the seven seas magazine the official organ of...
TRANSCRIPT
1
THE SEVEN SEAS MAGAZINE
The Official Organ of the Seven Seas Club
Volume 10, No 7a
Spring 2009
EDITORIAL:
I hope that you will indulge me for writing a few lines about two people who, as
far as I know, had no direct connection with our Club -
Generations of Jolly Jack Tars - myself included - who spent time in Hong Kong,
will have happy memories of "Jenny's Side Party", and zillions of ex-matelots will
have read, with sorrow, about the recent demise of Jenny (Jenny Ng Muk Kah
BEM - to give her her full name). She died on 26 March, at the - unconfirmed -
age of 92. The famous side party cleaned and painted warships for "donkeys'
years" - and at what cost? No cash involved, just the privilege for her, and her
girls, to sell soft drinks to the ships' companies. You will not be forgotten, dear
lady.
Another nonagenarian who has crossed the bar is Rear Admiral Colin Charles
Harrison Dunlop, who served from 1935 to 1974. In the early 60's he was
Secretary to AOF Sir Caspar John, when First Sea Lord. I knew him in his last
post, as Flag Officer Medway. At Admiral's Rounds - whilst I was serving in
HMS Jaguar - I saluted him, and declared the Stores Office ready for rounds. As
he entered, I politely asked him if he would sign my autograph book. He
consented immediately, signed, smiled, and said, "To this day, Chief, you're the
only person who has ever made me feel like a film-star"!! A lovely man. He died
aged 91.
Thank you once more, to my "small, but beautifully marked" band of contributors
- I do appreciate your efforts. What, I wonder, can be done to increase the
breed??!!
Happy reading - happy summer (when it arrives) - good health, and good luck to
all of you, and to those you love.
Barry Holland
Honorary Magazine Editor
2
President's Message Spring 2009
How time flies when you are enjoying yourself! It is hard to believe that this
year of presiding is now on the home straight. As I write we have had another
excellent Ladies’ Night, and another interesting speaker for the occasion. Thank
you for the handsome gift made to Ann, whose support has been invaluable to me
in good times and on those odd occasions when the flak has been flying!
I am very grateful to members who have helped me find the speakers for the
excellent series of dinners we have enjoyed recently. It has been a real team-
effort and you are fortunate to have such a diligent and dedicated Committee
working for you.
Please enjoy this latest edition of the magazine and accept my best wishes for the
summer which lies ahead.
Derek Bevan
President
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dates for your Diary: 2009
Friday 24 July Tower of London (and
Ceremony of the Keys)
Thursday 24 September Club Dinner
Wednesday 14 October ANS Service St Paul’s
Thursday 29 October Trafalgar Night
Thursday 19 November Club Dinner
Thursday 17 December Christmas Party
(All functions at NLC, except Tower of London, and
St Paul's service.)
3
Secretary’s Corner New members joining since the last magazine are:-
Col Derek Bristow OBE DL, 16 Glebe Road, BRAMPTON, Huntingdon PE28 4PH.
Tel: 01480 383166, (W) 01480 412958, INFO@MERCHANT-MARINERS
PO Nick Crawford RAF, 10 Becket Wood, NEWDIGATE, Surrey RH5 5AQ
Tel: 01306 631833, (M):07979758244, [email protected]
WO1 Keith Simpson, MBE RM, Kew Lodge, 131 Yarmouth Road, Thorpe St. Andrew,
NORWICH, NR7 0RF
Tel: 01603 702720 (W) 01603 702930, (M) 07887518486, [email protected]
Mr Anthony De Ste Croix, 5 Widgeon Walk, HAWKINGE, Kent CT18 7PR.
Tel: 01303 891393 (M) 07720 850660, [email protected]
Mr Simon Skillen, 3 Tahoma Lodge, 70 Lubbock Road, CHISLEHURST, Kent BR7
5JX.
Tel: 0208 4025311 (M) 07710063633, [email protected]
Mr Terence Little, 187 Warren Drive, HORNCHURCH, Essex RM12 4PL
Tel: 01708 447564, (W) 020 7219 4297, (M) 07778815240, [email protected]
Dates for 2010
Thursday 28 January Club Dinner
Thursday 25 February Club Dinner
Thursday 25 March Club Dinner
Friday 30 April Ladies Night
Thursday 27 May AGM Dinner
Thursday 30 September Club Dinner
Thursday 21 October Trafalgar Night Dinner
Thursday 18 November Club Dinner
Friday 17 December Christmas Party
4
Dinner Pictures
January Dinner - Richard Shuttleworth, speaker
January Dinner - Len Barlow, Chip Leonard
5
Dinner Pictures
February Dinner: Ron Dadswell OBE - speaker
March Dinner: Lt Col Stuart Watts OBE - speaker
6
March Dinner: Paul Mankerty - Chip Leonard
Ladies Night - April
Speaker - Frances Drake
7
Iris Allen receiving the Chip Leonard from the President
Ann Bevan and Cdr John Mankerty
8
Ernest Silverman – 1915-2008 and President of the Seven Seas Club 1978-79
Ernest Silverman, President of the Seven Seas Club 1978-79, peacefully slipped his cable
on Friday, November 28, 2008, aged 93 years and one month.
The funeral in the Jewish tradition was on the following Monday, so short notice, but
nevertheless Club members Michael Pinner and John (and Julie) Mankerty and myself
managed to be there. A most dignified and well attended ceremony at Golders Green
Cemetery. The family made a point of welcoming us, referring to the Club in the
soliloquy and writing afterwards to thank us for attending. I replied it had been a
privilege to attend such a dignified affair, and for us all to have known Ernest as a friend
and Club member.
Born on October 18, 1915, in Clapton London, the eldest of three brothers, he attended a
Jewish boarding school in Ramsgate from age five and subsequently The Grocers
Company School in London, before entering the leather goods business his father had
started. In time, he took over the reins, and managed the business to provide a livelihood
for him and his two brothers until it was sold in 1987. He was always proud that, in his
56 years in business, he and his brothers never had a cross word. And of course, Ernest
was the first to supply Seven Seas Club merchandise, the smart badged and gold-trimmed
wallets which many members will remember using for years.
In 1959 he bought a lovely six tonner ‘Nora’, which he sailed on the River Crouch and
several times over to Ostend with our other much loved, late, club members Bernard
Baxter and Tony Grimshaw.
He was an active member and some time Treasurer of the Crouch Yacht Club and helped
refresh that Club through a sticky financial period. They made him a life member.
