# Kennedy assassination



## IMRCoSparks

Does anyone have any special recollections of what they were doing on November 22 1963?

I remember it really well. We were just completing a 60 day Mediterranean & Black Sea cruise aboard RMS Caronia. Our passengers were 90% American.

November 22nd was the final day. We were steaming from Cherbourg to Southampton to disembark the remaining passengers before the ship's annual layup. All five of us were in the Radio Room and very busy with phone patches & arrival telegrams.

A couple of the catering staff came in and wanted to know why we were'nt relaying any news broadcasts throughout the ship. I think probably half the ship and probably all the passengers knew what had happened. The only ones who didn't were the R/O's.

Ken


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## John Rogers

I was in the process of Skinning and gutting a caribou I had just shot in Alaska.


John


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## Mike S

Four days out of Panama north bound for the USA on Northumberland. We were into Charleston around 1o days later and the atmosphere in the country was electric.
I always recall a comment by Lyndon Johnston who was of course the next President along the lines of "We cannot tell the country the whole truth at this time....... it would be too much for them"
It was made on evening TV News and we all heard it........
I have never heard reference to it since............!
Interesting


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## ssr481

I was being fed by my mother .. I was about a month old. A few weeks before that, Kennedy was in my hometown.. and my parents were along the road watching the motorcade.. and I was being held by my mother at the time.


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## Keltic Star

Home in Southampton, on leave from Esso, having a plowman's lunch of French bread, Caerphilly cheese, good pickled onions and a cheap bottle of Medoc when the BBC interrupted whatever program was on and switched to Walter Cronkite making his now famous announcement. Apparently in the rush to get on air, Cronkite appeared in his shirtsleeves, a first for any news anchor. 

Now, I wonder what I had for lunch today?


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## surfaceblow

I was at school and the principal wheeled in a TV set into the classroom so we could watch the news cast.


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## Papa Bear

If I am remember correctly it was cadet night and we were at the Sea Cadet hall. I also seem to remember it was not a very nice night.

Cheers John L.(Thumb)


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## J Boyde

I was on leave in London. Could not get a paper, except the workers paper. There were many US members in London, there was a big football due. From the US Navy and army as I remember. I think the game was to be in Europe. Cannot remember if it finaly played. 
Jim B


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## billyboy

Bouncing about in the English Channel on the SS Brighton 3 days before paying off.


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## Chris Isaac

Southbound to Brazil on St.John, second trip cadet.


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## Pat Kennedy

I was AB on the Waipawa in Glasgow.
Pat


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## NoMoss

Three days after my wedding and we were in a small flat in Southampton as I was on a Radar course. We were mixing the Christmas pudding in the evening with the radio on and the news stunned me. I had taken notice of the election of Kennedy as I had been in the Gulf of Mexico a lot during the run up to the election and had always backed him to win.


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## chadburn

Keltic Star said:


> Home in Southampton, on leave from Esso, having a plowman's lunch of French bread, Caerphilly cheese, good pickled onions and a cheap bottle of Medoc when the BBC interrupted whatever program was on and switched to Walter Cronkite making his now famous announcement. Apparently in the rush to get on air, Cronkite appeared in his shirtsleeves, a first for any news anchor.
> 
> Now, I wonder what I had for lunch today?


keltic, the programme that was on the old black & white television was the Nat King Cole Show when it was taken off to make the announcement, we were dead ship in Falmouth Dry Dock and I was in a hotel, everything went quiet, of course the blame was immediatly placed at the Russian's door when conversation restarted.


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## jimg0nxx

R/O in Trecarrell of Hains. South Atlantic bound River Plate.

JIm


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## Old Janner

I was on the British Power, just passed Gib, light ship Finnart to Banais to load for LEFO. Heard it on my PYE Cambridge.


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## McCloggie

I remember hearing the news as a small boy when I was having my supper.

My father had arrived back home and I was allowed to "stay up" to watch TV (the Harry Worth Show I think!) so when the show was cancelled and all we got was the News I was not pleased!

McC


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## Robin Craythorn

I was third mate on Baron Jedburgh in Mediterranean just passing Cape Bonne
and homeward bound with sugar from Queensland to Liverpool. At about 2100 hrs the R/O came into the chart room and told me the stunning news.

Regards Robin Craythorn


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## johnb42

Heading for "the" West Coast on Ilesha Palm


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## Sabastapol

I was in a coffee bar in Ceuta with a client. We had recently completed putting a bunker line across the mouth of the harbour. I had flown back out from the UK via Gib a day or two before to tie up some 'loose ends'. All eye's were suddenly glued to the TV above the counter, there was little or no conversation, it was an unbelieveable situation as people eyed each other as if to say 'is this true'. I reckon that coffee bar did well that night!


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## stein

I was going home on the "Kolsås" tram in Oslo from a workout at the boxing gym, at the first open air station a lady came on and yelled: "President Kennedy has been shot." 
Those younger than us should try to understand that the world was less cynical at the time, and Kennedy was, not only to Americans, quite the "knight in shining armour." I remember looking into a shop with religious paraphernalia a year later, and there you could buy a combined Jesus and JFK porcelain figure, the two of them on the same base... Stein.


