Fleetwood Navigation School

[Glyn Jones]

Thanks for the info Cpt Kong, I believe Cpt Carruthers lived in Knott End when I was there in 1957, then he probably retired to Glasson. I moved back to Fleetwood in 1970 with my job as a brewery representative,
living on the Larkholme estate until 1976 before moving south, many happy times in the pubs and clubs of Fleetwood and the Fylde Coast. Cheers, Glyn.

[Les Howard]

hi first whent to the old navigation school on station rd in 1961 to train as a fisherman and i was a fisherman for 9yrs sorry to here about captain caruthers he lived over knot end i met over there about ten years ago he must have been a good age when he went les

[Glyn Jones]

Hi Les, I believe he was in his nineties when he died last year, good old salty sea dogs go on forever.

[Captain Kong]

I found this link all about the ship Felix Roussel...what an adventure.
Captain William Carruthers, of the Fleetwood Nautical College, story of his time at sea in WW2 and the evacuation of Singapore, on the Felix and many more adventures.
He was around 94 years old when he died

http://www.derbysulzers.com/shipfelix.html

[Trader]

Interesting link Brian, thanks for posting. Capt. Carruthers and the "Felix" certainly had remarkable careers.

Regards..........Alec.

[Trebor]

I trained as a Radio Officer at Fleetwood Nautical College during 1971 to 1974, Captain Carruthers was the Principle for the duration. I enjoyed my days there and can't believe how much Fleetwood has changed since then.
I still go back there every 3 to 4 years for my Offshore Survival Refresher Course, in fact I'll be due to take it again sometime in the next 5 months. Hopefully it'll be my last time before I retire!

Bob Bryne

[Les Howard]

does anybody remember the navigation school in station rd, wyre dock, fleetwood, this was mainly for those sitting their fishing tickets, but was also used for pre sea training by those going to sea as apprentices, i was there in 1957 with two other lads whose names escape me. I ended up serving my time with lamport & holt line.

hi remember the nav school i first went there in1961 for a 12 week course for working on the trawlers they paid us £4 a week out of that whe paid are board at the mission and food
at the end of the nav school there used to another building were whe were learnt to mend the nets and splicing and general deck work good days les

[Captain Kong]

Fleetwood has now closed. the college is still open but the town has now closed.
Station Road College is all boarded up, empty for a few years now, The rigging lofts all demolished, I used to go in there to chat with the old guys and smell the sea, with all the nets being repaired, smell the ropes and oakum and all the smell of a well stocked focsle head of sixty years ago, All gone, in its place an ASDA supermarket full of shoppers who do not know and are not even interested. So sad.
.
All the Isle of Man Ferries, the P&O and Stena Line Ferries have now finished, fishing has finished. there is now nothing left. the death of a town that was once one of Britains busiest Fishing ports , all gone.
More than half of all the pubs are closed or demolished.
I bought a house on the Quayside when it was busy and could see all the vessels sailing by the house coming in and sailing on the tide, now the water is empty. All gone. So sad. Even the Pier burned down, nothing left.
It has gone forever and will never ever come back. No one cares.
I am now going to open another bottle of Grouse and weep an old mans tears for times that I have known.

[Glyn Jones]

Fleetwood has now closed. the college is still open but the town has now closed.
Station Road College is all boarded up, empty for a few years now, The rigging lofts all demolished, I used to go in there to chat with the old guys and smell the sea, with all the nets being repaired, smell the ropes and oakum and all the smell of a well stocked focsle head of sixty years ago, All gone, in its place an ASDA supermarket full of shoppers who do not know and are not even interested. So sad.
.
All the Isle of Man Ferries, the P&O and Stena Line Ferries have now finished, fishing has finished. there is now nothing left. the death of a town that was once one of Britains busiest Fishing ports , all gone.
More than half of all the pubs are closed or demolished.
I bought a house on the Quayside when it was busy and could see all the vessels sailing by the house coming in and sailing on the tide, now the water is empty. All gone. So sad. Even the Pier burned down, nothing left.
It has gone forever and will never ever come back. No one cares.
I am now going to open another bottle of Grouse and weep an old mans tears for times that I have known.

Certainly sad times Cpt Kong, when I was there in '57 it was certainly a bustling town, even in '71 to '77 when I lived there, it was still busy. I'm going to stay at the North Euston in Feb for a couple of days, so will obviously see a big change in the old place, no doubt I'm going to be dissapointed, so another bottle of Grouse might be on the menu!

[leigh ashton]

hi guys
yes the college is thriving i have done 5 or 6 offshore survival courses there,the majority of students doing deep sea courses now are foriegners but it brings in revenue for the local area also keeps the college open,as there does not seem to be much out there in the deep sea game anymore for the brits as most shipping companys employ foriegn crews anyway.But at least we have our memorys of our time at sea ,mine was with houlders 1971 to 1979 then i went offshore with the same company ,great times great memorys.