Inspiration of the Albatross
by Published on 14th July 2022 05:07 PM
Unlike the Atlantic Western ocean, keeping a deep sea bridge watch for many years on a four on, eight off basis particularly in long distance Pacific voyages did become, as many know, somewhat boring.
On the other hand, I did spend some time with Manchester Liners and on several occasions endured numerous watches of sheer nail biting terror.
Whether it’s still in practice or not, there was a prize of a silver cane presented by the Canadian Government to the first ship of the year to transit the St Lawrence river to Montreal and ML Skippers were all desperate to get their hands on one.
despite warnings of sea ice in the locality, there were many occasions I’d report for bridge watch to find the skipper sat on a chair staring through the wheelhouse windows towards the bow into thick Grand Banks fog whilst the engine was running at full speed. Many ML ships would have an AB on watch in thick fog on the focsle head and I often wondered, how far up the foredeck he would get before we hit the berg.
During the long Pacific voyages particularly in the southern sector I would watch in utter amazement as almost motionless in movement the Albatross glided inches from the wing of the bridge. Hardly any movement of wings, just the occasional glance in my direction.
What a gift to have I thought, if only man could undertake this type of flight.
I eventually swallowed the anchor in the mid sixties after getting married in NZ and returning to the UK. The shock of becoming a landlubber was deep rooted and I struggled trying to adapt to this new way of life. As a sweetener I promising myself I’d give it one more month before going back to sea.
Reading the local newspaper one evening, I noticed an advert for a skydiving group in Manchester who were looking for new members. The club was in Bridge Street Manchester where they shared the club premises with British Rail police.
After joining the club and becoming a member of the British Parachute Association, I commenced the training programme and eventually made my first descent at Halfpenny Green airport in Wolverhampton. The first jump was a static line type which effectively facilitates the aircraft to pull the canopy out of the pack when leaving the aircraft. Three static line jumps are completed before one is allowed to pull the D ring and open one’s own parachute. Initially it’s “clear and pull” followed by a 5 second delay and so forth.
This was the medication I desperately needed to quell my sea addiction.
Later whilst high level skydiving I thought of the beautiful Albatross that inspired me and broke the stalemate of shoreline.
Many years later I became a pilot and undertook a course in aerobatics and my love for flight equalled my love for the sea.
