Suicide and our Armed Forces

[j.sabourn]

You don’t know your own mental reserves of the will to live and survive until you are in that position . Depending how near to death you are and will only find out in those last few seconds . If you do survive you will think hallelujah it’s a miracle and then start questioning yourself of why me ? Best to forget it and grasp your good fortune with both hands and carry on as normal. Your a long time dead no need to assist it sooner than necessary. JS

[Keith Tindell]

I was talking to a local guy a couple of weeks ago, he had heard i was in the Fire Service, and he then told me about his son, who had been in the Army in Afghanistan , and had PTST from those days, and had joined the Fire Service here on the Island. His son committed suicide a few months after joining the Fire Service, which was very sad. I had heard that a Firefighter had committed suicide since i had retired, so this was the father of the guy. Probably not the best job to join with what he had seen in Afghanistan,and with the incidents we had to deal with from time to time, would only have caused flash backs i would think. The guy i had met had also just lost his wife, so it was a difficult conversation.Some very sad cases , and very hard to deal with.

[Tony Taylor]

#3. Ivan I sailed with an ex lieutenant RN in the late 60s and was a pleasure to do so. He was chief engineer on an Indian owned vessel where I was mate , the master was the only other European on board. It was his claim to fame that he was the oldest commissioned lieutenant in the RN when he was discharged from the Navy. He received the cert. of service class 1 so was qualified to sail as chief on a merchant ship. I used to go ashore with him to the Japanese bath houses among other places and in his cups heard some way out stories about his war experiences and household famous names out of the service. He started life as a stoker and served on both submarines and surface ships mainly on the Malta convoys before getting a wartime commission . His one big dislike which often cropped up in his cups , was the naval police which he called Jaunties which is probably a naval expression for the naval police which he hadn’t a good word for , so I believe he must have had various runs in with during his naval career . He was a native of Portsmouth also. But one of the characters now a long time dead , but always brings a smile to my face when I think of him, gone but not forgotten . Cheers JS
PS his other dislike were naval attaches who he reckoned were officers unsuitable for sea duties , the one in The embassy in Shanghai if remember correctly who took over command of the HMS Amathyst in the Yangste Incident he had sailed with during the war he reckoned he was ok though.. Maybe because it all happened in the river and not at sea. ???!!! JS

When I was a kid I stayed for some holidays in Helensburgh as my uncle was on HMS Maidstone (sub depot ship). I had some local friends who earned some cash on Friday and Saturday nights by reporting p-ssed up sailors to the shore patrol for sixpence a time. There were always warships anchored off in those days so always plenty of potential candidates.

[j.sabourn]

When we had divers coming out of saturation we used to tie up right opposite Helensburgh and used sometimes to drop the ships launch and go across from Customs House quay where we were. JS .

[Ivan Cloherty]

When I was a kid I stayed for some holidays in Helensburgh as my uncle was on HMS Maidstone (sub depot ship).

HMS Maidstone was with us in Suez 1956 if I remember rightly, an interesting looking vessel, always had a flock of boats around her, went onboard a Coniston Class minesweeper adjacent to her, for my sins and shame forget its name as the commander and crew treated us like royalty.

[j.sabourn]

The present Kings HMS Bonnington was on her a few Times in Plymouth as was tied up alongside her once, her skipper however by that time was out of the navy . His first lieutenant took over from him. Not too much comfort on the mine hunters..JS

[Tony Taylor]

HMS Maidstone was with us in Suez 1956 if I remember rightly, an interesting looking vessel, always had a flock of boats around her, went onboard a Coniston Class minesweeper adjacent to her, for my sins and shame forget its name as the commander and crew treated us like royalty.

He got permission for me to go aboard and visit submarine HMS Olympus, got full tour with guide who filled me in on what everything was. I don't remember too much apart from how cramped it was and unusual smell (to me at that time) but did not fill me enthusiasm to sail on one.

[cappy]

On the old Corfen at dunston on the tyne we tied up to a buoy next to a old diesel sub going to the scrapyard ...i spoke to a guy and got aboard to look around ...the smell of diesel another smells was almost overpowering .....i was not happy down there ....and would have never ever gone underwater in one of them ...a differnt breed of men ....mind didnt like going down below on coasters iether ....but sailing a yacht on deck now that was a buzz....R683532 CAPPY

[James Curry]

HMS Onyx was in Birkenhead built, she was for several years as an exhbit at the Birkenhead warship presevation society along with HMS Plymouth. I went on board with my son. Certainly not a lot of room anywhere on it. She had a good service history during the Falklands. I think she landed some SBS or SAS lads under darkness and these guys set up an observastion post and reporting when Argentine air force planes took off?
Sadly the Birkenhead Warship Presevation society went bust.
I believe they tried to save HMS Onyx at Barrow again as an exhibit that to I believ went bust , all scrapped now. For a once great Maritime nation we are a disgrace at presevation concerning our maritime heritage.

[Ivan Cloherty]

The present Kings HMS Bonnington was on her a few Times in Plymouth as was tied up alongside her once, her skipper however by that time was out of the navy . His first lieutenant took over from him. Not too much comfort on the mine hunters..JS

When we were being entertained on the minesweeper, talk turned about what ships they would prefer to sail on, and no one we spoke to wanted to move to any bigger vessels in the fleet, there was less formality on their little vessel and they worked together as a close knit team as a whole on the vessel whilst still respecting authority of the service; on the bigger ships they only got that family feeling in departments of a vessel, rather than the vessel as a whole. The kind of closeness you got on a coaster in later life, although on long voyages deep sea you seemed to gell into one