Hogan plus Vowles

Gordon Brown called me a "Flat Earther" FPI trawler in ice. In December 2009 the Prime Minister, Mr.Gordon Brown, called me a "Flat Earther". His remarks were pointedly directed at anyone who harboured any scepticism of Climate Change and that included me. Now I am a retired Master Mariner so that epithet seemed somewhat silly as I have spent a life time sailing over the horizon and not falling over the edge of the world. Anyway I have decided to briefly write about my experieces at sea and let you judge me and tell me if I deserve the sobriquet "Flat Earther". In 1954 my Father indentured me to Sir William Readon Smith & Sons of Cardiff, tramp ship owners, as an Apprentice Deck Officer. I was just sixteen years of age. My life long affair with weather and climate started at the same time as my voyage to command and management in shipping. I was eight years with tramp ships, man and boy, and sailed away for anything up to a year circling th

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Back in 1956/57 we went to Shimonoseki Suido following discharging part cargo in Kobe. This was a passage through Japan's Inland Sea, a wonderful experience passing many islands and the waters busy with sampans. However the experience was also memorable for other events including some dangerous work for John Hopkins and me; it was also memorable for the seduction of Moji Mary. John and I were always assigned tasks that required cooperation and the assurance that it would be undertaken properly. We were great friends and, most importantly, great shipmates. We were bound to Moji and Wakamatsu but a berth was not available so that required the "Fresno City" to tie-up off the harbour at a typhoon buoy. Mooring at a typhoon buoy was a major feat of seamanship for a tramp ship as the ship had to bring the anchor to the break of the bow and connect the anchor hawser chain to the huge buoy. The really hard job though is coming off the buoy, someone ha

My brother, Keith, and I were embarrassed by a very famous heroine in 1950 - this is the story of how that came about. We were visiting Culmstock in Devon where our Aunt Hannah lived on a farm with her husband Uncle Owen Fisher, and my cousins, Bill, Fred, Roy, John, and Harold. The farm was almost totally self sufficient, a dairy herd, slaughter house, butcher, cider orchards etc. It was also a lot of work for all hands. At the beginning of the war Aunt Hannah had befriended lots of people that she came into contact with including a certain young woman recruited by England's spymaster. Aunt Hannah was born in Ireland in Cappoquin, County Waterford, in 1884 and was a larger than life kind of person. [Incidentally she became very friendly with Nan's Mum who born in the same year.] Anyway on the day in question I helping my cousins to prepare bags of onions for pickling in the courtyard by the cider press. My Mum and Dad were talking to Aunt Ha

Tina said this morning that she misses the Floral Clock that used to adorn the centre of Weston-super-Mare. It was wonderful; the hands were also flowers as were the face and numbers; it was a work of art. It is not budget restrictions that cause the cancellation of this great tourist attraction and cause for civic pride. Vandals and thugs would wreck it over-night. What we have are the riots in slow motion but it is the same thing. Here is the recent view of a New Zealander in a letter to the Daily Telegraph - it bears out what I am saying. SIR – After visiting Britain, I felt moved to compile a list of visible signs of how it has changed in recent years. 1. Railway waiting-rooms, once cosy and well furnished, are now utilitarian, with furniture vandal-proof and screwed down. 2. Public toilets resemble a prison cell, with everything made of steel. 3. Cricket pavilions now have no glass windows. 4. Children are taken to school by car, for safety’s sake. 5. Shops have a security g

Mr Grumpy's creature comforts: Longleat's tetchiest resident enjoys 16 hours of TV a day, ribena on tap and a supermodel diet | Mail Online

In 1981 I was Harbour Master in Castletownbere in West Cork, Ireland. This is where Tina had another encounter with a major event in history. Yesterday was the 66th anniversary of the Allied Victory in Japan, VJ Day, and we recalled how that happened. We were all very busy, I had a burgeoning port to operate supporting the needs of the Irish Fishing industry, I was also teaching navigation at the college. Tina was a very busy person too, we had Velia just starting school, Gerard starting his working career, we had Spanish officials to entertain, she started a shipping agency, all those kind of things. But for all that Tina was most annoyed that everything in this remote Irish port and community did everything for men and boys but nothing, absolutely nothing, for girls. Tina saw this as a challenge and decided to do something. She gained the support of two like minded women including a fine young woman, Adrienne MacCarthy. Unbeknownst to Tina, this young woman was the daughter of Air

Tina's stay in Capetown improved and was very pleasant; we were together as a Family, and Capetown does have some lovely parts. The beaches were lovely, there was much to see, and Gregory and Gerard were the very best to take anywhere. It was nice too that I had a friend there from my time with the Elder Dempster Line, Roger Layzell. We did take the opportunity to change the Passport at the Consulate and thereby provide Tina her own Passport [as seen in the last blog.] We had fast gained the view that South Africa would not have a long term future for us. The journey back to Walvis Bay for Tina proved to be another nightmare. First of all, think of days cramped in a non air conditioned compartment, this was travelling on the more remote part of the continent. Yes, there was an attendant to make up the bunks, generally do basic housekeeping, and bring food but it was not "touristy" more "Wild West". Tacked onto the rear of the train were carriages for non-whites