inter breading.

[captain kong]

I joined the Esso Yorkshire, a 90,000 ton tanker, in San Francisco, in January 1975, with my brother, John, who is now the brewer from Knowlsley. The lad who was paying off was just leaving the cabin as I moved in .
He said you won`t get much sleep in here it`s Effing haunted. I just laughed thinking that he was joking.
It started on the first night at sea as we sailed across the Pacific for the Gulf , a 42 day trip.
I was 4 to 8 watch and at midnight the cabin lights came on and there was a guy wearing a white boiler suit, Esso logo, but face was just like a mist. He grabbed my leg and heaved me out of my bunk and I crashed onto the deck, I shouted and got to my feet and he was gone,
I legged it up to the mess room and the only guy around was the 12 -4 standby man, smoking a ciggy and drinking coffee, "Some ba*t*rd has pulled me from my bunk" I said " Have you seen any one?" He replied no, he had been there all alone.
On watch at 4am I told the Mate all about it, he had known about it but there were no spare cabins on board as we had 12 NIKO workers on board doing maintenance .so I would have to stay there.
This went on for several nights and my brother who had the cabin next door woke up one night and saw a man in a white boiler suit walk through his cabin door and then he heard the shouting and banging coming from my cabin, the coward legged it up to the mess room and stayed there for night , he did not come in to see what was happening to me.
The ghost could pick me up as if I was completely weightless and throw me across the cabin at the formica bulkhead and bounce me off it, The bulkheads were all badly cracked.. Then one night he got my ankle and twisted it round and heaved me out including the mattress and crashed me onto the deck and broke my ankle, the cabin was completely wrecked and I was lying there in screaming agony, My brother legged it up and got the Mate and the Captain and they were horrified at the destruction of the cabin and what they saw. Though they had known about it they didn`t realise how bad it was, .
The Captain said he could not log it as no one in the Office would believe it so he said he would log it as if I had fallen down a ladder. My ankle was strapped up with elastic bandages. I was off watch and laid up. I stayed up all night until about 2am to give the ghost time to sort himself out. I wasn?t in the bunk at midnight.
The Captain went through the old Log Books and discovered that a man, who was on the 8 to 12 watch had received a dear John letter from his wife and so he hung himself. in the cabin. So every night at just after midnight this man`s ghost was going to turn in and I was in his bunk.
At Ras Tannurah 3 weeks later I went to the hospital; and had it x rayed and it seemed that it had healed OK and I was kept on light duties on day work for another two weeks just to make sure it had healed. We sailed for Guam in the Mariannas. When I got to Guam, I got a telegram to say my dear old Dad had died. The haunting stopped after that. So maybe Dad had a word with this guy.

[Waterways]

I joined the Esso Yorkshire, a 90,000 ton tanker

That looks a pretty old ship in design. It was built in 1963 in Sweden. At that time few new tankers had mid-ship accommodation - all being aft.

http://www.allatsea.cx/images/ships/Esso%20Yorkshire.jpg

[captain kong]

Hi, Thanks for the photo, I have saved it to my ships file, I didnt have one of her.
The Esso Yorkshire was scrapped a few months after I was on her. It was sold to some Greeks and renamed Petrola 17 or something like that then scrapped in Taiwan.

[Waterways]

I have just finished writing about the POOL FISHER, that sank with the loss of 13 people.

The skipper was a fool. he should have ensured he cargo was properly and evenly loaded and when in clear trouble put into the nearest port.

The heavies from Esso (Exxon). You were sworn to tell the truth on oath in court. So what the hell could they do to stop you talking? What were Esso afraid of? It wasn't their ship. It wasn't their mistake or loss. An Esso ship assisted and plotted their correct course too. Very odd.

Where they from Liverpool? If not they would be very silly to threaten a Liverpudlian. Scousers have long memories and can act years later and few people are not traceable. Esso sound like what they are, a scumbag of multi-national company thinking they are law unto themselves.

Did the wives get the husbands pay? Did you mention that in court? I would have. BTW, my uncle's pay was stopped the hour the ship sunk in WW2. The same with Royal Navy crew who died at sea.

One kid sunk and missed the Derbyshire too. Wow! Third time may not be so lucky.

They sent min-subs down to the Derbyshire to see why she sunk.

[captain kong]

Hi Waterways,
Yes I agree that the Mate and Master should have made sure that the cargo was trmmed level before sailing and that the hatches were battened down with the required number of locking bars in position. If there was a problem with the ship`s trim then he should have gone to shelter, he could have gone to an anchorage in the Downs, in the lee from the westerly gales or into the anchorage at Bembridge in St Helens Roads, in the lee of the Isle of Wight.
Many Ship Masters are under terrible pressure to maintain schedules regardless, by the owners, and do not stand up to the Man in the safety of his office hundreds of miles away. I have had the same pressures but never took any notice, my safety and the safety of the men on my ship were always paramount. I was not very popular in the office, but we are all still here.
The ESSO "Security" men, were like someone from the CIA. At the time they didnt want anyone to speak to the press, TV, Radio, and newspapers. I was told I shouild not have got involved.
When I went to Court, then I was not interfered with. So all my answers were the truth as I was under oath.
In Court, I answered over three hundred questions. 304 to be precise. over a period of three days.
As regards the payments of the wages that had been stopped, I believe at the time, the Ship owner was waiting until there was a verdict both from the Inquest and the Court of Inquiry before settling any monies owed.
Since then, 29 years ago, I have not met or heard from any of the dependants involved, I only know what they told me at the time of the Court hearings. I should imagine that the wages owed were paid out eventually, tho` they should not have had to wait. and the expenses should have been paid to them when they were summoned to the Inquest, instead of having to beg from the friends and neighbours.
I do not know if there was any compensation paid for the loss of life.
Don Crane never went back to sea, he emmigrated to Canada and is now married over there. Mark Fooks didnt go back to sea again after the Derbyshire incident. another close call. He took up scuba diving and dived on the wreck of the Pool Fisher, which took a lot of courage.

[Waterways]

The ESSO "Security" men, were like someone from the CIA. At the time they didnt want anyone to speak to the press, TV, Radio, and newspapers. I was told I shouild not have got involved.


Not get involved when people's lives are in danger at sea? It is your duty to get involved. You saved the lives of two men. Did you tell them to eff off and walk out? I would have. At that point they would not dare lay a finger on you. Sacking you would have brought in he TV and press.



When I went to Court, then I was not interfered with. So all my answers were the truth as I was under oath.

In Court, I answered over three hundred questions. 304 to be precise. over a period of three days.


Did you mention the Esso men?



As regards the payments of the wages that had been stopped, I believe at the time, the Ship owner was waiting until there was a verdict both from the Inquest and the Court of Inquiry before settling any monies owed.


Did the union get involved about this? They should have paid up to that point. They had no need to withhold payment, as the work had been done by the men.

[captain kong]

Hi Waterways,
By gum you are giving me a hard time over this.
It was Twenty Nine Years ago, and I cannot remember every single detail.
A lot of water has passed under the keel since then.

I think the National Union of Seamen delegate was there at the Inquest. I dont recall seeing him at the Court Of Inquiry. What he did to help the dependants or the two lads who survived, I do not know. I wasnt a member of the NUS
The NSU was not the best of Unions, it was certainly a little corrupt at times.
I have never ever had any joy with complaints in previous years when I was a member. The NUS does not excist anymore.

Most of the people involved with this case have probably died, retired or moved to different parts of the world by now living new lives.
Esso does not have any ships anymore, they ceased to be ship owners about 15 years ago. so all the Office staff and seafaring staff will have been dead, retired or shuffled around in other means of employment.

When you stand in the dock at a Court of Inquiry with three Judges and questioned by them and several Queens Councils, they control everything. You just do as they order you to do.
They had all my statements and diagrams that I had done on board so maybe there was a mention of the Esso Security Men. Maybe it had no relevence to as to WHY the ship sank. That was the whole point of the Inquiry, to find the cause. Also it is very difficult to "walk out" when your on a ship in mid voyage. Not like "walking out" of a factory. Different ball game.


I was going to write about the `BOWBELLE` -- `MARCHIONESS`, disaster, that I was sort of involved with, but I dont think I will now. it still has legal complications.

[brian daley]

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had met a man in Birminghamwho was researching the seafaring activities of his ancestors in the 19th century.
During the course of our conversation he stated that shipping losses were so great in mid nineteenth century that an average of 30 ships a month were lost around our shores. At the time I was a little sceptical, 360 ships sunk a year,made the losses of the Armada look like small fry.I was given a book on maritime disasters when I was up in Liverpool this weekend,what I read in it was quite shocking,the average loss rate around the British coast was over a 1000 ships a year and the lives lost ran into many hundreds each year too. In 1852 1,115 ships were lostand over 900 hundred lives. A single January gale ,which lasted 5 days claimed 257 ship ships and 486 lives. The worst year was 1864 -1,741 ships lost and 516 lives. A lot of ship masters used to have their families with them and their wives and children perished with them. That old hymn "For those in peril on the sea" had a much greater relevance in those long ago days.

[Waterways]

You may find a significant, but far from the majority, were insurance scams. Setting fire to warehouses was quite common. Hence the fireproof Albert Dock.

The insurance companies pressed for ship seaworthy inspections and qualifications of masters and crews, lighthouses, and other safety measures. Very little came from the ship owners.

Until rail expanded, goods were transported around the coasts. and up rivers as far as they could sail. Rail reduced dramatically the number of coasters.

London until recently was supplied with vegetables and coal by coasters along the east coast. Liverpool was fed from mainly inland, and the port was bigger than London in import-export goods. Feeding London by ship gave the impression London was a far more important port than it actually was.

[brian daley]

Waterways,Liverpool was noted for its' coffin ships ,insurance scams ,crimps Shanghai merchants ,in fact Liverpool was a very dangerous place for a young man to get drunk in. When time permits I will expand on the notorious dives and shanghai palaces that infested this once great port. There is a wonderful tale of brigandage ,banditry ,harlotry and bacchannalia that helped form the Scouse nation. I will endeavour to enlarge upon it in the coming period

[captain kong]

Here is a sad story, on Saturday 13th of December, it is the 55th anniversary of Ken Hignett of Birkenhead being drowned and of me being rescued by a South African lad. Here is the story of that sad day.

I was on the NEW ZEALAND STAR, sailed from Liverpool on November 13 , 1953, bound for Cape Town, the Cape coast to Mozambique and then across to New Zealand.
we left Port Elizabeth and we sailed round to East London arriving there on the Saturday morning, 12th of December. We sailed up the Buffalo River and moored starboard side to at the bottom of the bluff to discharge.
After we had finished topping derricks ready for discharging, the Padre, Mr McCulloch, from the Seamens Mission came on board and told us there was a dance at the Mission that night and on Sunday 13th of December there would be a coach trip up the coast to Bonza Bay and a picnic on the beach with the girls from the Mission. It sounded good so we all booked for it.
It was Saturday afternoon so I showered and changed and went ashore to have a look around East London. It was a nice quiet little town with one main street, Oxford Street which ran the full length of town. I called in a few bars and had a few beers up and down Oxford Street and after a while I decided to go to the Mission to meet up with the rest of the crowd at the dance. I got on a bus as I was a long way off by this time. The bus had a door at the front to get on and a door at the back to get off. When I got on the bus it was full so I had to stand and as more and more people got on I was moved further and further towards the back door which was open due to the hot weather. As we neared the Mission at the bottom of Oxford Street near to Buffalo Street, the bus took a sharp right hand bend and I shot through the back door and bounced along the road and ended up in the gutter covered in dust.
I lay there for a few minutes trying to figure out where I was, then I climbed to my feet and dusted myself down, there was nothing broken and no blood so I staggered into the Mission to clean myself up.
None of the Sailors were in there except the Deck Boy, I asked him where they were and he told me they were in the pub just around the corner of Buffalo Street.
I met Ronnie Vickers and Ken Hignett with some of the other lads in there. After a few more drinks the three of us got up to sing, we sang `I Believe` and `Answer Me`, all new songs that year by Frankie Lane. The girls in the pub were screaming and we felt like Pop Stars, by the end of the evening Ken and I had got friendly with two girls and invited them back on board the ship for a drink.
They had never been on a ship before, but as they walked along the deck one was saying to the other , ?Mind that ring bolt and the purchase on that guy needs to be tightened, watch that cargo runner.?
We took them into my cabin on the poop. When we got in there all hands started to come in and cases of beer appeared and a party began, all we wanted was a quiet drink with the girls . After a while Paddy Penson started to mess around with the girl I was with and she slapped his face, he belted her across her face so I thumped him and a big fight started in the cabin with everyone thumping each other and the girls were screaming, It was a shambles and the cabin was wrecked.
Eventually Ken and I got the girls out and took them ashore, we got a taxi and took them home. We apologised for what had happened, they were OK and we arranged to meet them the following day, Sunday afternoon.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 13, 1953.

The coach arrived at the gangway to pick us all up and take us to Bonza Bay, about 15 miles up the coast.
Ken and I were supposed to meet the two girls in the afternoon at 2pm but we decided to go to Bonza Bay instead and then meet them in the evening, as we knew where they lived. That was a decision that was to have fatal consequences.
When we got on the coach there were about a dozen Mission girls with large picnic hampers, so it looked as though we were going to have a good day out.
When we arrived at Bonza Bay we went into a hut and changed into our swimming togs and when we came out the girls were setting out the food for the picnic
On the way down the beach to the sea the girls shouted dont be long as the food would be ready in a few minutes and also beware of the currents, there is a strong under tow there. As Ronnie Vickers, Ken Hignett and I walked towards the sea I remember saying , "There is three of us going out and only two coming back" I dont know why I said it.
We were enjoying ourselves jumping around in the surf, it felt good to be away from the ship, when Ken said he had a problem and wanted to get out. He asked me to help him up to the beach, I thought he was a bit nervous as he couldnt swim and didnt want to get out of his depth, the water was waist deep at the time.
So I held his right arm and Ronnie held his left and we walked towards the beach when I noticed we were walking backwards with the undertow and the steeply shelving sand and getting deeper all the time. Next a huge wave hit us and knocked us under and when we surfaced we could not feel the bottom with our feet, then another wave hit us and swirled us under again. When we surfaced I realised we were in trouble. Ronnie and I were swimming hard holding onto Ken`s arms urging him to swim as I had been trying to teach him last Sunday in Cape Town. He wasnt doing too badly but we started to get hammered by a succession of bigger and bigger waves and we were being carried quite fast further out to sea. We were really in trouble now. I shouted to Ronnie to swim ashore and get some help which did, it was a long hard swim for him to to get back to the beach.
I was holding onto Ken swimming as hard as I could but the waves were getting bigger and more frequent, knocking us under and swirling us over and over, like being inside a washing machine, it was a long hard struggle. I could feel cramp coming on in my arms and legs and I thought we were done for.
Then clouds covered up a clear blue sky, the wind increased in strength, the waves were getting bigger and it started to rain.
After what seemed to be an eternity I saw Dennis `Mo` Riley, one of our sailors, swimming towards us. Ronnie must have made it back to the beach and raised the alarm. `Mo` grabbed hold of Ken and then we were hit by another giant of a wave and tumbled us around, it was like being inside a washing machine, and when I surfaced I could see `Mo` and Ken about 15 yards away. I tried to swim towards them but I was getting weak and the cramps in my arms and legs were getting worse and I could not use them, I had swallowed a lot of water and was convinced I was going to die, I was scared. I heard Ken`s voice, shouting "Help, help, help," Then we all disappeared under a wave of raging foam.
After several minutes I rose up on a crest of a wave and in the distance I could see ?Mo` standing waist deep on a sand bank a few hundred yards off shore, hanging on to Ken who was lying down in the water, I saw a big wave hit them and they disappeared. I tried to swim towards them but seemed to be going further away with the current.
Later `Mo` told me that Ken was unconscious then and when he found him again he thought he was dead. He was holding on to him when they were hit by another big wave and then he lost him and couldnt find him again.
Meanwhile I was struggling to stay afloat, my arms and legs were dead and my vision was going and I was under water more and more as I was pounded by the waves, I knew then what it was like to die, I was in a no survive situation.
Then suddenly, as if by a miracle, I was grabbed by a lad in a harness and life buoy and we were being towed towards the beach. The lad`s name was David Brinton, a 15 year old South African school boy. I was carried up the beach where I collapsed and some one gave me artificial respiration. As I awoke I heard someone say that Ken had drowned. It was a terrible shock. The three of us had tried so hard to save him but the sea had beaten us. I felt really bad as if I had failed him. I had done my best but it wasnt enough and for a long time I felt a lot of guilt and it was a long time before I could come to terms with his death.
The Padre, Mr McCulloch, and one of the young ladies from the Mission, put me into his Land Rover and took me to Hospital where I was put to bed and given tablets which knocked me out for a few hours, then the Padre took me back to the New Zealand Star.
Some of the lads met me on the after deck and as I walked aft I noticed the Red Ensign flying at half mast, that was really sad.
I went to bed, taking some more tablets and told to stay there for about two days.
At 5.30 am next morning, Monday, the Bosun `Mad` McAskill crashed into the cabin,. "Get up you Liverpool *******s, turn to"??????.
I don?t remember getting up but I was on an electric chipping hammer scaling rust off the bulkheads amidships. I was in a total daze.
Rosemary Garfield Todd, the daughter of the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, a passenger, saw me on the chipping hammer and could see I was not at all well so she complained to Captain Rhodes. She stopped me from chipping and took me down aft to my cabin and put me to bed. `Mad` McAskill was not amused, I could hear him shouting ?Liverpool *******?.
At 2pm I was called from my bunk again , the Police were on board and they wanted statements for the Inquest. `Mo` Riley, Ronnie Vickers and I went amidships to the ships office and had to tell the Policeman everything that had happened regarding Ken`s death, which was quite a harrowing experience. After making our statements, the three of us went ashore and had a few beers in a pub on Oxford Street. On the way we bought a newspaper, The Daily Dispatch and the story they printed was completely different to what had really happened. So after a few beers we went down to the Newspaper Office and saw the Editor and put the story right.
That evening there was a Service for Ken at the Seamens Mission, which was very sad.
Tuesday 15 December, we completed discharging and battened down, dropping the derricks and cast off and sailed round to Durban arriving on Thursday morning.
On Friday, December 18, we heard that Ken`s body had been washed up on the beach and that the Seamens Mission was going to do the funeral and have him buried in the East Cemetery in East London.
Ken was 20 years old and lived at Mill Cottage, Mill Lane, Birkenhead.
I wrote a Poem of the East London Events,.

In 1953 on the New Zealand Star
In East London we did stay
but Ken Hignett and I
didn`t know he would die
on some beach called Bonza Bay.

The story began
when the Mission Man
said he would take us away for the day
so all of us went off on his bus
to a beach called Bonza Bay

When Ken jumped in
he just couldn`t swim
and the tide soon carried him away.
Though I struggled and tried
Ken drowned and then died
near a beach called Bonza Bay

Then I was seen on a wave
by a lad named Dave
who swam out to get me away
and through struggle and strife
that lad saved my life
on a beach called Bonza Bay

When Ken washed ashore
his life was no more
six days since he got swept away
and he lay all alone
on the the sand and the stone
on a beach called Bonza Bay

So they buried Ken in a Sailors grave
at a place where the palm trees sway,
on a foreign strand
in a far off land
near a beach called Bonza Bay

It`s been 50 years
since the grief and the tears
and in the time that I was away
I found Ken`s Grave
and the man named Dave
near a beach called Bonza Bay




More to come on the voyage of the New Zealand Star, but first I shall tell of the ongoing tale of Ken`s death.

