Ships and the Sea

[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.

[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

[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



[SIZE="3"]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.
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

[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