Soon after, I think in 1964, he joined the Seven Seas Club and was part of our
membership revival in the period when we re-built our Club from single figure dinners to
the time when we outgrew the Naval Club and thence to the numbers we now regularly
enjoy.
He served on the Committee and as Treasurer, and from this grew the ‘tradition’ for
Ernest to take the Laristan Fund box round whenever he attended Club dinners.
9
He was a friend of many in the Club, taking the Presidency after Bill Bruce and handing
on to Kenneth Loveless. He was a friend of my father, Gilbert Antrobus (President
1972/3) with whom he shared many common Freemasonry interests, and I am privileged
to say he was a friend of mine, too, as he was a gentleman who could comfortably bridge
the generation gap.
Seven Seas and sailing ‘Nora’ was by no means his only passion.
Ernest followed his father into Freemasonry and as a committed member of the Royal
George Lodge attained office in Grand Lodge and was Master, Secretary and later
Almoner.
He was also committed to the Hendon United Synagogue, organised their Silver Jubilee
celebrations in 1953 and in the late sixties joined his sons as a member of the New
London Synagogue, again becoming an active member and serving as a Warden.
He married Anne in 1938, settling in Hendon, and in 1939 volunteered for the Royal
Navy, only to be declined due to his asthma. His war service thereafter focused on
manufacturing for the Armed Forces and Export and to fire watching in the City during
both the Blitz and later air raids. There were two sons, Michael born in 1940 and
Jonathan in 1949, but his marriage faltered and in 1963 Ernest moved to a mansion block
flat in Kensington, his base for the rest of his life.
In 1971 he married Phyllis Levy, with whom he shared a wonderful 22 years until she
died in 1993.
She was a great supporter of the Club and many members will remember her liveliness at
the functions ladies attended.
With this extended family, Ernest amassed some ten grandchildren on whom he doted.
He lived with much sadness towards the end of his years, losing his daughter-in law in
1992, Phyllis in 1993 and his son Michael in 1995. Despite this, when asked how he was
he always replied, “Musn’t grumble!”
His last dinner attendance was several years ago, but a small Seven Seas visiting party
had lunch with him a couple of times where he lived in Kensington High Street, taking
the Seven Seas to him, including George (and Pat) Kingston, Angie Antrobus and Tim
Sanders-Hewitt as far as I recall.
I (sometimes with Angie) used to visit him in his flat for tea and a gin and tonic,
surrounded by photos of ‘Nora’, the family and his Seven Seas Club
10
life membership plaque prominently displayed. He always wanted to know the latest
Club news, but then the conversation always drifted towards ‘Nora’ and the Crouch.
Michael Pinner also visited and on one such visit by chance last May, Ernest was not
answering the door bell. When entry was gained Michael found him collapsed. Michael’s
intervention undoubtedly saved his life then, but also it was the beginning of his last
journey, first hospital, then the splendidly caring Princess Alexandra Home in Stanmore,
then a final few days in the Northwick Park hospital, Harrow, where peacefully and in
dignity he passed away in his sleep.
A real gentleman, rarely seen other than in suit and tie, even insisting on dressing thus
daily when in his last nursing home, or a neat smock when sailing. A stickler for detail
and in many ways Edwardian in his approach, he was respectful of office and status,
regarding education both secular and religious as of paramount importance.
The staff at the Princess Alexandra Home remember him as a charming gentleman who
kept his faculties and standards until the end and who in his short time with them, left his
mark in his own way.
And so will we.
Paul Antrobus (February 2009).
-------------------------------------------
The following letter was sent from David White of The Seven Seas Club, Australia:
Dear John
It was with sadness that I received the news that Ernest Silverman had passed away.
My recollection of Ernest goes back to the 1960’s and sailing with him on his yacht
“Nora” on the River Crouch.
On my return from the Baltic with Charles Scoones in 1966 after our three
month voyage to Sweden and back in “Jacandor”, I remember sitting on board 'Nora'
having a drink with Ernest the day we arrived back in Burnham.
11
He asked me what I was going to do now I had returned home, having given up my job to
do the trip. I told him that I spent all my money and I had to look for a new job, “My dear
boy, you are now a rich man and nobody can ever take away from you, the richness of the
experience of life”.
It didn’t really strike me at the time, I was a young man in my early 20’s, but I have never
forgotten his words and with the passing of years, those words often come back to me
sitting there in the cockpit of “Nora”.
It was not until recent years when I joined the Seven Seas Club that I met up again with
Ernest, and what a pleasure it was to reminisce with him those days sailing on the Crouch
in the 60’s at the time when Bernard Baxter was skippering “Evenlode”.
If any of the crews were looking for a lift back to London on a Sunday evening, and there
was room in his splendid car, Ernest would always oblige. The high point of the journey
being the passing round of the Garibaldi biscuits. Just the job after a good weekend
sailing and a few pints in the White Hart or the Crouch Club, to ride back to town in a
Rolls Royce munching Garibaldi biscuits.
A few years ago, my daughter Caroline, following her University studies, which had
included learning Hebrew and living in Israel for a year, decided that she wanted to
convert to Judaism.
She spoke to me for my opinion and advice. I told her that there was only one person
whom I could possibly seek advice from on the subject, and that was Ernest Silverman.
At the next Seven Seas Club meeting I mentioned this to Ernest. He took me to one side
and with his impish smile said ‘We don’t take anyone you know. Leave it with me”.
After as short time I heard back from Ernest, ‘Give this to your daughter, I have spoken
to the rabbi, that is his telephone number. Tell her to call him for an appointment and to
mention my name”.
I passed the information onto my daughter who excitedly said that she would make the
call.
A few days later Caroline called me ”Dad, that telephone number from your friend, do
you know whose number it is ?”
“Not exactly, but I believe it is the rabbi at Ernest’s local synagogue in London, have you
called him for an appointment yet ? ”.
12
"Yes" she replied "It’s the Chief Rabbi for Great Britain" she was clearly stunned. She
went on "please pass on my thanks to your friend Ernest, but I really wasn’t prepared to
speak to the Chief Rabbi for Great Britain, it’s a bit like you phoning up the Archbishop
of Canterbury for a chat to tell him you want to become a catholic". (sic - Ed)
Whatever the outcome of the advice from the Rabbi, it has and will remain a lasting
influence on my daughter’s life brought about by my friendship with Ernest Silverman
for which I am indebted.
Thanks to God for Ernest, his advice, his friendship and the Garibaldi biscuits.
