Memory Lane?

OK, I know this is supposed to be my Art Blog, and I promise it won't become my autobiography - but the last posting and Celeste's reference to the aviation hero, Sir Ivor Broom, sent me down memory lane. Here Ivor is by the way:

He's on the left pictured with his navigator in front of the Mosquito.

Celeste also mentioned, "like a big icebreaker ship in the sea" in the comments to my loom posting ... so here's an icebreaker story.....

In the 1970s we had a lull in our VVIP  flying schedule, which our masters filled for us by giving us a load of Marines and Crew for HMS Endurance, a Naval Antarctic Patrol Vessel, which was moored off Chile for maintenance, and was making ready to head south. They were to become famous in the forthcoming Falklands war, but of course we knew nothing of that at the time.  

A Comet 4C of 216 Squadron RAF

We flew the passengers down to Punta Arenas, the most Southerly point of Chile, night stopping on the way out at Cape Verdi Islands. 

Punta Arenas 

We dropped off the passengers in Punta Arenas, and took off again with an empty aircraft, but instead of flying North we thought we would go South for a while and fly down the Straights of Magellan: from Punta Arenas at Latitude 53.9º S. Longitude 70º.55' W to Cape Horn Latitude 57º.48' S. Longitude 67°19´ W are the straights of Magellan and the Drake Passage.

As a scruffy little boy living in the slums, I had dreamt of 'escape': travel and adventure through the books that I read,. Books about boys' running off to sea with famous explorers, particularly, “He Sailed with Vasgo-de-Gama,” and, “He Sailed with Magellan”. 

Here then was the chance to lay the ghost and do a real Magellan trip – it was magical.  The little boy 'me' would have punched the air.

In the distance through the gin clear air we saw the red dot that was the Endurance anchored in the lonely waters disturbed only by seabird calls and the hum of generators. 

We thought it would be a really good 'wheeze' to drop down to thirty feet and  say hello to the Navy. So, we screamed up the Straights of Magellan at 380 mph, skimming the waves as we went, with wind screen wipers wiping away the sea spray. As we came up to Endurance, we stood the aircraft on her tail and with throttles wide open, rattled every rivet in her hull – heart attack territory for the crew -----GOTCHA!

Many years later I saw a picture of Endurance, and she looked completely different. So I e-mailed the ship, down there in the Antarctic, to ask what had changed. Here is the email they sent back!

 From : HMS ENDURANCE-CS <279-cs@a.dii.mod.uk> 

Sent : 07 December 2005 22:26:22
To : "'HMS Endurance tracking project'" , HMS ENDURANCE-MO <279-mo@a.dii.mod.uk>, "'johnsimlett'" <johnsimlett@>
CC : HMS ENDURANCE-CO <279-co@a.dii.mod.uk>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


All,
The previous HMS ENDURANCE, of 1982 Falklands Conflict fame, would have been
the vessel to which John Simlett delivered said Ship's Company. Originally
an ice strengthened Danish Vessel named 'Anita Dan', she was commissioned in
1968 and survived through until paying off in November 1991.


The present HMS ENDURANCE was initially chartered as 'Polar Circle' in 1991,
immediately voted an ideal candidate as the replacement Antarctic Patrol
Ship and shortly thereafter purchased outright and renamed HMS ENDURANCE.
Originally built and operated by Rieber Shipping as an Arctic
tourist/research vessel, she is a class 1 Ice Breaker.
Her hull is built to exacting standards with great rigidity and welded
rather than riveted. 


Regrettably the previous HMS ENDURANCE met her end in
the breakers yard (rivets and all!) shortly after her sale in the early
1990s.
I hope that provides an appropriate answer to John's question - does he
still fly?


GeorgeTabeart
LtCdr,RN
ChargeSurveyor
HMS ENDURANCE