When my mate, Ken Hignett was drowned in South Africa, I tried to save him but he died and I lost his body. I was rescued by a South African lad.
When I arrived home three months later I went to see Ken`s sister Molly, a nice young lady, and she wanted to know what had happened, the Ship owner just tells the basic, "Your Ken is dead, drowned", as brief as that. I think she felt a little better knowing what happened and how we had struggled to save him. They had just suffered a couple of tragedies in the family as well around the same time.
I was home for a few days when I was awakened one night by my bedroom door opening and shutting, Ken was stood at my bedside, he offered me a ciggy, it was silent , he never spoke, then my mother shouted to me, "What are you doing out of bed," The door opened and shut again, He was gone. I told her what I had seen , She had heard the door. The next night I threw my little brother out of his bed room and I went into his, and he into mine. The next night I had the same performance and mother heard the door opening and shutting again. he was there at the bed side and offered me a ciggy, mother shouted and then he was gone. It felt as though he was trying to say, Thanks.
Three years later October 1956, I was in East London again in the Eastern Cape, on the Duedin Star, only had a couple of hours before we sailed again, I went to the West Cemetery to find his grave, we searched all over then we met a man who was just sitting on a bench, he said, ?Who are you looking for?? , we told him, `Ken Hignett,` he said ?You are in the wrong cemetery, he is on the other side of town in the East Cemetery". Then he said , "My son saved a lad that day", I said , "Is he David Brinton," he said "Yes". so I said , "I am the lad he saved". I was stunned, and walked away and left him, I forgot to ask for his address.
I had to get back to the ship, I was amazed that I had gone 7000 miles to the wrong cemetery and the only person I saw was the father of the lad who saved my life three years earlier.
For a few years I tried to find David Brinton to thank him for saving my life. I wrote to the South African newspapers, including East London`s Daily Dispatch. but to no avail. I phoned the Salvation Army in Johannesburg, they have a fantastic tracing people reputation , but they referred me to London. I tried them and was told they only trace family members. I told them the story and asked if they could make an exception, I also told them I was a member of the Salvation Army when I was a lad, a "Little Sunbeam". no less. They said they would see what they could do. The only information I had was, he was 15 years old in 1953 and his name, David Brinton. Africa is a big place to trace people with that amount of information .
In 2001 I decided to go to East London to try to find him myself. it was a quest I knew I had to do.
Two days before we were sailing to Cape Town on the QE2 The telephone rang, it was the Salvation Army in London, they had found him. "Where in East London?" I asked, No he is in Stranraer, Scotland, they gave me his phone number and I phoned him. It was fantastic to be able to thank him for saving my life. He had lived there for 17 years after leaving South Africa he had gone to Rhodesia [Zimbabwe ]then to Scotland.
Anne and I went to Cape Town on QE2, and then we flew to East London to find Ken`s grave.
We checked into a hotel and a South African family who had read my emails on the internet met us and took us to the grave.
The cemetery was silent, not a sound. As Anne and I approached the grave, The screams coming out of the grave were terrible, I was shocked, Anne `s face turned white and was visibly shocked. The noise of a demented soul, we walked back and it stopped, silent. As we walked forward again the noise started again. There were no words , just an out of this world noise, which had a meaning, like, .. why have I been here so long, no one has been to see me and so on. I could walk into and out of this sound like walking in and out of a large bubble over the grave, His spirit was definitely there and in anguish as if he was tied there with no escape.
I laid a Merchant Navy wreath that I had brought from England, on his grave. I got my camera but it would not work, nothing. So I got my video camera and that would not work,, I was very upset and disturbed by all these happenings, It should have been a happy day, that I had found him and laid a wreath on the grave.
We went back to the hotel , the camera worked, the video camera worked, nothing wrong with them.
The following day, the South African friends took us to Bonza Bay, even though it was 48 years later everything was still the same as it was. What scared me was, a sign on the Surfer`s hut, ?Beware of the Great White Shark?. Bonza Bay was a favourite place of the shark and it amazed me that we were never attacked when we were there all those years ago.

Two days later we were going to the Airport to fly to Cape Town, I was not happy and very disturbed, it should not be like this. I couldnt go home not knowing what was going on there. So I told the taxi driver to go back to the cemetery.
When we got back to the grave , all was silent and peaceful. I took the photos, the camera worked and also the video camera worked OK ,
He had gone, gone to Fiddlers Green, where all good Sailors go. He had been released.
I felt good again as if a load had been taken off my shoulders. The trip had been worth while.

We sailed back to England on the `Caronia`, and when we arrived home I had a phone call from Esther Rantzen, a TV Presenter from the BBC. She had heard of the story and wanted me to go to the London BBC studios and tell it on TV on the `Esther Show`. So on 14 February 2002, Anne and I went to London, expenses paid, a Limo waiting at Euston Station for us and then to the studios.
I was taken to the make up room and sat with a few TV Celebs and had a make over, lip stick, and make up over my face and my eyebrows darkened. I was then interviewed by Esther on stage with a studio audience, and told them all about the tragedy and my search for David Brinton, Esther said have you ever met him?, I said `no`, so she said , `well here he is`, and David walked onto the stage. it was another fantastic moment to be able to shake his hand and thank him. after more than 48 years. We went into the green room after the show and partook of the free bar, Later David had to go back to Scotland for his business and I stayed. That evening the BBC Staff poured me into a Limo and took us to our hotel in Kensington . I went into the bar there and ordered a couple of drinks for us both. A lot of men were smiling and winking at me, I thought, what friendly people there are in London.
Later I went to our room and shock horror, I still had my make up on. They must thought I was a wufter.
I keep in touch with David and always phone him or go to Stranraer on December 13.
We talked later and he told me his father had died in a car crash in October 1956, around the time I spoke to him. So was he a ghost that we met????
Ken was 20 years old, and lived at Mill Cottage, Mill Road, Birkenhead.

Ken, me, Mo Riley bottom. the rescue, Me at Ken`s grave, on November 13 2001.

[M6AJJ]

Fascinating story, thanks so much for sharing.

[captain kong]

http://beyondships.com/QM2-refit-1.html
HIT THE LINK

[bangorreg]

1911: Aviator lands on ship
Aviator Eugene B. Ely landed his aircraft on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania today, becoming the first to make a shipboard landing."When Ely touched the deck he was going about 35 miles an hour, but so gradually was the speed checked by the dragging of weighted ropes, as they were caught in succession, that he came to a standstill without disarranging any part of the machine," reported the Warren Evening Mirror on January 19, 1911. NOTE: Just two months earlier, Ely had also become the first to take off from a ship's platform. Both flights were done to explore possible uses of aviation within the Navy.
Acknowledgement newspaper Archives
Reg

[captain kong]

For those readers who do not know what the Training ship Vindicatrix is or was, here is a short history of the ship. We now have a `TS VINDICATRIX ASSOCIATIOON` and we meet up in Sharpness Gloucestershire every August for the Re-union. On average there is usually around 800 men turn up from around the world and spend the weekend swinging the lamp, getting bevied, and generally enjoying ourselves. It was formed in 1993 100 years after she was built as the Arranmore, She was a full rigged three masted ship.As the Vindicatrix these masts were cut down in size, she was moored in the Sharpness - Gloucester Canal.
Vindi is short for Vindicatrix, or more precisely, the TS Vindicatrix and its Associations. The members of the Association are mostly British ex merchant seaman who, between September 1939 and December 1966, undertook training at the National Sea Training School in Sharpness, Gloucestershire on the TS Vindicatrix. It is widely believed that there were approximately 70,000 boys aged 15 and 16 who passed through this training school. Those who survived World War II and those who came after have now formed a number of Associations around the world, the purpose of which is to rekindle memories and re-establish friendships forged by those who attended the TS Vindicatrix and who are affectionately known world-wide as the "Vindi Boys".




Vindi, is the abbreviated name of the Training Ship Vindicatrix, the hulk of a once proud sailing ship called Arranmore. Built of steel, with iron rivets, and with a displacement of 1946 tons, Arranmore sailed on her maiden voyage on October 30, 1893, a voyage that would eventually take eighteen months, round the Horn to Frisco Bay. On one voyage she was dismasted off the Horn and had to make her way back to the Falkland Islands for repair. In 1903 she was anchored in Algoa Bay, near Port Elizabeth, South Afric a, and during a great storm a Steam ship dragged anchor and collided with Arranmore ripping off her bow sprit and figure head, known as Mrs Drysdale, the owners wife, the Figurehead landed on the deck of the steamer, then the Arranmore sank. She was later refloated and patched up and then began the longest tow in history at that time. She was towed over 7000 miles to Scotland where she was built and rerigged and put to sea again. On August 11 1909 Arranmore sailed from Mejillones Chile, to Falmouth in the UK, rounding the Horn for the last time under the Red Ensign.

Purchased by German owners in late December 1909, she was renamed Waltraute.
Sustaining heavy damage during a storm on July 20, 1913 Waltraute was eventually towed into Montevideo Harbour by an Argentine fishing boat known simply as No. 10. That was the last time that Waltraute would ever carry sail, and she completed her voyage to Germany under the tow of the Dutch tug Thames in 1913.

During WWI Waltraute was commandeered by the Imperial German Navy and after initial use as a store-room she was refitted with an overdeck from forecastle to poop, and a boiler for heating purposes. Waltraute was now ready for her next role as depot ship for the Submarine Training Service. At the end of hostilities Waltraube was initially returned to her former German owners but it wasn't very long before she was commandeered once more to become accommodation for German Seamen in Leith Scotland, after having delivered their ships to England in reparation for wartime losses. On 15, November 1920 while at anchor in Leith, Waltraute was again hit by a severe storm causing her to drag her anchors. At 1.30pm after repeated requests for tugs to assist, Waltraute came into contact with Inchkeith Rocks, and by 10.00pm the ship lay aground, with waves rolling over her decks. Waltraute was eventually pulled off the rocks on November 29, 1920. On June 2 1921 Waltraute entered West India Docks.
It is known that in 1926 Waltraute, now renamed Vindicatrix, accommodated students and staff of the Gravesend Sea School. With another war looking more and more likely, Vindicatrix, under

tow of the tug Kenia, left London, bound for a safer berth at Sharpness, Gloucestershire, and on September 2, 1939, the day before war was declared on Germany, Captain Superintendent Duguid of the Gravesend Sea Training School, transferred his trainees and staff from Gravesend to the new location in the canal at Sharpness.
Junior seamen continued to be trained at the Vindicatrix throughout the war and when the school at Gravesend was reopened after cessation of hostilities, both schools were required to remain in operation as so many new seamen were required.
One of the greatest moments of her being a Training Ship at Sharpness was when Captain Kong was sent there to train as a Seaman, He ended up as Bosun of the Vindicatrix. from March 17 to June 6 1952.

In January 1967, the Vindicatrix was towed to Cashmore's Yard, Newport, Gwent in Wales to be broken up for scrap. She was sold for a mere ?2,500
An American ex Vindi boy flew over to try to save her but the demolishion had already started

With thanks to `ALL AT SEA` site, hope you don?t mind, I have also added some of my comments in with it..

[brian daley]

Great introduction to the vindicatrix there Brian, I am sure that some of the good people out there know what a Vindi Boy is now. A lot of us had our lives changed once we had passed through those gates at Sharpness; boys from every walk of life were taken in and moulded into something better than they were. The weak fell by the wayside and those who were imbued with the spirit to succeed went on to see the world. As you can see from the photo,I have always had a place in my heart for Mrs Drysdale,may she live for ever.

[captain kong]

Ay, as a New Boy we had to hang upside down over the bow of the ship and stroke Mrs Drysdale`s bosoms, nine out of ten Boys slid overboard and fell into the Canal. Happy Days

[captain kong]

56 Years ago today, the ferry Princess Victoria sailed from Stranrare for Larne in N.I. In a short time the wind and sea got up and eventually it was hurricane force blowing down throuigh the North Channel, the same storm that flooded south east England killing over 500 people and thousands in Holland., The sea stove in the stern doors and she took water on the cardecks, the free surface effect gave her a ever increasing list The Maydays went out, the Sparky died at his Post and was awarded a posthumous GEORGE MEDAL, Unknown to the rescue services she was blown over 30 miles south of her reported position No one was able to find her. 133 passengers and crew died, all women and children died.
The wind was reported to have gusted up to 120 mph,
I was on an Everard tanker, Amity, we had sailed from Heysham for Belfast early that Saturday morning.
I was on the wheel just before noon when I heard the Skipper talking to Portpatrick Radio,they wanted all ships to proceed to the area. We were being smashed around in some of the most horrendous seas I have ever seen in 50 years of seafaring.we were like a submarine.we could not make much head way against those seas and wind. I remember us being in touch with the Pass of Drumochter, another small tanker and Donoghadee. By the time we got off the Copelands it was dark and no sign of anything except a screaming gale and heavy seas. We searched around not knowing where to look , until Sunday morning we then crept into Befast Lough, the saddest thing I saw was HMS Consort and the minesweeper, HMS Woodbridge Haven . They were overtaking us quite close, with the dead bodies lain on their quarter decks.
The Princess Victoria had drifted 30 miles to the south that is why no one could find her. The strange thing was, she was never out of sight of land in all that time.

[bangorreg]

Hi Brian.
I remember that day like yesterday. My father and I had been by the radio most of the night waiting for reports on the ferry Princess Victoria , Think we first new something was wrong late on Friday night. The wind and snow was bitterly cold and got worse on Saturday, We lived in Bangor, County Down . Went down to catch the train to Belfast to go to work at H&W Docks ( 48 hour week then , and worked 4 hours on Sat morning) But never got down to the station "Just could not walk in the wiind"
We knew the Princess was in danger of sinking by the reports we were getting, My father was very upset as the Radio Officer on board was his friend,I too had a Friend as a passenger comming home from Scotland.
During the morning the Radio said she was out of site and to expect the worst!. Soon after she had been sighted off the coast, then that she had sunk and passengers and crew were adrift in the sea at a point north of Bangor. We went down to Donaghdee to try and help with the Life Boats
The Sea was so rough that they could not get them into the sea as it was pounding the shed's door's, when they got some out they were sweept ashore
one or two did get away, dont know if they reached the area?.
Next day there were reports of bodies along the coast line.
Then we recieved information on Monday that my Father's friend the Radio Operator and my old school friend had both lost there lives at sea.
From that day I always hold the greatest respect for the men of the Merchant Navy!
Reg.

[captain kong]

I believe the Radio Officer`s George Medal is in the Stranraer Museum.

A very tragic day.

[brian daley]

This was taken in October '61,recognise anyone among the crowd?
The Chippy is on the left,the deck boy is in the middle ,to his left is the Lampy and all the rest are engine room crew.
I took the picture so don't go looking for me!
BrianD

[backsplice]

Captain Kong,
I'm a newcomer to this site, and I have just read your account of the sinking of the Pool Fisher.
I have wondered for years what happened to that ship, because the bosun on her, Terry Morgan from Seacombe was a friend of mine.
I sailed with Terry on Blue Flue's Memnon in 1960, he was AB, and I was JOS. I found him to be a fine seaman and generous shipmate, who taught me an awful lot about seamanship.
I doubt if Terry would neglect in any way the battening down procedure, he was too good a sailor.
I had heard from others that Terry was on the wheel when Pool Fisher foundered and that he went below to rouse the crew and get them out on deck, and that he had never made it back onto the deck.
This would be typically brave and unselfish of the man. He was a great bloke.
Best Regards.
Backsplice.

[captain kong]

Hi Backslice,
, welcome to the site, hope you enjoy some of the yarns.
Yes the Pool Fisher disaster was terrible.
I met Mrs Morgan at the inquest in Gosport and had a drink with her and some of the other widows and the two lads who survived. It was she who told me that the ship owner, J.Fishers of Barrow, did not help them with fares and hotels in Gosport where they were ordered to attend the Inquest. She said they got to the Station in Gosport in the dark at night with no where to stay, they were wandering around in this strange town not knowing what to do. Their treatment was terrible. Understandably they were very upset, and it did affect me for a long time. I really did have nightmares reoccuring for a long time after.
The lads who survived, Don Crane and Mark Fooks, shared a cabin and were turned in when she started to go under. Terry Morgan went down to their cabin and woke them up and told them to get out quick as she was going down. He had his life jacket on. He was with them as they made their way to the outside then as they were washed out they didnt see him again.
Maybe he was trapped as she rolled over and he would have been unable to get out. Brave lad, he could have stayed on deck and saved himself.
If there is anything else I can help you with let me know.
Cheers.
Brian.
I was A.B. in Blue Flu in 1960.on the Euryades, then walked off the Melampus just going on her maiden voyage, for the Seamen Strike, then sacked from Blueys.

[brian daley]

Hi Backsplice, may I offer you a very warm welcome to the Liverpool Sailors thread.
I started my sea going career with Blue Flu and was there for about 18 months from Dec '58 to the Seamans stike in 1960. I am very glad I sailed with them for that short period,it gave a good grounding in deck work.
I laft the Merch ten year to the month that I joined it and look back on those years as being a very colourful period of my life. Come aboard and tell us your tales,you'll find a very willing audience,
BrianD
(Cousin of BillyD)

[captain kong]

Hi Backsplice
I was thinking back,
I believe he cleats on the hatch combings were in a bad way and needed repair, the wedges must have kept coming out.and maybe there were not enough locking bars to adequetly cover the hatch.
I believe she was due to go for repairs for this The tarporlins were supposed to have come adrift a couple of times coming across the North Sea, and the lads had to batten down again.
Again maybe the shipowners think about money, and then at the end the Mate and Master got the blame.
I know there was a lot of talk at the time of the Inquiry that it was wrong to blame the Mate and Master.Tho` ultimately they are responsible for the safety of the ship you still need co-operation from the shipowner.

