Grandpa’s Seafaring History!
My grandfather was a soldier in WWI and my father and uncles were all in the British army in WWII. So why did my brother and I join the Navy? There are family ties with the sea. Grandfather was a fisherman sailing from the Durham fishing ports for a while. There were other ancestors from that area who also sailed. For certain, a great, great, grandfather was a Swedish sea captain who married into the family. (I am sure they all told the girls they were captains!) However, I believe both my brother and I were hooked on the sea by our first sea crossing when we emigrated with our parents to Canada aboard the RMS Franconia.
Thanks to my brother Bill in Florida, I have come across the passenger list of the RMS Franconia for the voyage that my parents, my brother and I took from Liverpool to Quebec in April/May 1955. It is nice to see the names of our family and friends listed: the Davisons, Healeys, Baums, and Lowes. The information can be viewed on Lennon Wylie’s website.
I joined the US Navy in 1961. My first sea duty was aboard the USS Hugh Purvis (1962-63) Newport Rhode Island and a few months in Boston Naval Yard. We then participated in the first manned missile shots - down range recovery duties; as escort for JFK during the America’s Cup; and out of Key West where we made several rescues of Cuban refugees in small boats. The information can be viewed on Wikipedia.
My last sea duty was aboard the USS Simon Lake where I joined the commissioning crew - see my name on the commissioning crew roster "Plank Owners"") in Bremerton, sailed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for underway training and then to Charleston SC. I was a Second Class Petty Officer at the time.
The information can be viewed on the Simon Lake web site.
Not counting several cross channel and North Sea ferries, our more recent sea voyages have been on cruise ships:
The Hebridean Princess out of Oban - beautiful, small, cosy ship that does wonderful cruises around the Western Isles. Spent our 30th wedding anniversary aboard. Very friendly crew and great food!
The Braemar, a thoroughly enjoyable Nordic cruise operated by Fred Olsen Cruises.
The Aurora, one of P&O’s beautiful ships. Had a great cruise with friends, Richard and Sue, to Greenland, Iceland and Norway.
The Thomson Celebration, one of Thomson Cruises ships. We sailed her twice, once through the Canaries, Madeira, Spain, Portugal and France and once through the Baltic visiting many ports including St Petersburg. Very good value for money, comfortable, very friendly crew and good food!
The Artemis, P&O’s smallest ship but very comfortable, great crew and very good food. We took the Christmas market cruise around the Baltic. Lots of fun and good excursions, topped off by meeting and making very good friends, Frank and Cynthia.