Sincerely
David White Seven
Seas Club Member , Brisbane, Australia
A picture from the Narrow Seas Club website which includes Ernest amongst the
members that took part in a Club Rally onboard the Thames Barge “Marjorie" (Ernest is
arrowed top right )
13
Appeal for Information - Possible Articles in Next Magazine
I am looking for (ideally, first-hand) information on the following:
a) HMS Campania - 2nd WW Escort Carrier, Festival of Britain Floating
Exhibition, and Command Ship of Operation Hurricane.
b) The Elder Dempster Line - particularly MVs Accra, Apapa, and Aureol.
c) Emigration to Australia in the 1950s and '60s.
If you have some tales to tell, on any, or all, of these, please let me know.
a) One of my uncles took me to Newcastle in 1951, to tour the Campania. I can't
remember a great deal of the exhibition, but my uncle used to tell family and
friends that I didn't blink once during the time I was aboard! I can believe that -
because, although I don't recall the detail, I do know how thrilled I was to be on
board my first ever ship. She had a fairly short life - built (Harland & Wolff)
around 1943; off to war shortly afterwards; Festival of Britain; then out east for
our first A Bomb trials; scrapped in Blyth in 1955.
b) Elder Dempster provided a great treat for RN personnel serving in Ghana in the
1960s - in shipping us there and back in the lap of luxury. To be at sea without
working was a tonic and a half. In 1967 (MV Accra) I was taken from
Liverpool, to Las Palmas, Freetown, and Tema. In '69 (MV Aureol) I returned
from Takoradi, to Monrovia, Las Palmas, and Liverpool. In between, I was part
of the British Joint Services Training Team in Takoradi.
c) Shortly after visiting Campania, (aged 12 or 13) I thought it would be a good
idea to emigrate to Australia. How I would raise £10 for the assisted passage
was a complete mystery - but it didn't put a stop to my wanting to "see the
world". My parents' questions about: what I would do; where would I live; who
would feed me; and what I would live on, were complications that I really didn't
want to hear!! I didn't go - but would love to hear (or better still - to read)
experiences, not only of those who did go, but from those who manned the ships
that took them there.
If you have information on any of these, please contact the Magazine Editor - Thank You
14
Clear The Far Seas
(Submitted by Charles Stock - "Many thanks, Charles")
Mention the Royal Navy in the First World War, and everyone thinks of the Battle of
Jutland, but I feel that the speedy execution of the above order from Winston Churchill,
the First Lord of the Admiralty, says much for the worldwide omnipotence of our Navy at
the apogee of its power.
By 1914, Germany had built up a worldwide empire of colonies, each guarded by naval
vessels, varying from the crack gunnery cruisers SCHARNHOST (8.2") and
GNEISENAU on the China station, to the little gunboat EBER (2 x 4") in West Africa.
Between them, they could create havoc to Britain's lifeblood trade.
The most famous was the cruiser EMDEN (25 knots - 10 x 4"), which ran riot in the
Indian Ocean, even interrupting the tea trade! (Let's face it - war is war - but surely there
are limits). Her boldest achievement was a dawn attack right into Penang Harbour, where
she sank the Russian cruiser ZEMCHUG (23 knots - 8 x 4.7") and a destroyer. Her
biggest mistake was to attempt to destroy the cable station on Christmas Island. They got
off a wireless signal before the mast was shot away, and who should happen to be passing
but Admiral Patey, with the battlecruiser AUSTRALIA, and the cruisers SYDNEY (24
knots - 8 x 6") and BRISBANE, escorting a troop convoy.
The China squadron left before the base at Tsintao was stormed by the Japanese, and
wandered across the Pacific, calling at German Samoa (already occupied by the New
Zealanders), just ahead of Admiral Patey, and shelling Papeete, before meeting a weak
squadron under Admiral Craddock, who sought combat, rather than fall back on the pre-
dreadnought battleship CANOPUS (12"). He was killed, and the old cruisers GOOD
HOPE (1 x 9.2") and MONMOUTH were sunk, but the GLASGOW escaped. The next
step was obviously the Falklands cable station. The First Sea Lord, Jacky Fisher, realised
that this was the raison d'etre for his favourite toys - the battlecruisers - and, in great
secrecy, despatched INVINCIBLE (25 knots 8 x 12"), and INFLEXIBLE, so that when
Von Spee reached Port Stanley, he was greeted by the tripod masts of ships fast enough
to catch him, and big enough to fight him. Only the cruiser DRESDEN (25 knots 10 x
4") escaped, to hide in the maze of stormy channels in Tierra del Fuego.
In the Cockburn Channel they passed two men in a small motor boat, carrying a message
from the German Embassy to the collier Amasis, for onward transmission - warning Von
Spee to steer clear of the Falklands.
15
For three months, the old German otter-hunter, Herr Pagels, guided the Dresden
and her collier - Sierra Cordoba - clear of the searching British cruisers. With the
last of the coal, she broke out into the Pacific, and anchored off Alexander Selkirk's
island - Juan Fernandez - from where a lobster fisherman rushed with the news to the
British Embassy in Valparaiso.
The cruiser GLASGOW arrived two days later, and invited Dresden out to settle old
scores, as the Governor of the island (who doubled up as the lighthouse keeper) rowed
out to protest that it was Chilean territorial water. After a few salvoes from the Glasgow,
which killed five men, the Dresden scuttled herself, and the lonely mountain, El Yunque,
reverberated to three cheers from the crew, who found themselves just about as far from
home as it is possible to get. Herr Pagels was rewarded by Hitler - with a trip to
Germany in 1939.
The cruiser KONIGSBERG (24 knots 10 x 4"), based off Tanganyika, had less luck
finding and sinking Merchant ships, but made a bold dawn raid into Zanzibar, sinking the
old cruiser PEGASUS (21 knots 8 x 4"). Her only port for coal and repairs was Dar-es-
Salaam, but the Harbourmaster sank a floating dock in the channel to keep out British
ships. With the noose closing round her, she sought sanctuary in the maze of channels
among the swamps and jungles of the Ruffi Delta.
I do not know how many aeroplanes there were in Africa at the end of 1914, but her exact
position was discovered by aerial reconnaissance. Protected by machine guns and
torpedoes ashore, together with spotters for her guns, the British cruisers left her for the
monitors MERSEA and SEVERN (2 x 6"), whose fall of shot was reported by aircraft.
She put up a good but hopeless fight, and the survivors joined Von Vorbeck's troops
ashore in Tanganyika.