[backsplice]

Hi Backsplice, may I offer you a very warm welcome to the Liverpool Sailors thread.
I started my sea going career with Blue Flu and was there for about 18 months from Dec '58 to the Seamans stike in 1960. I am very glad I sailed with them for that short period,it gave a good grounding in deck work.
I laft the Merch ten year to the month that I joined it and look back on those years as being a very colourful period of my life. Come aboard and tell us your tales,you'll find a very willing audience,
BrianD
(Cousin of BillyD)

Brian,
We must have been close contemporaries then, because I sailed on my first trip as a deck boy in the Achilles, left Birkenhead on Dec 24th 1958. I stayed in Blue funnel until I was AB then went to the pool.
My first few ships were Achilles, Peleus , Eumaeus, Hector, Menelaus.
Best regards,
Pat

[brian daley]

Backsplice ,Wow, My first trip was on the Eumaeus,coastal signed on on the 18/12/58 .signed off on 27/12/58,joined the Jason 29/12 /58 left17/4 59 coastedon her 23/4/59 until 10/5 /59 and then went on her again 19/5/59 until 28/8/59
joined the Machaon 15/9/59 laft 17/1/60,coasted the Anchises 2/2/60 until 21/2/60 and did my final Bluey ,the Antenor, from 3/3/60 until 15/6/60. Collectively ,they were the best days of my seagoing life.
We may have had mutual acquantances aboard our various vessels,i look forward to reading more from you,
BrianD

[backsplice]

Brian,
I'm sure we do have some mutual shipmates, lets start with bosuns. As you know, Blue Funnel bosuns were the acknowledged masters of their trade, and most were widely known throughout the company and beyond.
On the Achilles it was Bill Carmody from New Brighton. On the Peleus it was Jock Sutherland, inventor of the term 'Whammy'.
Eumaeus it was Butch Mason from Seacombe, Hector it was Ned Philipps from North Wales.
Menelaus it was Mick Brabander from Birkenhead.
All of these were excellent bosuns, Jock Sutherland I thought was the best of them, but that was because he used to send me ashore after smoko while in port, to buy him a half bottle of Bells, and always gave me half a crown for going.
Regards,
Backsplice

[brian daley]

Backsplice, I did my first trip with "Whammy", he was a prankster of the first order and I have written about him in my thread "Hullo Old Home " on this site. There are a few characters in there that you might recognise too. I believe he fell in the dry dock and drowned ,I don't know if that is true because I heard it as scuttlebutt a few years after I left Blueys,
BrianD

[backsplice]

Backsplice, I did my first trip with "Whammy", he was a prankster of the first order and I have written about him in my thread "Hullo Old Home " on this site. There are a few characters in there that you might recognise too. I believe he fell in the dry dock and drowned ,I don't know if that is true because I heard it as scuttlebutt a few years after I left Blueys,
BrianD

Brian,
Jock Sutherland was drowned in Gladstone Dock. It was in 1961 I think, we joined the Hector at 08.00, and she was sailing to Glasgow at 23.00, so after we had finished on deck at about 18.00, we all shot up the road to the Caradoc for a few pints. We all got back around 21.30, but no sign of Jock.
As sailing time drew closer and he still hadn't shown up, the mate promoted the Leading Seaman , Stan Murray, to Bosun.
When we docked in KGV we heard that Jock's body was discovered floating face down at the after end of the Theseus which had been berthed further up the branch. It was assumed he had tripped and fallen into the dock on his way back to the ship.
A sad end for a fine bosun.
A day or two later a replacement bosun arrived on board Hector, Tommy Hogan, known to all as 'the binman'.
Stan Murray became a bosun permanently about two years later but I never sailed with him in this capacity. He was however a really good sailor and a pleasant bloke .
Best Regards,
backsplice

[Trader]

Welcome to the site backsplice. I think I recognise you from another site. I was in Blueys a bit before your time. I joined in 1952 and left in 1956. My first ship was the "Bellerophon" and I was in her for two years. Six Far East trips and three coasting. The Bosun was Bill Thomas from Anglesey. I then coasted the "Nestor" and the "Ixion" before joining the "Astyanax" and doing two Far East trips and one coasting. Big Jake Cleary was Bosun.

I then joined the "Neleus" on the Aussie run. Our first Bosun was Spud Murphy who had a nervous breakdown in Aussie and had to pay off and the Lampy, Dan Proctor, took over. In our last Aussie port Spud rejoined us and came home as DBS which I thought was wrong and embarrassing for poor old Spud.
Dan Proctor didn't want the Bosuns job, he was content to be Lampy, so Jimmy Mason joined as Bosun for my last trip with Blue Funnel.

I left in 1956 and joined Manchester Liners for several years.

Alec.

[Waterways]

Any of you ex Blue Funnel men remember David Morgan who was with them around the early 1960s?

[brian daley]

Memory is not as good as it used to be Waterways,so many of the guys are remembered by their nicknames. Was he Welsh? there were an awful lot of North Walians in Blueys,that is why it was called the Welsh Navy.
Does anyone remember the fabulous Wally Skeggs, a legend if ever there was one. I was with him on the Jason and my memeries of him have not faded one little bit.

[Waterways]

Memory is not as good as it used to be Waterways,so many of the guys are remembered by their nicknames. Was he Welsh? there were an awful lot of North Walians in Blueys,that is why it was called the Welsh Navy.


From Liverpool.

[backsplice]

Memory is not as good as it used to be Waterways,so many of the guys are remembered by their nicknames. Was he Welsh? there were an awful lot of North Walians in Blueys,that is why it was called the Welsh Navy.
Does anyone remember the fabulous Wally Skeggs, a legend if ever there was one. I was with him on the Jason and my memeries of him have not faded one little bit.


Wally Skeggs , I heard of him, but never sailed with him, apparently he was supposed to be almost blind.
Another character was Aussie Burke, the original ancient mariner. he was well over sixty when I sailed with him on the Achilles, about five feet six in his socks he was as strong as a bull. He was reputed to have his name tattoed on his todger. What his name actually was, nobody knew, it could have been Ben, or Benjamin, we never found out, he was just known as Aussie.
Backsplice

[brian daley]

Eleven names right down the shaft,and there was Elwyn Jones to with the two ladies who were the inside of his thighs ,arms aloft ,hands supporting the crown jewels. A mad,mad ,mad North Walian,he and Wally were cabin mates. And Wally? Well he had 20/20 vision but he could'nt raise his eyelids ,excepting when under extreme duress,read my tale ,it's all there.
BrianD

[backsplice]

Welcome to the site backsplice. I think I recognise you from another site. I was in Blueys a bit before your time. I joined in 1952 and left in 1956. My first ship was the "Bellerophon" and I was in her for two years. Six Far East trips and three coasting. The Bosun was Bill Thomas from Anglesey. I then coasted the "Nestor" and the "Ixion" before joining the "Astyanax" and doing two Far East trips and one coasting. Big Jake Cleary was Bosun.

I then joined the "Neleus" on the Aussie run. Our first Bosun was Spud Murphy who had a nervous breakdown in Aussie and had to pay off and the Lampy, Dan Proctor, took over. In our last Aussie port Spud rejoined us and came home as DBS which I thought was wrong and embarrassing for poor old Spud.
Dan Proctor didn't want the Bosuns job, he was content to be Lampy, so Jimmy Mason joined as Bosun for my last trip with Blue Funnel.

I left in 1956 and joined Manchester Liners for several years.

Alec.

Hello Alec,
Yes, I knew all of those characters except Spud Murphy.
All except Jack Cleary and Jimmy Mason I found to be Ok.
Bill Davies would disagree with me here , but I found Jack Cleary to be a nasty piece of work. Butch Mason, in his cups, was a bit of a bully, sober he was fine.
Backsplice.

[backsplice]

Eleven names right down the shaft,and there was Elwyn Jones to with the two ladies who were the inside of his thighs ,arms aloft ,hands supporting the crown jewels. A mad,mad ,mad North Walian,he and Wally were cabin mates. And Wally? Well he had 20/20 vision but he could'nt raise his eyelids ,excepting when under extreme duress,read my tale ,it's all there.
BrianD

Brian, I knew Elweyn Jones, or to be precise, I knew three of them, two came from Amlwch, and the other from Nefyn. All three had tattoes up to the armpits. No doubt there was a whole raft of Elwyn Jones's out there , it is a very popular name in North Wales.

[Trader]

Hello Alec,
Yes, I knew all of those characters except Spud Murphy.
All except Jack Cleary and Jimmy Mason I found to be Ok.
Bill Davies would disagree with me here , but I found Jack Cleary to be a nasty piece of work. Butch Mason, in his cups, was a bit of a bully, sober he was fine.
Backsplice.

I know what you mean about Jack Cleary, he was a bit of a bully but for some reason I got on OK with him. When he was pi--ed he was an animal.:disgust:
I only did one Aussie trip with Jimmy Mason and found him to be OK, I must have caught him when he was on the wagon:rolleyes:

[backsplice]

I know what you mean about Jack Cleary, he was a bit of a bully but for some reason I got on OK with him. When he was pi--ed he was an animal.:disgust:
I only did one Aussie trip with Jimmy Mason and found him to be OK, I must have caught him when he was on the wagon:rolleyes:

Trader,
I was on the Eumaeus round the land with Butch Mason, I was still a peggy at that juncture. we joined in Hull and Butch was already on board when we arrived and was much the worse for wear. he swaggered down the sailor's alleyway, shouting the odds and offering to fight any one of us.
A Birkenhead AB named Frankie Branscombe, stepped out, hit him once and it was all over.
Mr Mason was very quiet after that.
Frank Branscombe had been a professional wrestler and was a very hard man indeed.
The Lampy on that Eumaeus was Mick Austin, who I met years later after I came ashore. Poor Mick was living in a bedsit with no family and hardly any posessions, legacy of a life spent at sea. I am glad I packed it in when I did, and married and brought up a family.
regards,
Pat

[brian daley]

The Lampy on the Jason was called Vic,I cannot remember his second name ,but he had a brother who had something extraordinary happen to him ,he was swept overboard from the fore well deck and washed back on to the after deck; ring a bell with anyone? Vic was a big balding guy with strawbeery blonde hair .A nice guy . And big Albert Williams,Bluto was modelled on him, ring a bell? The screaming skull ? lovely man,I think not. But characters all, Blueys were loaded with them!

[kevin]

I think all Yo non-sailors reading this thread will think the Merchant Navy was full of thugs and bullies. Maybe that was the case in the 50s and 60s, but I saw no evidence of it in the 70s and 80s.
Did things change, or is it that with the passing of time it is only the more extreme characters that stay in the forefront of our memories?

[backsplice]

The Lampy on the Jason was called Vic,I cannot remember his second name ,but he had a brother who had something extraordinary happen to him ,he was swept overboard from the fore well deck and washed back on to the after deck; ring a bell with anyone? Vic was a big balding guy with strawbeery blonde hair .A nice guy . And big Albert Williams,Bluto was modelled on him, ring a bell? The screaming skull ? lovely man,I think not. But characters all, Blueys were loaded with them!

Brian,
That Lampy was Vic Blower, his brother's name was Jimmy.
Vic was OK, his brother not quite so popular, Vic became shore bosun in Birkenhead after the enforced retirement of the previous incumbent, Sid Bainbridge.
Amongst Vic Blower's achievements was the introduction to Blue Funnel of paint rollers, which had been resisted for years by less progressive elements in the company.
The only screaming skull I came across was bosun of the Cunard cargo ship, Ivernia.
Backsplice

[backsplice]

I think all Yo non-sailors reading this thread will think the Merchant Navy was full of thugs and bullies. Maybe that was the case in the 50s and 60s, but I saw no evidence of it in the 70s and 80s.
Did things change, or is it that with the passing of time it is only the more extreme characters that stay in the forefront of our memories?

Kevin,
There are thugs and bullies in all walks of life, and I have encountered many since I came ashore. but, on a ship, living and working with each other in close proximity for weeks and months does tend to exacerbate these traits.
There was also a tradition of hard case bosuns going back many years, and Liverpool ships had their share of these, notably the famous Martin Quinn of the Empress Boats.
However, the vast majority of my shipmates were decent hard working blokes who enjoyed life to the full. I remember these with affection.
Regards,
Backsplice

[captain kong]

Not all ships had nut cases or bullies, but a lot of ships did.
I was on a Star Boat. two Glaswegian lunatics terrorising the crowd, One night in OZ one came to our cabin looking to fill us in. we had formed a `syndicate` all for one and one for all. The big guy walk through the cabin door and four fists hit him at the same time, when he tried to get up a 2 gallon fire extinguisher was bounced on his head. rest of the voyage was peaceful.
I went to Manchester to join the `Manchester Merchant`, I always sailed from Liverpool, I didnt know the place or the ships or the characters.
first day just joined at 7am, I was having a coffee with my brother in my cabin, he had just run me there in his car. I heard banging and screaming and shouting coming down the allyway, then my cabin door was kicked open, a Bosun appeared, `Get on deck yer bast*rd,` I slammed the door in his face, the door is kicked open again "last time, get on deck or I`ll batter yer ".
I slammed the door in his face again.and told him to go away , in French.
There was a knock on the cabin door, "All right lad, when you have finished yer coffee, no hurry" , he closed the door quietly.
I went on deck ten minutes later , said good bye to my brother, and then helped to drop the derricks, In the mess room later the crowd told me he was the hard case Bosun of Manchester. Everyone was scared of him.
He was called Robertson, He was a very nice Bosun to me, I got loads of overtime, and not much work, always polite. Shows that if you stand up to them they are all softies underneath.

[brian daley]

Thanks for that Backsplice,Blower a surname that has eluded me for a long while. The Bosun on the Jason was a tubby old guy called Wilf,he was quietly spoken but knew his stuff, he looked after us peggies,worked us like horses but stopped the lads giving us too much of a hard time. You know what a peggy had to do in Blueys,non stop work from sun up to sun down. I can remember being sunk in sleep, my head resting in my arms on the mess room, I had scrapped up after the midday meal and should have been turned out to work on deck.I was just too bushed and had flaked. I had never known Wilf to be "soft" ,but in my sleepy state I heard him come into the messroom and say my name,I was struggling to wakefulness when I heard him say to Vic "Poor little sod, we've worked him too hard " and he left me there until the cook woke me to get afternoon smoko ready. I never forgot that. Some of the A.B's on that trip were Frankie Kerns, Peter Jermiah, Stan Hall, Alan Royds, The SOS's were Joe Hands, "Ruby" and "Bronco" .Joey King was one of the JOS's. And then there was Bootsie,Billo and me(I was nicknamed Andy for the rest of my time in Blu Flu) the deckboys. Happy Days,really!!
BrianD

[wsteve55]

I know what you mean about Jack Cleary, he was a bit of a bully but for some reason I got on OK with him. When he was pi--ed he was an animal.:disgust:
I only did one Aussie trip with Jimmy Mason and found him to be OK, I must have caught him when he was on the wagon:rolleyes:

Hi Trader,and Backsplice,
just looking through your tales, when the name Jack Cleary appeared! I'm curious about him,as fairly recently,I was helping some guy with the same surname,to trace his family members,as he was adopted while a young kid! I managed to find his half-sister,but no sign at all,of his full brother,John,who apparently, was known as Jack,so I wondered if there was any connection? I can see that he didn't seem a very nice feller,but any info' on him,would be appreciated. An obvious question to ask you is,was he from Liverpool? Hope you can help.
Thanks Steve.

[backsplice]

Brian,
You are quite right, the peggies, particularly the sailors peggy had the hardest job on the ship. Can you remember staggering round to the messroom at 06.00, to find the gash bucket overturned and sh**e all over the deck?
You had to work like a dog to get the accommodation ready for inspection at 10.00, and after that get prepared for the crowd coming off deck for smoko, then get ready for the seven bell dinners, then dinner for everyone else, then washing up, then turn to on deck, usually cleaning the ship's bell or some such useless job, and on and on it went until you collapsed in your bunk long after everyone else.
Joe Hands I remember, he was sos on the Achilles, my first ship, a tall fair haired lad with a hare lip. He was a good sort was Joe, I think he was from Leeds.
I also sailed with a bosun on the Memnon called Harry Hands, but I dont think they were related. Harry was a bullsh*t merchant, and we soon found we could prolong smoko indefinitely by inviting him to tell us about his wartime experiences when he came down the alleyway to turn us to. Sometimes you could make smoko last a good hour if you were prepared to listen to the tall tales of Harry's heroism in the face of the Kreigsmarine.
Regards,
Backsplice

[backsplice]

Hi Trader,and Backsplice,
just looking through your tales, when the name Jack Cleary appeared! I'm curious about him,as fairly recently,I was helping some guy with the same surname,to trace his family members,as he was adopted while a young kid! I managed to find his half-sister,but no sign at all,of his full brother,John,who apparently, was known as Jack,so I wondered if there was any connection? I can see that he didn't seem a very nice feller,but any info' on him,would be appreciated. An obvious question to ask you is,was he from Liverpool? Hope you can help.
Thanks Steve.
Steve,
Jack Cleary was from Ireland, Co Wicklow I believe. He settled in Wallasey, in the Seacombe area. He was about fifty five when I sailed with him and that was fifty years ago.
Jack had two sons to my knowledge, and one of them was my age, his name was Ned. Ned still lives in Wallasey,
His cousin, Paddy Procter was also a Blue Funnel bosun.
Jack was a huge powerful man who I never once saw smile or laugh. To me as a sixteen year old deck boy, he was a frightening and intimidating presence.
However, others say he was a good seaman and shipmate, he may well have been, but I must have caught him in a bad mood!
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Backsplice

[wsteve55]

Thanks for that Backsplice,
it doesn't seem like the Jack I'm looking for(thank God he says:smirk:) as the one I'm after, came from Liverpool!
Thanks again Steve.

[captain kong]

Here is a video of the Queen Mary 2 arriving in Sydney this morning. watch it on full screen and with the sound for the Big whistle sound.
I have sailed on it on the maiden voyage and a world cruise. The most magnificent liner in the world.

http://www.freenews.com.au/index.php/cbd-metro/103-queen-mary-2-welcomed-to-sydney

[liverbob]

what a great looking ship,the sound of the whistle brought the memories back of the mersey when it was full of ships in the 50s and 60s.

[Waterways]

Empress of Canada capsized in Gladstone Dock.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1345/1040523504_2deb8f0ea1.jpg?v=0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spark08/1040523504/in/set-72157602822958074/

[captain kong]

Good one Waterway, I saw the Canada burn in January 1953., That is the Empress of France lying astern. The Bosun of the Canada at that time was Martin Quinn.
Good photos all the . I did my Firefighting course with the Liverpool Fire Service. Quite a tough one I came out of it all singed and burned. The actual Fire Fighting was done at Speke Airport in a steel Mock up of a ships accommodation.
It was unbelievable, Set fire to a huge oil pan and go in with hoses spraying water on the oil fire. At first they threw some water on the burning oil which created a huge explosian, then they showed us how to use hoses on it with out the explosian.They set fire to the ships accommodation and then sent us in to find a body. Enjoyed every minute.

[birdseye]

I read somewhere that the Empress of Canada fire was put down to a carelessly dropped cigarette end Cap'n. That sounds like the kind of conclusion they arrive at when they can't think of anything else. Was there ever an official cause discovered? And what happened to the ship after it was raised?

[captain kong]

Liverpool Nautical Research Society. history of ships, shipping ...On 10th January 1953 the Empress of Canada entered Gladstone Dock for her ... whilst lying in Gladstone No.1 Branch Dock, the Empress caught fire and, ...
www.lnrs.co.uk/Empress%20of%20Canada.htm

The full story is on the Liverpool Nautical Research Society web site.
Type Emp of Canada in google and go on that. It is copywrite so I couldnt copy it.

25 Jan 1953 set on fire, poor fire patrols, the fire pump out of action. then it was an hour or so from smoke being seen before the Fire Service was called. she capsized.
6 March 1954 she was pulled upright
1st September 1954 toweed to La Spezia Italy, The tow took 40 days. arriving on 10 October. 1954.
Cigarette ends were suspected.
Around that time in the early fifties there were a lot of suspected sabotage of ships by fire. The Queens were hit a few times and some of the Castle boats. The Communists were always suspected.

In the photo the fire boat is the `VIGILANT`, the foremast and derricks have been saved and are stood outside of the Liver Buildings.
There is a Blue Funnel ship opposite the `Canada` and the `France` is lying astern.

[angus]

2



Hi Kev,
Last time I was in Cltheroe was in 1965, I am not sure if it is still open.

