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Thread: Brief encounter

  1. #11
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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    Thank you David
    Know Lancing very well ! My husband lived there and went to Worthing Grammar ; probably before your time.
    We married in 1971.
    Pete Shackleton , lived in North Farm Road and then Heyshott Close.
    Regards
    Brenda

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    Good day David,
    Many thanks for posting your fascinating story - what and amazing set of coincidences! I did my cadetship with Sugar Line before moving on to NERC. Stayed at sea for 25 years before coming ashore and worked in the marine industry until retiring nearly 3 years ago.
    In response to other postings regarding writing down your stories; definitely worth doing this! I used the format of a 'photobook' (using Aldi software from the 'Net) and combined some stories with a few photos I took whilst at sea. It's surprising how much you can remember especially if you have a few 'snaps' to jog the grey matter! My main regret is not noting down the names of the crews I sailed with; it's easy to remember the 'big' characters who were involved in some of the more 'crazy' stories, however, the day to day stuff is just as noteworthy and having names really seems to help bring the latter to life!
    Thanks again, best wishes, Andy Louch

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    David,

    I don't normally see RO accounts on this forum so yours was most interesting to me. I, too, was on Red Duster ships from '73 to '78 before going freelance, first on a Bermudan flag vessel with Canadian Pacific and, finally on a Panamanian registered vessel owned by London Greek company Seven Seas Maritime. Before those two I'd sailed with Esso, Silverline, Houlder Bros and Gibson Gas Tankers of Leith. I left the merchant navy, much to my later regret, in 1979 following the breakup with my girlfriend of the time.

    Anyway, the story you tell is probably not unfamiliar to those who know how maritime communications used to be practised back then. I had two similar encounters at sea, one with an ex-pupil of mine and one with a former classmate. As was often the case then, such encounters were usually accidental given the way we all got posted around the globe.

    After graduating as an RO from the Atlantic College, Dublin, I immediately returned to be a lecturer for six months before going on to sea with Kelvin Hughes in Hainault, Essex, not far from your company MIMCO, also of Essex. Once at sea, and as used to be the case, one's attention would normally be grabbed on hearing a UK vessel call sign when out deep sea; less so around the UK coast for the obvious reason that that's where you expected to hear them. It was, therefore, not uncommon to call some UK ship you'd heard on 500 just to have a chat on 512 or some other frequency. It was by such coincidence that I encountered on of my ex students in the mid-North Atlantic, a very proud moment for me knowing that I contributed something to his success. Back then graduation wasn't always guaranteed due to regular drop-outs. You had to study hard and keep going for 2 years.

    The other encounter came like a bolt out of the blue. I was in the Pacific in 1974, somewhere between Panama and Wellington, when I got a call on 500. At the time I was also doing a QSP GKA for a fellow RO on a P&O tramp with the most antiquated radio equipment imaginable; something like a 250W transmitter that would get you nowhere on high frequency from the mid Pacific to Portishead. (So, it wasn't just the Greeks who operated with out-of-date equipment. The vessel in question, MV Huntingdon, was built in 1948 and so you'll have some idea of how ancient its equipment was. My own ship, the MV Westbury, call sign GHBA, was not much younger but had had a new Kelvin Hughes radio station fitted recently). Anyway, the other vessel I was called by was one of the James Fisher boats carrying nuclear waste from Japan to the UK for processing. The first question he asked was if there was a Gerry Fisher on board as he'd heard that that was a vessel I'd been on. "Of course I am" I replied. "And who are you"? Well, it turned out to be my old classmate and drinking buddy Billy Fitzpatrick from the Atlantic College. The conversation carried on for a few days after that until we lost communication as we headed in opposite directions, they for Cumbria via Panama and we for Wellington.

    I still have strong recollections of the conversations we had concerning the nature of his life on board and the type of trip he was on. So, try to imagine the following: Your company has been contracted to ship the most dangerous material known to man. The trip, from Japan to the UK is several thousand miles and across two oceans, taking in the Panama canal. Weight and size-wise the cargo is extremely small - a few crates. So, you hire the smallest vessel possible, a few hundred tons. The vessel in question is a conversion to carry a full complement of crew that would normally be required for any vessel over 1500 GRT. As a result it is extremely cramped, in addition to which you probably need to build two bars to discourage drinking in cabins. Because of the nature of your cargo both endpoints of you trip are at the most isolated places imaginable. There's no going ashore because you are only in port for a few hours and miles from nowhere. Small ship doing 10-12 knots would probably take 8-9 weeks each way. That's 4 months in a cramped bucket without once stepping ashore or seeing another fellow human but for your 13, or so, shipmates. Enough to turn you to drink.
    Last edited by Gerard Fisher; 21st March 2019 at 12:57 PM.