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## Cutsplice

I was on the Nicolas Bowater bound for New York cargo on paper for the New York Times. Remember it very clearly we wre holystoning the decks, Friday afternoon, went for smoko at 1430, most of us were having a beer when one of the ABs appeared in the doorway and told us. We did not believe him and told him to go forth and multiply, he returned a few moments later then we did believe him, we were dumfounded. We did not have a TV set on board but on arrival in NY one was put onboard, on the Sunday morning whilst watching Lee Harvey Oswald in the process of getting transferred by the police we seen him being shot, it was a live broadcast. Everything seemed so unreal with a real sense of loss was felt by the residents of New York made it seem as if it all was a bad dream, New York certainly did not give the impression of a 24 hr city at the time, even the traffic appeared to be in mourning, all very strange.


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## captainjohn

Was a Kings Point deck cadet on US Lines' Pioneer Minx, loading at Pier 13 Staten Island. Was rather PO'd as we had been scheduled to sail that night and ended up spending a cold rainy Thanksgiving weekend at the far end of nowhere (anybody who docked out there will identify). When we did finally sail for the Far East the following Tuesday, I was chipping paint in #4 lower hold bilge wells. When we returned to NY 3 months later, I was chipping paint on the range light platform, and I swear I chipped and primed every square inch between the two on that trip. At least when I became Chief Mate, I knew how long it ought to take to do a section.


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## david.hopcroft

I was Junior RO on the Naess Sovereign on the early watch in the Malacca Straits only just hearing WCC and wondering what the message was all about before his traffic list.

David
+


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## Billieboy

Kennedy has been shot! 
Came down the phone, to me, on the plates. on the 4-8. We were somewhere SE of Colombo headed for Geelong. The mate kept us informed as he'd put Sparks on the shake to get the latest. What worried me was that I'd been in the Florida Strait as JFK was having the showdown with Kroeschov, I didn't know what was going to happen.


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## Macphail

1930 hrs ,Watching the TV in the Birkenhead Arms, prior to sailing from Vittoria dock on the "Antilochus".

John.


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## K urgess

The thing I remember most is "That Was The Week That Was" the next day (Saturday). A shortend programme of 20 minutes with no satire and Millicent Martin's singing of "In the Summer of His years".
I was 17 and had just left school.


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## eldersuk

Sitting in the car listening to the radio, outside a school hall in Bebington waiting for my mother who was in the hall at choir practise.

Derek


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## dom

*dom*

i dont belive Lee Harvy Oswald shot him


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## tonypad

Along side in Port Sudan loading baled cotton, was ashore at the time when ships sirens started blowing with recall signals, there was an expectation that there were sinister moves afoot. Sailed next day for the Peoples Republic of China..Tonypad


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## hughesy

I was 10 years of age remember seing it over and over on the TV.
My Mum told me she was working at the Birds Eye factory at the time it happened, they put the news over the speakers and a lot of the women started crying after hearing it. She told me this years later, which I thought was strange women in Hull UK crying over what happened in Dallas Texas, my
Mum said loads of the women liked JFK. I don't think Oswald was alone in his actions either??

all the best(Thumb)
Hughesy


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## bill connolly

On passage on the Esso Austria bound for the Fawley,and coming through the Mediterranean.


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## Don A.Macleod

Just hours from arrival in Gan on the Matra,went out on deck about 06-30 where I met Charlie Cattanach(anyone remember him?) the 4-8 QM who informed me.Needless to say flags on Gan were at half mast.


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## norman hargraves

*Kennedy Assination*

It was an afternoon watch, homeward Bound to London's Victoria Dock from a memorable trip to Shanghai, on board mv Glenorchy (Glen Line but joined to the Blue Funnel Line) .
We had cleared the Malaccan Straits and we were a couple of days into the Indian Ocean.
500 Kc/s had quietened down, then suddenly a burst of morse ' Kennedy's been shot', i think we then moved down to 425 and continued to chatter.
I just wish i had kept a copy of my log for that day.......

Norman Hargraves (Blue Funnel 1961-1966)


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## Noddy-Billing

Sheltering from adverse weather in Belfast Lough, listening to Radio Luxembourg in the chart room of Naval Armament Vessel 'Nordenfeldt'. Immediately switched over to Voice of America for live transmission from Dallas. Next morning sailed for Fort William for passage through the Caledonian Canal. On arrival at Fort William, learned of the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald. Remember like it was yesterday, yet I cannot remember yesterday!


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## R798780

News came through during a sixth form dance at BAGS (Bishop Auckland Grammar School, originally King James I Grammar School. Had a picture with former pupil Stan Laurel standing outside) Thus I am one of the old bags !!


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## rab.m.

In a chip shop somewhere in Plymouth on shore leave from hms Venus while doing my sea training. regards rab.m.


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## keith ratcliffe

I was on the Silver Isle (Silver Line) Japan bound from Baton Rouge with a cargo of soya beans , our location, the Pacific Ocean south of Midway Island , by chance I kept a record of this voyage which took me tramping around the world


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## Kevin Davies

I was on pilot launch at Wallaroo South Australia when coxswain gave us the news. When I came ashore I was asked to fly the flag at half mast outside the Customs House.