Here is the RMS FRANCONIA.
She sailed on her maiden Voyage on 23 June 1923 from Liverpool to New York and she continued on this route during the summer months until the outbreak of war , Her maiden voyage was between Liverpool and New York on 23 June 1923 and she continued on this route during the summer months until the outbreak of war Her winters were spent on 133 day world cruises.
On 10 April 1926 she was involved in a collision leaving Shainghai harbour. While leaving her wharf she ran aground, her stern swinging around and hitting a Japanese cargo vessel and an Italian gunboat, the Libya. A buoy then became tangled in the Franconia?s propellers, sinking a lighter in the process and killing four members of its crew. I saw a phot of that event with the drowning men in the water alongside the Franconia.
In September 1939 she was requisitioned as a troopship and refitted at Liverpool. Her first convoy was to transport troops to Malta, but while travelling in convoy with the Alcantara and Empress of Australia the Franconia was involved in a collision with the Alcantara, As a result of this accident the Franconia had to undergo major repairs at Malta. Later, during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France, she was damaged by air raids while carrying 8,000 troops. For the rest of the war she continued as a trooper, travelling to India and the Middle East via Cape Town and taking part in the invasions of Madagascar, North Africa and Italy. A friend , who is no longer with us, was on the Franconia approaching Scycily for the invasion with troops, she was attacked by German bombers, A stick of six bombs exploded underneath her and he said the ship was lifted completely out of the water by the blasts. This damaged the engines and shafts, but she was able to carry on. In 1944 she carried American troops from New York to the Mediterranean. During her period of Government service she covered 319,784 miles and carried 189,239 troops.
The Franconia?s moment of war time glory came in January 1945. The ?Big Three? - Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin - were to meet at Yalta on the Black Sea to discuss the shape of post-war Europe. The Franconia acted as the base for the British delegation, returning to Liverpool in March 1945.

After the end of the war, the Franconia, like many of the requisitioned vessels, continued in government service repatriating troops and prisoners of war. She returned to Cunard?s control in June 1948 and was sent to the Clyde for a nine-month reconditioning. On 2 June 1949 she resumed a passenger service, this time sailing from Liverpool to Quebec, and later Montreal, In 1956 she did the Liverpool New York run.
The Franconia?s withdrawal from service was announced in October 1956. He last sailing was on 3 November between Liverpool and New York and back again. The return voyage she broke down with mechanical faults and she was four days late when she reached Liverpool. She had been meant to carry troops to Suez, but the unreliability of her engines meant that she was withdrawn from this duty. She was sold to the British Steel & Iron Corporation and left Liverpool on 14 December 1956 to be scrapped at Inverkeithing.

A Voyage on the RMS FRANCONIA
I was on the Franconia in the summer of 1956, The Master was Captain Donald Murdo Maclean, DSO, RNR. later to become Master of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as Commodore of Cunard. The Bosun was Nelson and Bosuns Mate was Charlie Chin.
The Franconia was a good job , plenty of money, with the overtime, and a good run to New York. A week across, a week in New York , a week across and a week in Liverpool.
I remember when a first class waiter dropped dead whilst serving passengers, Our watch on deck had to go into the saloon and carry him out, the first class passengers rather disturbed at having their evening dinner disrupted.
We took him to the Medical Centre and the Doctor certified him dead then told us to take him to the cool room down below. We took the lift to the working alleyway then we had to use the stores lift which was four feet high and about four feet wide, so we folded him up in it and sent it down. There were no fridges on the Franconia, the Chill room was full of blocks of ice and the meat was stowed on top of this also the vedge. He was naked and we laid him on top of the ice.
The following day the Doctor wanted him up in the Medical Centre to do a post mortem, so we had to go down to get him. He was frozen solid when we got there. We didnt like to touch him, he was icy cold like a marble statue. The Bosuns Mate said dont be so soft and then slid him off the ice and stood him up. So we had to get a hold of him, a bit gruesome. we got him to the stores lift and he was stiff so we had to struggle to get hin in, he was put diagonaly from the bottom corner to the opposite top corner we had to get Tommy Miller to get inside with him to get him position. Then the Bosuns Mate slammed the lift door on Tommy, and pressed the button for it to go up, then he pressed it again when it was between decks and stopped it. Tommy was screaming , he couldnt get out. The Bosuns Mate shouted Smoko and so we all went forard for a ciggy and a brew. Meanwhile in the lift which was against the engine room bulkhead was getting warm, it was dark in there and then the stiff started to move as it melted, Tommy was screaming in fear as this corpse started to move against him in the dark, he was demented.
When we returned the screams were terrible, The button was pressed and the lift arrived in the working alleyway and Tommy was there with the corpse lying on top of him. I have never seen so much fear in a mans eyes as then. we lifted the corpse of him and put him on a trolley and Tommy was told to go and have a smoko. Tommy went straight into the Pig and got himself drunk and 52 years later Tommy is still drunk.
The dead Steward was carried ashore at the Landing Stage in Liverpool and into an Undertakers van.
On the next trip homeward bound again a very large American female passenger died, she must have weighed about twenty stones. The night before we arrived in Liverpool, Paddy Dirkin and I had to take the coffin forard to the crew gangway shell doors ready for taking ashore when we docked. Paddy and I had had a few drinks before we did this and she was so heavy we couldnt carry her so we were dragging the coffin, which was only a rough box lined with cotton wool, with a rope. we stopped half way along and sat down on the coffin for a ciggy. Paddy told me that I had fallen asleep on top of the coffin. he had to wake me so we could carry on forard. Next day alongside the Stage, Paddy, Johnny Golbourne and I dragged the heavy coffin down the crew gangway and with the Undertaker lifted it into his van.
New York was always a good run ashore, The beer, Wrexham Lager, in the Pig on the Franconia was an old 8 pence a pint, that was 30 pints for one pound. the Pig on the Franconia closed at 8 pm in New York, so we supped up and went down the gangway across the shed and up the gangway of the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth and carried on there in the Crew Pig, they didnt close until 10pm., then we would go ashore to the Market Diner across the road.on the corner of 52nd Street and 12th Avenue. The beer there was 10 cents a glass so we got ten glasses for a dollar. about twenty five to the pound. At those prices ale was cheap. Some times we go up to Broadway and do the bars and clubs, In Jack Dempsey`s Bar, for one dollar you could have your photo taken , shaking hands with the hand that shook the world, across the road Tommy Dorsey`s Orchestra was always on there, always full, and a good night was to be had. There was good shopping there, Nylon stocking for the girls back home were cheap, Dupont Nylon, 15 denier, Always had a pocket full and at home in the Locarno dance hall, throw a couple of packets around and the girls would be screaming after me. We bought our suits from the Salvation Army store on 8th Avenue and I had a beautiful pure silk midnight blue drape suit with the bullet holes in the back sewn up by my Mother. $10, the suits and shirts were got from the City morgue so they were very cheap, I looked a million dollars in that suit, with a mid Atlantic accent, we were Cunard Yanks and the girls back home couldnt get enough of us. Records were good swag in those days, In the States they came out 12 months before you could get them in England due to a musicians strike. So they were always in demand for the most popular artistes and always made a few bob out of them. They were good days, Another good thing was the washing machines and fridges from the Salvation Army store, they were about 5 to 10 dollars each, the ship was full of them all in the working alleyway lashed to the bulkhead hand rails and on B Deck Square where our accommodation was. At the Stage in Liverpool, Daley`s big van would deliver them for five shillings. A few of the Stewards on big money would buy second hand cars. Big Yankee ones with tail fins, Buicks, Dodges, Chryselers and so on. they sold them cheap in a Dock yard around 33rd Street. Cars that had been pounded by the cops for parking violations and so on were sold cheep every weekend, they still do it today, I was in New York in April this year and the yard was still there full of cars waiting to be sold.
Cunard allowed them to carry the cars home, without insurance, if we loaded and unloaded them ourselves. So the Stewards would drive to the Pier 92 and pay us a handful of dollars to rig the derricks and load them and stow them on the hatch on B Deck square lash them down and pay us again to do it at the Stage in Liverpool where they would drive them home. A lot of those Stewards were like millionaires, there were all kinds of rackets going big money could be made mostly from the dropsies from the Bloods. We could make a load of dollars from washing up and polishing glasses in the passenger bars, paid for by the cocktail bar tenders.
In the Pig there were all kinds of gaming machines, Roulette, Cock and Hen Boards, Crown and Anchor Boards, Crap games, and so on, with big time Poker schools that lasted for days, with men being paid to do the players work and also to fetch coffee and sandwiches. pots going for thousands of dollars. A lot of wealthy passengers including movie stars would come down to the Pig for the gambling. There were no casinos allowed on ships in those days it was illegal under United States Laws.
All good things have to come to an end, I was in the Pig having a pint with Joe Finnegan when I should have been on look out up the crows nest, the Masters at Arms dragged me up on the Bridge and Captain Maclean had me logged and sacked. Jo Finnegan then gave me the name of Alehouse.
Three months later the Franconia was taken out of service and taken to the breakers in December 1956.

I was facinated to read this thread as my old man (now sadly departed) sailed on the "old Franconia," many times during the war. He signed up as a scullion in 1942 aged 14 and served on her and various troopships throughout the war ending his career on the Canada run. I know he was involved in taking troops to Scilly also for the invasion, although whether aboad the Franconia I'm not sure. Actually I've all his seamans tickets somewhere so must check these.

Thanks Captain for the informative post...must read some more now.

Cheers

Angus

[arque]

lso I inherited a watch a few years ago from one of my favourite uncles it is inscribed on the back Frank Oneil 25 years service the Shipping Federation , he was a very kind and gentle man who took me on cycling holidays as small boy , if anybody remembers him it would be nice to hear any stories I thought he may have been one of the people you saw when you went to get a ship, once again thank you all for your wonderful stories.

[arque]

Hi Captain Kong, Ive just discovered this site, what fantastic stories you and the other writers have to tell an object lesson to the current "health & safety" generation . I am related to the late and by the sound of it infamous Martin Quinn , when I used to ask questions as a kid everything went quiet obviously the family black sheep but I found out some details when the empress of canada burnt out he was bosuns mate the bosuns name was Somervill (not sure of spelling) , then Empress of Britain then Empress of Canada(Captain Walgate) any other stories of him ,warts and all good or bad would be appreciated for family archives

[captain kong]

Hi Arque,
I was on the Shipping Federation for many years from 1952 when it was in the old Sailors Home and when it was moved to Mann Island. I didnt come across Frank Oneil.
The only names I remember were , Mr Rep, Mr Griffiths, Mr Slater and Mr Deacon.
but it depended which department you were with, I was in the Sailors Dept.
Maybe some other old seafarer will remember him
Cheers
Kong

[captain kong]

Hi Arque,
I sailed with Martin once.
on the Empress of France
He was well known as a hard case Bosun, if you got on the wrong side of him.
If you were a good Seaman then you were OK.
I was in the House of Scouse, or its real name was The Liverpool House, a bar opposite the Canadian Pacific berth in Montreal, Martin was sat with the Chippy and a Bosuns Mate and then he went to the toilet. Four French Canadian dockers, complete with the dockers hand hooks, followed him in. There was all kinds of screams and banging coming out of there, we thought he was being killed.
Then it all went silent. Martin opened the door and went back to the table and carried on drinking. The Dockers were out of the game.
Martin was a legend.

[kevin]

Good one Waterway, I saw the Canada burn in January 1953., That is the Empress of France lying astern. The Bosun of the Canada at that time was Martin Quinn.
Good photos all the . I did my Firefighting course with the Liverpool Fire Service. Quite a tough one I came out of it all singed and burned. The actual Fire Fighting was done at Speke Airport in a steel Mock up of a ships accommodation.
It was unbelievable, Set fire to a huge oil pan and go in with hoses spraying water on the oil fire. At first they threw some water on the burning oil which created a huge explosian, then they showed us how to use hoses on it with out the explosian.They set fire to the ships accommodation and then sent us in to find a body. Enjoyed every minute.

Brian,
Did my training there about 1975. Excellent training, but by God was it scary!

[captain kong]

Hi Kevin
I was there in 1976,
I enjoyed every minute but it sure was tough, the tops of my ears were burned black and crispy. and the lungs full of oily smoke.
Yes definately scary but I would do it again.
Cheers
Brian

[kevin]

Hi Kevin
I was there in 1976,
I enjoyed every minute but it sure was tough, the tops of my ears were burned black and crispy. and the lungs full of oily smoke.
Yes definately scary but I would do it again.
Cheers
Brian

Quite a few yarns about it but I'll save them until we eventually meet.

Training was well worth it - fought 15 fires at sea, thankfully, most of them small.

[Ron Ham]

Hi Brian & Kev, When I came ashore in '57 I joined the Liverpool Fire Service , ( later served on the fireboat 'William Gregson' ) & went through all the training outlined by Brian & more , one episode entailed being literally cooked alive in that steel structure & if your nerve broke you had failed the test ! I was one of those firemen who demonstrated all those firefighting tecniques for you spectators . After I realized I was on a decline financially after a few years I coaxed my new bride to emigrate to sunnier climes , so here I am dreaming of old times . Ron Hamilton , Tokoroa, N.Z.

[Ron Ham]

Hi Arque,
I was on the Shipping Federation for many years from 1952 when it was in the old Sailors Home and when it was moved to Mann Island. I didnt come across Frank Oneil.
The only names I remember were , Mr Rep, Mr Griffiths, Mr Slater and Mr Deacon.
but it depended which department you were with, I was in the Sailors Dept.
Maybe some other old seafarer will remember him
Cheers
Kong

Hi Brian, I signed on as a 16 yr old deckboy at the 'Pool' in '47' , & rememember those characters well , not too kindly I'm afraid , but one decent bloke who had been to sea as opposed to those others was Mr Barlow . Ron Hamilton :handclap:

[bangorreg]

Hi Ron.
Photo of The Fireship 'William Gregson'
Reg

[loudon]

Just wanted to say that all these posts on this thread were brilliant,very interesting,thanks.loudon.

[bangorreg]

Hi Captain Kong.
I have just found the following , and knowing you had some dealings with this Vessel I feel sure you will be interested!
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=62787

It's a contemporary Pathe newsreel showing survivors, casualties, etc.

.Acknowledgment to "British Pathe" for this Newsreal.
Reg.

[captain kong]

Hi Reg,
many thanks for that, a very interesting but sad reminder of the past. I have saved the link to my favourites. I am just off to Morecambe Bay for a few days. catch up wth you later.
Cheers
Brian.

[Ron Ham]

Hi Bangorrag, Thanks for that video of Princess Victoria survivors . I was on a small coaster ,the 'Wheatcrop' on our way from Glasgow to Liverpool & it was truely a wild night with little sleep , we were approxmately 40 miles to the South of the Princess Victoria but because we had no radio we were unaware of her distress until we arrived in Liverpool next morning . Ron

[bangorreg]

Hi Bangorrag, Thanks for that video of Princess Victoria survivors . I was on a small coaster ,the 'Wheatcrop' on our way from Glasgow to Liverpool & it was truely a wild night with little sleep , we were approxmately 40 miles to the South of the Princess Victoria but because we had no radio we were unaware of her distress until we arrived in Liverpool next morning . Ron

Hi Ron.
WE lived in Bangor, Co Down , I can remember that day as if it was yesterday, the weather was that bad I could not get down to the station to catch the train to Belfast, so we all sat around the radio waiting for reports on the Princess Victoria. My father was very worried as the Radio Operator was his friend (he went down with the ship) also one of my friends was lost ,he was returning from Scotland. During that day things got worse a call from the local liveboat station's asking for voluntary helpers, we went down , the men just could not get the boats into the sea,the wind and sea was so strong. I can remember the following days there were many reports of the dead being washed up along the beach.
Reg.

[Ron Ham]

After arriving in Liverpool to the Grain Silos in the South Docks , I had time to go home for a hot bath & sleep & next morning off we went again to Glasgow & I recall taking my binoculars & we scanned the sea all the way North looking for bodies ! As Alehouse will verify it was not unusual to suffer conditions like that on coasters ,people ashore could not even contemplate the conditions we tolerated & got no extra for it . I might try to describe it one day, but would anyone believe it ? :disgust: Ron

[bangorreg]

After arriving in Liverpool to the Grain Silos in the South Docks , I had time to go home for a hot bath & sleep & next morning off we went again to Glasgow & I recall taking my binoculars & we scanned the sea all the way North looking for bodies ! As Alehouse will verify it was not unusual to suffer conditions like that on coasters ,people ashore could not even contemplate the conditions we tolerated & got no extra for it . I might try to describe it one day, but would anyone believe it ? :disgust: Ron

Hi Ron
Go for it Ron.:)
I did post a full report on the old "Sailors Home forum" but it will not be on the new "forum" unless Alehouse made a copy? I shall try to find the original report !
Did you make any further progress on your Genealogy quest?
Reg.

[captain kong]

Hi Reg and Ron,
here is what I wrote further down this thread about the Princess Victoria.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

56 Years ago today, the ferry Princess Victoria sailed from Stranrare for Larne in N.I. In a short time the wind and sea got up and eventually it was hurricane force blowing down throuigh the North Channel, the same storm that flooded south east England killing over 500 people and thousands in Holland., The sea stove in the stern doors and she took water on the cardecks, the free surface effect gave her a ever increasing list The Maydays went out, the Sparky died at his Post and was awarded a posthumous GEORGE MEDAL, Unknown to the rescue services she was blown over 30 miles south of her reported position No one was able to find her. 133 passengers and crew died, all women and children died.
The wind was reported to have gusted up to 120 mph,
I was on an Everard tanker, Amity, we had sailed from Heysham for Belfast early that Saturday morning.
I was on the wheel just before noon when I heard the Skipper talking to Portpatrick Radio,they wanted all ships to proceed to the area. We were being smashed around in some of the most horrendous seas I have ever seen in 50 years of seafaring.we were like a submarine.we could not make much head way against those seas and wind. I remember us being in touch with the Pass of Drumochter, another small tanker and Donoghadee. By the time we got off the Copelands it was dark and no sign of anything except a screaming gale and heavy seas. We searched around not knowing where to look , until Sunday morning we then crept into Befast Lough, the saddest thing I saw was HMS Consort and the minesweeper, HMS Woodbridge Haven . They were overtaking us quite close, with the dead bodies lain on their quarter decks.
The Princess Victoria had drifted 30 miles to the south that is why no one could find her. The strange thing was, she was never out of sight of land in all that time.

[bangorreg]

Hi Reg and Ron,
here is what I wrote further down this thread about the Princess Victoria.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

56 Years ago today, the ferry Princess Victoria sailed from Stranrare for Larne in N.I. In a short time the wind and sea got up and eventually it was hurricane force blowing down throuigh the North Channel, the same storm that flooded south east England killing over 500 people and thousands in Holland., The sea stove in the stern doors and she took water on the cardecks, the free surface effect gave her a ever increasing list The Maydays went out, the Sparky died at his Post and was awarded a posthumous GEORGE MEDAL, Unknown to the rescue services she was blown over 30 miles south of her reported position No one was able to find her. 133 passengers and crew died, all women and children died.
The wind was reported to have gusted up to 120 mph,
I was on an Everard tanker, Amity, we had sailed from Heysham for Belfast early that Saturday morning.
I was on the wheel just before noon when I heard the Skipper talking to Portpatrick Radio,they wanted all ships to proceed to the area. We were being smashed around in some of the most horrendous seas I have ever seen in 50 years of seafaring.we were like a submarine.we could not make much head way against those seas and wind. I remember us being in touch with the Pass of Drumochter, another small tanker and Donoghadee. By the time we got off the Copelands it was dark and no sign of anything except a screaming gale and heavy seas. We searched around not knowing where to look , until Sunday morning we then crept into Befast Lough, the saddest thing I saw was HMS Consort and the minesweeper, HMS Woodbridge Haven . They were overtaking us quite close, with the dead bodies lain on their quarter decks.
The Princess Victoria had drifted 30 miles to the south that is why no one could find her. The strange thing was, she was never out of sight of land in all that time.

