sea fog

[leratty]

John A, no I do not sadly recall any of the crew on her. The Capt. was a hell of a guy he had a Gull Wing Mercedes & lived on the Isle of White, wonder if he kept it would be worth a Kings ransom now? We had so may hilarious incidents one I think I may have mentioned before, we were in thick fog maybe 1/2 night out of St L en route home when I was sent forward as lookout 12 to 4 you could not see 50' ahead we were maybe doing 5knts? I was supposed to call out about 'growlers' those little pricks the sperm of a iceberg that are not picked up by radar, anyway suddenly there was one I called out over the ph to the bridge then we hit her a glancing blow on the stb side just below the f'castle of course much grinding etc. The 2nd & Capt. came up then Capt. wished to look over the side to see what damage however she had a beautiful steep flare so not too easy. We had to hang on to him by his lower legs-boots. I will always recall his saying to me "young man for Christ sake hang on!" Later the 2nd said to me he had worked out how long it would have taken us to die in the sea based on the temperature, some 15-20 minutes! Needless to say I was horrified. Yes great little ships, terrific trips, wonderful scenery all never to be forgotten. Richard

[Captain Kong]

When I was 17 on the BEECHFIELD we had no RADAR ,in fog I stood on the focsle with a bucket of pebbles. I would throw a pebble ahead and if a splash we were OK,
If it went CLANK then there was a ship ahead.
Cheers
Brian.

[cappy]

so it was you brian throwing the pebbles one hit me and I remember throwing some back and hearing the occasional yelp was that you regards cappy

[John Gill]

And then, Kong, a pebble-dash.

[happy daze john in oz]

When I was 17 on the BEECHFIELD we had no RADAR ,in fog I stood on the focsle with a bucket of pebbles. I would throw a pebble ahead and if a splash we were OK,
If it went CLANK then there was a ship ahead.
Cheers
Brian.

What a pity you did not have **** with you. he could have replaced the pebbles, just a long piece of rope to pull him in

[j.sabourn]

Beechfield... was she one of Huntings tankers.... John Sabourn

[Captain Kong]

No John, I know Huntings names ended in Field,
This one was an old coal burner owned by the ZILLAH STEAMSHIP Company.
managed by SAVAGES, of Liverpool. good name that Savages for a ship owner.
I wrote about the voyage in Swinging the lamp in Seafaring stories.
Cheers Brian

[Ron Kendall]

I managed one trip on the Brentfield, one of Savages of Liverpool. never saw a potato, we had a cook from the Seychelles, and all he used was rice. we had it boiled ,fried, madfe into rice balls, and then fried, you could have played cricket with them, but you would have got severe constipation if you had managed to chew one!