In the Atlantic, many potential German armed merchant cruisers were bottled up in
American ports, with their guns still in Germany, but one - the CAP TRAFALGAR - (17
knots 2x 4" from the gunboat EBER), disguised to appear like the CAMERONIA, was
sunk off Trinidad (the southern one) by the CAMERONIA (16 knots 8 x 4.7"), disguised
to appear like the CAP TRAFALGAR. The chief menace, the modern, and very fast,
cruiser KARLSRUHE (27.5 knots 12 x 4") with a long string of sunken merchant ships
behind her, was on her way to bombard Barbados, when she suddenly blew up.
Thus the Imperial German Ensign vanished from the surface of the far seas.
--------------------------------------------
16
A Sign of the Times - or "Not Cutting the Mustard"
Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, a general slackness, cultural ignorance, a result of the
accountants shrinking our Navy or whatever but every day it seems that some ignorant
bilge rat talks about ‘cutting the mustard’.
Your Skipper was relaxing snug his bunk, early morning mug o’ tea steaming at his side,
listening to ‘Today’ on BBC radio 4. Skip always enjoys John Humphrys and Edward
Sturton lashing out their admirable brand of intellectual ‘cat o’nine-tails’ on the likes of
lesser species such as pompous politicians and the various dumb celebrities; when it
happened! Someone talked about ‘failing to cut the mustard…’ and worse, it was let to
pass unchallenged. Your Skipper choked on his tea. Upset and cross, his angry old-man-
self fuming and spluttering. He was driven to fumbling in the bilges for monocle, pen and
paper the better to fire off a broadside as from ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’.
It was only last week that he had thrown overboard Jeremy Clarkson’s book ‘Born to be
Riled’ after reading how some four wheeled gas guzzling monster had ‘failed to cut the
mustard…’ Well, J Clarkson Esq is after all a landlubber but he had better watch out if he
ever crosses aft of the main-mast on your Skipper’s historic, resplendent, and traditional
wooden vessel.
Your Skipper recalled an earlier identical affront to his sensibilities, yes he does have
some. When Richard Hare (Boatman’s Notes, ‘Classic Boat’ March 2006), had written ‘
…alas it too failed to cut the mustard ..’ Ed Dan Houston, who let this nautical outrage
slip past his editorial red pen was also apparently too busy to reply to your Skipper’s
apoplectic knee jerking letter of protest.
Now as any self respecting ancient mariner knows, the term muster devolves from the
latin monstere as in demonstrate and is reflected in the French word moustere and the old
English word mustren.
Kings and generals for centuries have called their troops to muster, to show themselves
and to be counted. A strict duty on the ship’s Captain was to regularly call all hands to
muster, also a way of checking that no one was drawing double rations or pay by using a
fictitious name.
The only persons allowed to cut the muster, were the ship’s surgeon, the chaplain,
officers when engaged in duty, the ship’s cook, and those who were too ill or wounded to
attend muster.
So, in the good old days of Nelson you had to be special or ill if you were to cut
17
the muster and get away with it. Mind you, while queuing at his local fish and chipper
the other day, your Skipper overheard a fellow fan of battered cod and chips complaining
bitterly to his companion about some bloke called G Brown. This Brown person, who
sounded rather familiar, had apparently totally lost the plot and no longer cut the mustard.
Strangely, this time your ancient Skipper’s blood did not quite boil, perhaps occasional
allowance might be made for un-intentional abuse of a traditional naval term, given it
was manifest of such a heartfelt and seemingly spontaneous outburst from ‘the man on
the Clapham Omnibus’! Well worth the pint your Skipper afterwards bought for him.
Cheers!
© Cap’n Pugsley reference library - 2009 ("Thank you, Rodney Pell")
Appeal from Mr Ian Shuttleworth - please read - please give .
I am doing a Red Devils Sky Dive from 13,000ft, on Tuesday 26 May 2009, in
Netheravon near Salisbury, in aid of the Jubilee Sailing Trust. I am Vice Chairman and a
Trustee of this important and unique charity, and a wheelchair user.
I was a Naval Commando Helicopter Pilot some years ago, and we were not generally
issued with a parachute, so it should be interesting! All money that I raise will go
directly to this invaluable organisation. Please help me to reach my target by donating
today.
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient
way to sponsor me: The Jubilee Sailing Trust gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK
taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to
your donation.
So please sponsor me now! Website is www.justgiving.com/ianshuttleworth
Many thanks
18
Tall Ships - In the Wake of Nelson
(Submitted by Graham Capel - "Many Thanks, Graham")
In April and May the Tall Ship Stavros S Niarchos will be based in Mahon. Operated by
the Tall Ships Youth Trust, the Stavros is primarily a sail training ship for youngsters. It
is a great character building, and team bonding, exercise, to crew a sailing ship, and a
Tall Ship in particular. However, sailing on the Stavros is not confined to youths. Tall
Ships Adventures operate a number of Adult Voyages as well. I 'signed on' in February,
to sail on the Stavros in the Canary Islands. The advertised age group was 18 to 75 ….
Well, I just about squeezed into this group, and it wasn't at the lower end!
The first thing I was made aware of was that I was not aboard for a cruise. I was
expected to 'work my passage', helping to sail the Tall Ship. That was OK. I'm not very
good at lying about on sunbeds, and I love square-riggers, and the age of Nelson. So, off
I went. No suitcase, not even a kitbag, but a very full holdall that did not fit into the hand
luggage box for the easyJet flight. It contained wet-weather gear, fleece, towel, lots of
socks and sweaters, and, of course, a lightweight sleeping-bag that I was amazed cost
only £4.99. I did not get a private suite with a bed, but a cot in an 8-berth cabin. Cots are
basically bunk beds with a canvas hammock roped in, which gives you a nice secure bed
that you won't fall out of in rough seas - absolutely essential. If you want privacy, just
pull the curtain closed. Stavros was purpose-built in 2000, and is air-conditioned,
centrally-heated, and the toilets (heads) and showers all work, and each watch gets to
clean them at the daily 'happy hour'.
I got there, and there was Stavros tied up alongside, looking all ropes, masts and sailing
elegance, waiting to sail the seas - where she belonged. Up the gangplank, to be greeted
by the shore watch. Yes, everything is done by watch - even the Dog Watches, early in
the morning, and long night watches. This is an operating ship, with all the discipline of
naval-type life. It might be just what youths benefit from, but it was fine for me. I
wanted to be part of a Sailing Ship, not just a passenger, and most definitely not for
wimps - even OAP wimps.