Hi Captain Kong.
Thanks for that, have just made a copy.
Reg.

[captain kong]

MEDIA, CUNARD LINE


CUNARD`S MEDIA
built by John Brown Clydebank,
Yard No 629
Engines by shipbuilder

Last Name: LAVIA
Previous Names: 1947-61 MEDIA / 61-82 FLAVIA / 82-86 FLAVIAN / 86-89 LAVIA
Port of Registry: Liverpool
Propulsion: 4 team turbines dr geared to 2 sc shafts 15000shp 18 knots / 2 x Water Tube Boilers supplying steam at max pressure 450lbs (430lbs Superheated)
Launched: Thursday, 12 December 1946
Built: 1947
Ship Type: Passenger Vessel
Tonnage: 13345 grt now 15465 grt
Length: 531 feet now 556 feet 0
Breadth: 70 feet 4
Draught: 30 feet 2
Owner History:
1947-61 Cunard Steamship Co Ltd Liverpool
61-68 Cia Genovese Di Arm SPA Italy
68-82 Costa Line Italy
82-86 Flavian Shipping S.A PA
86-89 Lavia Shipping S.A PA
Status: Scrapped - 1989
Gutted by fire at Hong Kong 07/01/1989 while undergoing renovation. Towed to shallow water where she heeled over onto her side on a sandbank. She was righted and towed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, arriving 17/06/1989 for demolition.




I sailed on Cunard`s `MEDIA` in December 1955 to January 1956. I didnt intend to, the Western Ocean in Winter is atrocious, but a crowd of us had just paid off the GEORGIC after taking her to the breakers and we were having a bevie in `Tom Halls` at the back of the Cunard building and someone came in and shouted `The MEDIA` wants a crowd signing on in the Cunard Building.`
So somehow I was swept along in the rush as someone else said she was a good job. When I sobered up I found I was signed on and due to sail the following day for New York. I also discovered that I had signed on as a Quartermaster, well that would keep me out of the weather on deck.
We sailed bound for New York and it was blowing a gale and sleet. on the way across I have never seen before or since seas as big as that trip. She was climbing verticle upwards and on top of the huge swells it was terrifying looking down the deep valleys then falling 70 or eighty feet and the next mountain of sea waiting to smash her under shaking like a dog out of water as seas cascaded off the fore deck. Very difficult to sleep when you float off the mattress weightless and then fall and the mattress wraps itself around you. By the time we got to New York we were knackered. We had Christmas at sea but we were getting smashed around so much it was a no no. All the big plate class windows on the Prom Deck for the lounges and restaraunts smashed due to the ship twisting like a cork screw, We had no passengers on board that trip and we were one of the few ships at that time to have Stabilizers fitted but we never used them, the Captain said it costs a lot more in fuel with the drag. There was a Pig on board but it didnt get used much, the ale was being spilled all over. I was glad when we got into the Market Diner in New York.
Up on Broadway at night time it was very glitzy, bright as a sunny day with all the lights, Santas, ringing bells everywhere collecting for charity. snow flakes falling, a whole technicolour world. No contest with Liverpool`s dull and gloomy atmosphere, pubs shut at 10pm and surrounded by all the bomb sites around town. New York was a good place to buy the winter gear, thick wool Tartan three quarter length jackets, shirts and hats with ear mufflers on, gloves and scarves, it was freezing and we needed to have this gear.
We had New Years Eve on Broadway and Times Square, fantastic, I have never ever been kissed by as many women in all my life, some pretty ones, Ugly ones, fat ones, thin ones and some of doubtful gendre, ugh, spit. but a great time was had by all until the early hours.
When the Long Shoremen were working cargo , they sometimes called us over, "Hey what size shoes you wear?" I would say tens, `OK here try these` and give us a pair of export shoes, It was so bad over the years that they started to export shoes by shipping all the left shoes on the Media and all the right shoes on the Parthia.
On the 2nd of January we were sailing and the Hudson was frozen over, the temperature had gone down to 28 degrees below freezing, The Captain tried always to get her off the pier, going ahead and astern , the ice was holding her fast. so Ice breakers were called for and they smashed their way through and got us out, jeez, it really was cold, and so we went to Norfolk Virginia to load a cargo of Tobacco, we did`nt go ashore there. A week before some Royal Navy ships had paid a visit there to the US Navy base and as always when the RN and US navy get together there is always a big battle, some men were killed and many injured so feelings ashore were a bit tense so we were advised not to go ashore.
We completed loading in a couple of days and made our way back across a wild Western Ocean to Liverpool. where I paid off and caught up with the leave I should have had off the GEORGIC.

7A
The MEDIA was a cargo passenger ship. she carried 250 first class passengers, six hatches and 20 derricks.
The ship was built for the Cunard as a cargo-passenger liner in 1947.
In 1961 traffic across the Western Ocean was getting a bit thin so she was sold to Codegar Line of Italy and rebuilt as the Europe-Australia emigrant ship Flavia. In 1968 she was chartered to Costa Line, who refitted her as a cruise ship. She operated Caribbean cruises from Miami, and was so successful, Costa bought her in 1969. Her engines became troublesome, so she was sold in 1982. She was sold to Hong Kong based C.Y. Tung Group. Her name was changed to Flavian and was to commence cruising locally. Instead, she was laid up for four years and was sold in 1986 to another Hong Kong shipping company, Virtue Shipping, who changed her name to Lavia. She remained laid up at anchor near Landau Island.
On January 7, 1989, but neglected Lavia caught fire. She was completely gutted and her hulk was sold to
Taiwanese shipbreakers.

..............

[wsteve55]

Great story CG, interesting comment on the"friction" between the R.N. and the U.S. navies! Was this as common as you say? What were the typical causes,and were these incidents ever reported in the media,or not considered worth reporting on,being considered typical! :snf (41):

[captain kong]

Hi Steve,
From what I have seen and heard over the years the US Navy and the RN have always had a go at each other when on shore leave,
There was one big incident in Kowloon in the early fifties. The US Navy were always paid movie star wages compared with the National Service men. In Hong Kong in those days the National Service Man, Army, Navy, Air Force got around 28 shillings a week then they had deductions off that leavinng around twelve shillings spends.The price of a bottle of beer was around an old nine pence. When the US Pacific Fleet came into Hong Kong the price of beer soared to unbelievable levels. The National Serviceman could not afford, this caused tremendous resentment. Then one day when the American Fleet arrived all the Brit Servicemen were waiting and a terrible fight started and many killed and injured. After that the American Fleet and sailors were confined to Victoria side and the Brit Servicemen confined to Kowloon side to keep them apart.
There was always great rivalry between the two.
"Hey Limey, how`s the second largest Navy in the world doin."
"Great, how`s the Second best Navy doing". then the battle commences.

[kevin]

Brian,
Another interesting story.
Great to meet you last night.
Kevin

[captain kong]

HI KEVIN,
THANKS FOR THAT, GOOD TO SEE YOU TOO, IT GAVE ME A STIFF NECK LOOKING UP AT YOU, DIDNT THINK YOU WERE SO TALL.
CHEERS
BRIAN

[captain kong]

We signed on, on the Dunedin Star on the morning of Tuesday, 21 August 1956 and the crowd met each other for the first time. At lunch time all the deck crowd went across
the road from the dock to `Mable`s` bar and had a few beers while we were getting to know each other. On Tuesday morning we arrived on board with our gear and turned to getting the ship ready for sailing early next morning, dropping derricks and tidying up the decks as the Dockers finished loading the cargo. That evening was our last one before we got to Cape Town so all hands went across to `Mable`s`, I took my guitar with me and Tony and I took it in turns trying to play a tune on it. There were a few attractive young ladies in there and Tony and I copped for two of them and walked them home to somewhere in Bootle. We ended up in a back jigger kissing them good night and trying to have a knee trembler with a guitar slung over the shoulder is not recommended, it was banging against the wall with every movement with a loud `boing`, `boing`,
We were falling over laughing and then we left them and walked back to the ship.
Early on Thursday morning, the 23rd of August we let go and moved through the docks and out of the lock gates into the Mersey and were outward bound for the Cape.
We had a good run down to Cape Town stopping off at Las Palmas for a few hours to bunker.
We arrived in Cape Town on Friday morning, the 7th of September and moored starboard side to in Duncan dock ready to discharge our cargo.
That night we went ashore to sample the delights of Cape Town. The place to go to in those days was to the `Delmonaco`, a night club on Adderley Street, It was built like the inside of a castle, and the ceiling was like the sky with moving clouds, changing colours and the night sky with twinkling stars. They had a band and dancing and lots of pretty girls, but Tony and I couldn?t cop off with any of them, we must have lost our touch. We had a few bevies and staggered back to the ship, next morning we found that Joe had got himself a woman from the `Seamen?s Club` and had stayed the night, lucky fella.
Saturday morning we had a `job and finish` painting the funnel so we had finished at midday. That afternoon we shaved, showered and shampooed and legged it ashore to the `Seamen?s Club. We got Joe to introduce us to his new lady, who was the Stewardess of the club, and did she have any friends? we asked.
She said she had one who was coming ashore later from the `Dunnottar Castle` where she was a `Steam Queen`, who worked in the laundry,
The Steam Queen?s were legendary; they worked half naked down in the bottom of the ship sweating in the heat and steam of the laundry and were reputed to be `bang at it` all the time.
?She?s mine,? I said to Tony. ? No she mine,? shouted Tony, , he always wanted my girls. We sat around the bar drinking with Joe and his lady, she wasn?t too bad but she a lot older than Joe. Later on this old lady came in the club and walked over to us at the bar, ?Hi?, said Joe?s friend ?this is my friend Mary, off the `Dunnottar Castle`, and these are Joe?s friends Brian and Tony?. ?She?s yours,? I said to Tony. ?No she?s yours?. said Tony.
We had a few more drinks at the bar, we were chatting to Mary, who was quite funny to talk to with a good sense of humour, but just a little bit old for us, we were desperate but not that desperate.
Joe?s lady invited us all back to her house for supper so all five of us piled into a taxi and went round there. She opened a couple of bottles of wine and had a pile of sandwiches for us, so we got stuck in we were getting a bit bevied by now and gulping more down just in case we got the old Steam Queen, we couldn?t go with her sober.
When Tony went to the bathroom he found a line over the bath where she had a few pairs of knickers hanging there drying so he stuffed a few pair in his pocket.
Later on we ordered a taxi and leaving Joe and his lady there the three of us got into the taxi and went back to the dock, she?s all yours I told Tony, no she?s all yours he insisted.
We got back to the Dunnotter Castle and left her at the bottom of the gangway; we declined her offer of going on board with her and continued back to the Dunedin Star.
When we got into the cabin Tony pulled a few pairs of knickers out of his pocket, make a good souvenir he said.
On Sunday evening we went to the `Delmonaco`, we had a few drinks and danced with some of the girls there but somehow we just couldn?t crack it with the girls there. I don?t know why as we were both good looking, lean, mean and bronzed with sun bleached hair and normally they couldn?t resist us. True!
Joe was in there with his lady friend, and we called at their table for a chat, I just happened to have a pair of knickers sticking out of the top pocket of my suit as a handkerchief. Joe?s lady recognised them and went berserk and accused me of stealing all her knickers. Tony and I had to do a swift runner out of there and go to another bar down the street, to the `Navigators Den`. Here?s another fine mess you?ve gotten me into, I said.
On Monday at lunchtime we were sat in the cabin having a ciggie before we turned to, when there was a knock on the door and when I opened it there was the old Steam Queen.
?Hi?, she said, ?I?ve come to see you before we sail this evening?, Tony jumped up and said I?ve got to start work now, and ran out of the cabin leaving me there with her.
She was rampant. ?Come on and get in the bed and give us a good seeing to?, she said trying to put her arms around me, pushing me against the bunk. ?I?m all yours, take me now?. I was panicking now, just then the Bosun knocked on the cabin door, ?OK lad turn to?, Saved by the bell. ?All right Bose I am on my way? and was out on deck before he was. ?Kinnel, what?s the matter with you two? he said to Tony and me.
? If you want a quick leg over Bose, there is one in my cabin, she?s more your age than ours and she?s waiting for you?.
We left him and ran down aft to the Poop where we were painting, ? Jees, that was a close one you should have stayed with me? I said to Tony, ?I was getting raped?.
We knocked off at half past two for smoko and went amidships to the cabin and found that she had gone. We found the Bosun wandering around with a strange look in his eyes, "Book four hours overtime lads", I think it was the first time he had had a leg over in years. .
At 7pm that evening the Dunnotter Castle was sailing back to the UK and there were hundreds of people on the quay waving good bye to there friends and relatives, we joined them as the sailing of a large passenger ship was always a good event in the old days.
Along side the poop we saw Joe?s lady friend waving to the Steam Queen who was on deck We started shouting to her and then Tony and I pulled out two pairs of knickers and started to wave them to her. The Steam Queen was laughing but Joe?s lady went berserk again and snatched them off us and chased us around the quayside trying to batter us. We ran up town again to the first bar and had a bloody good laugh over a few beers.
On Wednesday we sailed to Port Elizabeth arriving thereon Thursday morning and sailing again on Thursday evening for East London, so we didn?t get a chance to go ashore.

[brian daley]

Brian, some enterprising young film producer could make a bloody good movie of your exploits. The banter between you and Tony would make the movie more interesting. I could imagine Matthew Vaughan and Owen Wilson playing the parts(although some unkindly soul mentioned Laurel and Hardy) Whatever,your tales are made for the big screen because they re so much larger than life. Keep 'em coming,
BrianD

[captain kong]

Thanks Brian,

A VOYAGE ON THE DUNEDIN STAR 1956


We arrived in East London in the Eastern Cape, on the Dunedin Star, around 8 am and we were on the 8 to 12 watch, we topped the derricks and stripped the hatches ready for discharging. The Ship was sailing at 4pm so we only had a couple of hours or so before we sailed again.
Last time I was here my mate, Ken Hignett, was drowned in Bonza Bay on December 13 in 1953, and I was rescued by a South African lad, David Brinton.
We went to the Seamens Mission on Buffalo Street and asked the man there where Ken was buried, I wanted to visit his grave. The caretaker told us he was buried in the West Cemetery many miles out of town in the hills. We got a bus and went up there to a small township. The place was deserted. The cemetery was spread all over the hillside so we wandered around and there was no way we could find a grave out of the many thousands up there. Then we met a man who was just sitting on a bench, he said, ?Who are you looking for?? , we told him, `Ken Hignett,` he said ?You are in the wrong cemetery, he is on the other side of town in the East Cemetery". Then he said , "My son saved a lad that day", I said , "Is he David Brinton," he said "Yes". so I said , "I am the lad he saved". I was stunned, and we walked away and left him, I forgot to ask for his address.
We had to get back to the ship, I was amazed that we had gone 7000 miles to the wrong cemetery and the only person we saw was the father of the lad who saved my life three years earlier. I had forgotten to thank him.

Now I digress?????
For a few years I tried to find David Brinton to thank him for saving my life. I wrote to the South African newspapers, including East London`s Daily Dispatch. but to no avail. I phoned the Salvation Army in Johannesburg, they have a fantastic tracing people reputation , but they referred me to London. I tried them and was told they only trace family members. I told them the story and asked if they could make an exception, I also told them I was a member of the Salvation Army when I was a lad, a "Little Sunbeam" no less. They said they would see what they could do. The only information I had was, he was 15 years old in 1953 and his name, David Brinton. Africa is a big place to trace people with that amount of information .
In 2001 I decided to go to East London to try to find him myself. it was a quest I knew I had to do.
Two days before we were sailing to Cape Town on the QE2 The telephone rang, it was the Salvation Army in London, they had found him. "Where in East London?" I asked, No he is in Stranraer, Scotland, they gave me his phone number and I phoned him. It was fantastic to be able to thank him for saving my life. He had lived there for 17 years after leaving South Africa he had gone to Rhodesia then to Scotland.
I went to Cape Town and then we flew to East London to find Ken`s grave.
We checked into a hotel and a South African family who had read my emails on the internet met us and took us to the grave. The East Cemetery was in town, easy walking distance from the dock.
The cemetery was silent, not a sound. As Anne and I approached the grave, the screams coming out of the grave were terrible, I was shocked, Anne `s face turned white and was visibly shocked. The noise of a demented soul, we walked back and it stopped, silent. As we walked forward again the noise started again. There were no words, just an out of this world noise, which had a meaning, like, .. why have I been here so long, no one has been to see me and so on. I could walk into and out of this sound like walking in and out of a large bubble over the grave, His spirit was definitely there and in anguish as if he was tied there with no escape.
I laid a Merchant Navy wreath that I had brought from England, on his grave. I got my camera but it would not work, nothing. So I got my video camera and that would not work,, I was very upset and disturbed by all these happenings, It should have been a happy day, that I had found him and laid a wreath on the grave.
We went back to the hotel , the camera worked, the video camera worked, nothing wrong with them.
The following day, the South African friends took us to Bonza Bay, even though it was 48 years later everything was still the same as it was. What scared me was, a sign on the Surfer`s hut, ?Beware of the Great White Shark?. Bonza Bay was a favourite place of the shark and it amazed me that we were never attacked when we were there all those years ago.
Two days later we were going to the Airport to fly to Cape Town, I was not happy and very disturbed, it should not be like this. I couldnt go home not knowing what was going on there. So I told the taxi driver to go back to the cemetery.
When we got back to the grave , all was silent and peaceful. I took the photos, the camera worked and also the video camera worked OK ,
He had gone, gone to Fiddlers Green, where all good Sailors go. He had been released.
I felt good again as if a load had been taken off my shoulders. The trip had been worth while.
We sailed back to England on the `Caronia`, and when we arrived home I had a phone call from Esther Rantzen, a TV Presenter from the BBC. She had heard of the story and wanted me to go to the London BBC studios and tell it on TV on the `Esther Show`. So on 14 February 2002, Anne and I went to London, expenses paid, a Limo waiting at Euston Station for us and then to the studios.
I was taken to the make up room and sat with a few TV Celebs and had a make over, lip stick, and make up over my face and my eyebrows darkened. I was then interviewed by Esther on stage with a studio audience, and told them all about the tragedy and my search for David Brinton, Esther said have you ever met him?, I said `no`, so she said , well here he is, and David walked onto the stage. it was another fantastic moment to be able to shake his hand and thank him after more than 48 years. We went into the green room after the show and partook of the free bar, Later David had to go back to Scotland for his business and I stayed. That evening the BBC Staff poured me into a Limo and took us to our hotel in Kensington . I went into the bar there and ordered a couple of drinks for us both. A lot of men were smiling and winking at me, I thought, what friendly people there are in London.
Later I went to our room and shock horror, I still had my make up on. They must thought I was a wufter.
I keep in touch with David and always phone him or go to Stranraer on December 13.
We talked later and he told me his father had died in a car crash in October 1956, around the time Tony and I spoke to him. So was he a ghost that we met??????????????continued??..

