DISASTERS!!!

Yes indeed I was witness too the biggest maritime disaster ever.
It happened on 31st July 1970.

The day they stopped the tot..

BooHoo

…..
 
i wanna do subs when i go in navy in september. i also know this lad whose grandad was on the royal navy temperence socitey. i have not spoken to him since he told me this.

we all litening nice and quit what happened on the 7th sept 1974?
 
Re: Disasters!

He means your title and the footnote FLY NAVY, GO ROYAL, DIG ARMY, EAT CRAB!

On interweb forums using capitals means you are SHOUTING, personally I don't mind that, but I do find caps hard to read..
 
If you are all sitting quietly, I'll begin. The ship was a small 500tonne coaster, which we loaded with road stone at Dean Quarry for Cowes. The ship had wooden hatch boards and canvas covers, held in with wedges. The weather was SW'ly, force 8/9 with a heavy swell, and rain. Somewhere south of Portland Bill, we were broached by a humungeuos swell, which came over the stern of the ship, and down the engine room vents, shorting out all the electrics. So no pumps, and emergency lighting only. The hatch covers were ripped off, and the ship slowly listed over until we were on our beam ends. It was 0430, cold, dark and bloody scary. I can remember trying to stand on the ends of the chart drawers, sending a Mayday, but we heard nothing. We then launched the inflatable liferafts, one of which inflated and blew away, ripping the bottom out as it went. The second one was inflated but was trapped under the propeller, where it was holed. Nothing for it but to jump, and hope. There were five of us, but the Captain never made it. He was found days later. The four of us were in a raft with only one tube and no arch, full of water, when the ship turned over and sank, with us still trapped under the propeller. It's amazing what you can do when you are scared witless, but we got away, and drifted off. The raft capsized three or four times. I can tell you it was a very pleasant surprise when we heard a helicopter over head. Down came the winch man, who was promptly smashed by a wave which almost stripped him. The end result was a fantastic rescue by a helicopter from HMS Ark Royal, which just happened to be passing! A radio ham in Portland had heard our Mayday and relayed it, which we knew nothing about until later. One helicopter on the Ark Royal was destroyed when it capsized on the deck of the carrier, and one crew badly injured. We were all eventually landed at Portland, given some Navy clothes and a train ticket, and off you go. No mamby-pamby counselling in those days. I was living in Cowes then, and when I got to Southampton, at about 1600, the Red Funnel ferries were still not running, so I didn't get home until about midnight. Quite a day! The liferaft was recovered from the Needles channel a few days later. There are times when I do wonder about this sea going malarkey. But that was 31 years ago, and I'm still doing it!
 
Can't cap CJE's experience (nor would I want to), but was sailing in the Solent one day about 25 years back on a nice F4-ish summer's day. We could see what looked like a really tiny tug towing a lighter from Cowes, around the Bramble and on towards Southampton.

The tug attempted to turn the lighter to straighten up for Southampton Water, but the lighter didn't want to turn, and began to overtake the tug, which found itself at right angles to its tow.

Within seconds, the tug capsized, and disappeared very quickly. The coastguard in those days kept a lookout from Calshot and this happened almost under their noses. Within a couple of minutes (it seemed) there was a helicopter on the scene, plus pilot launches and other heavy metal. They recovered one crew member, but the other was lost.
 
Cameron
Bit pushed at the moment, no disasters, though I do have a tale of a haunted submarine.
Will you settle for a poem about Helensburgh, nestling on the banks of the Clyde and twinned with Beirut it was usually the first or last run ashore for submariners running out of Faslane.

Here’s a song we used to sing (to northern lights of old Aberdeen)

When I was a lad, a tiny wee lad,
My mother said to me,
If you want rum, baccy and bum,
Go join the Queens Navy.
You can travel the whole world over
From Gus to Tricamalee,
And then settle down, in some seaside town,
Like Helensburgh by the Sea.


Oh! The Imps, the Royal, the Commodore to,
Are hame sweet hame ta me,
The Helensburgh tide, the Pride of the Clyde,
Is where I lang ta be.
I`ve drank in pubs all over the world,
But the best pubs are surely to be,
In Helensburgh toon, where the sun shines doon,
Aye, Helensburgh by the Sea


My last day at home before going to sea
My wifey said to me
This place is the pits, it gets on my tits
Get out of the Queen`s Navy
I want a life with no trouble and strife
That`s patrol and hassle free,
Lets go settle down in any seaside town
Except Helensburgh by the Sea.

But I miss it so,

Oh! The Imps, the Royal, the Commodore to,
Are hame sweet hame ta me,
The Helensburgh tide, the stench of the Clyde,
Is where I lang ta be.
I`ve drank in pubs all over the world,
But the best pubs are surely to be,
In Helensburgh toon, where the rains pissing doon,
Aye, Helensburgh by the Sea.

..........
 
Re: Welcome back your majesty.

Hey Fishhead nice to see you.

Are you still joining Raleigh as a tiffy.

……….
 
A few years ago I got a text message from my son in the navy :-
"Dad, whats grey and sits on a rock in Copenhagen. Answer HMS Grafton"

Wrong turning apparently going out of the harbour.
 
failed my tiff test. sylabus all changed now.. going in as marine engineerer mechanic but the title has now changed to mare engineerer technician. very pompous!
its basically changed to allow a fast track an streamline into articifer.
better really
just waiting for my date now they are saying any time after yesterday. could be nov oct sept dec or jan dont know yet. driving me mad! get a job or not?
learn to drive or not? all down to them now.
 
Re: Well Done

Well done you’ve crossed the first hurdle, If you go into boats you`ll find working for Lizzie Windsor hard but rewarding, but watch out for the square bashing, I was 6`2” when I joined and in the first 2 weeks they marched me down to 5`11”.
All the very best, keep us informed as you go along.

……..
 
Re: Well Done

During Burnham Week just a short while ago, a small boat decided to ignore the live firing warnings from the range just south of the Crouch, and sailed through the middle of a live firing exercise.... naturally, they stopped firing, gave him some rough treatment on the VHF and he then promptly ran aground in the middle of the range on a falling tide........ whoops....

Doesn't match the drama of the other posts, but a nice 'disaster' regardless......
 
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