Ships'n'Sailors

[brian daley]

You will be reading tales of some of the men who sailed under the Red Duster,this is a photo of two of my old shipmates on the Marchon Trader. The guy with his elbow on his knee was called Alan Mc Mullen, a giant of a man ,he once saved the life of a shipmate during the Algerian war of Independence. They got caught in an angry mob of Arabs who attacked them with knives,alans mated suffered a couple of stab wounds that made his lose consciousness and Alan put him over his shoulder and fought his way through the mob ,getting several knife wounds in the process. he succeeded in getting to safety and saved his mate from bleeding to death. Another man who rightly fits the definition of hero. The other guy? like me he was just an ordinary seaman called Fred.

[brian daley]

This was an old fireman on the Marchon Trader,his northern irish accent was so strong that I had a hell of a job keeping up with what he was saying. as far as I could understand ,he was from a place that sounded like Port Avogie,but then that is what it sounded like to my untutored ears. Any of you out there any idea of where that sounds like?

[naked lilac]

You will be reading tales of some of the men who sailed under the Red Duster,this is a photo of two of my old shipmates on the Marchon Trader. The guy with his elbow on his knee was called Alan Mc Mullen, a giant of a man ,he once saved the life of a shipmate during the Algerian war of Independence. They got caught in an angry mob of Arabs who attacked them with knives,alans mated suffered a couple of stab wounds that made his lose consciousness and Alan put him over his shoulder and fought his way through the mob ,getting several knife wounds in the process. he succeeded in getting to safety and saved his mate from bleeding to death. Another man who rightly fits the definition of hero. The other guy? like me he was just an ordinary seaman called Fred.

Brian.. Have you ever noticed..When you enlarge this picture of your fine mates.. and hansom too.. that Alan McMullen, who saved the shipmate by tossing him on his shoulder.. Has a head of a man in the picture on his shoulder.. Just a coincidance.. but, I found it quite interesting.. ta for sharing such galant men...

[kevin]

Brian.. Have you ever noticed..When you enlarge this picture of your fine mates.. and hansom too.. that Alan McMullen, who saved the shipmate by tossing him on his shoulder.. Has a head of a man in the picture on his shoulder...

He's just showing off - most sailors are content with a parrot.

[brian daley]

Nice one Kev,Boom Boom!!
BrianD

[naked lilac]

yes, the Parrot!! good one.. Love the stories and pics on here.. keep them coming... aloha

[brian daley]

I had a cabin mate on a banana boat called Joey,he was a handsome sod,looked like Heathcliffe with his dark gypsy visage and wild black hair. A finer man I never met ,but he was funny and told the most outrageous tales. I cannot relate them all on this site but there is one that I will share with you.
he was on a Shaw Savill liner doing the Australian and New Zealand run and, like many a young sailor before him,he skinned out in Kiwi. As any sailor will tell you,it's easy jumping ship ,it's staying on that's hard. The Kiwis had a more enlightened attitude than the Ozzies,if you could stay out of sight until your ship had left the coast then you stood a chance of getting a job. Trouble was ,that job would be one that no one else would want. So Joe found himself in charge of the night soil collection wagon. To those of you who don't know what that is,it was a horse drawn cart which had an aluminium lining,open topped,it was Joes job to go around the Dunnies,dry toilets, and tip their contents into the cart.
Now the horse that drew that cart knew it was a shameful occupation,it stood between the shafts with it's head hung low and trudged from door to door as Joey filled the cart. To protect himself from the cloaca,Joey wore a sack over his head and shoulder ,rather like the coalmen did in the old days. He was'nt too enamoured of his job ,but it was a living ,even if it meant he did'nt have many friends;this was in the days before Brut and Hai Karate.
That old horse knew the round better than Joey and as it came to the last door it would straighten up in the shafts ,and, as soon as Joey was aboard,it would take off like Sherga and gallop back to the depot. All that stood between Joey and the contents of the cart was a small splash board behind the drivers seat. When that rig was in motion the load,being liquid ,would swill up and down the tank as the horse picked up speed. Joey was standing on the buckboard pulling on them reins with all his might trying to slow Sherga down as the swill became a wave and the wave became a Tsunami. It would hit that splashboard and come spraying over poor Joes Head and shoulders. I can see that scene now ,that besacked loon howling at the horse as he tries to stave off another wave of schritt. Happy days eh?

[gregs dad]

[IMG][/IMG]
Just found this old colour slide which I took in late 50`s early 60`s a night shot of the RMS Mauretania in the Huskisson Dock,unfortunately the slide has already started to deteriate.

[brian daley]

That's a wonderful shot Joe, my Uncle Joe served on the Maurrie and she was a much loved ship,thanks for sharing it with us............got any more golden oldies ?

[captain kong]

Classic photo of a classic ship.built on the Mersey at Lairds 1938.
I have saved it.
No one mourned her passing.
Cheers
Kong

PS
How do you get a slide into a photo????
I have a lot of them from when I was in CapeTown .

[gregs dad]

Classic photo of a classic ship.built on the Mersey at Lairds 1938.
I have saved it.
No one mourned her passing.
Cheers
Kong

PS
How do you get a slide into a photo????
I have a lot of them from when I was in CapeTown .

There are a few slide scanners on the market,I use an Evion flat bed one with an attachment for slides which I`ve had for a couple of years cost was ?50. The slide scanners advertised in the press go from ?70 to ?100

[captain kong]

Thanks for that. Gregs Dad,
I will look into it, I have a box of slides taken over thirty years ago, so try that.
Cheers
Kong.

[brian daley]

Many years ago I was on one of Elders and Ffyes,the Chirripo,and my cabinmate was a guy from the south end called Norman Harris. After we had got to know each other he told me about his father in law, a man called Billy Swinchin. He related how Billy had been in a homeward bound convoy in 1942 on a Moss Hutchinson ship ,the Etrib,when it was torpedoed off the Spanish coast. Billy and the bosun dived overboard and made for a raft where he and the bosun stayed for two days when an empty lifeboat floated by. The bosun swam to the lifeboat and Billy stayed on the liferaft. That was mid June 1942, Norman then went on to tell me what seemed like an old sailors yarn. A U-boat picked up Billy from the raft......75 days later!! He also told me that Billys' surname was really Swinchino and had been anglicised by the man himself. Last year I contacted that brilliant marine researcher Billy Mcghee and he confirmed Normans story, Billy was indeed picked up on the 29th of August by another U-boat and imprisoned in Mila Nord P.O.W. camp. The commandant refused to believe Billys' story but the U-boat captain authenticated his tale with a signed letter,written in English which Billy kept in his possession when liberated in 1945. One detail missing from the official story but told to me by Norman,was that Billy himself could only remember being alone on the raft for a few days with just a seagull for company. His next memory was being taken on board the U-boat, and a seagull was still resting on the raft.
Did any of you old salts come across this very interesting character?

[captain kong]

No sorry Brian never heard of that interesting story.
I just did my bit on the Cameo Murders if you are interested.

[roccija]

I certainly believe Billy's story about the seagull. Russian sailors believe that
seagulls are the souls of departed seamen, and if any gull lands on your ship,
they will take care of you and keep you safe.

Bob F