The Captain and regular crew spent the first day familiarising the 'volunteer crew' with
the working of the ship. There were over 100 ropes to operate the sails and yards - not
''yardarms' - they are just the end bits you may get hung from! We were divided into
watches of about ten each, with a watch leader who actually knew what each rope pulled,
and there were over nine miles of rope to choose from! All we were there for was the
muscle power to operate the ropes. Luckily,
there were at least three of us sailors and sailorettes (or whatever female crew
19
are called) per rope, and there were some very proficient ladies in the volunteer crew. It
wasn't exactly back-breaking work, but you certainly felt part of operating the ship.
To get under way after you have hauled up the anchor - luckily electric winch-operated,
no capstan - or cast off from shore, you first have to hoist the sails. On the two masts
there are ten sails on this square rigger, and the canvas sails are all tied to the yards by
rope gaskets, all of which have to be undone. So, it's up the mast and out on to the yards,
but only if you are brave enough. There were quite a few 'adults' who did not climb, but I
did. The first day up to the lower yard, and later up to the upper topsail yard, about sixty
foot above the sea, or the deck, depending on how far out you were. We were all wearing
a full harness, and clipped on to steel hawsers, so the most you could fall was about a
foot. No one fell, or even slipped. It really concentrates the mind onto holding on very
tightly! What an amazing experience, particularly looking down from the swaying masts,
under full sail in open sea, with porpoises playing all around.
Now, to change direction and capture the wind you need to brace round the yards, with
sails full of wind. That makes them pretty heavy, but three teams of three on the bracing
side ropes, and two teams on the easing side, makes it achievable without any blisters.
My most memorable moment lasted the whole four hours of a night watch on the bridge -
or quarterdeck, as I prefer to call it. Sailing downwind - and square riggers sail well
downwind, but we had a big engine for upwind - with a full moon astern, the glistening
sea shining along its path, moon shadows all around from the rigging, and two masts with
all the sails set, and steering into a dark starlit night sky, with the coast of Tenerife to
larboard, and the sea hissing past, I felt what Nelson must have experienced. I even
paced the deck with my arm tucked into my harness - he lost his arm at Tenerife in July
1797 ……
Would I do it again? You bet. I've only got a few years left before the upper age limit,
and I want to feel what Commodore John Duckworth - in his flagship Leviathan (74) -
felt when he led the British squadron to capture Minorca in November 1798, or Nelson
when he sailed into Mahon harbour on Foudroyant (74) in October 1799, to moor off the
Isla del Rey to pick up his friend, Captain Edward Berry, one of his band of brothers, to
rejoin him, and beat the French at Trafalgar a few years later.
Check out www.tallships.org, and sign on for an amazing experience, or visit Stavros S
Niarchos in Mahon harbour.
Graham Capel - ashore (March 2009)
20
A SHIPYARD APPRENTICESHIP PART 3 by Eddie Hunter
and more of Potter and Hope
and that weasel McIvor and Examinations
I must confess I never liked Peter Potter at all. But that may have been because he was
everything that I wasn’t – tall, as handsome as sin, and knew it - athletic, well-spoken,
charming and exceptionally clever.
So, yes, my instinctive dislike of the b!!!!! could have been largely due to envy, but I
don’t believe it was. And, of course, I suppose I did owe him an indirect debt of
gratitude in connection with the very beautiful and charming SN.
Potter was another of the rare breed of dual-fuel evening class students, but he was a
student with a difference. I said he was exceptionally clever – but the fact is he was a
genius, no less. At the college, Potter would attend the bare minimum number of lectures,
do the barest minimum of class work, cheat on laboratory experiment results, submit just
the least possible homework papers, and spend as much time as he dared out of the
classroom during those lectures that he did deign to attend. Then, at the end of each
academic year, when all the compulsory requirements set by the Examining Board were
added up, Potter would have just the barest minimum in every category to be permitted to
sit the examinations.
The examinations were always three hours long. Potter would write furiously for, at a
pinch, only half the allotted time, certainly never more than two of the three hours, then
he would hold a hand up, give his paper to an invigilator and swagger out, no doubt to
meet some poor besotted girl or other, his current successor to SN.
Then, when they were published in early September, Potter would show everyone his
examination results - never less than 95% in any single paper. Sickening, isn’t it? But in
the shipyard, Potter was always in trouble. In fact he numbered among that small band of
miscreants who were suspended for a whole month. In today’s world his offence would
be classed as persistent sexual harassment and he might well be prosecuted . . .
At the eastern end of the Musgrave works stood a very new office building in
which the three hundred or so workers were all girls, tracers who made fair-faced copies
of all the ship drawings that went to the owners, and machinists who did clever things
with punched cards in the Hollerith Business Machine
21
Room. The girls were all young, and most were very attractive. They certainly attracted
Peter Potter. . .
One summer, he took to sunbathing, sitting propped against a wall across the road
opposite a large open space adjacent to the Tracing Office. When the girls in their bright
summer dresses left the office during their lunch break, they passed between the
seemingly-indifferent Potter and the bright midday sun . . .
This went on every sunny day for nearly two weeks, until one girl, brighter than most of
the others, worked out exactly what Potter was up to and told her father, who was a
company manager. He took urgent notice of his daughter’s complaint and paid the
voyeur a surprise visit.
“Gimme yer board! ”
Home for a month! And he stayed at home for a month, too.
Some time later, Potter fell for a girl called Alice, and he fell hard. Unfortunately for him,
Alice was the profoundly religious daughter of the hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher at
one of the numerous tin tabernacles that abounded in the city. But Potter was truly
hooked. The only way that he could make any sort of progress with the girl was to
accompany her to the tin tabernacle, where, in a short time, he got a powerful dose of
fundamental, Gospel-based religion. He became Brother Peter, was baptised by total
immersion and took up preaching on city street corners.
In time he became a popular and successful evangelist on the tin tabernacle circuit,
brandishing a large Bible and haranguing his congregations with a heady mixture of
humour and hot gospel. He was quite a good turn, actually.
The remainder of Potter’s story I have on several good authorities, one of them none-
other than the beautiful SN herself, who was also a member of the congregation at that
same tin tabernacle, and with whom I maintained occasional friendly contact until she
emigrated to Canada some years later and
married a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman from Montreal.
Towards the end of his apprenticeship, Potter was a Graduate Member of both
the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
He was given a place in the Electrical Design Office ( One up on me – I was taken into
the ordinary Electrical Drawing Office where I was offered a much less interesting dead-
end career path.)
