union castle.

[David l Brooks]

heard of all these ship names ,1963 to 1966 on uc boats 3plus years greatest time of my life. kenya castle. saw a picture somewhere on this site of swim pool beira mazambique old memories,

used to swim lenght of that pool under water 1and a half times , i believe it is an olympic size pool, cant hold my breath for that long now great pic thanks dave

[Doc Vernon]

Hi David
Are you perhaps talking about the Swimmmimg Pool at the old "Grande Hotel" Beira!
It was a lovely place in the days i was on the UCL 1959,but has gone to the dogs now,how sad that a lovely place like that could be lfet to die!
Yes good days to remember!
The Kenya Castle was one of my late Uncles Ships as well! (Dusty)
Cheers

Abandoned Hotel In Beira Home To Squatters - Odd Culture

[alf corbyn]

hi sailor 63. i was on the kenilworth castle september 54 to jan 55 captain black. alf

[Dennis McGuckin]

Remember the Hotel well Vernon.
Great time at the pool.Recall a few cold drinks there as well.
Den.

[robpage]

In the mid nineteen sixties , during the Beira blockade ,, the only memorable place was the Moulin Rouge , with huge logs of timber for seats , and Mozambique bar girls , that and the prescence of the US Navy , who were notorious for spreading infectious diseases at the time , having caused several new strains of sexually transmitted diseases to spread throughout Mauritius left the place as not the best run ashore on the East Coast . The bar Owner at the Moulin doubled the Prices every time the US Navy got shore leave there . Which caused some discontent amongst my shipmates with Uncle Sam's finest . We got there on one occasion shortly after a guy off a ship took a shortcut through the docks and started to juimp the high fence to get ashore supposedly to quickly get something just before sailing , the Portugeuse soldiers on patrol ordered him to stop and when he told them where to go they shot him , it was a flesh wound in the leg as far as I knew , but it made the place a little more tense than usual .

[happy daze john in oz]

Think those new strains of VD must have spread. Ginger my mate on the Windsor was patial to the odd bit of 'B***k h*m' but must have got some that had gone off in Cape Town around 1963. It took almost six months of varied treatment before he came good again.

[john perkins]

Was married durban on the 23 may 1977 windsor castle had a loverly do on the ship after drinks cake ship band all suppled for free
I was the lamp trimmer leading seaman

[Michael Selby]

I sailed in the Kenilworth Castle in 1961 and had a birthday anchored in Port Louis, Mauritius.
A four month trip round Africa and back to Durban twice to load sisal and cotton.
Called in at port Sudan to load more cargo. Then on to Suez and the Med. Called at Barcelona and then home to London (Royal Docks).

[Brenda Shackleton]

Our eldest daughter was born on 29th March 1974. My Dad (Capt. Bill Hartley 1905-1999) said, "I'll always remember this date" (I felt quite emotional as he was not the greatest at remembering birthdays and now he was committing to memory the date of the birth of his first grandchild) He continued , "29th March 1922 was the day I signed on with Union Castle as a Deck Boy when I was fifteen, and sailed on the Llanstephen Castle to South Africa." You can take the sailor out of the sea , but you can't take the sea out of the sailor.............. !
Bren Sh.

[joseph ward]

Hi guys,

I was lucky enough to have served on most of the foregoing UC ships as a cadet, namely,
Rochester Castle, Richmond Casle, Roxburgh Castle, Rustenberg Castle and Tintagell Castle, all between '59 to 61. After that we were moved over to Clan Line ships, mainly heavy lift jobs. gGreat times and voyages and happy memories.