Waiting in the ice

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jim Stevens

Hi everyone. My name is Jim Stevens

Nevertheless all that happened 64 years ago and we are still together.

Jim Stevens

---

ivor rowe here, i'm your age jim and you brought back a lot of memories, i was in Gdynia Gdansk as we used to say, we used to go dancing in the pavilion dance hall, most of the girls for some reason seemed to be short and pudgy, my girlfriend was a polish movie star, so she told me but she was slim and good looking, in the bank they wanted to give us 5 zloty for a pound , on the street we got 100 for a pound, there was nothing in any of the shops and i remember a lot of houses had holes in the walls from airplane shells , memories eh, thanks Jim

Hi Jim a great story, made me feel cold just reading it. I too remember the Hull trawlers getting iced up and sinking. Was it called 'black fog'? I've just forgotten. Banks of ice crystals covering every inch of open deck, masts, and rigging. One job I hated while I was radio operator on the Fleetwood boats was watching out for growlers. there would be a man on the bow looking out, he would point to the ice and I would train the searchlight on the growler, while the skipper steered around it. A growler could damage the rudder or propellor. The coldest I've ever been at sea was not Iceland but North New York state. we left Buffalo on 3rd December the docks were frozen over and as we followed a great lakes steamer out of Buffalo breaking the thin ice, the sea froze over again in its wake almost immediately.

Black ice. JS. ( if still politically correct )

In the late fifties we became stuck fast in ice just south of Frobisher Bay whilst taking stores to the due line early warning station at the top of the bay. We had made good progress at first ,coming from Montreal,avoiding growlers etc but after several attempts ,damaged the tips of the propellor in the process ,could not move. The prop was making an awfull noise catching the stern post at every attempt to turn it. The ice had bent the tips over.
The decision was made to trim the ship which was not fully laden to get the prop blades above the surface and try a repair.We rigged staging and eventually cut off tips with hack saws to allow the prop to rotate. Meanwhile we saw several polar bears taking a close interest and I managed to take a photo. By this time we were getting worried because there was a strong ebb and flow tide taking us closer to the shore every time it turned. Also the noise of the ice moving against the hull particularly at night was disturbing.The Canadian Coast Guard said that an ice breaker would be with us in a about 2 days. Anyway,the ice breaker,Montcalm arrived in time and we later discharged our cargo in Frobisher Bay.
Whilst at anchor we replenished our stores with fresh salmon sold to us by Eskimos from canoes at a dollar each.
The stern gland had by this time started to leak but not too much. On arrival back in Montreal we were dry docked at Caadian Vickers and the prop repaired.
We all got $100.00 reward for our efforts which seemed paltry from the owners,Counties Ship Management.
Jim Domleo
R610307

Thanks Jim.
you brought back A lot of memoirs, I allso started my sea time in the 1950s. on a steam trawler,with no heating for crew. For a wash or shower we had to heat water from a steam pipe and then hand pump the shower. I used to huddle up to the donkey motor behind the bridge to get warmth. YES They, where hard times, but we had a job and a place to live.

cheers Ted Cleary

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marian Gray

#13, Black ice matters John:p

---

Just do not put any in my G&T thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Edward Ted Cleary

Thanks Jim.
you brought back A lot of memoirs, I allso started my sea time in the 1950s. on a steam trawler,with no heating for crew. For a wash or shower we had to heat water from a steam pipe and then hand pump the shower. I used to huddle up to the donkey motor behind the bridge to get warmth. YES They, where hard times, but we had a job and a place to live.

cheers Ted Cleary

---

Hello Ted, I can endorse everything you said, I sailed in 1951 on a 1914 built trawler 'Swanland' H402, no basics, we had no shower, but bleeding steam from the boiler to wash, only on the day before docking after 3 - 4 weeks away. Don't envy you standing by the Donkey boiler as it was used to boil the fish livers, bet you got a seat on the bus on the way home

Would this be the same Ship Ivan ??
Cheers

Sunken ship MV Swanland suffered 'structural failure' - BBC News

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doc Vernon

Would this be the same Ship Ivan ??
Cheers

Sunken ship MV Swanland suffered 'structural failure' - BBC News

---

Sorry Dock, nothing like her,she's a modern cargo ship, my Swanland was a 1914 built sidewinder trawler, have searched the world high and dry for a photo of her, have only one blurred image.Hull Corporation, University, Trawler Association cannot find a photo.

Guess she must have looked like this one then Ivan the Lord Roberts
Cheers

Attachment 31393