Arrived in Colombo to be greeted, just below our cabin balcony, by an elephant. Not sure that I was happy with the use of the elephant as a photo prop. The elephant, in my opinion, seemed to be stressed as he or she shook its head to make a large bell that was tied around its […]
After leaving Tarawa it was a short 805 mile flight to Funafuti, Tuvalu, but it still took about three hours in the HS 148. The aircraft carried more freight than it did passengers, because not many people visited Funafuti, other than returning residents, and the occasional businessman, i.e your truly. As we made our approach to […]
Savusavu is on the island Vanua Levu, which is on the smaller of the two larger Fijian islands, and I have marked the location. Savusavu is unspoiled & a place that is unhurried and free of most modern trappings and has managed to retain much of yesteryear. Savusavu was a popular trading port for sailing […]
A few years ago Maureen & I and three other couples had a seven week holiday of self catering, self drive around the UK. We hired a mini-bus and stayed in farms and apartments – all self catering. We were a mix of three ex Poms, three Australians, a New Zealander and a Russo – German. […]
I’d always wanted to return to Sri Lanka (still Ceylon in my mind) to show Maureen something different, but this time I wanted to stay at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, not just visit for lunch as I had when I was at sea. We flew in from Malaysia and after immigration & customs we entered a […]
Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship The quote is from The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the ship is Ruby Princess. When I took the photograph, Ruby Princess was at anchor off Dravuni Island, Fiji. Launched in 2008, registered in the […]
The sailing ship Mimosa sailed from Liverpool in May 1865, with 153 migrants from from Wales, who wished to emigrate to Argentina. Groups gathered in three main points Abedare (S. Wales), Birkenhead in Cheshire, England, and Mountain Ash, which is in the Rhondda S. Wales, before they all made their way to Liverpool to board the […]
Chakdara – launched 1951, 7,132 gt The first Chakdara (3,035 gt) was launched in 1914 and was named after an important trading town in northern India, which was on the main trading route to Afghanistan.In 1933 she was sold to Burma Steam Nav Co., but she foundered off Burma in 1935. After partition the town of Chakdara was […]
The holiday has started for some . . . the beginning of another cruise for us. In addition to our normal duties on board, plus ferrying passengers ashore in the lifeboats, we were expected to help entertain the students in the afternoons, during sea days. Most afternoons were free for the students, lessons being held […]
Even though Calcutta is a 170 km (100 miles) from the sea the river Hooghly is large and deep enough for deep sea ships to sail to Calcutta to load and discharge. The Company that I worked for began life in Calcutta in 1856 so it was not a surprise to see other BISNC (British […]
We entered the Suez Canal at first light, and with camera in hand I started photographing our transit. The canal had been built by Ferdinand de Lesseps between 1859 and 1869, and was opened in 1869. The Egyptian / French plan for the opening was to allow the Imperial Yacht L’Aigle, with the French Empress, […]
Broken Hill’s airport is also the Royal Flying Doctor Service headquarters. Entrance to the HQ On entering we were invited to watch a short film about the service, which included real incidents where sick and injured people were picked up by a flying ‘hospital’ and flown to a major population centres. It is thanks to the Rev John Flynn […]
It was a beautiful day when we boarded Majestic Princess for a thirteen-night cruise to New Zealand. It had been six years since our previous cruise to New Zealand and thanks to Covid we now hoped to renew our relationship with the land of the long white cloud. ‘Aeoteroa’ or the land of the long […]
Uniform button from a BISNC uniform – we still wore the Company’s uniform even though the ship was sailing to Japan to be scrapped. Of course, we wore our caps when required, mainly in port when we were duty officer. I did sail with captains that required the officer of the watch to wear his […]
