‘THE SARGASSO SEA’ by James R Hart
The Sargasso is a sea within a sea, ie, not bounded by land masses and it roughly aligns
Posts Tagged "ships"
OVER THE SIDE: LOST SHIPPING CONTAINERS.
The story so far: ships occasionally lose containers at sea – there are explanations although we could make comparisons to a ‘runaway train’ situation, ie., it’s out of control and it happens very quickly. In 2020 the Japanese-flagged ONE Apus lost approximately 1,816 containers in heavy seas north-west of Hawaii. Theories over the loss range from a rogue wave snapping the securing pins to the fact that…
MEGA-CITIES: SINGAPORE
A futuristic sight to greet seafarer and tourist alike: Merlion Park, at One Fullerton,Singapore – with few suspecting that this was a malarial swamp a century ago. It’s part of the city-state and during independence from the British in 1965, Singapore faced massive unemployment and declining trade. With its back to the wall, nonetheless, the country demonstrated to the world how to modernise and progress. Singapore’s transition from a backwater economy…
A SMOOTH SEA NEVER MADE A SKILLED SAILOR.
Wise words, but actually joining a ship these days isn’t smooth seas and takes skill just to get through the paperwork. The 1970’s were different: you’d casually sling your bag in the cabin, walk to the bridge and sign on followed by a visit to the crew bar to meet shipmates – no strangers, just friends you’ve never met. Or if there wasn’t a crew bar, instead you’d go to…
The Working Class at Sea
Well, I wasn’t in the Royal Navy, but if their conditions were as bad as for Merchant Navy crew, it must have been rough. On my first trip (1972) I must have been lucky in assuming that all the ship’s company including the skipper were working class. After all, only the shipowners – prosperous as far as I could tell in pin-stripe suits with…
BOA 80
Fantastic 80th Anniversary events in Liverpool last weekend. James O’Hanlon captured the spirit of the weekend with these two fantastic videos.
Frank Walker – Part One
A MARINERS` PARK RESIDENT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WAS A EUROPEAN CONFLICT DEVELOPING INTO A WORLD WAR!! A talk by Captain Peter Thomson
CHANNEL CROSSINGS: NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE
Landed in Dover, but some aren’t so lucky.Yep, it was me. I was the one who discovered an illegal migrant hiding on the car deck at five am whilst just 40 minutes from Dover. It’s not such a rare occurrence as expected, but contrary to standing orders which states we should immediately call a security officer – security? – that’s a joke…
NICARAGUA – SOME PRESIDENTS ARE MORE EQUAL.
At 19 years old you knew it all. Or so you thought after a world-wide trip on a container ship. You saw oil sheikh kingdoms sitting on their wealth.On the other hand, you saw the industriousness of Japan and it’s famed work ethic.You learned that California isn’t just Hollywood mansions; there were homeless people and food stamps too.It was all new. But…
SHIP’S GRAVEYARD: ALANG, INDIA
Battered by the pandemic (haven’t we all been?), cruise ship industry owners with no immediate passengers have filed for bankruptcy, while others reduced operating costs by retiring ships early. More than two dozen vessels have been scrapped since and whilst some companies have recycled in an environmentally responsible way, others have not, allowing their ships to be broken up in India enabling high profits, but ignoring…
The Fate of the SS Automedon
An excerpt from ‘Victims of Atlantis’ by John Richardson Monday 11 November 1940 was Armistice Day; a day of remembrance when the warring sides of WW1 ceased hostilities and came to peace. On board Atlantis a service was being held at 0800 in honour of those men and women who’d lost their lives in the conflict. However, while the service was in…
Robert Keith – Part 1
Robert was kind enough to share some of his memories including his ambition of a young age to go to sea, joining his first ship in Liverpool in 1965.