During school assembly in March of 1959 when I was still fourteen, the headmaster of my school asked if anyone wished to take an examination to enter a merchant navy officer-training establishment called HMS Conway. I discussed this opportunity with my parents, because I planned to stay another year to gain nationally recognised educational certificates in […]
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; Landaura – 9,750 dwt Launched in 1946 and was named after a very small village in Chandigarh in northern India. As much as I enjoyed my leave, I found that I had changed, whereas my Birkenhead friends had not, other […]
Blackman’s Swamp in 1870 We had five nights in Cowra and planned to have three nights at Blackman’s Swamp. We left Cowra on Friday, but after we received a phone call that Maureen was booked into hospital on Tuesday we decided to cut our visit to Blackman’s Swamp to just two nights. Just to make […]
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; Landaura – 9,750 dwt Launched in 1946 and was named after a very small village in Chandigarh in northern India. As much as I enjoyed my leave, I found that I had changed, whereas my Birkenhead friends had not, other […]
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky In October 2022 it will be sixty years since I first went to sea. I had eight days to pack and join my first ship, did I have everything . . . I had only been to Woodside station once […]
London on a Spring day a few years ago. London Pride written by Noel Coward after a bombing raid in 1941. He was sitting in a damaged railway station and apparently he felt a wave of sentimental pride. Tulips Soldiers of the Queen On duty at Horse Guards Big Ben Tower Bridge ANZAC war memorial […]
For whom the bell tolls – it tolled for me on this holiday – In 1961 I was invited once again to accompany my friendly schoolmaster for another trip to Europe, but this time it would be southern Spain, staying in a hotel rather than YHA. We’d moved up market. I was also asked if a […]
How things have changed since my first trip to Hong Kong in 1963. Note the clock tower to the left of the picture, right on the waterfront, more about it later. I found this old advert, which also shows Hong Kong of the 60’s. We entered Hong Kong harbour via the Tathong Channel on the […]
I think that the background of Skypak makes quite an interesting story. The seeds of the Company started in Japan, by two Australians. One had arrived in Japan as a member of the Australian occupying forces after the defeat of Japan and had remained after the formal end of the occupation in 1952. His command […]
I The Calcutta & Burmah Steam Navigation Company was registered in Glasgow in 1856. One of the first ships of the company was Cape of Good Hope, built in 1853, (420 gross tons). She was a steamer, but also rigged as a brig. At 190 feet long, she still managed ninety days from Southampton to Calcutta to […]
Ceylon did not become Sri Lanka until 1972. The country has had a chequered history, from the Portuguese arriving in 1505, followed by the Dutch, when the king of Sri Lanka signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company, in the hope that the Dutch would get rid of the Portuguese. It was during […]
Today it is the cherry capital of Australia. In 1847 Edward Taylor planted the first cherry tree in the Lambing Flat area. James White was the first European to lay claim to land in the area in 1826. He had been convicted of horse stealing in Buckinghamshire in the UK in 1812 and transported to […]
Just a few pics of ground level in Perth. I told you that kangaroos roamed the streets of Perth! A touch of the old country – London Court Bell Tower over looking the Swan River – a gift from the UK. Twelve of the bells are from St Martin’s – in- the- Fields London, and a further five bells, […]
I The Calcutta & Burmah Steam Navigation Company was registered in Glasgow in 1856. One of the first ships of the company was Cape of Good Hope, built in 1853, (420 gross tons). She was a steamer, but also rigged as a brig. At 190 feet long, she still managed ninety days from Southampton to Calcutta to […]