So Tony and I arrived back in East London at 5pm We thought we had missed the ship as she was down for sailing at four. We decided it was a waste of time going down to the berth so we went into a pub on Oxford Street for a beer. Ten minutes later whilst enjoying a cool beer we heard the whistle blowing. She`s still in we said to each other. We ran out of the pub and bumped into the Padre from the Mission. ?I am looking for you two, the ship is sailing? . We climbed into his Jeep and he ran us down to the berth and the Dunedin Star was about thirty yards off the berth and moving outbound. The Captain, a very angry man, was on the wing of the bridge shouting he would sort us out in Durban and be there.
Astern of her was the pilot launch, and the Padre called out to him, they came over and Tony and I climbed down the ladder and into the launch.
We followed the Dunedin Star out passed the break waters then went alongside, the Pilot climbed down and we climbed up.
The Captain met us on the boat deck screaming abuse at us, be on the bridge tomorrow morning for a big logging for holding up the ship.
I tried to explain where we had been but he wouldn?t listen.
Fortunately the Fourth Mate was with me on the New Zealand Star when Ken Hignett was drowned and later he told the Captain the story so next day he let us off with the logging.
We then sailed on to Durban.

[captain kong]

In Durban we

[brian daley]

What happened in Durban , are you O.K.? I'll sit by screen until the nigh****ch comes on. What a cliffhanger!!

[captain kong]

I was called away to dinner and then lost it. be on tomorrow,

[kevin]

What happened in Durban , are you O.K.? I'll sit by screen until the nigh****ch comes on. What a cliffhanger!!


Disgraceful, Brian. Fancy trying to type a naughty word into an innocent post.
Well you were well and truly caught!
:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[captain kong]

DUNEDIN STAR, SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA, SEPTEMBER 1956

We arrived alongside in Durban on Saturday morning on the 15th of September and we were only to be here until Monday, so there was not a lot of time to get ourselves known here.
Saturday night Tony and I with some of the other lads went uptown to the Playhouse, it was a club very similar to Delmonaco`s in Cape Town, it was built as an Indian palacea, court yard with the `sky` above
Having moving clouds which changed colour as the sun set and then twinkling stars. There was a good bar and lots of pretty girls to dance with but we just couldn`t crack it, we must be losing our touch or
I think maybe that the girls didn?t want to get involved with seamen, so we got ourselves bevied instead.
On Sunday morning the Seamen?s` Mission put us on a coach and took us up to the Valley of a Thousand Hills to a Zulu village to watch the Zulus singing and dancing, quite interesting but we couldn?t crack it with the Zulu girls either.
That was our last run ashore until we would arrive in Brisbane one month later. On Monday morning we dropped the derricks and battened down and then sailed to Lourenco Marques in Mozambique.
We anchored in Delagoa Bay and unloaded our cargo into barges for a couple of days then sailed round to Beira. We were anchored out there for seven days completing discharging all our cargo again into barges, we were too far off shore to get ashore so we were quite happy when we were ready to sail to Australia to get a decent run ashore.
I had a letter from my girlfriend Sheila in Melbourne and she said that she had a friend who wanted a
Blind date with Tony but when I told him he wasn?t too keen as on most blind dates you end up with the ugly one, still it was something to look forward to.
We sailed from Mozambique on Saturday, 29th of September sailed round the southern tip of Madagascar and then had a good run down to the southern ocean to the Aussie coast.

[kevin]

Hi Brian,
Went to LM three times, and each time it was a different name!
First time - Lourenco Marques
Second time - Camfumo (didn't last long).
Third time - Maputo, its current name.

[Trader]

Great stories Brian, keep 'em coming. You have got the memory of an elephant:)

Alec.

[Trader]

Great stories Brian, keep 'em coming.

Alec.

[captain kong]

We landed in Brisbane in Queensland mooring at New Farm Wharf, that night we went into Brisbane and to the Grand Central Hotel in Queen Street. It was a bit quiet in there and we asked one of the local lads where all the action was. He told us to go a township outside the city, there was a pub and a brothel. Sounded good so `Blubs` Donnelly, John the Baptist, Tony and I climbed into a taxi and went there.
It was just a small place with wood side walks a pub with bat wing doors, a few wooden houses and a Brothel facing the pub. It was used by the men who spent a few months in the bush who came into town had a few beers and a leg over before going back to the bush.
We had a couple of beers in the pub and sat on the veranda looking at the Brothel.
Then `Let?s get it over with lads`, we strolled across the street to the `House` and knocked on the door.
A big buxom woman, who?s former beauty was fading fast, opened the door, "G`day boys you want to see my girls? come in" We went into the lounge with six scantily clad young ladies lounging around on divans waiting for us.
It?s ?20 for a `quickie`, no pay no play.
`Kinnell! Our wages at that time was ?30 a month so it was 3 weeks wages for ten minutes, 2 minutes in Tony?s case. We argued and haggled but she wouldn?t bring the price down. You would think it was her who would be doing the deed, I am sure the girls would have done it for nothing the way they were looking at me, I was, lean, mean and bronzed with sun bleached hair and girls used to scream after me. In the end the old Mamasan screamed, " Get out you Pommie bums".
We walked back across the street to the pub and ordered another beer and sat on the veranda overlooking the brothel, dreaming of what might have been. " You would have been finished by now Tony " I said sipping my cool Castlemaine xxxx
"and I would have just about been nearly half way." Just then John the Baptist, a Liverpool lad, who looked like his namesake, said "they will all burn in hell for their sins, Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, I will repay" Why what?s going to happen John, ` we asked. " When you were arguing with the Madam I put the electric fire behind the drape curtains and switched it on, just watch,"
A minute later we saw flames licking up the drapes and then a flash and the tinder dry wooden building went up in flames, Kinnell! Six scantily clad young ladies ran out of the House followed by the screaming Madam, then 3 naked young ladies and 3 men staggered out trying to pull up their keks and falling over as they tried to run across the street. Suddenly the building collapsed in a shower of flames and sparks.
`Come on let?s get out of here`, I shouted, we ran around the corner and found a taxi and went back to Brisbane.
When we got back to Brisbane we went into the Grand Central Hotel for another beer and a young lady by the name of Gwen Taylor took a fancy to me and was all over me, chewing my ears and kissing etc. Tony was a sick as a pig cos no once else fancied him.
A closing time we all piled into a taxi and went back to the ship. We went into my cabin and I got a bottle of Penfolds out and then went to the mess room to get a bottle opener and some glasses. When I got back Gwen had gone,? where is she?"
Bubs Donnolly said she?s gone with Tony to his Cabin.
I legged it up the alley way and hammered on the door which was locked, "Open up you ba*tard that?s my girl" " Not any more, she?s mine now, so *** off."
I ***** off back to my cabin and drank the bottle with the rest of the lads while we laughed about the Brothel burning down.
Next morning I got up early and went to the bathroom and found Gwen, who had just had a shower, scrubbing the crutch piece of her knickers with Tony?s toothbrush. Later on when Tony got up and was brushing his teeth he said, "What are you laughing at" When I told him what Gwen had done he was nearly sick. " Serves you right you ba*tard " I said. Meanwhile Gwen did a runner with Tony?s money and a carton of 200 ciggies.
We stayed in Brisbane for a couple of days then sailed up to a God forsaken place called Port Alma, up near Rockhampton.

[brian daley]

Brian ,as I was reading todays episode I thought "how very unlike the lives of our own dear royal family". You know John the Baptist was right,you are doomed to burn in hell for the wicked things you did back then. But, before you do,.tell us some more ,please!
BrianD

[captain kong]

We arrived in Port Alma after calling in at Gladstone, another one horse town for a couple of days. Nothing much there just a couple of pubs with batwing doors. Next stop was Port Alma.on 3rd.November, a godforsaken place up in.Queensland.
It was up a crocodile infested creek, surrounded by salt flats, scrub and desert. a breading ground for millions of flies and mosquitoes. There was no electricity there only oil lamps when it got dark ashore.
There was just a small wood jetty and six wooden huts and a canteen that only sold Sarsaparrilla pop, The Five huts were the accommodation for the wharfies and one for the girls who worked in the canteen, cooking meals for the wharfies. The girls were ruled by a huge Bosun type of a woman, a big forced draft job.We called her the Mamasan, who hated us Sailors cos she thought we were all sniffing round her girls and would have them locked up in the shack by 9.30 pm. The nearest town was 200 miles away where there was a meat works that sent the frozen beef down every day on a single track railroad. The wharfies and girls stayed there for the duration of loading a few thousand tons of beef.
Saturday night was 5th of November, bonfire night and a large fire was lit on the beach and beer and grog appeared and we were all having a great time snogging the girls in the shadows. Tony and I were having a go at two beautiful Polynesian twin sisters , Theresa and Thyra Hornung, when the Mamasan gave us a load of abuse and threats and took the girls back to the shack and then locked them all in for the night.
The party was over so we all went back aboard the ship and turned in.
About 1am the watchman woke us up and said the wharfies were running about with
shotguns searching for a sailor who had been trying to break into the girls shack. We checked the cabins and found that John the Baptist was missing.
He was called John the Baptist cos he looked just like the man from the Bible and was always saying biblical phrases from the bible. He was from Liverpool.
Tony and I got a torch and went ashore to find him before the wharfies did and blew him apart with their shot guns.
By the shacks I spoke to a wharfie with a gun and he told us that they had heard singing of hymns coming from the top of the water tower,
. John the Baptist had climbed up the tower to hide and fell into the water and the sides were to high and smooth for him to climb out and was just swimming around in ever decreasing circles.when the wharfie and his mate climbed to the top of the tower they could see John singing `Abide with Me` and just as he was sinking for the last time he started singing `For Those In Peril On The Sea`. Just before he sank they grabbed him and pulled him out and got him onto the ladder, John just shot down and disappeared into the darkness and so they were still searching for him.
Tony and I searched under the shacks and then I saw him, I grabbed Tony and we crawled underneath the shack and there was John the Baptist. on his knees with his head on the ground throwing sand over his head shouting "You can`t see me I am an ostrich" Crazy, he was out of his head with the grog.
As we grabbed him he was shouting " The Lord Is my Shepherd, but He lead me astray tonght". We dodged our way back to the ship in the darkness and got him to his cabin and locked him in.
The shouting and screaming ashore slowly died down and the Mamasan locked up her girls again and the wharfies turned in and Port Alma went back to sleep after the most exciting night it had ever had.
Next morning the wharfies went on strike and refused to work until whoever it was apologised. So we got John to got out to meet the wharfies.
He looked like John the Baptist, he had a little round white skull cap on, a thin haggered face with a beard , a long white shirt that came past his knees and open sandles. He stood on top of the gangway looking down on the wharfies and the girls.
They were shouting abuse and kill the ba*tard, but when John appeared on the gangway platform, the light cluster was on the deck behind him, in the early morning light, he was glowing, he looked truly biblical. They were stunned and fell silent when they saw this apparition above them.
He raised his arms and said "The Lord was my shepherd but I was lead astray last night, I was suffering from the sins of the flesh but now I have seen the light and and have found the paths of rightiousness I have cast out the devil within me and I will sin no more and now I walk in the shadow of the Lord. God Bless you all. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord I will repay." and with that he turned and walked back to the mess room.
The wharfies stood there in a stunned silence for several minutes They could not believe what they had just seen and heard and so in their bemused state they went back to work and John became a legend.



.

[captain kong]

It has taken me over two hours to get this post on, does anyone else have problems with the slow speed??

Dunedin Star continued,.......................

We stayed in Port Alma for another few days loading beef. We spent the evenings in an old railway carriage with the two twin sister, Thyra and Theresa, until the big Mamasan came along to chase them back to the shack and lock them up. When we sailed for Melbourne we said we would write to them until we returned the following trip on the Adelaide Star.
Arriving in Melbourne we tied up near to the bottom of Flinders Street on a Saturday morning. After topping the derricks ready for the wharfies starting on Monday morning , I went ashore to phone my girl friend, Shiela, who I had first met on the `GEORGIC` when she was emmigrating in 1955. She was a beautiful green eyed ginger haired girl. She said she had a friend who wanted a blind date with my mate, so I told Tony.
` No, No, ` he said, `Blind dates you always get the ugly one.`.
She said they would meet us in the cafe in Flinders Street Staion at 4 pm. We went ashore to the `Sir Charles Hotham,` on the corner of Spencer and Flinders Streets for a bevy. He was gulping it down, `Do I have to go? I dont want the Ugly one, I`ll have to get bevied to face her.`
At 4pm we staggered up Flinders Street and went into the cafe, we had a couple of coffees. Then I saw them across the road on the corner of the Church. "Look at her Tony, she is beautiful, "
`No I`m not looking `he said with his head in his hands.
They entered the Cafe, Shiela came over to us and gave me a kiss, "This is Anita" she realy was gorgeous, Tony was still not looking, "And this is Tony" I said giving Tony a thump,`and fasten your flies". he raised his head and could not believe what he saw, I have never seen a man sober up so fast.
We sat there for a while having coffee, then Shiela said they were going to the Olympic Village in Heidelberg. The 1956 Olympic Games were on then. So we climbed into a taxi and went there. There was a dance on and then Anita disapeared, `Where is she` Tony said, "Just wait " said Shiela. Then they announced the final heat for "Miss Olympic Games 1956"
The finalists came on stage in their swimming costumes and there was Anita, looking fantastic. "You owe me." I said to Tony.
Anita won the contest. What a blind date!!!.
She then went on to win the Miss Victoris title and then Miss Australia, she had changed her name to Victoria
Shaw, after the State of Victoria and her mother`s maiden name. She eventually got a movie contract and went to Hollywood and became a movie Star, I saw her a few times in in a few films the last one a western. She died about three years ago.
We spent a couple of weeks with the girls. I went to the `Hostel` where Shiela was living with her parents, it was a disused army camp in Brooklyn on the outskirts of Melbourne, I went through the iron gates and a depressing row of Nissen huts, two families in a hut seperated by a breeze block wall and a cold water tap outside the door. they had been there for twelve months. Six months later when I went to see her they had moved to a farm house out in Melton South in the country. a little better.
The night before we sailed we kissed the girls good bye and went back on board the ship. In the messroom was the crowd drinking their bottles of beer, We got ours and joined them. There was a `beachy` there, a Liverpool bum who had been dossing down in the mess room. an obnoxious ba*tard. who was drinking everyone`s ale and money was missing from cabins.
He got hold of one of my bottles of ale , so I gripped him by the wrist and said,"Put it down or I`ll break your arm", He pulled away and threatened to kill me and said he had killed before and would do me as well. I said who have you killed.? He replied that he had killed two men in the Cameo Cinema in Liverpool seven years earlier in March 1949. ........
{ Now in 1949 my home was raided by the police and I was beaten up by the cops, a man, George Kelly was charged and then Hanged in 1950 for the murders and another man Charles Connolly was gaoled for ten years for conspiracy to the two murders at the Cameo Cinema. I became a close friend with Charles and eventually after a campaign by George Skelly and Lou Santangeli we got them both cleared and proven innocent of the murders, Charles died just before the result at the Criminal Court of Appeal in London. a sad story. ...I digress. ]
So I leaned over the table and smashed him in the face with a big iron fist. Of all the men to say that to it had to be me, who had been involved.
I dived over the table and battered him, with Tony`s help I dragged him out on deck and flung him down the gangway. With hindsight I should have held onto him, and found out who he realy was.
After the Court of Appeal verdict I learned from a lady in London that she suspected that a relative was the man who did the murders and his description fitted the Liverpool bum and he was in Australia at that time.
Next day we dropped the derricks and battened down, we had a full load for the Continent and London. we sailed that afternoon bound round the Southern Ocean past the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic to Gibralter, a long voyage...
to be continued.................................

[captain kong]

Dunedin Star, continued??????

After a long voyage of thirty days around the Cape from Melbourne we called in at Gibraltar to discharge two hundred tons of frozen beef.
Tony and I were on the 4 to 8 watch. We topped the derricks and stripped the hatches for the Dockers and removed the plugs for the fridge hatches.
Then we shaved showered and shampooed and leapt ashore to sample the delights of Gib after a long trip at sea. Tony was engaged to a young lady who was in the Signals Regiment and based here on the Rock so he was excited that he would meet up with his intended.
We walked up Main Street and went into the Royal Oak for a couple of pints then to the Cha Cha Bar for a few more. Walking down the next road we found the NAAFI Club so we dived in there for some more grog.
There were half a dozen National Servicemen in the bar so we were treating them to Rum and pints, as they didn?t get so much money.
Then suddenly Tony remembered his girl was here, he had forgotten, so he went to phone her. He came back and was going berserk; she had kicked him into touch and was now going out with a sergeant in the Army.
He came back into the bar and thumped one of the soldiers, he thumped Tony back and Tony fell on the floor so I thumped him knocking him over a table with all the glasses smashing on the floor. The others joined in; six to two wasn?t bad odds. Then an Army Officer and some more troops ran in and sorted us out and then escorted us to the gate and threw us out, well we had been thrown out of better places than that.
The following year I went back there and there was a notice on the gate, ?No Dogs, Dagos or Merchant Seamen allowed in the Club?.
The ship was sailing at 4pm so we staggered down the street and went past the Governor?s Palace; there was a soldier on guard with rifle and bayonet. Tony staggered across to him and crashed into him knocking him to the ground and dropping his rifle with a clatter. They were rolling over fighting so I had to separate them and got the soldier up and apologised for Tony?s behaviour, I explained that he had lost his girl to an Army fellow. I dragged Tony away and we staggered down the street to the dock. The crowd had just dropped the derricks and battened down and the ship was ready for sailing. Just made it. We sailed then for Dunkirk and into a cold weather and storms across the Bay of Biscay mooring in Dunkirk in a blizzard two days before Christmas Eve???????.

To be continued???????

[captain kong]

Dunedin Star continued.........................

I forgot to mention of when we left Melbourne for homeward bound.

