Visited Ports.

[Zach Tidy]

Love this. Wish, wish, wish my Grandad had been alive to tell me his tales.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Zach,
You should say wish wish I had sailed with him, keeps him closer.Do you have his discharge book with his ships names?

Cheers Des

[Zach Tidy]

No, sadly we lost him a long time ago (1980) and then when we lost Nan years later there was a mix up with a house clearance and basically we lost just about everything. He talked very fondly over the years of Sorrento and also the Bahamas. But Sorrento in particular he'd get very misty-eyed especially after a few rums (Wood's Old Navy Rum, which is still my choice to this day). Sadly we know very, very little of his time with the Merchant Navy.

[John Arton]

Always liked Vancouver and Vancouver island, nanaimo, tarmac, port alberni, chemainous, all good runs ashore when loading timber and forest products.
Regarding not being served in pubs and been thrown out, I can go one better, in Vancouver I actually got thrown out of the emergency room of the main hospital. I was there as I had torn the flesh off my left heel when it got trapped between the moving body of the gantry crane I was riding on and the hold ventilator. The chief steward nearly fainted when he saw the state of my heel , I had just gone to ask for a plaster, not knowing the extent of the damage. An ambulance was called and the chief steward and myself were taken to the main hospital in Vancouver, where the agent had arranged for us to go.
On arrival in the emergency room I was seen by the e/r doctor and nurse. The doc was more interested in getting the paperwork done whilst the nurse was taking off the bandages the chief steward had put on, once the doctor found out I was a seafarer he stopped filling in the admin form and told the nurse to do up the bandages and show us out. Fortunately the ambulance driver was still there and he was able to take us to the veterans hospital where around 7 hours after the incident happened I eventually got seen too, stitched up and wound cleaned and bandaged. Spent 10 days there before being flown home.
Rgds
J.A

[j.sabourn]

What about Tahsis wasn’t much there at one time ? Only a cliff face which one climbed to paint the ships name on. JS

[Phil Hughes]

Hi Des, I was in the September 1958 deck intake.
Phil. R698842

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Phil
Didn't you run the Vindi group somewhere in the Kent Area.
Cheers Des

[George Gunn]

OCEANS APART.

The Journal Of A Seaman.
By
Michael John Kenn A.B.

This is an excellent read, available from Amazon, this man did keep a journal during his many years at sea through the 50s, 60s and 70s.

[Phil Hughes]

Hi Des, Thanks for your reply and yes, my first camera was a Brownie 127 which took b/w photos about 1.5" square in those days. I was on the Vindi (Deck) from Septemvber 15th; to November 22nd; 1958 so a bit after you I guess.
Phil.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Des, yes I ran the East Kent TSVA for a number of years from 1995 until 2005 when we became Independent and finally closed in April 2024 due to health and age of remaining members. Our Standard is "Laid Up" in the Sailor's Church at Ramsgate Harbour.

[nick sivertsen]

absolutely, not just a case of taking a photo in our days, meant a trip ashore to have them developed, so most did not bother.

Hi did my sea training on the Arethusa training ship at Upnor near Rochester in Kent 1958/60.
On my final year I won a Royal Society of Arts prize for the the person to make the best seaman which was a Zeis Icon camera with a leather case with my initials printed on top.
Did two years as an apprentice on MV Sungate owned by Turnball Scott.
Spent that time doing trips to Montreal,up the Lakes and then round to Vancouver/Kitimat and then back to Sept Tiles Montreal up the lakes and all stops on the way.We did this 4 times each year before coming home to repeat the same schedule as before after a couple of weeks leave.During those voyages my new camera was in constant use especially transiting the Panama Canal.Cost a fortune to have them developed.
Got disillusioned with the lack of help from officers on board except for one and decided to get out and left.Joined the Navy and spent 22years in the Fleet Air Arm.During that time my camera was used on many occasion.

A year before my time was up in the RN my wife decided she had had enough and went off with someone else.
Unfortunately all my photos went into the bin 25 years of photographic history gone.
As we used say in the RN thats life in a blue suit and if you can’t take a joke you shouldn’t have joined.
At least I still have my camera.