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## Graham P Powell

I was looking after my two sisters as my mum and dad had gone out for the evening. One thing I do remember is taking down the press when I was with Royal Mail and the main story was Aberfan. I could not believe what I was writing down......


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## Graham P Powell

If you watch the archive footage, when Oswald is arrested he says "I'm the patsy". I don't think he acted alone either.


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## Mick farmer

Just left Khor al Amaya Iraq bound for Kwinana British Talent


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## Killisport

In a taxi during a pub crawl in Gosport


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## billmaca

In between boats, and working for the N/Z EXPRESS Co on one of there trucks going from Aukland to Papatoetoe, stoped at trafic lights when one of the same Co drivers going the other way shouted the news over


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## pandegee

Anchored off Lyttleton, New Zealand......... R/O with Union Steamship Company of New Zealand.


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## barrinoz

John Rogers said:


> I was in the process of Skinning and gutting a caribou I had just shot in Alaska.
> 
> 
> John


Sure it wasn't a squirrel, John?
I was doing my normal Saturday home chores, on my hands and knees scrubbing the hallway floor (any kids out there- take note) and looking up to see the absolute look of horror on my Mum's face. We didn't have T.V., just the radio.
barrinoz.


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## CLIVE R786860

At anchor in Tokyo bay on the Trevaylor,we were stunned.


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## cunamara

I was enjoying a dram at the Royal Gourock Yacht Club. The steward came in to tell us the news and the Commodore ordered the bar and club closed.


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## stores

Hi, I Was On Mv Salinas Psnc, Just Entering Panama Canal Westbound, All The Local Radio Stations Were Broadcasting About It As Unconfirmed Reports, Then They Said Its Just Been Confirmed By The Bbc In London, Only Then Was It Believed.


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## Moulder

stores said:


> Hi, I Was On Mv Salinas Psnc, Just Entering Panama Canal Westbound, All The Local Radio Stations Were Broadcasting About It As Unconfirmed Reports, Then They Said Its Just Been Confirmed By The Bbc In London, Only Then Was It Believed.


Ah yes - 'Auntie' had a good reputation in those days. 
(Thumb)


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## Cisco

cunamara said:


> I was enjoying a dram at the Royal Gourock Yacht Club. The steward came in to tell us the news and the Commodore ordered the bar and club closed.


Miserable bugger....
I was in Port Elizabeth.
Funny thing is that in the not to distant past it was always 'everyone remembers where they were....' 
not now... now its everyone over 60 yo... 
And the thing about how wonderful he was and everyone loved him etc etc etc...
Obviously everyone didn't.. otherwise he wouldn't have been shot.... 

PS I remember where I was when I read that the Andrea Doria had sunk....
Warrugul Rd , Burwood, homeward bound from the tram, just passing the hedge which I used to lob my uneaten lunch sangers into on my way home from school.....


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## kewl dude

I was F/WT on the Joseph H Thompson, up bound light we were tied up at a fuel pier just downriver from Sarnia, Ontario.

Greg Hayden


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## stores

*bbc*



Moulder said:


> Ah yes - 'Auntie' had a good reputation in those days.
> (Thumb)


i agree, it had not de generated to what it is today,


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## lesbryan

I was sat in the mess at Ganges more than likely writing a letter home and mentioning to my mam as we heared it on the radio


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## deckboypeggy

In Sydney, gangway man,watchman. solo as per usuall i told all the deck crew [told to go and multiply] and that is about it, hovering to get up to MONTYS .the GLOUCESTER fedral line


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## Dutchy62

A lowly second R/O on MV ***berland, I was leaning over the side watching the waters of the Panama Canal drift by when the chief sparks came out and told me about Kennedy. I of course responded with "yeah yeah" to which he retorted "cynical bugger" and disappeared back inside.


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## GWB

On the way home 5 days from docking in Southampton on SS Southern Cross


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## Denis Picot

Was R/o on the ' Beaver Elm " a C.P.S. 3000 tonner and we were running up the Canadian lakes from Europe. I think we were somewhere near Detroit and I was as usual in the officer's rabbit hutch watching T.V. on my own ( everyone else worked when going up the lakes !! ) when the news broke. I was up to the bridge like a bat out of hell to tell the Skipper & Pilot. Next thing, the rabbit hutch of a lounge was brim full with viewers and the rest is history. We were subjected to SIX days/24 hours a day PROGRAMMES of the assassination on T.V. with nothing else to watch. Ruined my trip !!!


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## landoburns

I was in Zeebrugge, Belgium. I had just joined a Greek liberty-ship SS "Ekali" as R/O. She had been laid up there for about 2 years and was quite a mess. It was my first Greek ship, I was the only 'foreigner' on board, and I could not speak a word of Greek. I heard the item in the radio room and hurried down to the messroom to try to convey the shocking news, holding imaginery guns to my head and repeating "Kennedy". The Greeks thought I was mad (they had obviously sailed with other British R/O's ) but I finally got the message across. 

Many years later I was sailing on an Arab-owned ship when President Sadat of Egypt was assassinated - it was a bit of a shock when I relayed that message and virtually every Arab officer on board started celebrating wildly.