A young Fireman, George Jones of Liverpool had a brother Jimmy living in Melbourne and on leaving he said he wanted to go back to Liverpool so George stowed him away.
We found out a couple of days later when I went to Georges cabin and found Jimmy.
At first it was OK then when it became time for the weekly accommodation inspections when the Captain, Chief Steward, Chief Engineer came around it was a work of art shuffling Jimmy around so he wasn?t seen, from one cabin to another and in one locker to another.
One night Jimmy had a seizure and collapsed on the deck in Georges cabin, he was shaking violently then fell quiet, we thought he had died.
He eventually recovered and told George he was epileptic. George went mad over this, he said he would never have stowed him away if he had known. We even discussed what we would do if Jimmy died during one of these fits, we decided we wouldn?t call the Captain but just slide Jimmy over the wall into the oggin and say nothing.
Jimmy was beginning to be quite a nuisance and giving George a lot of stress, five or six weeks of this is a long time to hide someone.
In Dunkirk on Christmas Eve, Jimmy borrowed money off George and went ashore, got quite legless, fell out of a bar and discovered a hole in the road with workmen?s` tools and a wheelbarrow, he got the wheelbarrow full of tools and was galloping all over Dunkirk with it before the Gendarmes lifted him and locked him up. George on hearing this had to hide for two days as he was supposed to be in gaol, so he had a lousy Christmas.
The Police notified the Captain that one of his men, Jones, was in gaol and so on Boxing Day he went to the gaol and paid the fine and took Jimmy, the Stowaway, back to the ship. The Captain thinking Jimmy was George logged him two days pay for being adrift and then charged him the return taxi fare and the fine off the Police. It cost George half a month?s wages, George was going demented over his stupid brother.
He was becoming ill over his behaviour.
When the ship arrived in Hull just before New Year, George got a sub for Jimmy?s train fare to Liverpool and got rid of him. Then George who was really looking quite bad asked the Captain if he could see a doctor, the captain said `No, you just want to go home for the New Year instead of going to London, the final port of discharge as per articles`.
On New Years Eve George collapsed in his cabin, we told the Captain and I went ashore to a phone box and called for an ambulance. They came and took him to hospital.
Three weeks later I was in Liverpool and I bumped into Jimmy, ?How?s your George? I asked. Jimmy replied, ?He died on New Years day in the hospital?.
George was 22 years old. If he had seen a doctor when he wanted one, would he have still been alive? Very sad, after five months George went home in a coffin.

to be continued..................................

[captain kong]

We went ashore in Dunkirk, two days before Christmas, it was freezing and deep in snow. We were drinking in Yvette?s bar and got friends with a couple of American seamen, one called Frisco who was a little guy and the other was a big fat slob called Boston.
They were throwing their money around like confetti and as long as they kept on paying Tony and I kept on drinking, a very good arrangement we thought.
We were drinking and dancing with Yvette?s` girls on Xmas Eve and Yvette said that if we brought a couple of turkeys on Xmas Day when the bar was closed we would have a big party there with free booze.
We said we would bring Frisco and Boston, as they were the biggest turkeys that we knew.
Later on as we were all getting bevied Frisco was shouting that he wanted to go to midnight mass at Dunkirk Cathedral.
So we carried on drinking and at 4 am on Christmas Day we all decided to go to midnight mass. Frisco got a very large sombrero off the wall in the bar, put it on his head and staggered out into the snow, he looked like a drunken mushroom. It was freezing and snowing and the four of us were staggering up the road and we had to call in a couple of bars to warm up and then we came to the Louis XIV Club and Boston went in and the doorman threw him out, he went in again shouting, "I am a United States Citizen ya gotta let me in, these other bums are Lymies keep `em out". The doorman threw him out again.
Boston screamed "I could have got in there but for you Limy bums" so with that I thumped him and we were rolling about in the snow and I was sat on his chest battering him when he shouted " I surrender". I let him get up and said " Us Limy bums don?t like being insulted, don?t do it again". We staggered on through the snow towards the cathedral.
We got there for midnight mass at six a.m. just as the service was about to start.
At the entrance was a font with the holy water in and another font with money in and Frisco grabbed a handful of money and blessed himself with it and Tony twisted his arm and made him put it back.
We sat at the back of the cathedral, I whispered to Frisco, " Take that stupid sombrero off your head" " Hell no," he shouted, " Some one might steal it".
The Bishop was speaking in Latin through a microphone. Frisco stood up and started walking down the aisle to the front, still wearing the big sombrero, " Hey shout up will ya, we can?t hear what you?re talking about at the back?.
With that I said come on Tony let?s get out of here.
We just got outside when we were followed by Frisco and Boston being thrown out by half a dozen Frenchmen. Frisco was shouting, " I?ve been thrown out of better places than this."
We staggered on through the snow to the dock.
We arrived at the American ship, the `HOWARD T ANDREWS` a Liberty ship and Frisco invited us on board for breakfast. In the mess room Boston introduced us to the American sailors as two Limy bums that they had found, I was going to thump him again when I could smell the breakfast in the galley.
A big black mess man towered over me, " Wadda ya want, eggs, two, four, six? easy over, sunnyside up or what. ham ?, two, four, six, or what.?
" Err six of everything please " Tony and I said.
We got six eggs, six huge slices of ham with fries, tomatoes beans and toast. the biggest breakfast I had ever seen.
After breakfast Tony and I left and said we would see them in Yvette?s bar later in the day with our turkeys.
We got aboard the Dunedin Star and the sailors were just getting their breakfast of one egg and one thin slice of bacon, we gave ours to the lads.
The Galley boy came into the mess room so Tony said to him ? Get us a couple of Turkeys this afternoon" the Boy replied there was only one turkey onboard and that was for the Officers Xmas dinner.
" What no turkey for the sailors?" so he said there is a chicken for the sailors. " It must be a bloody big chicken to feed all the sailors,? I said. " Get us that one then "

" I can?t " said the Galley boy. Tony said "Just leave it by the port in the galley and leave the rest to us. "
We got our heads down until 1pm and got ready to go ashore, we walked past the galley port and there was a small chicken on a plate. I leaned through and passed the chicken to Tony who wrapped it in a paper and we ran down the gangway and up the road to Yvette?s bar.
We were sat there with a drink when Boston and Frisco came in with two large cooked turkeys. Boston sat down with us and said " Where?s ya turkeys Limies"? I pointed to the newspaper with the chicken in. " Well god****, a few scraps for the dog " and then he threw it on the floor and Yvette?s Alsatian dog dived on it and scoffed the lot.
I jumped up and said " You fat Yankee ba*ta*d" and was going to thump him again when Yvette jumped in between. It?s OK there is plenty of turkey for us all and the drinks are on the house, and all the girls are yours for free.
Well we had a great party with the girls all night and two days later we got back to the ship.
The Captain had Tony and I on the bridge to be logged for being adrift for two days. We were fined two days pay and forfeit two days pay, then we were questioned about a missing chicken, we said we had never tasted chicken for months, we hadn?t, but Yvette?s dog had.
The ba*ta*ds, the ship had 15,000 tons of meat from Australia on board and we were starving. they could have bought dozens of chickens with the four days wages each they had taken off us.
The following day we sailed for Hull.

To be continued????????.

[brian daley]

You haven't lost your touch Brian, a good tale and very well told. Keep 'em coming............................................ ...........Where's our Fred, I haven't heard anything of him since the Liverpool 'do'. I hope he is O.K.
BrianD

[Trader]

Great stories Brian. :handclap:. You've got the memory of an elephant.:)

Alec.

[captain kong]

We arrived in Hull on the 29th of December 1956.
It was cold wet and windy, a typical winters day on the Humber.
We had a few bevies that night and the following night then it was New Years Eve. The problem with having to the discharge ports after a long trip meant that we were going to pay off with nothing, after all the subs and loggings.
New Years Eve, we were sailing at 10pm. What a stupid time to sail.
All hands went to a dance at the Baths at Beverley Road, the pool had been boarded over, and there was a band, a bar and lots of pretty girls.
10pm came and went, Midnight we were kissing the New Year in and Tony and I copped for two young ladies to take home. Tony?s girl looked like Gene Autry and had legs to match, mine was quite pretty.
We took them home and eventually made it back to the ship just after 1.30 is, she was still there with tugs alongside and the Pilot on board, the Captain demented and screaming abuse as the crew were arriving back one by one.
Next day we were all lined up on the bridge for logging, at this rate we?ll be paying Blue Star on pay off day.
Another day at sea and then we arrived in Antwerp. We were only here for the day sailing sometime in the evening.
I went ashore at 1pm and at the first bar stopped for a beer. Inside was a lad I had sailed with on the `Empress of Scotland` 18 months earlier.
He was on a Ropner boat, the `Levenpool`, a Fort boat; they were trying to get paid off. They were on a two-year voyage, coal from the Continent to Buenos Aires and grain back to the Continent.
They had all began to break out in scabs and boils with bad guts. They had complained about the water, which was pumped up from the after peak and told the tank was cleaned and cement washed in dry dock in Glasgow nine months earlier. They had the Union man over from London and eventually got the tank drained and then the manhole cover was unbolted. Inside they found the skeletal remains of a man and some empty whisky bottles. It was presumed that the man who cleaned it also had a few whiskies and flaked out inside. When the men shouted inside if anyone was there, no answer, then they battened down? When it was filled up he must have drowned and they had been drinking this contaminated water for nine months. So they were hoping to get paid off.
My mate was gulping ale down as fast as he could, trying to wash the taste of the ships water away.
I was keeping up with him and eventually Oblivion. I remember nothing until I woke up at sea bound for London. Don?t remember going back on board or anything.
Next morning, Friday, 4th of January 1957, we berthed in London and paid off in the afternoon. We all got taxis to Euston Station and went into the bar for a few drinks then we caught the last train to Liverpool

" Brief Encounter".

Tony and I went into the bar on the train, which was full of business types. drinking Gin and Tonics, going home for the weekend. Whilst I was stood at the bar I saw a very attractive young lady trying unsuccessfully to order a drink. I asked her what she wanted, a G&T? right. ? A G&T and two rum and cokes Garcon.? ?There you are, my treat?, I said. In those days I was lean, mean, and bronzed with sun bleached wavy hair and the girls could not resist me, TRUE!!
I introduced myself and told her that we were homeward bound from Australia and were celebrating Christmas and New Year.
She told me that her name was Magnolia and she lived in Birkdale near the golf course and she was a secretary to Sir Hartley Shawcross the famous legal eagle. After a couple more G&T s our hands touch and it was electrifying, our fingers entwined and soon we held each other in an embrace. I could feel the warmth and contours of her body as she pressed herself against me, we kissed gently and I could smell the perfume in her hair. I could see Tony over her shoulder and he was going around the coach talking to all the men there and pointing at me, but I took no notice I had a promising night ahead, soon we were planning to stay at the Adelphi Hotel on Lime Street. Magnolia was lovely, I was in love with her and she was with me.
The Train stopped at Crewe Station, suddenly I saw Tony open the door and throw my case out on to the platform and a crowd of men came over to me and pulled me away from Magnolia. " Hey what?s going on?? I shouted.
" Come along old chap" one fellow said to me, " your Mother is waiting for you"
My Mother??? What?s she doing in Crewe? They dragged me away from Magnolia who was looking startled at what was happening, I was struggling to get free but there were to many of them and next I was out onto the platform and Tony slammed the door. I picked up my case and tried to get back on the train then the Porter grabbed me from behind and was pulling me back. Then the train moved off and was picking up speed as I ran alongside it. Magnolia opened the window and leaned out, she was weeping as the train accelerated out of reach Magnolia took a ring off her finger and our fingers touched for the last time as she passed the ring into my outstretched hand. I stood there stunned, I could not believe it, what was happening, one minute I am homeward bound with a beautiful lady and the next I am all alone on a cold dark platform as the train disappeared into the darkness.
The ba*ta*d, that Tony will have a lot to answer for when I catch up with him. I walked back down the platform to where my case was, the Porter was there. " What the hells going on I demanded." why did you stop me from going on the train"
He replied " Your mate said that you lived in Crewe and that you had been away from home for more than three years and seeing that you were drunk they had to force you off the train"
The picture was getting clear now, that Tony wanted to have a go at my Magnolia.
" What time is the next train to Liverpool " " There is no more tonight, the next one is at 6.30 in the morning" he said. " Kinnell" I dragged my case into the cold dismal waiting room, I sat there stunned, looking at the ring that Magnolia had given me, This was the big one, the only woman I
would ever love, now she was gone, I could have wept. I didn?t know her surname, or her address or phone number I would never see her again. I kept the ring for two years until a young lady in South America took it off me.
I stretched out on the hard wooden bench in the cold waiting room and tried unsuccessfully to sleep. I could not believe it, I should have been in the Adelphi with Magnolia.
I climbed aboard the train at 6.30 next morning, cold, stiff and hungry bound for Liverpool. In Lime Street I dumped my case in the Left Luggage Office and caught the bus to Dovecot to where Tony lived. I walked down Grant Road to number 189 and hammered on the door, as soon as he opens it I will batter him.
The door opened, it was his Mother, " Hello, are you Tony?s mate off the ship? Come in" I went in " Where is he"? " He?s upstairs, I?ll just go and get him, make him a cup of tea Luv" she said to Tony?s sister, she was attractive, I followed her into the kitchen and was chatting to her while she brewed up.
Tony walked in laughing, " All right Scouse, how did you get on in Crewe"" You ba..? I said but I could get angry as his Mother was smiling and his sister was handing me a cup of tea." Why was I thrown off the train" " Well" he said as we all sat round the table " I fancied Magnolia and I knew I would have no chance while you where there so I told the men in the train that you had been in the French Foreign Legion and had been captured at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Viet Nam, and when you were released you went to Sidde bel Abbes in Algeria then demobbed in Marseilles and now you were on your way home after being away for more than three years and I promised your Mother that I would see that you got off the train in Crewe where you lived. so all the fellows in the coach thought they doing you a favour." " How did you get on with Magnolia? " I asked. " I didn?t " he replied " she was weeping and when I went to her she slapped my face and then went down the coaches to her seat and I didn?t see her again. "
" You sneaky ba*ta*d , and I was all fixed up there" " That wasn?t a very nice thing to do , our Tony " his Mother said.
Ah well, `Cie la vie`, as we say in the French Foreign Legion. We walked down to the `Boundary` Tony?s local alehouse, as they were open by now and had a few bevies before I got the train back to Bolton and home.

[brian daley]

Does this old photo evoke a few memories? 6.30 of a morning ,the daymen rigged up in seaboots for the morning wash down.We'd start on the fiddley and work our way down to the main deck. One hoseman, the rest of us with yard brushes and holystones ,followed by the leading hand with a squeegee. You could eat your dinner off those decks on the Blueys.By the time we were down it was time for breakfast,and that's another story!!
Cheers,
BrianD

[wsteve55]

Did this get done regardless of weather/temperature? :shock:

[captain kong]

It sure did Steve.

Now here is another yarn................

