M.V.Harmattan. M.V.Eucadia 1971 Q, Answered, Thank You.

[Red Lead Ted]

I posted this a few years ago in one of my posts, Only for a new member joining us recently seeking information on her great sea Captain great uncle,

She read this which I posted, . M.V.HARMATTAN. Harrisons of London. Being towed alongside us 26th December 1971 after being blown to pieces by a stray missile Karachi on the 9th December few British seamen lost there lives aboard her. Another day another dollar Regards all Terry.

After reading that she got in touch with me, I have tried for 45 years to find the answers to questions that I have given a pause and thought of every day of my life for the last 45 yrs., After witnessing the sad demise of the M.V.HARMATTAN In the port of Karachi Pakistan and being tied up in the then demolished port and my lasting vision of a British M.N.Ship with loss of life being towed into port looking like that, And how lucky we were it could well have been any ship at anchor outside the 8 mile exclusion zone on the night Indian cruisers 8th December 1971 hammered the docks of Karachi there were suggestions of deliberate attacks on merchant ships of all nations as far as I am aware we were the only two British M.N Ships caught up in Pakistan waters at that particular time. However what you are about to read if interested is Captain Herbert Houston's {Harmattan Master} Personal statement which can I add is protected by copy-write, I have been given permission in writing which I have informed both Brian and Vernon of to post where I think best so please don't anyone think of posting this information any where else on any other forum, Or I will write to there Administrators and get it deleted, The copy-write was handed down to his sister a lovely elderly Irish lady whom I am in contact with by snail mail, This lovely old lady is well into her 80s and I ask you to respect these documents and recognition by H.M. Queen Elizabeth 11, That were left in his last will and testament to his sister. These have never been put on the net before and it is compulsive reading any alterations to the 32 page PDF File where by Captain Houston himself, Which he never spoke about to anyone. I wish I could have found this Captain when he was alive I tried every avenue available to me on returning to the U.K. As to what happened to both the ship and her crew { The Truth } Seaman's Union in person not a letter, Mann island Shipping federation L,pool in person every avenue, Made contact with J@C Harrisons of London no reply. Until this lovely lady from Ireland got in touch a few weeks ago. And lastly may I add before you read I will be writing back to Capt Houston's sister with a print out of this post and any replies on the impeccable conduct and seamanship and of course in true British fashion the last man to leave his ship, Which if Brian or Vern as I do feels the need to be archived in the Articles section, I will leave to Vernon Regards lads. Terry.





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Jan 31 at 1:16 PM





Please note that the copyright of all the material belongs to CTW Houston, as the beneficiary of Capt HP Houston's will. Any use of relevant material will have to be acknowledged
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Please note that the copyright of all the material belongs to CTW Houston, as the beneficiary of Capt HP Houston's will. Any use of relevant material will have to have approval, Lads I am in the process of forwarding an email to Vernon with all details this is way over my head I will get him to post details and PDF Files plz bare with me Terry.

[happy daze john in oz]

Well done Terry, a reply after all this time and hopefully all the information you wished for.

[Red Lead Ted]

Well done Terry, a reply after all this time and hopefully all the information you wished for.

John a lot lot more to post trying to get my head around it new to me hang on in there m8,

[Mark Cable]

I've just posted in another thread, that I sailed with Captain Houston from 1978-1983, he was Master then with Onesimus Dorey's of Guernsey and was living in Donegal I believe. He never mentioned the "Harmattan", however I had to deliver some mail one day to his cabin and I noticed it was addressed to Cpt H. Houston OBE. In asked some of the longer serving crew what the OBE was for and they then told me about the Harmattan.

Mark