by gazzer » Sat Jan 12, 2013 3:31 pm
Brittany Ferries. Would it be the Fleur de Lys coming in to Plymouth?
No mate. That was the Val de Loire. I knew her well.
David
All really very interesting stuff, at least to all the ex-mariners on here. 
Don’t remember dipping the ensign to anyone but when I was going up the Gulf at night on the Vertagus I was on the bridge with the 2nd mate when he flashed a greeting to another ship passing southwards. She identified herself as a Strick Line ship (all their names ended in ‘stan’,) and later I realised that her captain was my uncle Harold. I knew he was with Strick but didn’t know which one. I found out many years later when I inherited a load of family papers that he had been with my old company, South American Saint Line, too.
Mention of them by me the other day prompted me to reach for Google and there is a thread on ‘Ships Nostalgia’ dedicated to SASL. I have joined and left a message to see if any of the best crowd I ever sailed with are ‘on board’ there. 
Spardo:
All really very interesting stuff, at least to all the ex-mariners on here.
I think that there are a lot of people on here who like to hear stories about other peoples travelling experiences, so keep them coming, swing that lantern and who’s next in The Barrel. 
I saw this last April in Port Klang Malaysia, the Italian passengers seemed a miserable lot.
I saw this last April in Port Klang Malaysia, the Italian passengers seemed a miserable lot.
Anyone traveling on a Costa ship would have the right to be miserable 
David
Personally wouldn’t touch Costa with a bargepole.
They were responsible for putting Cammell Laird into receivership when they reneged on a large contract and switched the business to an Italian shipyard.
That ship looks like its got a blue circle cement logo on the funnel !! 
Regards Jimmer
Here’s an old friend nicely spruced up;
A sight for sore eyes Derf. And her sister is already being cut up in Turkey.
The grand old lady of Cunard QE2 is being converted into a 500 bedroom hotel in the East.
Possibly going to be berthed in Singapore or Hong Kong
Is it just me, or does anyone else regard the QE2 as being relatively “new”?
Retired Old ■■■■:
Is it just me, or does anyone else regard the QE2 as being relatively “new”?
I saw it when it was sparkling new in Southampton, that makes me feel relatively old 
Retired Old ■■■■:
Is it just me, or does anyone else regard the QE2 as being relatively “new”?
Everything is relative ROF, I remember while waiting to tip in Southampton, my mate George Milner and I saw her in drydock. Not being built, maintenance. Not much security in those days because we walked down the steps and were standing underneath her.
We were both on Midlands Storage (although we worked at many firms together) at the time, so that would have been 1970 or 71 I reckon. So she must be getting on for 50 now. Wish I was, still not ready for the knacker’s yard yet though.
Wheel Nut:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Is it just me, or does anyone else regard the QE2 as being relatively “new”?I saw it when it was sparkling new in Southampton, that makes me feel relatively old
IIRC when I was at Bradys on the Octopus and trailer we took some heavy plates from Vickers yard in Barrow up to Clydebank for the,then un-named in build,QE11.It was a heavy load from memory,25ton or so,we had a double blow-out on the Octopus N/s back in Shap village,I remember this because the shock of the bangs knocked an old lass walking past on the pavement off her legs,I ran back and picked her up,she was OK and insisted on carrying on about her business!! Cheers Bewick.
A friend of mine worked as an apprentice welder on the QE2 and he is nearly 70. He worked alongside Billy Connolly and their names are welded on one of the bulkheads below the water-line. Cheers Haddy.
Spardo:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Is it just me, or does anyone else regard the QE2 as being relatively “new”?Everything is relative ROF, I remember while waiting to tip in Southampton, my mate George Milner and I saw her in drydock. Not being built, maintenance. Not much security in those days because we walked down the steps and were standing underneath her.
We were both on Midlands Storage (although we worked at many firms together) at the time, so that would have been 1970 or 71 I reckon. So she must be getting on for 50 now. Wish I was, still not ready for the knacker’s yard yet though.
