Posts

Showing posts from July, 2011

Tina's Encounter with History.

Image
In 1966 we went to South Africa as a family with the advent of the UK Seamen's Strike. I had secured employment as a Marine Officer with the South African Harbour Service. We were reminded of this by coming across one of Tina's old Passports [see above] and her Identity Card. This was also a harsh reminder for us of one of Tina's encounters with history. We started our adventures in Durban but finally ended up in Walvis Bay, SW Africa, now Namibia, but that is another story. I was appointed to the tug "Otto Siedle" [see above] and operated in that port and in rescue operations on the Skeleton Coast. In the autumn of that year we were scheduled to go to Capetown to dry-dock/refit. We were also instructed to pick up a tow in Lüderitz, a small Harbour and town in south-west Africa , lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in all southern Africa. This was going to be about 9 weeks away from Tina and the Boys so we decided that she would take the boys and do th