Beyond The Sea

by Jack Lynch

  On the way back I saw a number of dolphins which raced ahead and criss-crossed our bows. Further out in the Atlantic, at sunset, I watched varying shades of colours as the sun sank into the western horizon and at night I watched the stars shining brightly and some shooting stars light the sky. There were particularly spectacular views of the sky as lightening flashed through the dark night. This lasted for about an hour and became a memory which was refreshed on later voyages.

  Amidst all this the ship cruised on towards the English Channel and I kept taking weather reports and navigation warnings as well as keeping watch on the distress frequency. There was one distress call from a ship which was too far away for us to render assistance. Due to the weak signals and the fact that other ships were in communication with the stricken vessel we did not need to assist. I had to maintain my own watch and did not have the authority to send signals in case of disturbing the rescue, and when the ‘all clear’ was signalled to advise that the distress was over we were all relieved. The local coast stations returned to working normally and I went back to listening to Landsend Radio traffic lists. I heard my ship’s call sign and received a message for the Captain. This was one of a number of messages I sent and received during the voyage and like all the received messages they were for the Captain and related to ship’s business. Soon, we were through the Channel and at our destination where we picked up our Pilot who guided us to Imjuiden and Rotterdam, in Holland for discharging our crude oil. We tied up at the wharf where hose pipes were connected and oil began to flow ashore into the tanks. The whole operation was quite noisy and I was glad to be able to get ashore for a brief respite. Rotterdam looked wonderful and I wished for more time to rummage around and see the city.

  As usual, I went shopping and not much else. I did not even have the time to walk around or see the sights. I’d have another chance to visit Rotterdam later, on another ship, but was not aware of this at the time. The oil was discharged by the efficient Dutch dockers and the Pilot boarded before the ship left Imjuiden and disembarked the Pilot and headed back to sea for another trip across the Atlantic, for another cargo of oil for Southampton.

  Like the last part of the voyage there was nothing different to before except that I did not bother going ashore and spent most of my time reading and writing letters as well as rereading letters from home. Of course I had some nice Spanish music to listen to as well and spent time chatting to the crew. Again, we set sail for Southampton where we arrived without mishap and went through the discharging process. I signed off here on June 24th 1952 but had to re-sign on again the next day to complete the contract. Our orders arrived with our mail from home and we headed back to sea. We arrived back in Rotterdam with another cargo of Crude oil. Our next port of call was Hamburg in Germany. Having dropped the Pilot we set course up the North Sea towards Hamburg.

  We picked up the German Pilot and proceeded up the Elbe to Hamburg. I went ashore to St.Pauli. Out of curiosity, I went into same bar where I had my escapade on the Orford. Whilst I was drinking my coke and looking out the window, I saw an American jeep of with military police as it pulled up outside the Bar where I had been duped. My curiosity got the better of me, and I went outside to see what was happening. After a while I saw the Police coming out, and they took a number of girls with them. I could not believe it when I saw the girl who’d tried to cheat me amongst these girls. I waved furiously, with delight, as she passed by in the jeep with the Police. I’m not sure if she saw me but I saw her. Boy, did I feel good seeing her get her comeuppance and I returned to the ship a happy man. I would not have missed it for anything. I was still enjoying the episode when on return to the ship I was informed that I would be flying home within a few days.

  The ship was due for a spell in dry-dock for overhaul, so we set off down the Elbe, where the Pilot disembarked, and we set off for Bremerhaven, Germany. On arrival we signed off, for the last time, in Bremerhaven, Germany on August 21st, 1952 and I flew back to the UK where I reported to the Southampton office. I got another warrant and I got home for a short spot of leave.