Interestingly I noticed that the keel was laid in 1965 and the maiden voyage was 2nd May 1969 after a shakedown cruise to Las Palmas set out on 22 April 1969 so it was probably March 1970 when I first met her.
Hullo,
The Queen Elizabeth 2, I remember her doing her Maiden Voyage from Southampton. It was early 1969, I was Purser on the Rothsay Castle at the time, and we were berthed in Southampton. What a beautiful sight she was, she passed us by not a hundred meters away, much more sleek than the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth I thought. To me (as I left the Sea Life shortly after this) she is still a new Ship. Time flies eh?
Cheers, Archie.
For the life of me I can’t regard QE2 as an ‘old’ ship - partly her design which is truly timeless and because she was around new when I was a young deck ornament and I still refuse to accept that I am now as old as I am.
Little story: in 1971 QE2 had the first satellite navigator fitted in the British Merchant Navy - as became her position of Commodor Ship and we had the second fitted, a day later, on the JW Mackay. I had cost thousands of pounds, we lost a complete Officers cabin to house the big grey box that ran the thing and all it was capable of doing was producing 3 position fixes in each 24 hours and those took 20 minutes for it to figure them out so they were not ‘where we are’ but ‘where we were 20 minutes ago’ and only that after you had told the thing more or less where it was! But we were everso proud of it and, because the antenna was very obvious, people from other ships would come and ask if they could see it
How things change.
David
The QE2 was already getting on in 1990.My first trip was during the late 1980’s shortly after the the major re fit she had which exchanged steam turbines for diesel electric.If I remember right the turbines were knackered during the Falklands War service and the new diesel/electric power made her a lot faster than with the turbine engines even when they were new.She was easily able to maintain over 750 miles in a day at that time as I remember with even that speed and the 5 day crossing time being just a fuel saving measure.
Some say that although the QM2 is bigger and heavier the QE2 is arguably the better Transatlantic liner of the two and it just being a case that there was no way to build a new ship using the QE2’s design because the cost would be a lot more in real terms now than it was in the 1960’s. 
Re the pictures of the Ferry an coaster that came a cropper entering ‘Yarmuff’ piers …
Reason for this is trying to enter on the south going stream outside the piers, flood tide and ingoing stream up thru the piers.
If you wanted to enter under this criteria (before the hugely successful outer harbour was built, haha) you actually had to aim for the building on the southern arm but once the bow was thru the effect of the southgoing stream outside and none inside would push the stern to the south so it was hard to starboard to conteract this and with the effect of the water bouncing back of the southern breakwater keeping you off it meant in you went. Mind you getting around Brush bend could then present it’s own problems then swinging before going to your berth. If you don’t hug the south you end up charging towards the north pier and wallop !
The northern pierhead replaced one from earlier days and for many a year large iron obstructions from the earlier one did a fair bit o lumber to ships of all sizes that had the misfortune to make contact.
The day the ferry did his another small ship the Buccaneir did the same, with the same results ie sinking (but not totally sunk) by the bow.
The captain owner of the Buccaneir was a true gent of a shipowner by the name of Fred Fukke Vos of Bleiswijk holland who ran to Clarkes the semilina people just below the bridge on the Gorleston side, he also owned the Panamaian registered Andrea on mostly the same run.
The skipper of the Andrea fom May '80 till Sept '82 was … me.
As you were boys.
ps, Carryfast, what the hell is a predictive radar ? never heard of it before
raymundo:
ps, Carryfast, what the hell is a predictive radar ? never heard of it before
I heard it during a talk given by one of the officers for the passengers explaining the different systems etc for anyone who was interested.If I heard what he was explaining right it went along the lines of a radar system that was linked into the auto course/steering etc of the ship which took account of relative speed and direction of the ship as opposed to the relative speed and direction of any return/s that the radar was getting back.It could then predict any possible conflict situation according to to the speed and course of either/both and call for a change in course if required.I think he might have been describing something like an advanced form of this type of system.