Hi Reg,
I sailed on the old `GOOD HOPE CASTLE`, sometimes known as the Bob Hope Castle or the No Hope Castle. She was built in 1945 as a wartime designed
Empire ship.
We took her to the breakers in Hong Kong in June 1959 after doing three voyages on her.
The new one you refered to was built afterwards with the Southampton Castle. I saw her once or twice but they both had a strange deisgn, then the GHC caught fire and the rest is history. It was a bit of an adventure for the passengers and crew then. Not long after the decline in shipping and the increase in airline services to the Cape brought an end to to Union Castle.
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Ascension Island is a fascinating place. It is a volcano, with around 44 other volcanoes on it. The tour of the island is interesting. There is the air port that is one of the longest in the world, it was designed by the Americans for use of the Space Shuttle if it ever overshot the landing strips in the US.
Also a stop over for the military planes bound for the Falklands.
Lots of wild goats there, decendants of the ones left there in the sailing ship days for the shipwrecked sailors.
A friend played golf there, it is all volcanic dust, but they carry a square of turf around with them to place the ball on. The RAF had a good club house up in the hills where their village is. There is a small TESCO Shop there and I bought a litre of good scotch for less than ?4.
No one lives there permanently, Every one who works there has to leave on retirement.
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