  I had bought my first car, a Hillman Minx, some years earlier and decided I would use it for trips to Cork. I had left the car at home while I was at sea and daddy was using it. The next thing I heard was that my car had been raffled in a draw which daddy had agreed with Perks’ Amusements that were in full swing in the Bath’s Quay. The car was on a stand specially erected for the draw. Daddy had his quota of tickets but did not win. How much he got I don’t know. Anyway, when I came home on leave I did not have a car or the sale value of it. I soon forgot about it and told him he could keep the proceeds. I still don’t know to this day how much he got or who won it. I now had to depend on the train to get to Cork and this governed my time available as I had to get the last train at 11.15 P.M. I continued to meet Molly and we carried on as usual, comfortable in each other’s company and fed up when we had to part. However, there were still no thoughts of marriage by either one of us at this time. As usual, my family wanted to hear stories of my life at sea and the places I had been. Daddy was like a schoolboy checking anything new I might have from abroad. Before long before a telegram arrived, asking me to report back to Hull to await my next assignment. I was in for a lovely surprise with the voyages I was about to partake in but had to await arrival in Hull to find out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  When I arrived in the Hull office I was sent to West Hartlepool to join my next ship, which was my eighth ship and was named s.s Sedgepool. The Master was Captain J. E. Roclar. This was a Liberty built ship, built in 1944 by the War Shipping Administration, for South-Eastern S.B Corp. in Savannah, Georgia in the United States. Her Gross Tonnage was 7278. I signed on in West Hartlepool, England on September 15th, 1952.

  My seventh deep sea voyage was to the USA, Panama, Honolulu, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Italy. This was an eventful journey from beginning to end. From the day we came down the North Sea and into the English Channel before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean we did not realise the problems that lay ahead. The sea traffic was quite heavy. Soon after we passed the southern Irish coast we ran into quite heavy seas. The Chief Mate was on deck a lot when he was not on watch. The Chief Engineer was usually with him, and then I began to realise what they were doing. Drawings were being scanned and discussed, and wooden planks were neatly stacked on deck. Gradually, during the trip the outline, and finally the finished product, of what they were working on appeared in all its glory. A beautiful twelve foot clinker boat had been built on board the ship. The trip was quite long and the Mate had ample spells of time between watch keeping and poor weather conditions, to get his pet hobby finished. The Mate was justly proud of his work.

  The weather improved for a while, but the Captain requested that I kept taking all the weather reports I could find, as we were being warned of a severe storm forming ahead of us. The Captain sent regular coded weather reports to the metrological office, outlining prevailing conditions where our ship was located. There were other ships at various points at sea, and these performed the same function. As we progressed, the Captain read one of the messages I had received, looked perplexed, and asked me to get a verification of the position of the centre of the storm, as he did not believe it to be correct. I immediately contacted the coast station, and the message was repeated to me. It was identical to the original message.

  The Captain immediately asked me to standby for a priority message. Without delay, he took all readings of atmospheric pressure, wind direction and force, longitude and latitude, and various other required data, which he then coded into five figure groups. Looking out the bridge window, the sea was dead calm and not a puff of breeze was visible. The sun shone brightly and I could not understand the anxiety of the Captain. When I got the message from the Captain, I immediately sent this off to the metrological office. A short time later, Landsend Radio sent a TTT message, which indicated a navigational warning to all ships. This message was from the Metrological office, warning al
l ships that the centre of a severe storm was now located at the precise longitude and latitude that our Captain had given. We were smack in the middle of this storm and would soon find out how strong it was. We were in the eye!

  The crew started battening down the hatches and all loose deck equipment, including the awnings. The mate moved his wood and tools from the deck, and we awaited the oncoming storm. As we altered course to avoid the worst of the storm I felt the breeze stiffen, and black clouds began to fill the sky. Gradually, the sea began to get very angry, with white-capped waves getting bigger by the hour. Heavy rain descended and lashed into the ship. The wind was increasing in intensity, and anything not tied down was thrown around the cabins. Lightning flashes were regular and lit up the sky. At times I felt the claps of thunder and the lightening occurred at the same time. It was frightening to say the least. The Captain slowed the engines and tried to ride out the storm. It was miserable and very dangerous because we were in a severe force ten storm. I wondered how you could go from a sea as calm as glass with no wind into such a ferocious storm, in such a short space of time. The waves must have reached forty feet. I could not hold a steady position in the Radio room. My chair kept sliding and twisting with wave after wave, and when the ship rose on the crest of a wave, I waited for the pounding as it descended into the trough. It reminded me of my trip on the Winkleigh through the Bay of Biscay. At night it was chaotic trying to stay secure in the bunk and I got precious little sleep. Fortunately, I was not one for getting sea sick, and eventually the ship rode out the storm. There were no casualties, and the ship survived well.