22
The Electrical Design Office was headed up by a self-taught old electrical engineer who
had begun life as a cabinet maker, would you believe, at about the time the Titanic was
built. His name was Mr Pollock and he must have been well into his seventies at the time,
1950.
The Electrical Design Office was housed on the top floor of a fairly new office building
in the Victoria Engine Works which once belonged to another shipbuilding company,
Workman and Clark. The office had large windows and roof skylights which were never
allowed to be opened because of the airborne dust and dirt in the area. Consequently, the
office could be most uncomfortably hot in summer, a privation made worse by the fact
that it was simply not done to remove jackets or ties.
Although Potter was obviously a brilliant engineer, he was also still a strident fire-and-
brimstone evangelist, and not particularly popular with the other quite clever engineers in
the office. Old man Pollock didn’t like him much either.
One particularly hot day, Potter approached old Pollock and asked for the skylights and
the windows to be opened. Pollock explained politely enough about the dust, and refused
Potter’s request. Being thin-blooded, and lacking sympathy, Mr Pollock refused to
countenance shirt-sleeve order too. Potter rebelled, removed his jacket. Mr Pollock was
clearly displeased.
Next day, Potter intensified his rebellion, removed his jacket, and his tie and rolled up his
sleeves. Old Pollock was quietly furious. On the third day, Potter turned up at the office
dressed in shorts and an open-necked, short-sleeved flowery summer shirt. Which was
the last straw. Mr Pollock told him to go home and dress properly. Potter stubbornly
refused. Mr Pollock went to see the Director of the Electrical Engineering Department,
Mr Johnson. And that afternoon, Potter was handed a letter offering him alternative
employment – a job in the Electrical Test House, not exactly “on the Tools” but damned
nearly.
It necessitated wearing a boilersuit, which was an insult to a man holding graduate
membership of not one, but two, major Engineering Institutes.
Brick red in the face, Potter stuffed his slide-rule, drawing instruments and his various
text books in his briefcase and stormed out. He marched through the Victoria Works,
strode across the Queen’s Road, and entered the main office where he demanded to see
CC Pounder, the company’s most senior Engineering Director (and author of several
important text books on diesel engines.) For some inexplicable reason, CC Pounder liked
Potter instantly and
23
gave him a place in one of the Engine Design Offices where his eccentricities seemed to
go unnoticed. Potter did much clever work over the next few years, and was
acknowledged to be a close personal friend of the Company’s most senior Engineering
Director.
Potter could have had any engineering management or design post he might care to ask
for in Harland and Wolff. But, instead, what does the daft bat do? He grows a wild
ginger beard and joins the Communist Party. I was told that he wound up in India or
Africa working as a Comrade, but I don’t really know beyond that.
and Hope Ferguson
At the beginning of my Fourth Year, I found myself working in Hope Ferguson’s squad
again, on one of the Union Castle ships, she could have been the Dunbar Castle, I can’t
quite remember. But I do remember the back-breaking job of helping an electrician to
heave out and clip up a run of thick, heavy mains cables along an alleyway. And, given
my reputation, I was closely watched by Hope and could not slide off . . . I also
remember thanking my lucky stars that she was a DC ship and there were only two of the
damned cables.
When installing main and sub-main cables – the first job was to fix a run of heavy duty
cable tray to sturdy brackets welded to the deckhead. The next job was manhandle two
wooden cable drums through the ship to the alleyway and set them up on drum jacks.
Next job was to haul the cables off the drums and
drag them down the alleyway, usually that was carried out mob-handed.
Today the same cables would be pulled out by a winch, run along the top of the tray, and
held by plastic cable ties, but not so then – the cables had to be heaved up and tied at
intervals to the underside of the tray using lengths of heavy brown rope previously draped
in place. Then the cables were affixed to the tray every nine inches using specially-made
heavy-duty brass cable clips bolted through the tray. Dull, brutal, heavy work. Yes?
One Friday, when we were only about half-way along the alleyway and still only at the
stage of tying the cables in place, the electrician didn’t turn up for work. It transpired that
he had done his back in at home that morning – tying his bootlaces! Well, being an
enterprising young lad, and not to be beaten, I gave the problem a good coat of looking
at, then a dose of thinking about before deciding that, yes, I could do the job by myself.
24
I found some empty cable drums, rolled them into place under the tray and turned them
on their sides to give myself a working platform. I then commenced to heave one of the
cables across my shoulder and pushed it up to the tray. Supporting the cable and tying
reef knots to hold it ready for the clips was real donkey work, but this donkey was
managing bravely. Or so I thought.
I had managed about ten feet with one cable by ten o’clock when the great Hope came
along. He stood watching for several minutes, while I fought and struggled. Presently,
he put his head to one side, summoned my attention with a “come ’ere” flapping hand
gesture and said, with a lift of his chin, “Son, you’d better go to night school – you’ll
never make a bloody electrician!”
Sarcastic b!!!!! !
And I was convinced I was doing so well, showing determination, initiative, and
ingenuity. Just doesn’t pay to be enterprising, does it? That evening at close of play, I
received a transfer order with my pay packet. It told me to report for work in the
Electrical Test House on Monday morning.
I next saw Hope some four years later, just before I left the Company and went off to sea.
By then I had finished my apprenticeship, and he came across me one morning on a
recently completed ship. I had a roll of draft “as fitted” drawings under my arm, and I
was wearing a collar and tie and the Draughtsman’s ship-visiting attire – a pristine white
boilersuit. Hope stopped, and looked me for a few moments, not a flicker of recognition,
then the head went to one side, he leaned slightly towards me and he said, “I see you took
my bloody advice.”
Definitely a sarcastic b!!!!! . . . Good memory, though.
and that weasel McIvor, and Examinations
By about the middle of my third year, there was a marked decline in the number of
boards taken by managers in connection with tea boiling episodes
on the ships under construction. The Pope, the Brown Bomber and the others
congratulated themselves on the ultimate success of their sustained anti- tea-boiling
campaign. I don’t think they ever discovered the truth, which is that Frank Mac and I had
solved the tea-boiling problem using technology, and our solution spread throughout the
workforce quicker than bad news.
For the benefit of anyone who has never visited a shipyard, - ships under construction
were lit internally by temporary lights strung along the alleyways
25
and extending into the various void spaces, cabins, etc, like ugly industrial fairy lights in
stout wire cages. In the Belfast shipyard, the voltage of these temporary lights was 110
volts DC which came from numerous substations containing motor-driven generators.
The distribution system was crude but effective.
