hello mate, the pub was called the juniper berry. run by a very camp cross dresser. he once wore an all pink outfit and had the poodle he always carried dyed pink to match his dress. loads of drivers used to use it for thefunny characters in there. two, i remember in particular were max fisher and a mad scotsman called dougie. they went on totake over and run the northumberland pub in soton. there lies a complete book of stories. regards terry
Wow, all the old closet seafarers (I stopped calling myself a seaman when my grown up kids sniggered at the term 
) are coming out of the woodwork.
I never realised before how many there would be, though I suppose the wandering lives bear some, minor, resemblance. The first time I met a fellow ex seafarer was years ago on a trip to Milan and back. There was a Lancashire driver driving a fridge for, I think the firm was Transcontinental or something like that, 2 tone brown from Ireland, and he was an ex trawler skipper out of Fleetwood. Even then, way back in the 70s he found the road a more attractive prospect.
PilotWolf:
Spardo:
PilotWolf, where is she these days, Long Beach isn’t it? Nice that she is still in existence after 80 odd years but sad if they are not looking after her properly.Yes, she is in Long Beach but owned by a hotel chain.
It’s sad to see her uncared for as a ship, the quality of the maintenance in the cabins and externally is appalling. You can’t see a lot the ship and numerous parts have been modified for commercial gain.
I guess it’s better than being broken up for scrap but still sad from a seafarer’s point of view.
W.
I looked over it in the 1980’s and the bits that were open for the public seemed to be kept in reasonably good condition at that time or at leat as good as could be expected considering it would never be used as a ship again.I’ve got mixed feelings about the idea of tying up such a once great piece of machinery to never be used again and whatever happens to the actual parts that make/made it work after that seems irrelevant.In which case just maybe the old Queen Elizabeth knew her fate was going to be the same and took the Viking’s way out.In which case she’ll only be remembered as she was where she belonged on the Atlantic.Including that brilliant story of how her sea trials were also her maiden voyage. 
i,m not a seaman at all but was a year on a trawler 
In fact, Spardo, we have to refer to ourselves as Seafarers since political correctness outlawed the term seaman (newever met a whole lot of seawomen but we must be careful not to offend them even if they don’t exist)
I have met a number of seafarers turned drivers but never one who went the other way - actually not true now that I think of it; Richard who was Deputy Captain on the Island Escape always went agency driving while on leave. He actually liked agency driving!
David
bev wyatt:
lookin at the old paddle steemers on this thread remind me of when i was a lad living in lymington,there used to be two of them running across to the isle of wight,i remember one of them being called the freshwater, cant remember the name of the other one(its the old grey matter you know)but the freshwater very often used to get stuck on the mud flats going out of harbour,and you very often saw her with one paddle out of the water,dont know where these ferries landed up though.may be someone on here has a photo or two.
Many moons ago, well August 1965 to be exact, I worked briefly as a driver for the Isle of Wight brewers W B Mew Langton out of their Lymington depot driving a ten ton petrol Morris Commercial (£10 15/- a week + free beer) and the beer etc was delivered twice a week from the island on Mews own barge the XXXX (Four X, not a swear word) and it used to travel all the way up Lymington river to the depot at the rear of ‘The Ship’ pub, anyone remember? on other days the XXXX delivered to their Portsmouth depot, sorry no pics but it was a well known sight at the time. In 1966 Mews was bought out and brewing on the island stopped and I moved on to pastures new and I guess the XXXX was retired/scrapped.
David Miller:
In fact, Spardo, we have to refer to ourselves as Seafarers since political correctness outlawed the term seaman (newever met a whole lot of seawomen but we must be careful not to offend them even if they don’t exist)
Never thought of that, David, I suppose for the same reason we have firefighters rather than firemen.
However, my evil kids dropped the ‘a’ from seamen and thought it was hilarious. 
A couple of photos here of The Queen Elizabeth 2 taken in Dubai in 2010.
Sadly she’s off to the scrapyard shortly!
Jazzandy:
Sadly she’s off to the scrapyard shortly!
youtube.com/watch?v=VzZ21hR8DLI 
Like the old Queen Elizabeth and probably what should have been the Queen Mary if they can’t be used where they belong doing their intended job as Transatlantic Liners I think it’s probably the best option.
syramax:
Derf:
No, but I’ve been on these 2…
wheres the top one berthed■■? …for some reason it seems familiar
Not 100% sure from the angle, but could be Marseille.
Héraultais:
syramax:
Derf:
No, but I’ve been on these 2…
wheres the top one berthed■■? …for some reason it seems familiar
Not 100% sure from the angle, but could be Marseille.
Not sure where-could it be Algecieras! But i know that used to be a Sealink ferry “Princess Beatrix” sailing out f Harwich.
She was indeed the Prinses Beatrix originally and then in 1986 she became Duc de Normandie for Britany Ferries till 2005 when she joined the proud fleet of Ferrimaroc running between Algeciras and Tangier. Today Ferrimaroc is a part of Acciona Trasmediterrania.
The picture is certainly Barcelona (the 3 chimneys on the Avenida Diagonal and Tibidao on top of the hill) though.
David
David Miller:
She was indeed the Prinses Beatrix originally and then in 1986 she became Duc de Normandie for Britany Ferries till 2005 when she joined the proud fleet of Ferrimaroc running between Algeciras and Tangier. Today Ferrimaroc is a part of Acciona Trasmediterrania.The picture is certainly Barcelona (the 3 chimneys on the Avenida Diagonal and Tibidao on top of the hill) though.
David
She’s owned by TransEuropa (Denval marine) and chartered to Ferrimarioc
I joined my first ship in Tyne Dock South Shields in 1957 !!! geez that was a while ago ■■?
This Ship was The Golden Dragon loaded with Manganese Ore for the Eveready Battery Factory at Tanfield Lea Ind. Est. Regards Larry.
One of my favourite old car ferries, the Lincoln Castle, used to operate between New Holland and Hull carrying about ten cars and still coal fired right to the end.
Unfortunately she has been scrapped which is a tragedy but two of her sisters survive, one on the Thames and one near Hartlepool in a maritime museum.
I feature this one in my ‘My First Continental Job thread’
