I like facts and figures so I collated some facts and figures about trying to get a book published. After months of research and many more months of writing I completed an historical novel, called Ice King , all I required now was a publisher or agent who might be interested in my work. Before sending Ice King to anybody I  […]

The photograph was taken from within the Sydney building that I worked in the mid 1980’s. On this particular day we were having a lunchtime BBQ, partly to farewell the person in the Arab costume, (he is at the BBQ), he was being transferred to the Middle East. Between the building in which I worked, […]

I’m sure half the crew working in the galley are frustrated artists of one kind or another. We saw their work when on a galley tour, but on certain days they produced fancy cakes. Not having sweet tooth, I was happy to photograph, but not to eat, because once I started to eat I was bothered […]

Das Island The photograph of Das Island has been downloaded from the net – I’ve marked the position of Das Is – under the ‘er’ of Persian under lined in cream. I think the only main change since 1963 would be the upgraded runway. I always had the feeling that the island was floating on […]

Lifou Island is part of the Loyalty Islands, which is part of New Caledonia, and Noumea is the capital. We approached the island and anchored. The tender boats from Ruby Princess would take us ashore to the small piers. The island is 80 km (50 miles) long and 16 km (10 miles) wide, and is […]

I took the above picture of Diamond Princess at anchor off Nha Trang, which is in Vietnam. Maureen and I boarded Diamond Princess in Sydney, in mid-March, for a twenty-two-day cruise to Japan. The Diamond was positioning to Japan, to be based in Yokohama for the northern summer cruising season. Our ports of call would […]

From the beginning the ship attracted a certain type of boy. 1860 Mathew Webb went on to be the first man to swim the English Channel. 1861 Warrington Baden Powell  later in life was the founder of the Sea Scouts. 1868 Admiral Sir  Sackville Carden Carden KCMG RN  was asked by Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty, […]

Karanja, launched 1930, 9891 gt. She was no longer a liner that operated between Bombay and East Africa and down to Durban, she had been converted to a troop ship HMS Karanja LSI (L) and now she was off to war. The WS 17 convoy formed off the island of Oversay, which is off the west coast […]

A radio message arrived to inform us that we were to call at Trincomalee to pick up mail and to investigate the situation before leaving the area for Fremantle in Western Australia. This suited us all of us on board because picking up mail was one of the most important events for anyone at sea […]

Once again, we anchored and the ship’s boats ferried people ashore. We didn’t have to climb down the ladder, which is shown in the photograph. At the bottom of the ladder you can see the main exit / entry port. Each time we re-boarded we had to go through security screening i.e  x-raying of bags, and each […]

During WW2 the US Navy created a classification of ship as ‘Attack Transport’, which consisted of a specially built ship that would carry troops in to battle, but as normal troop ships were usually converted merchant ships, and relied on either docking or tenders to deliver the troops ashore an ‘attack transport’ carried her own […]

To carry on from Singapore 1963 and all that . . .Our next port was Hong Kong. We anchored in the harbour, just a week after entering Singapore harbour. Once again the smell of Asia fired my imagination of day’s gone bye. They do say that you can smell money in Hong Kong – everyone […]

A ninety-minute drive south of Kuala Lumpur international airport is Melaka (Malacca). We first visited Melaka for a day trip from Kuala Lumpur – it was a long day, but we liked the look of the place and a few years later, we returned and stayed in a small Chinese hotel. Along the Melaka River […]

Puerto Montt is a town in southern Chile known as the gateway to the Andes. It began life quite late, not until 1853. For a ship’s tour of nearly eight hours the cost would be USD $169 per person, so it was research time to cut the cost. It wasn’t long before I found GV […]