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23rd January 2021, 07:28 AM
#31
Re: Close Shaves .
That reminds me of a story I heard about the Hood Haggie girls. It was said that they got this bloke upstairs on a bus , put his private parts in a milk bottle and just about castrated him. As a 15 year old catching the bus from the North Shields ferry landing to go home from South Shields , any large groups of girls getting on the Bus I was going to catch, I used to let it go and wait for the next one. JS
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23rd January 2021, 10:52 AM
#32
Re: Close Shaves .
1979 A nato aircraft comes down in the Irish Sea , is still on the secret list , the DSV I was on and HMS Reclaim are sent to pick up the remains which include the two crew , a Frenchman and a Dutchman . The Aircraft remains were the Tornado. Apart from a mistaken Grimsby trawler which was described as a Russian spy trawler which was incorrect . The Reclaim was on its way out as a DSV but still tried to do her share. She also had divers down. She called us up and said she had a suspected diver with the bends and due to shortage of manpower could we send over a boat and transfer him to us who had a more modern diving chamber system . The old man was busy on the bridge as was on a 4 point moor and the sailors were driving the anchor winches , so I said I would slip across and pick him up . This was 0200 in the morning and about a mile away , I launched the zodiac and went on my merry way. The diver was lowered into the boat and set off on my way back. Then reality set in at 0215 in the middle of the Irish Sea , and imagined the boat breaking down, the patient becoming critically ill, my not being able to scull the boat back, I had forgotten to take a radio with me , it’s easy to see how people can panic , however I put the throttle a bit higher and got back ok . The diver was stuck in one of our chambers and we had a naval surgeon on board and suffered no ill effects caused by by near panic due solely to imagination . What bits of wreckage we finally got was unrecognisable as an aircraft and the bodies were just bundles of bones. Somebodies poor sons and probably fathers themselves , very sad to die like that , they reckoned the aircraft hit the water at 1000 knots and no one had a chance to eject. The close shaves bit I would say my near panic for about 10 seconds . JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 23rd January 2021 at 12:35 PM.
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23rd January 2021, 02:51 PM
#33
Re: Close Shaves .
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
1979 A nato aircraft comes down in the Irish Sea , is still on the secret list , the DSV I was on and HMS Reclaim are sent to pick up the remains which include the two crew , a Frenchman and a Dutchman . , they reckoned the aircraft hit the water at 1000 knots and no one had a chance to eject. The close shaves bit I would say my near panic for about 10 seconds . JS
hi john sabourn
as you state truth is stranger than fiction,
when i was fifteen i was working on a queenie boat ( scallop ) out of port st mary isle of man and trawling in the irish sea when we became fast,and then felt the boat being towed backwards at speed there where three of us on the deck the owner and the deckhand where the other two, they stood facing me as we where picking up queenies and sorting them,we began to heel to port as the boat speeded up, i could see the alarm and fear in my crew mates, so i dont know what i looked like, but it was only minuets before the trawl broke free and the boat came upright, it was said by the skipper that it was most likely a submarine but who knows we could never explain it, but i know boats dont go backwards at speed with the tide behind it and the engine in neutral.
tom
ps ivan its a fishing boat not a ship.
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 27th January 2021 at 07:12 PM.
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27th January 2021, 11:52 AM
#34
Re: Close Shaves .
Two in the morning Doha Airport, ATC had asked us to tow an incoming fully laden Tristar Airliner that had suffered a hydraulic failure off the runway when it landed, myself and a fellow engineer fired up the tug and towbar and proceeded to get permission to enter the live runway after the aircraft touched down.
The tower cleared us to enter and approach the aircraft as it was rolling towards us, what they hadn't told us was it was not just a hydraulic failure it was a total hydraulic failure which actually means no brakes or steering.
The skipper was doing a good job of steering with the engines but was still rolling along about (my best estimate) 40-50 mph, an aircraft tug's top speed is about 10 mph but I am sure it went slower as I steered it from the centre line to the safety of the scrub beside the runway.
As I looked over the back of the tug the aircraft's Port engine missed us by 4 or 5 inches and eventually came to a halt a couple of hundred yards away, a whole new meaning to a Wing & a Prayer!
Now I know that death is only natures way of telling you to slow down
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27th January 2021, 03:52 PM
#35
Re: Close Shaves .