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## Noddy-Billing

Denis Picot said:


> Was R/o on the ' Beaver Elm " a C.P.S. 3000 tonner and we were running up the Canadian lakes from Europe. I think we were somewhere near Detroit and I was as usual in the officer's rabbit hutch watching T.V. on my own ( everyone else worked when going up the lakes !! ) when the news broke. I was up to the bridge like a bat out of hell to tell the Skipper & Pilot. Next thing, the rabbit hutch of a lounge was brim full with viewers and the rest is history. We were subjected to SIX days/24 hours a day PROGRAMMES of the assassination on T.V. with nothing else to watch. Ruined my trip !!!


I don't think it did much for the Kennedy family, either!


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## guinnessmick

i was on the swan river(houlders) in Yokohama Japan we had all been ashore and the gangway man told us when the news when the liberty boat brought us all back aboard it was a shock


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## rusty1946

I was in Key West at the time

Bruce


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi

I remember being in Secondary School when Kennedy was shot, I still remember how shocked everybody was.
On another topic I was alongside in Alexandria when Sadat was assassinated, immediately a curfew was imposed and the ships were guarded by naval personnel. These were armed with sub-machine guns the only thing was there were no magazines in the weapons and no ammunition had been issued because Sadet was killed during a military parade and it was not clear if the military as a whole could be trusted so it appears very few units were issued with ammunition. From memory the curfew lasted about 3 days and then everything back to normal. 

Cheers


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## Pat Thompson

Greetings,

Northbound in the Suez Canal in MV Kepwickhall


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## Ray Mac

Running between Sorrel and Mississippi ports.


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## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,
Everybody of a certain age remembers where they were when Kennedy was shot.
The same could be said of 9/11 for people younger.
I was in Yanbu Saudi Arabia just after coming alongside on a tanker. On sky news
there was a news flash that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre
and then a few minutes later that another plane had also crashed into the centre.
First reports said up to 20,000 people killed, that was because that's how many people worked there. 
There was only one other european onboard which was the master,
I went on to the bridge and told him, he did not believe me at first. 
Apart from that the subject was never mentioned by the other people onboard. 
It was as though it never happened.

Cheers


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## Brian Twyman

I still vividly remember turning on TV whilst home on leave... and saw the breaking news of Kennedy.

Likewise I was having a coffee in a cafe when breaking news of the death of Princess Diana was on the radio.

I got up to get ready for work and the 9/11 was top early morning news in NZ.

But I cannot remember what I had for dinner two days ago.

Isn't memory marvellous ?

Brian


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## RayL

I had come home after a day at radio college and was preparing to go out and meet socially a teacher who was at the school I used to attend - quite a red letter day for me already, therefore.

I watched the national TV news as I made my preparations, and suddenly it was interrupted by a report that shots had been fired at Kennedy as he was driven through Dallas. It stated that he had been wounded and taken to hospital. Then the male newsreader paused, no doubt being briefed through his earphone, and he looked at the camera with a disbelieving, shocked expression and said "I am sorry to say that President Kennedy - is dead". His voice rose a tone on that last word, almost like a question.

Catching the bus to my meeting with the teacher, I naturally broke the awful news to strangers I met, so no doubt their recollections start with "I caught a bus and this young bloke broke the news to us".

Unfortunately I failed to find the right pub so it took a further 45 years for me to meet the teacher in question!


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## Basil

> I was enjoying a dram at the Royal Gourock Yacht Club. The steward came in to tell us the news and the Commodore ordered the bar and club closed.


What a miserable barsteward! Who was it? (I'm from Greenock and worked at TEE next door)
I was alongside in Helsinki and we said "Oh dear, how dreadful, never mind, eh?" and went for a beer.

Correction - wrong YC - thinking of Greenock Yacht Club which I'm not sure still exists.
Came close to being written off at RGYC whilst diving on big Nick's mooring. Several cwt of chain became snagged above me as I waited on the bottom for it to arrive


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## John Farrell

3rd Engineer Dry dock Japan


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## chadburn

As I have indicated in my #13 the immediate reaction in the Hotel was the Russian's were to blame but the more I hear and read about it the more it lean's toward's possible Mafia involvement especially as one of Kennedy's female "consort's" was directly linked with both, his campaign funding was set up by his Father who also had Mafia link's where it was believed some of the money came from.


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## lazyjohn

I was eleven years old, at home. 

I had this magic stuff for removing rust from my bike wheel rims and didn't understand why everybody was so sad.


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## brian3

walking down boogie street early in the morning hangover after a great night
out the girl called me back saying kennedy shot i was so upset as at that time 
he was the one guy the youth of the world could relate to (mabey later our thought's changed)
brian


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## Dickyboy

It was the year before I went to sea. I was at a Boy Scout meeting when we got the news. 1 minutes silence then got sent home.
As an aside, Abe Lincoln was shot in the back of the head on April 14, 1865. Which was a Good Friday (Not so good for him I suppose) He died the following day.


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## alex page

Galverston to Tampa on the M/V Pipiriki having lunch and the 2R/O on meal relief phoned down with the news. Alex


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## keithsparks

i was on a salvage tug in Falmouth bay when some idiotic loon sent CQ on 500kcs followed by kennedy has been shot in Dallas it nearly blasted me out of the radio room so goodness knows what it did to GLD other than maybe wakening him up


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## woodend

At sea as Extra Second Mate on the AUREOL and I was attempting to catch a poor innocent fruit bat that had managed to get aboard and was annoying the passengers by hanging upside down from one of THEIR deck chairs. The Captain announced the assassination over the tannoy system.


