Hi All You Guys,
Now I have got rid of the Mersey mist out of my eyes.What a great site to be able to read.Well first about being up the mast on a square rigger.They were mad those guys, when late March 1956 I was on a New Zealand Coaster M.V. Holmglen on delivery to NZ.We had been delayed for over 2 months,with being frozen in the Canal out of Hoogezand North Holland.Built in the Bodewes Shipyard.We manged 4 Miles backward off Finnisterre in 24 Hours in a real howler.The following night there had been this booming sound coming from For'ward.In the Engine room the MAN 8 cylinder engine I still reckon gave a small jump with each boom.I got the Short straw as she had more engineers tickets between the 3 of use than the QE2.So when the 2nd arrived down he asked what that Booming noise was,he actually thought he was dreaming it.But decided differently pretty quickly. I turned in pretty quickly and was just settling nicely when Chief comes in and tells me we have to get up for'ward as the hull is going one way and the for'ward mast the other way in the rolls.Anyway we managed to get to the lower turnbuckles and they couldn't be tightened any more as obviously the yard had saved their efforts rather than use the top turnbuckles.So Maurice and myself had to go up the ladder on the mast and tighten the top turnbuckles.
We made it OK but I will always rememberCaptain Keith the Super and Old man for the Home trip.saying "He would have sworn at times we were only hanging on by our arms at times".No way we told him our legs were wrapped round the mast that tight that it took longer for to get our legs loose than it did to tighten the turnbuckles.We matched the Old Clipper record of 63 days.Captain Kong did you know an Eric Watts with Cunard he was a First Officer.I used to visit him quite a lot 2 years ago.He had been crook for a fair while.Some one mentioned the Whale Back hull or Turret hull.My Maternal G/father was on the S.S.Sagamore,3rd, Engineer WW1 when she was torpedoed 3rd,March 1917.He was 1 of only 7 survivors picked up by the S.S.Deucalion 12th,March 1917.He ended up losing his lower limbs to just below his knees.have you any photos of her.I have a couple pre 1912,but she had passenger accomodation for 60 added.My Dad didn't know what he missed by not going to Sea.He is the only one out of a hell of a lot of the male rellies who did.Thanks guys for a great evenng reading,viewing and reminissing.Best Regards Ken B
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