  The relief, as we eventually nosed our way out of the storm, was glorious. Gradually, we steamed our way into blue skies and a gentle rolling sea. With the clear weather back, the Mate got his boat out again…

  About a week later the second steward got ill. He had a very high temperature and a very bad rash all over his body. The Captain and Mate were baffled and looked up the medical book with no success. Next stop was to my office, where the Captain asked me to contact any ship with a doctor on board. I immediately sent out a ‘Medico’ request to all ships and got answers from the Cunard liner Queen Mary and another passenger liner. I started to work the Queen, which was closer. We exchanged Morse messages, as our ships did not have Radio Telephone facilities. The Captain gave details of the symptoms, temperature, pulse rate and various other bits of information requested by the doctor. The doctor then diagnosed possible Nettle rash. Whilst I was in communication with the Queen Mary, another call came into me from Rome through the local Radio station (IAR) requesting that I communicate directly with their international marine medical facility. I thanked the doctor and Radio Officer of the Queen Mary and carried on a working frequency with Rome. Their advice was to use Penicillin injections, which we had in stock in the medical locker. The Chief Mate delivered the necessary to the patient who brightened up after a short while.

  Now we had another problem. While the patient was comfortable, the Chief Mate began to react to the Penicillin. He was allergic to this medication and may have got some on his hands. Medical hygiene was not the really practiced in those days. His face swelled up and his eyes closed. He was having difficulty swallowing. He looked blotchy and red faced. I was again back on the Radio. I made direct contact with Rome again and gave information on the symptoms. Their response was immediate, clearly identifying the Penicillin as the problem. Thankfully, with their intervention, both patients recovered with no ill effects. I was delighted to have been able to justify my job. I could have gone for years without doing anything outside routine duties.

  The first day after we left port I encountered a technical problem with the transmitter which needed attention. There was a motor alternator which was used to start-up and supply power to the transmitter. It was essential that this equipment worked well, otherwise there was a possibility that when the need arose this piece of equipment might not work and this could be catastrophic. From day one, I noticed that even though it was working, there was no guarantee that it would continue to work successfully. I suspected it had to do with the copper rings, called slip rings, which were part of the alternator and that these might be worn in places. There were fluctuations in meter readings and instability in the sound of the motor. I spoke to the Chief Engineer and explained the symptoms to him and he took the alternator to the Engine room and did a fantastic job on the rings. The rings were in fact egg shaped so he put them on the lathe and ground them into completely circular rings and it was a pleasure to have a transmitter that worked 100% again.

  Up to now, we were heading west awaiting orders, and when they came I got the biggest shock and thrill I had ever felt at sea. We were to proceed to a place called Kamaishi in Japan. Charts were taken out for the Pacific Ocean and we all looked to see where Kamaishi was located. It is a small port in the northern end of the main Island of Honshu. It was apparently a coal town. This was going to be a long voyage across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and through the Pacific Ocean. Is it any wonder these ships are called ‘Tramps’ when they depended on trips like this to pick up a cargo? It was a case of put to sea and await orders. Something like a lottery and nobody knew where the ship would end up.

  With a couple of new first experiences looming for me we headed for the Panama Canal. Since I had not been here before I was looking forward to this venture. It was glorious going south into the lovely sunshine, watching the ever present slinky dolphins criss-crossing the bow of the ship. Most of the time the sea was calm, and as we passed close by land we could see the pelicans, and other birds, flying around and squawking. We passed close to other ships, including passenger ships that were trading between the Caribbean Islands and also heading for the Panama Canal. We arrived at the Canal Atlantic port of Colon, picked up our Pilot and entered the Canal as we awaited our turn to pass through the first of three locks, which were operated by Americans. The Canal was so different to the Suez Canal. In Suez there was no sea level difference between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, so there were no locks to raise or lower the ships. Here, there was a big difference in levels between the Oceans. Three locks were in operation. They were in 2 step flights at Miraflores and 1 at Pedro Miguel.

