Ships and the Sea

[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.

[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.