Tired of the Tom and Jerry antics that took place at least twice a day, and resentful of the
resulting waste of time, Frank and I experimented in a laboratory at the technical college
and perfected the design of a crude but effective immersion heater which could be
plugged in to the temporary light wiring. The immersion heater consisted simply of a
calculated length of Eureka (resistance) wire which replaced a lamp-holder. In place of
the usual Ohm’s Law, the I2 R rule applies to the design calculations – I can’t make this
machine insert powers! But I’m working on it . . . Wait . . . Yes, I can, I’ve just done it.
The method of using the immersion heater was as crude as the device itself - it was
simply dipped in a tea-can containing cold water then plugged in to the temporary
lighting wiring. The water boiled in seconds!
But – there’s always a but - there were two principle difficulties arising from the use of
our crude elementary immersion heaters.
1) As the element was bare, the body of the tin can was alive at 110 volts – and
110 packs quite a nasty punch. Not good.
2) The live can was resting on the steel deck! Dead earth! Also not good . .
The solutions, however, were simple . . .
1) Avoid touching the can when the element was in action . . . Hence no nasty
electric shocks
2) Stand the can on a piece of dry timber . . . End of earthing problem.
Actually, there was a third problem. The inrush current when the immersion
heater was plugged in resulted in localised dimming of the temporary lights, which could
betray whereabouts of these illegal devices. There was no solution for that . . .
As word of the technology spread throughout the workforce, there were soon
numerous very poorly-designed immersion heaters, some of which blew the fuses of the
temporary light circuits. This resulted in a second game of cat and mouse, this time
between the immersion heaters users and the temporary light
electricians whose workload had suddenly increased enormously!
26
Now, all that might seem quite irrelevant to examinations, but not so. Not so at all. As it
was no longer necessary spend time dodging managers and foremen and boiling cans of
water on riveters’ fires, and there was only water collection to worry about, Frank Mac
and I were able to spend most of each lunch break studying together. (Statistically , we
found it much more effective for three of us to study together. When two were studying
together and calculation results differed, it was necessary to go over the work again, but
when three studied together we often got two answers agreeing if not all three. It was
only if we got three differing answers that it was necessary to redo the work. We also
found that groups of three were ideal, much better than four or more, which came as a bit
of a surprise. Perhaps because four or more became a committee )
We prepared for the examinations endlessly, allowing ourselves only one
evening a week free of study. We studied every Saturday and all day Sunday in one
home or another, starting at 9 AM and working through with only meal breaks until,
exhausted and irritable, we gave up at 9:30 PM sometimes later. ( I always made time
for the hospital Cub Pack, which annoyed the others.) We spent Bank Holidays studying.
In all this we were immensely grateful for the never-failing encouragement and active
practical support of our parents and families. We obtained as many past examination
papers as possible from the college libraries, going back as much as twenty and more
years, and we worked through these endlessly again and again until we could do
calculations in 12 minutes or less. The allocated time for each question in the
examination room was 30 minutes. Three hours, eleven questions, choose six..
Assisted by the college lecturers, we analysed the examination papers and we picked out
the "bankers" – question types that we could (almost) rely upon appearing year after year.
Some of the bankers were bound to turn up It wasn't really education, just cramming, but
it was effective.
One regular banker was a question about measuring bridges and the conditions for
balance thereof. A typical bridge question would read "draw the circuit diagram and
deduce the conditions for balance for a Wheatstone Bridge (or a Maxwell Bridge, or a
Wien, or a Sheering Bridge.)" Occasionally, just to be awkward, the examiners would
slip in an invented bridge of their own, but the principles are identical. The trick was to
memorise the circuit diagram and the balance formula for each of the standard bridges
and apply the basic theory if a non-standard bridge appeared. Just took a bit longer, that
was all.
On the evening of the examination we filed into the room and chose our places to sit. I
avoided sitting near Potter and went towards the back of the room
27
Frank Mac was across the aisle to my right. McIvor was across the aisle to my left. As
usual, blank answer books, each topped by a square of white blotting paper, had already
been set out on the small single desks. As usual, many students were frowning over their
notebooks to the very last moment before the invigilators insisted that all books be placed
on the floor. The usual instruction from the senior invigilator, “No names on any paper.
Write your entry number in the top right hand corner of each page. Hold your hand up if
you want more paper. Remember to write your number on . . . . . . No conferring. No
referring to notes or text books. No smoking. No . . . . . . Three hours, eleven questions,
choose any six, any order.”
You have all been there. You’re familiar with the tension, the sweaty hands, the dry
mouth. “You will be given eleven minutes to read the questions.” - the usual torture
routine. According to the established pattern, it was the turn of the Wheatstone Bridge to
appear on the examination paper. McIvor was furtively writing something in pencil on
one side of his square of blotting paper, copying from his notebook. I leaned closer. He
was hastily copying out the conditions for balance of the Wheatstone Bridge. I was
instantly and irrationally enraged!
"You b!!!!!!," I thought. "I'm going to fail, and you’re going to pass - by cheating." I was
so infuriated and worked up I was tempted to call an invigilator.
“Right, gentlemen, all books and notes face down on the floor under your desks.” The
last minute crammers obeyed, sat back, closed eyes in wishful resignation, tried to
remember. The examination papers were distributed, face down, as all the while I seethed
with anger. The invigilators returned to the front. The senior invigilator coughed to
clear his throat. “Eleven minutes. You may read . . . ” Sixty or so papers were snatched
and turned over. Questions one and two were lengthy and descriptive. Tackle those only
if desperate. Look for the calculation ques . . . Question three read, "State the
principal use of, draw the circuit diagram and deduce the conditions for balance for either
the Maxwell, or the Sheering , or the Wien Bridge."
I glanced over at the perspiring twitching white face to my left and nearly choked
suppressing my laughter. McIvor couldn't even cheat properly.
Potter passed, naturally. Frank Mac passed. I passed.
McIvor? He wasn’t with us in the next year . . . and he never caught up.
(Ed:- "Thank you yet again, Eddie")
28
84th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the SEVEN SEAS CLUB
on 29 MAY 2008
Venue: Lady Violet Room, National Liberal Club
1. Nominations:
No nominations for posts were received by the Hon Secretary
2. Apologies:
There were 41 apologies. One apology from John Grundy was read out.
3. Minutes of the 83rd Annual General Meeting:
The minutes of the 83rd Annual General Meeting were printed in the Club’s summer
magazine.
Acceptance was proposed by Graham Mar and seconded by Malcolm Marsden.
They were accepted by all.