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## len mazza

Just finished 2nd Cooks course at Red Ensign Club,having a couple of beers with
my classmates before going our seperate ways.
Len Mazza R621945.


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## Moulder

Can't remember .................. (?HUH)

(Thumb)


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## w.craig

Onduty in the radio room of the City of London bound London from Cape Town. We were off the West African coast at the time.


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## sparks69

I was at school in Nottingham dreaming of going to sea as a Sparks.


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## papayanni

At sea near Malta on Ellerman & Papayanni Venetian. We arrived Malta morning of 23rd. I notice that my dairy makes no mention of the big event!


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## Pat Kennedy

Many years later, I was sitting in the bar in a big hotel in Cebu City, when I got talking to an American who was sitting drinking with his Filipina wife at the next table. On hearing that my name was Kennedy, he became expansive, and told me the following; 
It seems he was a US Navy ensign on duty at the Pentagon on the night after Kennedy was killed.
He told me that he got the distinct impression that his superiors knew it was going to happen, and that the whole thing was orchestrated by LBJ.
In his view the stories of mafia involvement were just smoke and mirrors.
I guess we will never know the truth about this, but I do not for one minute, believe the official version of events. There are too many inconsistencies.


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## John David Mair

*Kennedy*

I was R/O on the Olivia Maersk, departing Athens for Suez.
Everyone was quite stunned at the news. We then kept tuned into the BBC.


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## terry morrow

*kennedy jfk*

Hi All 
On nov 22nd 1963 I was at sea heading for CHRISTMAS ISLAND in 
The INDIAN OCEAN, It was 6am and the sparky broke the news of
The death of JFK, All hands were shocked at this news, he was in my
Opinion he was a breath of fresh air in world politics, he wanted to 
Change so many things, they never gave him a chance.R.I.P JFK.
Regards Terry.


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## Harry Nicholson

I'd gone ashore and was working in TV. The announcement was made while we were in the canteen of ITN. There was a scramble to the newsroom and the technical areas. A lot of meals went cold that day.


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## J. Davies

At my aunt's house in London eating spaghetti and glued to the black and white box.


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## OliverD

I was an Engineman on the U.S.S. Irex (SS 482),and we were doing sub school ops off New London, Conn. that day. I was assigned as mess cook and I was cleaning the galley before noon chow. Monty, the radioman (RM1 Montgomery) stuck his head aft and told us before he went up to give the msg to the skipper. Pretty quick the old man came on the 1MC and told the whole crew about the shooting.


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## Shipbuilder

I was R/O in ore carrier SAGAMORE at the time. Hot sweaty night off West Africa, on watch. Suddenly, the unshaven face of the AB on lookout became framed in the brass porhole and he just said "Kennedy's been assassinated, sparks!" After all these years, I still have total recall of the image of the AB framed by the porthole in perfect clarity, so shocked was I at the statement.
Bob


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## Basil

woodend,


> The Captain announced the assassination over the tannoy system.


 . . of the President or the fruit bat? (*))


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## Barmyclaresdad

Crossing Biscay on Ragusa Northbound


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## keith ratcliffe

I have noted Pat Kennedy's entry 27th April 2011 refering to LBJ having knowledge of the Kennedy assasination. Some years ago whilst on holiday in America I purchased a book "Blood, Money and Power" - How L.B.J. killed J.F.K. The author Barr McClelland. Noted L.B.J. Authority and Personnal Attorney. The book is a very interesting read and presents clear evidence implicating L.B.J. For anyone interested in the subject, a book worth getting hold of.


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## reefrat

Moulder said:


> Ah yes - 'Auntie' had a good reputation in those days.
> (Thumb)


Too true.Was in the "Sun In Splendour" pub in Notting Hill Gate when my mate, a sub editor in the Beeb news room told me, talk about straight from the horses mouth.
As an aside, on another occaison, he also told me he had moved his family out of London as a result of monitoring live info about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Creepy


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## WEST

Loading timber in Vancouver on M.V. Skycrest when the Old Man said quite casually "it's just been on the news somebody has had a pop at Kennedy" Some pop !!!!


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## JohnMac068

I was sailing across the Atlantic, from Teneriffe to Barbados on a 43ft steel yacht belonging to the Man Dir of the 3M co. in the UK. Myself and two French uni students. We just happened to switch our SW radio on, as it was announced, an event always remembered.


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## sheringham

3/O on Mobil Apex, Discharging oil products at Abidjan. Spent half of the day on the beach with a beer, the R/O and the off watch engineers.
It didn't seem real somehow!


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## R719220

On Trader Navigation's _Scottish Trader/GHXU_ on the West coast, fm LA bnd Frisco.


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## Worldspan

I was the AEO (Air Electronics Officer) on a Vulcan bomber. We'd done our practice radar bombing and were on a long leg somewhere over the North Sea. The skipper asked me to get Radio Luxembourg (208 m) on the radio compass so that we could listen to some pop. I tuned around but Luxembourg was broadcasting sombre music; I couldn't understand why and abandoned the search. When we landed and opened the door, the ground crew told us what had happened.

