Yesteryear -- the United States at Southampton's Ocean Terminal, 1954.​

[Doc Vernon]

United States docked in Southampton (Colorized).jpg



​Today, I left (by car) the gorgeous rural settings of Shropshire and Howard's impeccable care & embrace, and headed south ( ​2 1/2​hrs) to the great maritime port of Southampton.


A different setting & history here: At night especially, through my hotel window, I could almost ​ hear​the sounds of mighty steam whistles as great ocean liners of the past set off across the world: ​say ​the original Queen Elizabeth for New York as well as the likes of the Andes for Rio, the Athlone Castle for Capetown, the Orcades for Sydney, the Chusan for Hong Kong and the Southern Cross for Auckland.


I sail in two days (Saturday) onboard the current Queen Elizabeth -- 8 nights & 3500 miles across the wintry North Atlantic to New York.


​Photo: Yesteryear -- the United States at Southampton's Ocean Terminal, 1954.​

[Doc Vernon]

Ah! How I remember those days at Southampton,with all the Ships in Port ,then some really good looking ones and what we call Real Ships!
That Pic of the Docks brings back so many memories and as many I am sure always wonder why we had to loose such great times
I looks just as i recall
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

Ah! How I remember those days at Southampton,with all the Ships in Port ,then some really good looking ones and what we call Real Ships!
That Pic of the Docks brings back so many memories and as many I am sure always wonder why we had to loose such great times
I looks just as i recall
Cheers

Oh yes Vernon, the days when ships were ships, men were men and the ladies loved us.

[Doc Vernon]

Well summed up there John!
Cheers

[Ivan Cloherty]

the days when men were men .

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sailing from Southampton on UCL, not always then!

[Doc Vernon]

Ivan
Seems you did not like UCL >>>?>>
Wonder why! Cheers

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ivan
Seems you did not like UCL >>>?>>
Wonder why! Cheers

Doc, never sailed on them, neither like or dislike, they were just ships to me, like thousands of others, some I admired, others I didn't, my remarks about men being men-------------not always, is purely a bit of levity, based on what you UCL guys and others have said on here and the reputation they had amongst others I sailed with.

As for sailing on them, not for me, alright for those who like to sail to a timetable on long distant ferry services so they can plan their lives and only visiting ports on a regular run, going to sea for me had to be at least a 'bit of an adventure' where-in you had a chance to see the world and never knowing where you were going to end up next, tramping gave you that opportunity, but it was not for everyone, sailed with people who had been on liner runs to ECSA or SA or USA or Canada and been at sea most of their lives and never sailed thro either the Panama or Suez Canals, what wonders they missed.....Cheers

[j.sabourn]

#7... Agree with what you say Ivan. I went to sea to earn a living also and in better times chose where I went, latterly went where had to, to earn a living. I went through the full term at sea as regards OAP, was on numerous types of vessels but do not class myself as expert on any particular type. In fact would go as far as to say Jack of All Trades master of none. That is with 50 years in shipping counting pre-sea time. 80 odd ships and master on about 37/38. You could have 3 terms at sea (150 years) and still not know it all, there is no one on here or anywhere else on this planet knows it all, all we have is our own experiences. The sea to me at the end when I had, had enough time for my juvenile expectations re the glamour or whatever one wants to call it, was to get a ship from A to B with as least troubles and problems possible. Like you I never entertained the thought of passenger liners, and my 11 months with a small number of passengers on board did not change my views. I did not care what a ship looked like, only that it kept up to date with its maintainance. It was the people on board who made a ship as a home, and today you don't get that function as you don't have the crews on board and there is no inclination to do so. There are numerous ship types today and there is no one who has had the experience of serving on all, I would estimate my experience would be about 40 percent of the various types, and I moved around quite a bit. For those who served on one type of vessel must have been happy, but was not for me either. My last 11 years at sea was from Australia, and what was so refreshing to me was that you were treated totally different to the UK if you were certificated you were expected to be able to handle that job on all types of vessels and also on Oil Rigs and platforms, which would have been totally alien to British shipping. Cheers JS