Ship Sailed On.

[John Aspin]

The one & only ship I sailed on with this company was the "SS Georgidore"
Joined her in Graythorpe near Middlesbrough 24th November 1957 & finally left her on the 29th September 1961 with some leave in between of course.
John Aspin (R685342) Ormesby-Middlesbrough.

[Tony Slaughter]

Hi John
I have just joined site and on looking through i noticed the name of one of my old ships the georgidore, on checking in my discharge book and it seems we were on at the same time i joined it in Hull in on feb 1959 to feb 1960. I was on deck as a /b and also played goalkeeper for the ships football team during our long stay in Colombo.

Regards

Tony Slaughter

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Tony S
Would just like to give you a warm Welcome to this very good site!
Here you will find lots of info,good Crew and with luck also find a few old Shipmates!
So sit back,relax and just enjoy the trip!
Hope we will have you here for a long time!
A site truly worthy of the British Merchant Navy!
Cheers


Also"

If you would like to join in and have your Full name R Number and First Ship
Included in the Flag project then please pass it on to Mike Hall who is doing a Main Flag for all
to be displayed some time in one of the UK Museums!
Thank you

Please go to following Link

http://www.merchant-navy.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=1974

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Tony.
Welcome to the site, What great news that you have found an old shipmate straight away. Hope you enjoy your trip with us, one of the best MN sites on the web. And nice to read a post from John. Hope you and yours are keeping well up there in Middlesbrough John.
Cheers Des

[John Aspin]

Greetings Tony,
First of all let me apologise for not replying to your posting dated 23rd July 2009 regarding the "SS Georgidore" this has been due to my wifes health problems which thankfully are now turning for the better & because of that my time spent on the site has been limited.
However welcome to this great web site, I am sure that you will enjoy it & I have to say that I am really chuffed that you have posted a message regarding the "Georgidore"
A lot of posts are usually connected with all the bigger companies but the lesser known ones hardly get a mention so as you can imagine I am dead chuffed we have made contact.
Yes I remember that trip very well for more reasons than one the main reason was of corse the three & a half months we spent in Colombo I think we were all never so pleased to get back out to sea after such a long spell in port.
Two other incidents still stick in my mind about that long stay in port, one I nearly drowned on the beach there & I also got very badly sun burnt in Mount Lavinia, you should remember that place I think most of us off the ship went there at some point, so all in all a very memorable stay in port.
However saying all that I have to say I thought that it was a lovely island, remember Kandy, the missions to seamen, it now seems so long ago, where have the years gone.
I cant really place your face but if I had a photo of you taken around that time I am sure I would.
Well that's it for now I hope that there will be a reply to this message so in the meantime take care & best wishes.
John Aspin.(R685342) Ormesby-M9iddlesbrough.

PS: Thank you Des for those kind words for those kind words in your message.
Best wishes to one & all.

[Tony Slaughter]

Hi John
Nice to hear from you, I've been a bit busy otherwise I would have replied sooner.
Looking back even with that long stay in Colombo i think it was a good twevle month trip as we did some good places after leaving Colombo, even that place wasn't to bad at least we ended up football champions of the harbour.
As regards the photo I don't like to keep any as i'd look at them from them days gone by and then look in a mirror now and wonder who had swapped the young lad's face for the old man in the mirror.
I got to Mount Lavinia a few times but not to Kandy as it was to far inland for me. Same you I am trying to put a face to name, all the deck crew was from Hull same as me except the chippie who was I think from Middlesbrough . I don't know if it was anything to do with that trip but nearly all the deck crew went ashore only another young AB called Ted Heath stopped at sea, One other person who I remember was the cadet called Hugo who was the owners nephew I wonder if he ended up owning the company.
Have to sign off now as the wife and I are going to London to see the grandchildren and she keeps looking at her watch and then at me and know i the unspoken message.

Good Health to you and all your family

Keep in touch

Tony Slaughter Fakenham Norfolk (Ex Hull)

[Bob Hollis]

I joined the Georgidore in Liverpool 1960 as deck boy (peggy) sailed to Manchester to load for Quebec and Montreal then returned to Manchester for pay-off.
Four of us from Northern Ireland. bosun was a scouser with snow white hair and ate all his meals with the Somali firemen and was fluent in their language.
One guy from Belfast signed on again (John Barnes)
Was a very crazy voyage with the captain a drunk and most of the deck crew drinking, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Bob Hollis

[John Aspin]

Greetings Tony,
I also would have replied sooner but we only just arrived home form holiday yesterday, had two lovely weeks in Malta, never been there before but was very impressed, first holiday we have had for over three years due to my wifes health problems so as you can imagine it was more than welcome.
Thanks for your reply I still cant beleive that there are messages on this site connected with the "Georgidore"
With regards to a photo, you said that you dont like to keep old photos well you have one that is in your discharge book so it would be nice to have a copy of that just scan it & send it to john.aspin@ntlworld.com
It will be nice to include it in my write up of my "Life & Travels" that I have almost completed.
Yes I remember Hugo Ralli very well we became good friends & I have a photo of him that was taken in Durban.
In actual fact he was the owners grandson, Sir Trati Ralli,the owner who at that time was about 90 years old.
The reason Hugo was on that voyage was to fill in time before going to Switzerland to train for hotel management so he would not have become the owner of the company.
I have in actual fact tried to contact him on a couple of occasions but with no luck as it would have been interesting to know his whereabouts, but I will try again soon.
I hope that you enjoyed your trip to London to see the grandchildren, we have two grandsons 16 & 13 years old.
That's it for now so take care & once again thanks for the reply hope to hear from you again at some point.
Best wishes,
John Aspin (R685343) ormesby-Middlesbrough (ex Liverpool)

[John Aspin]

Greetings Bob,
I can't beleive that after placing a message regarding the "SS Georgidore" on this great site that I have replies from two ex shipmates the other one from Tony you will have already read.
The voyage you have mentioned from Manchester back to Manchester, I was also on that voyage & remember it well.
I have photos of some Jaguar cars being unloaded onto the quayside in Montreal.
That was the shortest trip I ever did at sea only six weeks & if my memory serves me right it was that trip that we passed the biggest Iceberg I have ever seen.
I was on watch below at the time but the Chief Engineer came down to let me go up an see it, I have to say it was a bit of an eery sight.
Do you remember the Chief Engineer a big fella always wore kahki shirt & trousers the trousres were half way up his legs as a matter of fact I think he only had the one set but having said that he was a very good Chief.
Well Bob many thanks for placing your message nice to hear from you, if you can think of anything else interesting about that trip I will be only to glad to hear about it.
Best whishes,
John Aspin (R685343) Ormesby-Middlesbrough (ex Liverpool)

[Tony Slaughter]

Hi John

Nice to hear from you.
Hope you and your wife enjoyed your trip Malta, I have had a couple of good runs ashore there in my early time at sea. But the places I went to then are not the sort of places you would want to take your wife to.
Also most of all the places i've been back to have had a make over for the tourist trade and look the same as anywhere else in the world.
As regards my discharge book photo my scanners not working but i'll be going to London next week so i will get one of my children to scan it and send it through to you.
You mentioned in your reply to Bob Holis about the chief,s kharkis i think he wore the same set for the twelve months I was on the Georgidore. Maybe Hugo keeps quiet because he's worried we'll tell some his posh friends what he did in his younger days especially his runs ashore with some of us in Japan

Best Wishes Keep Well

Tony Slaughter