W


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## Jocko

I was home on leave fiddling with my marine radio when I tuned into the States and heard the news. I remember opening my bedroom window and shouting the news to passers by. 
At that time nobody knew what really happened but today we know different. All the witnesses mysteriously died. Jack Ruby just walks into the police station and shoots Harvey Lee Oswald then just happens to get cancer and die in prison.
Marlynn Munroe a suicide? I doubt it. When Bobby Kennedy was killed they arrested and charged a man with a handgun. This gun had I presume six rounds in the magazine yet around the doorway where Kennedy was shot there was about sixteen bullet holes. I rest my case.


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## SparksG1714

Was listening to shortwave VOA during my PMG course at Soton.
Digs with a Polish family there who didn't believe what I told them. Seem to recall it was some 45 mins later that Beeb did their TV announcements.


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## RayL

In response to Pat Kennedy's #83, keith ratcliffe's #92 and Jocko's #99.

We have to be wary of conspiracy theories and not be too willing to jump on band wagons that add numbers up for us and try to convince us that the answer is therefore 'x'. It's only a few years ago that we were being assured that the Moon landings were a hoax; then the Japanese satellite circling the Moon provided incontrovertible evidence that they weren't, and you notice that the theorists have shuffled quietly away and have nothing to say to us about their ridiculous statements.

A few years ago the details of the Kennedy assassination were given a fresh analysis using all the computerised aids that were not available when the Warren Commission was doing its work (trajectory analysis, relative positions of witnesses, etc., etc.) and it absolutely confirmed what we were told at the time. i.e. that Lee Harvey Oswald, an oddball acting alone, killed the president and then fled to a cinema.

Nightclub owner Jack Ruby shooting Oswald and going to prison, then contracting cancer and dying - why should those happenings tell us that LBJ set the whole thing in motion?

If there was anything in the stories you have heard, don't you think the word would have spread and they would by now have become common currency? The world is full of guys in the pub who have a handle on "what is really going on". Should we believe them all, and by the way still believe that the Moon landings never happened?


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## Split

There are,indeed, many theories about this. Novels have been written, too, which is, probably, where a lot of these stories belong.

An interesting idea by RJ Ellory, "Candlemoth" links the the killings of the two Kennedys, the disgracing of Edward Kennedy and the murder of King, to the KKK and the racial problems that were rife during that period.

It is strange that the entire trio of Kennedy politicians were wiped out of American politics. Too many coincidences, in my opinion.


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## trevor page

Was just getting out of bed at 5 Brighton st Island Bay Wellington NZ.


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## ssr481

Split said:


> ....It is strange that the entire trio of Kennedy politicians were wiped out of American politics. Too many coincidences, in my opinion.


Not the entire Kennedy politician clan.. Joe Kennedy Jr. was killed in August 1944 whilst flying a PB4Y-1 (B-24) drone (after the explosion, the largest piece of the plane found was a cylinder head) on an Aphrodite mission .. there were/are thoughts that he would have run for office had he survived WWII. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kennedy_Jr. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aphrodite#Mission_theory


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## rusty1946

I was based in Key West at that date


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## Binnacle

On passage, Nagoya/Long Beach, mv Saldanha. Second mate phoned me from the bridge. Tuned in Halicrafter and heard live US radio coverage. In long Beach when he was buried, longshoremen insisted we put courtesy flag at half mast.


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## alan ward

I was on my way with my mates to a dance in Essex somewhere.Another friend Terry joined the train in South Woodford and gave us the news,an older man in the carriage said`Don`t talk such rubbish you should be ashamed of yourself`and gave him a right public bolicking,I wonder how he felt when HE got home.


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## Newcastle Star

I was R/O on the Esso Africa anchored Bombay Roads waiting for the replacement deck and engine room crew to arrive. I went on deck and saw various ships flying at half mast and found out what had happened. Again, the R/O last to find out.

Vernon R738130


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## roger carey

*seadog*

i was on punishment scrubbing the galley deck with a toothbrush on November 23rd 1963, we all got summoned to the "gym" area to be informed, it was about 2000hrs if i remember correctly, we all expected war to break out with the Russkies,


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## jamesgpobog

I was 12 yeas old, and was walking across the east end of the running track at Lincoln Junior High school in Santa Monica, CA. I remember the adults then and for the next couple days being REALLY freaked out.

Now...about the assassination itself. In general I do not tend to be conspiratorially oriented. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. BUT I believe there is more to the assassination than we are told, and I think whatever his role (some actually think Oswald was a mole in the conspiracy and was trying to prevent it, but was set up) he was not alone.

There is one event that has always been a very powerful factor in my belief. It is something that happened to me personally. I have written elsewhere on this forum about my Polish stepdad. He was an intel agent for the Brits in WWII, a spy, in the Polish Clandestine Radio Service. Real cloak-and-dagger stuff.

Oswald had been arrested and was going to be moved. This was Sunday, 24 Nov. 1963. Remember, there was no such thing as 'instant replay' then. The shooting of Oswald was broadcast LIVE.

