Submarines.

[Malcolm Lawrence]

My only contact with the underwater boy's was in the 70s on a Fyffes boat crossing the mid Southern Atlantic, I was on the 12 - 4 watch when around 02:00 the engine room telegraph went crazy calling for half astern and the ship heeling over to port violently, turns out a US sub popped up right in front of us and luckily the watch officer spotted it and managed to veer off.
If we had hit it we would have been the winner as our ship the Rio Cobre was the old riveted construction and had a 12" thick bow section, that would have had a new meaning to the "special relationship" I reckon.

[j.sabourn]

I had just the opposite experience during the middle watch about 0200 . Expected to arrive Santiago de Cuba later that day. Was sitting on the taffrail on the port wing of the bridge beautiful balmy night , millions of stars in the sky. When all of a sudden this blinding light nearly fell off the taffrail. About 50 feet away off the port side was this black shape with a blinding searchlight on it. Was that close communication was by loud hailer , he identified himself as USS forget his name. Wanted to know which port we were going into and our eta. We had passed all the US navy surface ships on the blockade the previous day, so were obviously being shadowed. Taught me once again only fools firemen and first trippers sit on rails ( or taffrais). Cheers JS.

[Ivan Cloherty]

#42, wonder why they were called taffrails, were they invented in Wales!!

[j.sabourn]

#43 Ask Des. !! They could be very slippy if kept varnished especially with a dew on them . That would or could be a catastrophe a heavy Jew sitting on a heavy dew. Did you get into Santiago as well Ivan, it’s where Castro was supposed to have been from . Cheers JS.

[John Arton]

Going up to the Persian Gulf to load on a tanker, we were in the gulf of Oman and I was 2nd mate. Hot, perfectly calm night, no other shipping around and I was peacefully contemplating the meaning of life when a sudden loud roaring noise shook me out of my reverie, nearly crapped my pants, dashing out onto the bridge wing, thinking the worst, I was amazed to see a Russian submarine sailing calming alongside us about 100 feet off our beam, I waved to the crew in the conning tower, they saved back and after keeping station alongside for a while it then submerged.
Rgds
J.A.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Taff rail from the stern of sailing ships, originally Aft Rail, then changed by Dutch to Taffereel. Ornate after rail on sailing ships.
We only wish the Weelsh had invented it
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

You see Des over time so many names and descriptions have come from the derevation of the orginal one.

[Ivan Cloherty]

#44 JS, 1957 sailed from New York to Santiago de Cuba, took all our subs in USD in New York but kept them for Cuba where they would be worth nearly 80 - 100 times their face value in local currency; alas not to be we anchored five miles off and loaded a full cargo of sugar, brought aboard bagged and then split and poured down the hatch between hatchboards, sailed three weeks later without getting ashore, loaded 10,000 tons. On passage home got stuck in hurricane Carrie going to the aid of the Pamir, alas sadly to no avail, sustained a lot of damage to ourselves, lost rails, ladders, vents, stove in lifeboat, also strained rivets in #5 hold leaking into the sugar which solidified and blocked the leaking rivets, also contaminated the FW tanks. Diverted to Rotterdam where it took a week to discharge #5 as the cargo had to be broken up with pneumatic drills

[j.sabourn]

Those offshore sugar ports. You could smell the sugar and molasses. As regards suits my first time in Cuba was 1953 and it was really hot to me , the weather that is apart from the girls, I was surprised to see the crowd going ashore dressed to the nines collars an ties ,jackets and in some cases waistcoats. All was revealed when they came back dressed in T shirts and skivvies in some cases. That was in Cienfegeous I had nothing to sell, as probably like you was schooner rigged. Apart from no money honey still got by . Our youth went too soon . Cheers JS
PS would have sold the brass buttons and cap badge made to wear on appropriate occasions ift there had been a market for them, however they were of Runciman design , which I got rid of in the bin 3 years later. Cheers JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

#49 As we will be told off shortly for straying off course from submarines, I will bring it back on course as it was in Cuba 1954 I learnt to Dive! Dive! Dive! isn't that what they shout on submarines?