Many years ago('56) on making my first trip I tried to grow a beard. I still had it when, on leave, I happen to bump into my GP, an excellent doctor of Irish descent. After the usual pleasantries he remarked on my pitiful effort at growing face fungus. He went on to ask if i'd ever noticed that men do not have as many wrinkles in our later years as our Ladies. He asked if I knew why. My response was obviously " No ". His suggestion was " men shave ". This means men's facial muscles and skin get toned up thereby slowing down the wrinkle formation.
Now at the age of 83 my facial skin is virtually wrinkle free. Perhaps there was some truth in these Irish words of wisdom. Mmmmm.
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27th January 2021, 07:24 PM
#36
Re: Close Shaves .
Originally Posted by
happy daze john in oz
Horse and Groom in Southampton have a quite beer with a couple of mates.
Two of the 'girls' saw us and said I like that one pointing at me.
We were out of there quicker than that with one of them shouting, 'No I saw him first'.
Horse and Groom
103 East Street
Southampton
SO14 3HH
The Horse & Groom was situated at 103 East Street. This pub closed c.1970. The pub was reputed to be the roughest and toughest in the city and was known by seafarers the world over. Among the most memorable features of the pub were two huge stuffed bears,they dominated the lounge bar. Crew from transatlantic liners used to come ashore and head for the pub for a good night out. The result was that fight’s, robberies and sometimes murders were commonplace. In 1959 an American sailor was stabbed to death by one of his shipmates in the Lounge Bar. Later the pub became known as a prostitute and gay pub. The building was demolished and a soft furnishing store now occupies the site.
No doubt many will recall this old Pub, as said it was well known and Rough as Guts inside (By that i mean rough as in Biffo) , spent many a Hectic Hour or so there. But like many others we adapted LOL
cHEERS So many close shaves there as well! LOL
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 27th January 2021 at 08:24 PM.
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27th January 2021, 07:51 PM
#37
Re: Close Shaves .
Close shaves, entering Soto late at night in the pitch dark, sitting in the ER Control Room, the Emergency Full Astern Alarm sounded. The engine stopped, and there was a sudden woosh as compressed air was injected into the engine, suddenly we were doing 120 rpm in an astern movement. The whole place shook and vibrated, the Chief was going ballistic, the air was blue. Within seconds, the Alarm sounded again as the emergency engine stop was applied.
The Pilot took his eye off the ball, nearly rammed the dock wall hence the sudden emergency astern movement, the emergency stop was stop us running over the stern tug.
All good fun.
Vic
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28th January 2021, 05:43 AM
#38
Re: Close Shaves .
Originally Posted by
Doc Vernon
Horse and Groom
103 East Street
Southampton
SO14 3HH
The Horse & Groom was situated at 103 East Street. This pub closed c.1970. The pub was reputed to be the roughest and toughest in the city and was known by seafarers the world over. Among the most memorable features of the pub were two huge stuffed bears,they dominated the lounge bar. Crew from transatlantic liners used to come ashore and head for the pub for a good night out. The result was that fight’s, robberies and sometimes murders were commonplace. In 1959 an American sailor was stabbed to death by one of his shipmates in the Lounge Bar. Later the pub became known as a prostitute and gay pub. The building was demolished and a soft furnishing store now occupies the site.
No doubt many will recall this old Pub, as said it was well known and Rough as Guts inside (By that i mean rough as in Biffo) , spent many a Hectic Hour or so there. But like many others we adapted LOL
cHEERS So many close shaves there as well! LOL
There was in one corner a very large stuffed bear, and the counter had metal bars through which the pints were pushed.
Bit like a prison for those behind the bar.
But we had some laughs in there and did see a few fights and other events that often lead to as swift exit.
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 28th January 2021 at 07:33 AM.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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28th January 2021, 05:56 AM
#39
Re: Close Shaves .
John S, like you I had a very unusual bus journey in Sunderland one afternoon.
Got on an empty bus and the conductor told me to sit at the back on the top deck.
The bus stopped at the Rope Factory and the girls got on, hundreds of the it appeared.
But it was the talk that got me.
I could not believe what I was hearing, but I did learn a few new positions from them.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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28th January 2021, 08:00 AM
#40
Re: Close Shaves .
Was that in theory or practice John ? Is that why the conductor told you to sit in the backseat. They didn’t produce the milk bottle did they ? did you just lie back and think of Queen and country ,or did you fight for your honour.? JS
It’s hard to think of women being demure fragile little things , after seeing a crowd of Hood Haggie girls on the rampage. Shore Bosuns had nothing on some of them. JS.
Last edited by j.sabourn; 28th January 2021 at 08:15 AM.
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