I was outside playing when I heard my father very agitated and calling to me as he ran outside the house "Get inside...get inside NOW...they're going to kill Oswald".

I ran inside the house and watched Oswald get shot on live television.

Dad called the event before it happened.

Many years later, sometime in the 90's I asked him about it, how had he been able to do that?

He told me that as he was watching the scene...the television wasting time waiting for the Oswald move, he recognized the scene, he recognized the setup as a set piece that he had learned in 'spy school'.

It's not evidence, but it was pretty convincing to me...


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## ecb

*waipawa*



Pat Kennedy said:


> I was AB on the Waipawa in Glasgow.
> Pat


Small world Pat was A/S on the Waipawa in Glasgow meself,did'nt go Deep Sea,
ecb


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## harryredvers

I'd just come out of the Cecil Cinema in Hull with my girlfriend ( I don't remember what film we had seen) and we were crossing over the road to go to the Merchant Navy Hotel in Anlaby Road when a lady crossing the road in the other direction said to us, "Isn't it terrible, they've shot the president". She, the old lady, was very upset but I was bemused. I was watching the traffic and thinking, "What president?" For some reason I had Ellerman's Wilson on my mind at the time. When we got into the MN Hotel a few minutes later I realised who she was talking about. It was a dark, wet evening, about nine-o-clock.


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## Pat Kennedy

ecb said:


> Small world Pat was A/S on the Waipawa in Glasgow meself,did'nt go Deep Sea,
> ecb


A funny old ship wasnt she, with a big engine room crowd all from Scottie Rd
I never went deep sea in her either, I shipped out on a rock dodger called Vacuum Pioneer.
regards, 
Pat(Pint)


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## cueball44

jamesgpobog said:


> I was 12 yeas old, and was walking across the east end of the running track at Lincoln Junior High school in Santa Monica, CA. I remember the adults then and for the next couple days being REALLY freaked out.
> 
> Now...about the assassination itself. In general I do not tend to be conspiratorially oriented. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. BUT I believe there is more to the assassination than we are told, and I think whatever his role (some actually think Oswald was a mole in the conspiracy and was trying to prevent it, but was set up) he was not alone.
> 
> There is one event that has always been a very powerful factor in my belief. It is something that happened to me personally. I have written elsewhere on this forum about my Polish stepdad. He was an intel agent for the Brits in WWII, a spy, in the Polish Clandestine Radio Service. Real cloak-and-dagger stuff.
> 
> Oswald had been arrested and was going to be moved. This was Sunday, 24 Nov. 1963. Remember, there was no such thing as 'instant replay' then. The shooting of Oswald was broadcast LIVE.
> 
> I was outside playing when I heard my father very agitated and calling to me as he ran outside the house "Get inside...get inside NOW...they're going to kill Oswald".
> 
> I ran inside the house and watched Oswald get shot on live television.
> 
> Dad called the event before it happened.
> 
> Many years later, sometime in the 90's I asked him about it, how had he been able to do that?
> 
> He told me that as he was watching the scene...the television wasting time waiting for the Oswald move, he recognized the scene, he recognized the setup as a set piece that he had learned in 'spy school'.
> 
> It's not evidence, but it was pretty convincing to me...


If Oswald had of been in UK custody he would not have been shot. In the UK prisoners being moved around while in custody can't be attacked by the public because they enter prison/police vehicles directly from the building that they are being held. I have always wondered why Oswald was brought out into the open where Ruby could shoot him. At least this story could have been cut and dried if he had of been protected until his trial.


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## jamesgpobog

cueball44 said:


> If Oswald had of been in UK custody he would not have been shot. In the UK prisoners being moved around while in custody can't be attacked by the public because they enter prison/police vehicles directly from the building that they are being held. I have always wondered why Oswald was brought out into the open where Ruby could shoot him. At least this story could have been cut and dried if he had of been protected until his trial.


 Actually, it wasn't out in the open, it was in the basement garage of the police building. It was a heavy media presence we see, and of course Jack Ruby. Ruby got access by coming down an unguarded (I think) ramp to the lower garage. He was also known as a sort of cop 'groupie', hanging around the building.


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## trotterdotpom

I reckon Marilyn Monroe's Dad did it.

John T


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## jamesgpobog

trotterdotpom said:


> I reckon Marilyn Monroe's Dad did it.
> 
> John T


You might be on to something...


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## cueball44

Was Oswald ever asked why he did not pay when he entered the theatre?.


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## Huytonbrian

Just docked, Kingston, Jamacia, on MV Administrator, T & J Harrison line.


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## jamesgpobog

cueball44 said:


> Was Oswald ever asked why he did not pay when he entered the theatre?.


I'm not sure we know what he was asked.


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## Ken Butler

I was a cadet at Warsash


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## cueball44

jamesgpobog said:


> I'm not sure we know what he was asked.


I have read quite a bit of what he said, it all seems to have happened so quickly, and he was calm when he left the building, it all went wrong when the police officer stopped a person (or him) when he left his home address and headed for the theatre, as you know, the officer was shot 4 times and killed, i have not read anywhere the reason why the person was stopped by the officer, but from then on Oswald started (or appeared) to act suspiciously and was seen entering the theatre without paying and that is how he came to be arrested. I also can't get my head round why, if he had just shot and killed a police officer, why then didn't he empty his gun at those wanting to arrest him inside the theatre. When asked why he was carrying a gun, he said "i just felt like it".