  We entered the locks, which were then closed behind our ship, and the water level was adjusted rapidly to flood the lock, or empty it, depending on whether you were going towards the Pacific or towards the Atlantic. Looking over the ship’s sides as this was happening there were various types of fish sucked into the locks. There was a peculiar sensation similar to the Boal, in the Seine, as the ship rose or fell rapidly with the water level changes which occurred. When the correct level was achieved the lock’s gates were opened, and the ship moved towards the next lock. She was then towed by what were called ‘Mules.’ These were mechanical type tractors, which moved on serrated rail tracks at each side of the lock. They climbed up to the next lock level, towing the ship into the lock. It was necessary to use three locks due to the water height difference between the Atlantic and Pacific. One lock would not be able to cope with this difference, so it was done in increments using the three locks. It was a marvellous piece of Engineering.

  The trip through the Canal was lovely, and there were men at the side of the locks using high-pressure hoses to cut away more rocks and silt to widen the canal. I did this trip many more times and was always in awe of the feat performed opening this canal. It is certainly, to me, one of the Great Wonders of the World.

  We came out at Balboa and headed across the blue Pacific Ocean. This was my first trip to this side of the world and all I could see were blue skies, sunshine and lovely blue seas. I thought ‘this is the life and I’m getting paid and fed for doing this. Yes, please!’ I did a fair bit of sunbathing while we moved towards Japan but there was still one more port to call to in order that we got bunkers… Honolulu. This conjured up lots of fantasy thoughts in my mind like beautiful maidens in skimpy grass skirts dancing and putting garlands of flowers a
round my neck. Unfortunately, we would not be there long, as we only needed to take on fuel and some fresh food. I was not disappointed when I saw the island of Hawaii appear on the horizon, and I kept looking through binoculars to see if I could see any fair maidens in grass skirts. Alas, no!

  We tied up and the ship’s agent came aboard, delivered and took our mail, and asked me if I wanted any spare equipment for the radio room. I didn’t, but I could not refuse an excuse like this to get ashore and said I would take a few spare valves if Marconi had an office there. I was taken ashore and got my spares. The Marconi representative asked me if I had been there before and when I said no he offered to give me a whistle stop tour in his car. It was a very pleasant surprise. I saw beautiful grass parks still suffering the after effects of the Japanese attack shown on the film I had watched as a boy; ‘Tora, Tora, Tora.’ The craters were still visible and so were the large oil drums scattered around any flat area where planes might have landed. He told me that during the attack by Japan, there was the fear that the Japanese would try and land planes to invade the islands. Trenches were dug in the flat areas and any large objects placed strategically to hinder planes from landing. They were still there in some places while we were there. He also took me to the market where all kinds of exotic fruit and flowers were being sold. Of course, I had to see the after effects of the horrible bombing of the American Fleet. I saw some of the wreckage but I did not have time to take it all in as we were about to leave and head for Japan.

  After an uneventful journey, as we closed in on Japanese land excitement began to rise. What would it be like? How would we be received? After all it was not that long since the war finished and we assumed that resentment must still affect the people’s thoughts. Soon we would find out. On arrival in Kamaishi, we entered a very small port and tied up at the dock where there were a number of coal grabs. The town was dull and dingy looking. I remember one main street and the people looked depressed and certainly I got the feeling that they resented any Westerners. The contrast between the men and women was immediately obvious. The men were sullen and either lounged around, or formed groups who viewed us suspiciously. I did feel uncomfortable but not intimidated by this. The women were subdued and were the ones who had pickaxes and shovels and were digging the road. From what I saw, they did all the hard labour while the men relaxed and lounged around. The women usually kept their heads down, and would not glance up when we passed. On the other hand, I saw the other side of the women who wore Geisha outfits, and who shuffled along beautifully painted but wore no smiles.