MISSING IN JAMAICA

In 1954 I signed on the Tilapa, one of Fyffe?s skin boats for a four week trip to Jamaica.
When we arrived in Kingston we were only there for one night so we went ashore to sample the Appletons Estate rum and any young lady who happened our way.
We ended up in the Blue Duck Bar and I met up with a young lady by the name of Gloria Campbell,
We ended up in bed all afternoon and into the evening with a few rums in between to keep the strength up.
After a shower and some more rum I staggered out into the night and at the bottom of Kent Street I was mugged and battered unconscious by a gang of Jamaicans.
Next morning I awoke in an alley covered in blood stiff and sore all over my body and the pain was terrible.
I staggered to my feet and found all my money and ciggies were gone,
I limped around to the dock and found the Tilapa had gone.
"Kinnell, no money, no cigs, and no ship". I sat on a bollard in the early morning sun, and felt really ****ed off. .
I bummed a ciggy from a passing docker, he told me the Tilapa had sailed two hours earlier and "You look a hell of a mess man".
I flicked the end of the ciggy into the water and limped around to the Blue Duck Bar,
The bar was closed but the cleaning lady let me in when I asked for Gloria, Gloria came down and was shocked to see me in that condition she took me upstairs and bathed my wounds and gave me a shower, and got the cleaning lady to wash my dungarees and shirt, then she put me to bed for the day. I slept most of the day and awoke to find Gloria ironing my gear
" Hi Honey, how you feel now?? " A lot better than I did this morning, just a little sore where those *******s kicked me"
."Hey I got some chilly beans on de stove if your ready to eat" " Thanks" I replied.
After the meal and a cold beer I felt a lot better. but still had a problem. "I got no money and no ship, I guess the police will be looking for me now"
"What you want to do Honey, give yourself up and go in de jail till the next ship comes in or you want to stay with me." "I got no money and the cops will soon find me if I sit in the bar."
" No problem? she said, "I have a shack up in de Blue Mountains, and we can go up there and I will look after you" "Yes that will be OK, " I said.
" We?ll go in de morning when I have sorted out a few things to take,? said Gloria. Meanwhile we go downstairs and have a few drinks"
Later that evening we went back to bed and made love again for most of the night.
Next morning Gloria had borrowed and old pick up truck and loaded it with a couple of bags with food and even a few bottles of beer and a bottle of rum, this gal must have really fancied me.
Then we climbed on board and set off for the Blue Mountains.
Once out of town it was a narrow winding track past the sugar plantations and then rain forest up to about three thousand feet above Kingston. We pulled off the road and into the bush and there was a small clearing with a two roomed wooden shack alongside a small stream that tumbled down the mountain, it had a small garden of limes, paw paw and mangoes, and a magnificent view over Kingston, " This will do me " I thought " There?s nowt wrong with this".
Gloria sorted out the shack and made a bed stowed the food away and then we fell on the bed and had another session,
This girl was insatiable. After bathing in the stream Gloria said she had to go back to work in Kingston and would be back in two days.
I soon settled down in my new surroundings, I could not believe it, early retirement at the age of 19, it can?t be bad.
During the day when Gloria was working in Kingston I kept busy tidying up the garden and soon had it looking good.
In the stream by the little waterfall I removed all the rocks from the bottom and made a dam so eventually I had a swim pool
about three feet deep and fifteen feet wide. It was a great life.
Every other day Gloria came up with food and rum and her speciality, curried goats meat.
We would spend the day lazing around, making love and splashing around in the pool then we would sit drinking our rum and fresh lime juice gazing over the blue Caribbean or the lights of Kingston twinkling below.
As the months passed I became bronzed with the sun and just wore a loincloth, my beard was growing longer and so was my hair.
One day as I was wandering around the bush I came across a group of American tourists. They were fascinated in me so I played the part,
I told them I was a Blue Mountain Yeti, the divis believed it and wanted to take my photo.
I posed with each one and they all gave me several dollars for it. so I was able to give it to Gloria for looking after me.
But the word was soon going around Kingston about a Blue Mountain Yeti, that the tourists wanted to see. The Police became interested and came up the mountain to investigate, and I was captured. They handcuffed me and fighting and shouting they threw me in the back of their truck and took me down
to Kingston Police Station in Kent Street near the City Hall. I would never see my paradise again, There is always some ******* who wants to spoil your day. An English expat Police Inspector questioned me. I told him I had been beaten up
lost my memory and missed my ship and that a young lady had looked after me
This ******* treated me with the contempt that only an expat could have for a seaman. He told me they did not want scum like me to be on their Island and I would be deported as soon as a ship could be found to take me back to England.
I was flung into a cell that stank and was totally unsanitary, the mattress was full of fleas and the food was disgusting.
The following day I persuaded one of the Jamaican Policemen to take a message to Gloria at the Blue Duck Bar.
She arrived in less than an hour, and was shocked and weeping, to see me like this. She pleaded with the Police to let me go but to no avail. She left and soon returned with a towel and some soap, and with some food, she even smuggled a bottle of rum
wrapped in the towel. Good girl!. She could visit as often as she wanted but we could only hold hands through the bars of the cell
She knew this was the end and it was very sad, rather like being in the condemned cell, waiting for the end.
Eight days later the English Police Inspector arrived again and informed me that a ship, amazingly the `Tilapa` again, was in Port Antonio, on the North side of the Island and that I would be deported immediately.
I was shocked at the suddenness of it all, I couldn?t tell Gloria that I was going and I would never see her again.
I was handcuffed and dragged outside and shackled to the inside of a police van, I was struggling and shouting abuse at the Police
I was still wearing my loincloth and beard and long hair and a crowd of Jamaicans stood outside the Station on Kent Street laughing and jeering at this "wild animal".
My God, I thought, if this is what happens when you miss a ship, I?m glad I didn?t steal an apple or something.
The Jamaican Police driver bounced the van over the roughest roads in Jamaica as he made his way over the Blue Mountains
on the six hour drive to Port Antonio. I was being flung around in the back of the van, the shackles cutting into my wrist.
After about three hours the driver stopped for a smoko. I asked him for a ciggy, " No Cigs man, got some ganja if you want one."
"Kinnell " I thought, this guy is flying over these high mountain roads as high as a kite on ganja, " Go ahead I?ll have some" I said "I have nothing to loose now" We smoked the ganja for nearly half an hour then set off again over the mountain.
Wow this is the only way to travel man, Yah Hoo.
I must have fallen asleep and as I awoke the man was taking off the shackle and pulling me out of the van. There in front of me on that small wooden jetty was the familiar site of the old `Tilapa`.
All around was a crowd of Jamaicans going up one gangway and down the other with stalks of bananas on their heads, all singing
"Day oh, day oh, Please Mr Tallyman, tally me banana daylight come and I wanna go home............"
As I was lead, still handcuffed to the gangway, I looked up and saw a couple of familiar faces, Billy Williams and Joe Porter.
"I shouted " Hey! Billy, Joey, its me" the lads looked at me, "Kinnell," said Billy, "what happened to you, look at the state your in".
Before I could say anything else the Policeman dragged me up the gangway and up to the bridge deck and knocked on the Captain?s door. The Captain opened his door, the same one who I was with before, Captain Roberts.
The Policeman said, "I have one deportee for you Captain, here are the deportation papers for you to sign"
Captain Roberts signed the papers and the Policeman took off the handcuffs, my wrist were cut, bruised and swollen.
"My God", said Captain Roberts, looking down at me " what a horrible, disgusting mess you are, what happened to you?"
I told him that I had been battered unconscious by a gang of Jamaicans and left for dead. When I recovered I didn?t know who I was
or where I was, I had totally lost my memory, I didn?t even know that I was a seaman. A young lady took me in and looked after me
and then a week ago my memory returned and I went to the Police Station to make some enquiries and they threw me in gaol like a common criminal and so here I am."
"Get down aft and see the Bosun" Captain Roberts said "and for Gods sake get cleaned up before the passengers see you, and don?t forget there is no shore leave, I am responsible for you now that I have signed the deportation order, I will sign you on later.?
I walked down aft and as I walked along the after deck the long line of Jamaicans were still singing as they carried thousands
of stalks of bananas on board.?..........day oh day oh day light come and I wanna go home."
When I got to the mess room the sailors were having smoko, "Cor Blimey" Billy said " look at the state of you, tell us all about it".
I got a coffee and a ciggy told them what had happened, they were amazed. Then I got the Peggy, a first tripper he couldn?t believe
what he was looking at..?? Get me a towel and some soap, and if anyone has a razor and a pair of scissors I?d appreciate it .Is there any spare gear around, shirt dungarees and shoes?" You might find some gear in the oilskin locker said Joey Porter.
I went into the bathroom and had a shock when I saw myself in the mirror, the first time in four months, I was thin, with a long beard and long sun bleached hair and dark brown with the sun.
I cut off the beard and trimmed the hair to the collar line then shaved and enjoyed a long shower, I almost felt human again.
I found a shirt and old pair of dungarees in the oilskin locker, they needed a dhobi but I would do that tomorrow. I saw the Bosun and he told me there were no spare bunks and the only place to go was in the canvas locker on the boat deck where they stowed
the awnings. I got the Deck Boy to get me some blankets and pillow, and went to the locker and sorted it out to make it comfy.
I got a bolt of canvass and a palm and needle and some lashings and made a hammock, as I didn?t fancy sleeping on the rolls of awnings.
Meanwhile I had seen the Captain again and he signed me on as a DBS, at a shilling a month wages.
At 7 pm that evening they loading was completed and the shell doors battened down and derricks dropped and the ship made
ready for sea. By 8pm we had cast off and sailed through the lagoon, past Naval Island, owned by Errol Flynn, through the narrow entrance and into the open sea.
I was on day work and kept busy holystoning, sooging and painting on deck. and every day we went down the hatches to inspect the bananas to see if any were getting ripe then the whole stalk would be taken out and dumped or given to the galley. Fyffe?s cooks were masters of the art of cooking bananas, we had fried bananas, roasted bananas, stewed bananas, bananas soup, frappe bananas
banana salad , mashed bananas and so on. It kept the food bill down.
Two days out of Port Antonio two Jamaican stowaways were found down the hatch, they were shivering with the cold and were starving
and thirsty. They were taken up to the Captain on the bridge and questioned, as to why they were there, they wanted to go to England.
There was no accommodation for them and so they were put in the canvas locker with me, I wasn?t too pleased about that, my cosy little
Locker was now over crowded, so I was happy that I had made me a hammock, they slept on the awnings and I was above them.
They were put on day work with me and were not at all happy as we got into the cold weather at the end of November as we steamed up the Bristol Channel to Avonmouth.
After fourteen days we made fast in Avonmouth and the immigration and Customs came on board. The Immigration questioned the two
Stowaways and they were released into the care of a Society who looked after West Indians and they were given suits, shoes and
shirts and some money. When I asked them to help me all I got was abuse.
We paid off and fortunately the crowd had a tarpaulin muster and I had enough money to get a rail ticket home.
I stayed home for a few days then went to the Pool to face the Committee.
Paddy McGrath, the Union Delegate, came with me, "Give us a fiver and I?ll get you off" "Eff off Paddy, I don?t need you ".
I went in front of the Committee and my book was there on the desk, "What have you got to say for yourself", said Mr Deakin, I told him that I was battered unconscious and had serious head injuries and nearly killed by a gang in Kingston and lost my memory and didn?t know who I was or where I was from, I didn?t even know that I was a seaman, A young lady found me in the gutter and took me home and looked after me and probably saved my life. Eventually my memory returned and when I realised who I was I went to the Police and they threw me gaol before deporting me, so you see Mr Deakin, I didn?t mean to miss my ship."
They muttered between themselves for a minute then said go and see Mr Repp, he might have a good job for you, they laughed as they said it.
I figured he had some bum job that no one else would take.
I went to see Repp, " Hallo Brian, I see you have returned to us, now I have a lovely Shell tanker for you, and with a bit of luck you?ll be home for Christmas, `laugh`, in 1956. [ this being December 1954.]. or you could try a khaki suit in the army".
"OK I?ll take it " he gave me the Tectus a T2 tanker.
Good job enjoyed every minute, we went to Curacao, up the Maracaibo Lake and then to Shell Haven in the Thames, I was home in six weeks.
Fantastic.

[bangorreg]

Hi Brian.
Great story, keep them comming:002:
Reg.

[Trader]

Another great story Brian:handclap:. Does your missus ever read them?.:shock:

Alec.

[pablo42]

Great story Captain Kong. I was in Africa and was drinking out of a well that had bodies thrown down it. Sh*t for days. Nearly died. Didn't taste that bad though. Great story mate.

[kevin]

We arrived in Hull on the 29th of December 1956.
It was cold wet and windy, a typical winters day on the Humber.

To Hull and Back?

:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[kim.ler]

I guess sailing has a very romantic touch sometimes. I often come across thinking about sailing as a wonderful opportunity to be on your own and be able to think about all the things in life that move you. Often thought about sailing by myself around a beautiful island (http://www.curinfo.com/curacao-tax-haven/) actually...that is kind of a secret dream I hide inside since I was a little girl...

[brian daley]

Hi Kim,
In this age of hi tech it seems that even schoolboys can sail around the world alone. if you are a dreamer and wonder what it would be like to sail around the world ,really alone ,then I would recommend that you read Joshua Slocums "Sailing Around the World Alone" .It is a wonderfully descriptive book ,written in the pre electronic age ,he conveys the sense of what it was like to do as the title of his book says.
BrianD

[bangorreg]

I guess sailing has a very romantic touch sometimes. I often come across thinking about sailing as a wonderful opportunity to be on your own and be able to think about all the things in life that move you. Often thought about sailing by myself around a beautiful island (http://www.curinfo.com/curacao-tax-haven/) actually...that is kind of a secret dream I hide inside since I was a little girl...

Hi Kimler.
Have done all that, still married to the same beautiful girl ,on the same beautiful Island,Don't know about the Tax-haven?:)
Reg.

[pablo42]

http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv306/pablo42pics/511.jpg

Photo of a river taxi in New York.

[bangorreg]

Hi Pablo 42
Can you hear the fajitas calling your name? For some sizzling Tex-Mex cuisine topped off with an ice cold margarita, Don Pablo?s is the place for a night out with friends or family. Don Pablo?s high-ceiling interior is decorated by lights strung across the restaurant, while servers dish out endless supplies of tortilla chips and salsa. Whether in the mood for the spicy, the hot or the cheesy, Don Pablo?s has an assortment of "South of the Border" favorites like chimichangas, enchiladas and the ever-popular quesadillas. On weekends, an entertainer walks around creating balloon animals ? after some tequila you might wind up with an inflatable sombrero.:shock:
Do you also have dancing girls, and is the river taxi service free to Don Pablo's place, Don't know about balloon animals this would be more in line with Captain Kong's interests??:handclap:
Reg.:)

[pablo42]

Sounds great Reg. Love Mexican scoff, not too keen on Mexico though. Mexico City has the highest rate of kidnappings in the World. Strangs place indeed.

[captain kong]

QUEST TV(Channel 38 Freeview) and SKY TV Channel 154
Mighty Ships. The MV Fairplayer is able to lift 13,000 tonnes and is off on her maiden voyage to prove she's the strongest ship in the world. Expect the unexpected! 　
Tues 1st Dec. @ 2100
Weds.2nd Dec. @ 1400 and 2200

[captain kong]

The USS Nimitz is 24-storeys deep and as long as the Empire State Building. Follow the crew as they prepare 75 supersonic fighter jets for conflict.
　
QUEST TV(Channel 38 Freeview) and SKY TV Channel 154

Tues 8TH Dec. @ 2100 GMT
Weds.9TH Dec. @ 1400 and 2200 GMT----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nimitz.navy.mil/index.htm

[captain kong]

Mighty Ships episode on UK Quest TV is a voyage on m.v. PEACE IN AFRICA. The `Peace in Africa` dredges the sea floor off South Africa, for diamonds. Every 24 hours the ship sucks up enough mud and sand to fill 15,000 dump trucks, while a giant floating factory separates the precious stones from it.
QUEST TV(Channel 38 Freeview) and SKY TV Channel 154

Tues 8TH Dec. @ 2100 GMT
Weds.9TH Dec. @ 1400 and 2200 GMT

[captain kong]

Mighty Ships episode on UK Quest TV is a voyage on the Wind-Turbine Installation Vessel MAYFLOWER RESOLUTION.

FREEVIEW U.K(QUEST TV -CHANNEL 38 ) AND/ SKY TV Channel 154
Tues 22ND Dec. @ 2100
Weds.23RD Dec. @ 1400 and 2200
The MV Mayflower Resolution is the first ship custom-built to install wind turbines. With six mechanical legs raising her ten metres above the sea, this jack-up vessel is unique.
http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/mayflower

FREEVIEW U.K(QUEST TV -CHANNEL 38 ) AND/ SKY TV Channel 154
Tues 22ND Dec. @ 2100
Weds.23RD Dec. @ 1400 and 2200

[brian daley]

I could'nt resist posting this plate,any sailor who has worked on the Thames will immediately recognise where it is , The name of the wharves ring with romance ,Galleons Reach, Deadmans Wharf, Tobacco Wharf etc.etc. this scene was much the same in the 50's and 60's when the place was bustling with commerce. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do,another piece of gold fom the Book of Pictorial Knowledge,
BrianD

[brian daley]

Here are two more plates from the book of Pictorial Knowledge,the first shows a sailors place of work,the Bridge,unchanged for generations,and it was only with the advent of modern technology in the late 60's and 70's that the bridge lost it's familiar setting and became a place for tech heads. The house flag plate shows just some of the many shipping company's that we sailors had the pleasure of working for,sadly, all gone from our shores now,
BrianD

[captain kong]

Hi everyone, With Kevs Help I am back on line again. I am off to Fleetwood for a few days back on Friday.
Cheers
Brian.

[brian daley]

I came across this poem by Masefield whilst browsing through yet another volume of Pictorial Knowledge. reading it I was transported back to my classroom in in Gilmour, Heath Road, it was the subject of our english lesson and I was struck by the beauty of the words. More than a few sailors know this poem,and many thousands like me,traversed the English Channel on a "mad March Day......,I hope you like it,
BrianD

[brian daley]

Here is another from that wonderful volume,written for children by Rudyard Kipling ,it is a very truthful piece of poetry
BrianD

[brian daley]

Here is a picture that I am sure that Captain kong and Malcolm will recognise,inideed anyone who sailed through the Suez Canal before 1956 will remeber it. The Egyptians tore it down after the Franco British invasion in that year,when I sailed through at the beginning of 1959 ,all that remained was the plinth;I believe it stands there still,
BrianD

[Samsette]

I remember it well, with raised right arm as if to guide us into his canal and the Far Eastern world
beyond. In 1961, while serving with UNEF, I went for a walk along the mole with an American
canal pilot who lived in Port Said. He told me that he had seen the statue in a wharehouse in
the port area. Seems the Egyptians had not blown it off its pedestal, as I had believed.

I would like to see it put back there, someday.

[Ron Ham]

I came across this poem by Masefield whilst browsing through yet another volume of Pictorial Knowledge. reading it I was transported back to my classroom in in Gilmour, Heath Road, it was the subject of our english lesson and I was struck by the beauty of the words. More than a few sailors know this poem,and many thousands like me,traversed the English Channel on a "mad March Day......,I hope you like it,
BrianD
Loved that Brian because it brought to mind when I was on one of J Monks 'dirty little coasters & butting into a cold North wind in the Irish Sea & as I was on the wheel I quoted the last verse of that poem , the Irish mate was enraptured & I had to repeat it on several occasions for him ! Ron

[captain kong]

57 Years ago today, the ferry Princess Victoria sailed from Stranrare for Larne in N.I. In a short time the wind and sea got up and eventually it was hurricane force blowing down throuigh the North Channel, the same storm that flooded south east England killing over 500 people and thousands in Holland., The sea stove in the stern doors and she took water on the cardecks, the free surface effect gave her a ever increasing list The Maydays went out, the Sparky died at his Post and was awarded a posthumous GEORGE MEDAL, Unknown to the rescue services she was blown over 30 miles south of her reported position No one was able to find her. 133 passengers and crew died, all women and children died.
The wind was reported to have gusted up to 120 mph,
I was on an Everard tanker, Amity, we had sailed from Heysham for Belfast early that Saturday morning.
I was on the wheel just before noon when I heard the Skipper talking to Portpatrick Radio,they wanted all ships to proceed to the area. We were being smashed around in some of the most horrendous seas I have ever seen in 42years of seafaring.we were like a submarine.we could not make much head way against those seas and wind. I remember us being in touch with the Pass of Drumochter, another small tanker and Donoghadee. By the time we got off the Copelands it was dark and no sign of anything except a screaming gale and heavy seas. We searched around not knowing where to look , until Sunday morning we then crept into Befast Lough, the saddest thing I saw was HMS Contest and the minesweeper, HMS Woodbridge Haven . They were overtaking us quite close, with the dead bodies lain on their quarter decks.
The Princess Victoria had drifted 30 miles to the south that is why no one could find her. The strange thing was, she was never out of sight of land in all that time.

[pablo42]

Nice one Captain.

[brian daley]

This is anopther picture from the Pictorial Knowledge,it was taken in the 1930's and it shows just how busy the Manchester ship canal used to be. I'm told it is getting busier ,is this true? when I worked on it in the 60's it was a very busy place,but,as I've driven over the Thelwall viaduct in the past decade or so, I've hardly seen any ships making passage through the canal,

BrianD

[Waterways]

The canal is busy up until Runcorn - within the Mersey estuary. Most of the canal is not busy at all. A few ship a week go up to Irlam, just before the docks. Another small ship/barge goes up to the Tesco's wine bottling plant after wine if offloaded at Liverpool. A barge takes containers up to the canal as well.

Peel have this idea of Port Salford, just a length of the canal side, taking containers from Seaforth by barge to Salford. It will not work, another ploy by them to increase land prices - they are a property company. It is quicker and cheaper to take container by rail from Liverpool and especially to their final destination.

The canal was a white elephant and lasted just over 80 years to supply the docks at Manchester. It would have been cheaper if they built 4 large docks at Eastham,that can take far larger ships than Manchester, and railed up freight to a terminal in Manchester. Much, much cheaper and more flexible.

[captain kong]

Having just done a long sea voyage it made a nice change to sail up the Canal to Manchester, To see the green fields and trees and sheep and cattle, it wasnt all industry. It was the same when outward bound, the last sight of trees and grass for maybe many months.
and I was only ten minutes from home.

In the `old` days cotton camefrom Batton Rouge 200 miles up the Mississipi, down to New Orleans on barges to be loaded onto a Harrison boat and all the way to Manchester then unloaded onto barges then up the canal to the town center of Bolton, to make Bolton the `Cotton Town` of the world, the cotton travelled all those thousands of miles and had never been on a road.What a wonderful way of transportation.

[Waterways]

Having just done a long sea voyage it made a nice change to sail up the Canal to Manchester, To see the green fields and trees and sheep and cattle, it wasnt all industry. It was the same when outward bound, the last sight of trees and grass for maybe many months.
and I was only ten minutes from home.

In the `old` days cotton camefrom Batton Rouge 200 miles up the Mississipi, down to New Orleans on barges to be loaded onto a Harrison boat and all the way to Manchester then unloaded onto barges then up the canal to the town center of Bolton, to make Bolton the `Cotton Town` of the world, the cotton travelled all those thousands of miles and had never been on a road.What a wonderful way of transportation.

:) But, off loading at Liverpool, or Eastham if Manchester wanted to bi-pass Liverpool, and trains direct to Bolton is quicker and cheaper and more flexible and trains could go directly into companies sidings, preventing another handling from one transport mode to another.

The canal is poorly sold. Lay-bys can easily be cut into the side of the canal at any point along its length. That means companies can have cargo loaded and unloaded directly into the plant. It is a 36 mile long linear dock.

[az_gila]

.....
In the `old` days cotton camefrom Batton Rouge 200 miles up the Mississipi, down to New Orleans on barges to be loaded onto a Harrison boat and all the way to Manchester then unloaded onto barges then up the canal to the town center of Bolton, to make Bolton the `Cotton Town` of the world, the cotton travelled all those thousands of miles and had never been on a road.What a wonderful way of transportation.

Yes... but those old days were before the car and the train were invented....:) Canal beats horse most times for large volumes.

We wanted to take a Mississippi cruise this summer, but alas, the only operator who did overnight trips quit last year.
Not a very efficient way of traveling, but it would be nice as a tourist...:)

The Mississipi was (and still is) the entry into the heartland of the US. The levies are strange though... walking along a city street and looking UP at a ocean freighter sailing by is strange.

[brian daley]

Another picture from Pictorial Knowledge, I don't think any words are necessary from me ;spot the difference?
Or was this taken before the Gladstone was fullly opened?
BrianD