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## cueball44

Kennedy was shot at 12:30pm, Oswald boarded a bus at 12:40, he transferred from the bus and took a taxi, he arrived home at 1:00pm, he left a few minutes later. Next seen almost a mile from his home at 1:15pm (where the officer was shot). The police where informed after Oswald was seen entering the theatre at 1:40pm, Oswald was arrested and arrived at the police department building at 2:00pm. All that happened in 90 minutes.


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## trotterdotpom

Did Oswald remember where he was when Kennedy was shot?

John T


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## jamesgpobog

trotterdotpom said:


> Did Oswald remember where he was when Kennedy was shot?
> 
> John T


As far as I know. I don't think he ever denied being in the TSD.


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## Peter_LT

IMRCoSparks said:


> Does anyone have any special recollections of what they were doing on November 22 1963?
> 
> I remember it really well. We were just completing a 60 day Mediterranean & Black Sea cruise aboard RMS Caronia. Our passengers were 90% American.
> 
> November 22nd was the final day. We were steaming from Cherbourg to Southampton to disembark the remaining passengers before the ship's annual layup. All five of us were in the Radio Room and very busy with phone patches & arrival telegrams.
> 
> A couple of the catering staff came in and wanted to know why we were'nt relaying any news broadcasts throughout the ship. I think probably half the ship and probably all the passengers knew what had happened. The only ones who didn't were the R/O's.
> 
> Ken


Hello Folks,

I know this is a bit of an old thread revival, but, as the Caronia Timeline webmaster, I'm here on a bit of a mission.

When I first put together the November 1963 page of Caronia's travels, I had her already in lay-up on the 22nd, so thought nothing more of it. However, as I'm going through my ephemera I come across a bunch of old daily programme cards for the cruise that Ken mentions. Lo and behold, the ship isn't in lay-up but not long out of Cherbourg. The time of the shooting would be 19:30hrs French time and aboard ship the clocks would be half way through their one-hour stoppage to accord with GMT.

So, quite when dinner was being served is moot. It shows as 7.30pm in the programme which, if it's after the clock stoppage, is an hour after the shooting. So, I came here to look for the possibility of someone being on the Caronia that night. In the theatre there was a movie planned, but I'm guessing that the profound loss felt by everyone would mean the theatre becoming a "chapel" instead. Would there have been a book of condolence produced?

I cannot imagine that the top brass on board were not aware and didn't act. This especially on a ship with such close ties with America, to the point that even as a British ship, the USD was its currency.

To answer Ken's question, I was on my 2nd trip aboard the Transvaal Castle, 9 days out of So'ton and 5 away from Cape Town. We'd not long finished our shift as "callender boys" in the laundry. My everlasting reminder of the day was walking past the fish-prep pantry and watching a bunch of freshly prepared Sole fillets, readied for the steamer, slide along the bench on their stainless steel trays, reach the end of the bench and empty into a rosie...

Also, I need to ask Ken what the Ocean Times process was, who was involved etc. When I joined the Caronia in 1964 as a Commis, we had to collect the finished article and sometimes it was a single sheet and others a double. As far as ephemera goes I have a copy of the very first OT produced on board Caronia, including its multi-page insert all about building the ship. But I digress, it's info about events on the Caronia on the Kennedy shooting night I'm after.


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## sparks69

.....dreaming of going to sea as a Sparks.......


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## Neil McInnes

Just got home after paying off ATHELCREST in Amsterdam


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## oceantramp

Loading grain in Sorel Canada


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## spongebob

Z


Neil McInnes said:


> Just got home after paying off ATHELCREST in Amsterdam


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## spongebob

I was in the waiting room of the Auckland Mater Maternity hospital awaiting the birth of my son when the news broke
. Being a Catholic hospital the news was galvanising and there were 
Nursing sisters and others running around , crying and generally distressed by the news 

Bob


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## pippin

Kennedy:
At Bristol Tech in the first term doing my PMG. I can picture the scene exactly - just going into church for choir practice.

I can also remember a momentous event in January 1966. "What was that?" I hear you ask.
Well, the Prime Minister of Nigeria was assassinated.
I was 2nd R/O on the City of Port Elizabeth GPLC. During the night watch I had to take down the Wireless Press in *Morse* for the ship's newspaper. 
That's how I know all about *Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.*
I think I spelt his name differently in each of the following days editions - terrible interference (QRM)!!

9/11:
I was repairing a TV in a customer's lounge. I got it going just as the news broke. 
Spent the rest of the afternoon watching it with the customer!


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## marconiman

Arriving in Portland Main, E coast USA. Immediately all the commercial radio stations played sombre music. Ashore shop windows adorned in black material around pictures of JFK. Bars were open, drinking age was 21 and over I think. Managed to get served though only 18, barman hadn't asked for obligatory shore pass. Some bars refused.
Mike R775978


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## Dimples82

Forget about JFK, What about Elvis ?


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## pippin

Elvis is NOT dead!


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## Varley

Well, he has been in there an awfully long time.


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