Torrey Canyon

[Harry Nicholson]

Another site got me thinking about the environmental disaster of the tanker, Torrey Canyon, that hit Cornish rocks in 1967. I had come ashore a few years earlier and was working as a videotape technician at ITN News in London. The Torrey Canyon drama kept us occupied for a week or two. The attempts to bomb her into submission brought some memorable film footage. While at ITN we also had: Churchill's funeral, the Aberfan disaster, the first satellite transmission of TV across the Atlantic, assassination of Kennedy, and the emergence of the Beatles. The first Russian woman astronaut - Valantina Tereshkova - came to the studio for interview - she got stuck in the lift when it failed on its climb to the 7th floor. Below us was the London School of Economics whose students were forever protesting over something or other - it was a struggle to get to work through the picket lines. Interesting times! Harold Wilson and George Brown in the studio. One day Manny Shinwell threatened to punch Quintin Hogg, on camera. My first TV job after leaving the sea, was to record for Munich Television archives the entire trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel - a ghostly, ashen figure he was, in poor resolution, inside his bullet proof witness box. Maybe I should write a memoir of those times.

[j.sabourn]

Re Churchill’s funeral Harry, the stories had it and it is one I believe , that he organised it all himself being alive
of course at the time. One bill he wouldn’t of had to fork out himself. Was George Brown in the studio crying over JFKs funeral in very late 1963 , if so remember seeing that as was home on leave. Tony were you going to South Shields then, ? I was as was up for the last certificate. JS

[Harry Nicholson]

At ITN we spent quiet Sundays updating obituaries - Churchill's was reworked over and over as the end neared. I don't recall that he arranged his own funeral, neither do I recall the George Brown incident (might have been off shift that time). Journalists who visited George would tell of the crate of brown ale that George kept under his desk. The greatest untrained mind in politics, they said of him. He intended to nationalise all land, and the banks. A radical fellow . . .

[j.sabourn]

There was a documentary on tv at some time which described how Churchill had a great input into his own funeral when being planned , if remember correctly the barge on the river was his stipulation. No doubt the present Monarch will also be aware of her funeral plans. Me I don"t have any and wont have any say. Wife just threatens to have me burnt. JS
The Bafta Documentary maker who filmed some of the shots of the burning of the twin towers , and also the Beatles from an earlier period, met him a couple of times and appeared a very genuine man , he recently got an OBE , he was also an old member of the Humber Lifeboat when younger. He must be well out of filming by now , but one never knows. JS Knew it ! Paul someone halfway there. JS.

[j.sabourn]

Thanks Marian got to the B and was going to say Beresford. However you are correct. Your memory is better than mine , you are better looking also . JS

[happy daze john in oz]

The Torrey Canyon brings back memories, was the first big spill that made so much news.

AS to the funeral of Churchill, I do recall it appeared at the time bigger than Ben Hur, maybe it was but it sure made big time on TV.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Harry.
It has always struck me as odd when they put the likes of Eichmann behind bullet proof glass when they are going to shoot or hang them anyway..
Des

[Keith Tindell]

Torrey Canyon, remember it well, the Fire Service from all over the country sent men down to Cornwall to form teams, we were sent out daily to spray the chemical on the beaches to disperse the oil. we were down there for a few weeks, it was a mammoth job, and did not really make a lot of difference. We were all put up in caravans in various holiday camps, but usually managed to find a pub in the evenings. Being the first big spill that anyone in UK had to deal with, a lot of lessons were learned. I dread to think of the cost to Fire Services, with lost equipment, and the clean up afterwards was a massive job, everything, pumps, hoses, uniforms was covered in oil, and large amounts dumped as unusable.

[j.sabourn]

There were plenty more so called war criminals living in the Argentine Des. The Jews had to make a point by bringing at least one to trial. If you read the accounts that the Jews had of the suspects they had listed , a lot of them escaped Europe via Vatican passports. So the criminals were numbered more than people think, but many were untouchables as you can imagine. I would strongly suspect if the present problems in Europe ever wind up as a stalemate and all breakers of the rules of law survive, Mr. Putin will also be an untouchable , makes you laugh doesn’t it after all the huffing and puffing. Anyhow getting away from the title of the post. JS ...

[j.sabourn]

#10 Keith getting back to the Torrey Canyon , and the oil spillage that occurred , Oil on troubled waters one might say. Many ships carried oil dispersants in the North Sea. I used to think like most it was God’s gift to oil disasters .I soon found out how to swing the oil booms out and disperse it the best as weather conditions allowed , also how to recover by laying out the containment barriers and attempting to recover on specialised oil Recovery vessels. However what the average person doesn’t know is that it could in some cases cause more damage than it cured. First of all one had to have permission from the Home Office to use. This all takes time and in bad weather conditions time may be very important. Small spills it was quicker to disperse what ever little oil by chewing it up with the ships propellor , you had to log it of course . When Saddam retreated from his brazen attack on his neighbour he opened all the oil taps he could into the Persian Gulf and left what was considered an unholy job of clearing. We had to do an oil dispersant course in Fremantle by one of the oil experts who was sent to the Gulf to clear. His remarks the best cleaning method was and is Mother Nature , the Gulf was just about clear within 6 months with very little Disperants used . What a job that must have been . Cheers JS