4. Treasurer's Report:
The Club’s audited accounts were complimented by Graham Mar as being open and
transparent.
Graham Mar proposed acceptance which was seconded by Michael Pinner.
The Club’s audited accounts were accepted.
5. President's report:
This was accepted by all.
6. Baxter and Grimshaw Trust:
The following statement was read out by Michael Pinner:-
Good evening. For those who do not know me, I am Michael PINNER, the Hon Sec, and
a Trustee of the Seven Seas Club Baxter & Grimshaw Trust. The Trust is NOT part of
the Club and the Committee of the Club have no part in administering the Trust. The
Club does not contribute to the Trust financially, other than by individual contributions
from members.
The Trust, a Registered Charity is run by trustees (currently five) who must come from
within the Seven Seas Club, thus the continuity of the Seven Seas
Club is doubly assured, together with our ethos of ‘The comradeship of the
sea’. We have, in addition, an Accountant and a Financial Adviser.
The following report is offered as a courtesy to this AGM as an overview of
29
our work over the last 12 months.
Over the last 12 months the Seven Seas Club Baxter & Grimshaw Trust has
assisted, by means of financial grantd, 173 young people. These have met the minimal
requirements set out in the Deed of Trust….to be under the age of 25 years…to be from a
disadvantaged background…the monies to be for sail/nautical training. Grants have
ranged from a few pounds up to 100% of the cost of a particular course/voyage. In
certain circumstances we have given pocket money to particularly disadvantaged young
people. These young people have come from all parts of the United Kingdom, and have
been members of youth groups - ranging from the Sea Cadet Corps to Youth Projects,
Educational Establishments, Barnardos, to a Woman’s Refuge Project. There have also
been a number of individual applications.
The people have been to sea with Sea Cadet Offshore vessels, both under sail and on their
new motor ships. They have sailed with the Cirdan Trust…the Cremyll Trust...the
Pioneer Sailing Trust...the Rebel Trust and the Lively Lady Project.
Two Sea Cadets were assisted re a visit to Australia with the United Kingdom Sea Cadet
Physical Training Display Team.
Despite the difficult financial situation the Trust expects to continue as in previous years
and applications for the incoming season are already substantial.
Finally, as Hon Sec, may I thank my fellow trustees for their support over the last twelve
months…our accountant for his efforts to make sense of my records, and last, but most
importantly, our financial adviser Ray WILLIAMS of Brewin Dolphin, whose efforts
enable so many young people to continue to benefit from the Trust.
7. Amendment to Club Rule 15:
It was proposed that, in addition to the current Officers of the club (President, Vice
President, Immediate Past President, Honorary Secretary, Honorary
Treasurer and Editor of the Magazine), the Dinner Secretary should also be included as
an Officer of the Club.
This amendment was proposed by John Mankerty, and seconded unanimously by the
committee.
30
The idea is to encourage the training of younger members and to split the job of Dinner
Secretary.
This amendment was passed unanimously.
8. Appointment of Temporary Chairman:
Stan Goldsmith was appointed temporary Chairman, and he declared all offices vacant.
9. ELECTION OF OFFICERS:
PRESIDENT:
Mr Derek Bevan.
Proposed by Mr Graham Painter, with the unanimous support of the Committee.
All agreed.
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT:
Mr Graham Painter.
VICE PRESIDENT:-
Mr Dom Watson was proposed by Mr Derek Bevan, and seconded by a majority of the
Committee.
The Secretary reported on the following correspondence received from Mr Michael
Pinner.
I do not wish to stand for election as a member of the Committee of the Seven Seas Club
at the AGM later this month.
My reasons are that I cannot support the prospective election of Mr Dom Watson as Vice
President, and I do not feel that he would make a suitable President of our Club. Nothing
has changed that would assist me in altering my decision. It is with regret that I write
this, as Dom Watson is an excellent Dinner Secretary and works hard for the Club.
The Secretary advised the Committee that, as no other nominations for Vice President
had been received within the time scale stated in the Agenda, the appointment should go
ahead, with a majority of the Committee seconding the proposal.
All members were in agreement.
31
HONORARY SECRETARY:
Commander J Mankerty OBE RN.
Proposed by Mr Derek Bevan and seconded unanimously by the Committee. All agreed.
HONORARY TREASURER:-
Mr Derek Bevan.
Proposed by Cdr J Mankerty OBE and seconded unanimously by the Committee.
All agreed.
HONORARY MAGAZINE EDITOR:-
Mr Barry Holland.
Proposed by Cdr J Mankerty OBE and seconded unanimously by the Committee.
All agreed.
HONORARY CHAPLAINS:-
The Reverend Oliver Woodman, and Msg John Armitage are willing to continue in
office, and Cdr John Mankerty proposed the Revd Cannon Thomas OBE. The
Committee seconded all unanimously.
All agreed.
CLUB AUDITOR:-
Mr M J Buck CPFA was unanimously reappointed.
HONORARY ALMONER: -
Captain A W Richards MN offered himself for re-election.
All were in agreement.
ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS: -
The following members offered themselves for re-election and were accepted:
Mr Dom Watson, Mr David Watson, Mr Eddie Hunter, Mr Len Barlow
All agreed. The Secretary proposed Mr Richard Quirk, who is a co-opted member of the
Committee, to replace Mr Michael Pinner as a full member.
This was agreed. The Committee will permanently co-opt Mr Jim Ellard MBE as “Father
of the Committee”.
At 1835 the President closed the 84th Annual General Meeting of
the Seven Seas Club.
32
THE SLOP-CHEST
Silk Club tie Multi-motif £20.00
If posted £22.00
Ten Year Silk Tie Roman Numeral X
Under Club multi-motif £20.00
If posted £20.50
Shield The Club Crest in enamel
Mounted on a wooden shield £20.00
Club Burgee 18 inches, 12 inches on truck £15.00
Cufflinks Bearing Club Crest, per pair £15.00
If posted £17.00
Ladies' Handbag Mirror As given at Ladies' Night £15.00
All items are available from the Hon Secretary:
Cdr John Mankerty OBE RN
29 Berkhampstead Road
BELVEDERE
Kent DA17 5EA
01322 442265 [email protected]
SEVEN SEAS SWEATSHIRTS
Members are reminded that Club sweatshirts in Navy, Grey and Red are
available in Standard, Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, and Double Extra
Large sizes from Jeremy Miller (to whom cheques should be made payable) at a
price of £18.50 each
For Correspondence:
Barry Holland Esq
48 Beechwood Avenue
CHATHAM
Kent ME5 7HJ
01634 577165