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    Hi David,that is quite the coincidence for sure.I have a couple-not as good yours but I am as all of us that were at sea have stories to tell.
    1.When at radio college we had a student that came and went after one term.Some years later I am walking around the Ocean terminal in Hong Kong and who should I bump into but this fellow.I was on a Ben Line ship and he was the R/O on a Blue Funnel vessel alongside the Ocean Terminal.
    2.On a Saguenay ship we had a Greek 3rd Engineer.Some years later when I was on foreign flag ships,i am going ashore in Amsterdam and who should appear,same 3rd engineer coming to visit his buddy a Greek AB.
    3.On a foreign flag tanker,i was qso on 500khz with ZSD (Durban Radio),and after finishing and going back to 500khz,i get a call from a British flag vessel.Turns out to be my first trip to sea's chief r/o.He said "I recognised your morse,you always had good morse!"
    I never regretted going foreign flag,always had good ships,good radio equipment,good money.Strangely enough my last two ships were foreign flag with British Officers in 1993,definitely a dying breed.It was a great job and I enjoyed all of it. 73s
    colin

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    In 1950 I joined the MV British Enterprise in Abadan and used to ask the RO if he did any work or was he there as a passenger. My next ship was the P&O TSMV Palana and the RO was the one who had been on the Enterprise and so the comments continued until we hit Pine Peak Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Going up to the boat deck and seeing the lights on in the radio shack I couldn't resist going in and saying 'It's about time you did some work' as he sat tapping away at the morse key. Seems he wasted his time as we later heard that his message was only picked up by a ham operator in Texas.
    Terry Sullivan R340406

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    I, too was at sea as a Radio Officer, Mar'73 to April 1978. My first ship was the Sugar Refiner/GOYK, last the Ibn Khallikan/9KFQ, also United Arab/Kuwait Shipping. While they were still Marconi manned. RE the free relays(QSP), you were lucky, David! All to often, a ship out of contact with Portishead, or, for that matter, Athens Radio/SVA, could well have maybe a dozen telegrams waiting for them! So, you take them all down, try and call that ship on 500KHz, only to find they have gone out of range! So now you have to call back the station that sent you the messages with a service message, saying they are not delivered! Remember it could take two hours of calling to get hold of Portishead... You only get caught once, that's why ships calling QSP usually did so in vain!
    Last edited by John Weedon; 22nd March 2019 at 12:48 PM. Reason: Typo, d instead of b on Arab!

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    That P & O ship the Huntingdon would have had the Marconi Oceanspan transmitter, which was just 100 Watts output, not 250! The 'span 1 thru 5 were tall deck-to-deckhead jobs, 6 & 7 were bench mounted. A rotary transformer inside screamed at you, dc ship mains to 650 volts for the high tension supply. Receivers would've been the Mercury (MF) and Electra (HF), powered by vibrator units inside the lower part of the tall Oceanspans. There was an add-on unit, the Worldspan, which amplified the O'spans 100 Watts to a respectable 750 Watts, but you only found these on passenger and RFA ships. That had an even noisier HT machine inside!

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    Hi Terry
    Concerning your post #15 I have pictures of the Palana when she went aground off , they were sent to me a few years ago by a woman in Queensland who's farther was a diver in Mackay, and went down to inspect the damage, I have found two of them, I also had one of her arriving in Sydney for dry dock somewhere in my Computer.
    Cheers Des

    MV_PALANA_in_Mackay___aground.jpgMV_PALANA_in_Mackay___c.jpg

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    Default Re: Brief encounter

    Great story Dave, glad to hear you are still around. I know we still exchange cards at xmas though. By the way we did our ticket in September 1976. The Radar ticket was in March 1977 and we both joined Macaroni around August 1977.
    Cheers Nigel

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