More Ships

Furthe to my earlier posting about the ships I sailed in during my time as Merchant Navy Radio officer, here are two more. After I left Laganbank, I had approx 5 weeks leave and then joined m.v. Al Jabiriah in Bidston dock, Birkenhead. She was a 10,355 tons Gross general Cargo ship Owned by the Kuwait Shipping Company and registered in Kuwait. She had been built in Russia in Mid 1969, I joined her 22nd May 1970.

I did two trips, with about two weeks leave in the middle. Travelling from UK to the Gulf, then on to the Far east, Hong Kong, Red China and Japan. Total time on board was 424 days and distance travelled approx 79,500 miles.

After that they actually gave me three months leave, and in November 1971 I joined m.v. Rowanmore. She had been built for the Manchester Ship canal, in as much as she had telescopic masts and a folding funnel. Rowanmore was owned by P.S.N.C. / Furness Withy / Royal Mail weighted in at 8274 gross tons and was built in 1955. She was a funny old girl, being diesel engined, but with all the auxilliary equipment such as generators, and Deck machinery powered by Steam. I eventually paid off Rowanmore in September 1972 after doing three trips across the Atlantic, to the Caribbean and the North coast of South America. Covered around 40,000 miles in Her. She was a wonderfully happy ship, and I have many tales I could tell. Maybe some other time

Thomas

Had to post the above Piccie. - Taken by my friend Val on one of our morning walks. This day just before Christmas I was looking after Grandson Thomas, he did really well climbing the hill to get us to that position. I would note that he isn't as tall as he looks just yey, I am stood in a hole.

The Road below is the Grane Road, the water is Ogden reservoir, the middle one of the three Grane Resers.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION TO TERRORISM THREATS

The Following I have received from some friends and is very politically incorrect and very funny. If it offends you don't read it!

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line in the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

And in the southern hemisphere...

New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!". Due to continuing defence cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "Shit, I hope Australia will come and rescue us".

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far, no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone, and please accept my apologies for the lack of Blogs this past few weeks, I will be getting back into the swing very shortly, a combination of Christmas, Bad Weather, and sheer bloody idleness has taken me over. Don't give up on me I'll be back shortly.

A very short story, just to keep you interested:

I was in the pub yesterday when I suddenly realized I desperately needed to fart. The music was really, really loud, so I timed my farts with the beat.

After a couple of songs, I started to feel better. I finished my pint and noticed that everybody was staring at me.

Then, I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my iPod.

Sledging

Had a wonderful hour or so last Saturday playing in the snow with Thomas, and Jay the Autistic Spaniel enjoyed the fun as well.

Now I want the snow to go away, It has caused enough aggravation and we need to do some christmas shopping - Bah Humbug!

Troy Quarry

Had a walk with Jay the Autistic Spaniel the other day, took a few photos around Troy Quarry, this is an ancient disused quarry just off the Grane road. I have looked for some history of the place, but so far found little or nothing, I believe it ceased functioning as a quarry in the early 20th century but as yet I haven't found any specific dates.

Ships

I have been scanning in photographs of the ships I sailed in during my time as a Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy, so I thought I would share them with you.

From top to bottom they are 16,000 ton d.w. Tanker "Border Fusilier" this is a poor photo blagged from the internet and doesn't bear enlarging. I spent only approx three months on the Fusilier, Border Tankers was a subsidiary company of B.P. and operated mainly small coastal tankers. I travelled from Scandinavia to the Med. and back.

Next is a 9,500 gt general cargo ship mv "Floristan". she was owned by Strick and Ellerman and was interesting in having a 180 ton derrick built amidships. This was my second ship, I should have done three months on this one, travelling to the gulf and back but she was chartered by an American company and we were sent off on a varied trip which saw us arriving in Chittagong the day marshall law was declared, Ayub Khan gave up the ghost, and East Pakistan became Bangladesh. After that we went to mombasa, loaded a deck cargo of zoo animals bound for New York. I was on Floristan for eight months and spent my 21st birthday aboard. a small coincidental interesting point is that my Mother was called Florence and my Father was called Stanley - my 2nd ship was called Floristan!!!!!

The last one in this group is the mv "Laganbank" one of a large group of ships owned by the Bank Line (actually Andrew Weir and Co) She was built as a "Copra" ship. i.e. she was designed to carry coconut produce from the south sea islands. My 6 or 7 months on Laganbank were wonderful. We carried general cargo to the mexican gulf ports of USA, sailed through Panama canal and crossed the pacific, taking on fuel in Fiji. We docked in Brisbane on Christmas eve 1969. After a week or more of festivities we then circumnavigated Aussie and came home via various islands of the South Pacific, calling in at the Solomon Islands, Fiji (again), Tonga, and Samoa. It was an amazing trip, there are too many stories to recount here, one day I will sit down and write some of them down for posterity