# best port?



## oca999 (Aug 16, 2015)

Must be port louis Mauritius. Loading sugar...took a month..radio room sealed off!!!!! (==D)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Sadly I never made Port Louis ... that was when Marconi and I parted company. Had a similar experience in Fiji though. 

John T


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

home port

B\)


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

Bahia Blanca of course!

Taff


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

tsell said:


> Bahia Blanca of course!
> 
> Taff


White Bay in Sydney had it's moments too, Taff, once you'd clawed your way up the steps to Balmain. Not up to your Patagonian memories though.

John T


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

Troppo said:


> home port
> 
> B\)




DITTO.(Thumb)


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## A.D.FROST (Sep 1, 2008)

any where in Kiwi(except Bluff)(Hippy)


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## Keith Adkins (Apr 21, 2006)

Whats wrong with Bluff, had a marvellous time there bartaring 20 **** for a large bucket of prawns


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## A.D.FROST (Sep 1, 2008)

Keith Adkins said:


> Whats wrong with Bluff, had a marvellous time there bartaring 20 **** for a large bucket of prawns


aka A.O.T.W (It was'nt me that gave its title,buts true)(Ouch)


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

Thought that was the Hooghley and Calcutta is found 40 miles up it.


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## NZSCOTTY (May 20, 2006)

A.D.FROST said:


> aka A.O.T.W (It was'nt me that gave its title,buts true)(Ouch)


Thought that was Sunderland


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Keith Adkins said:


> Whats wrong with Bluff, had a marvellous time there bartaring 20 **** for a large bucket of prawns


I knew a bloke from Bluff in Grimsby. When I first went to Bluff I thought I might look him up but when I was about to ask about him in a pub, I realised that I only knew him as "Kiwi".

John T

PS These days you'd have to hand over about ten buckets of prawns for a packet of ****.


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## dave beaumont (Jul 2, 2005)

Tamatave Madagascar.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Keith Adkins said:


> Whats wrong with Bluff, had a marvellous time there bartaring 20 **** for a large bucket of prawns


Are you sure they were prawns Keith?
Bluff is famous for its oysters, perhaps the very best but I have never struck prawns there.

Bob


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## john hardy (Nov 4, 2005)

I liked tamatave too.


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## TOM ALEXANDER (Dec 24, 2008)

Nanaimo (Harmac) British Columbia, Canada - met my wife there in October '56.Married since '60 --- still married --- still in Nanaimo. (Thumb)


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## DURANGO (Aug 22, 2005)

Recefi Brazil took some beating


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Osaka. A group of English dancing girls.

The 4th engineer and I brought 10 of them back to the ship.

We drank free for about 2 months.


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## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

Nelson NZ.


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## Ray Mac (Sep 22, 2007)

Belem, Brasil.


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## Keith Adkins (Apr 21, 2006)

They definitely weren't oysters!


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## Quiney (Oct 2, 2008)

oca999 said:


> Must be port louis Mauritius. Loading sugar...took a month..radio room sealed off!!!!! (==D)


I was there in 77, anchored in the bay, loading 18000 tonnes, split bag.
But I don't recall having the radio room sealed off.

I ran a ferry service to shore using the jolly boat. Fixed the cine projector up at the Mission (got one working out of the two) Carved a plaque (City of Canterbury) and left it on the wall at the mission amidst the RN ones!
Still have the Mah Jong set that I bought at the market there, but can't remember what happened to the dried puffer fish.

But an alternative port was Georgetown Guyana.


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## lakercapt (Jul 19, 2005)

Remember lots of ports with fond memories,
Port Pirie S.A.
Georgetown Guayana
Durban R.S.A. before the ANC took over
Whyalla S.A. (Just kidding) Nauru (ditto)


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## saudisid (Mar 17, 2014)

Duncan112 said:


> Thought that was the Hooghley and Calcutta is found 40 miles up it.


No Kidderpore Docks 123 Miles up it from Sandheads Pilot Station.


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## Bridie (Oct 9, 2006)

53 years ago on the Catalina Star - *Apia, Samoa*. Only had one full day anchored off, but got ashore.

Probably the fact that it was so long ago, my first "proper" port of call, looked like something out of a Bounty Bar advert and me coming from a wee rural inland town in Scotland has tinted my glasses with a rosy hue.


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## Paul Braxton (Jul 21, 2005)

Port Bowden, or Port Morant, Jamaica, SE coast. Loading sugar and lots of free time to trek up through the bush to the corrugated iron shed they used to use for a pub. Bloke with dogs chased us naked with a knife when we used to chuck rocks at his hounds. (Him naked, not us.) Chinese girl who's dad used to own a sort of warehouse down by the 'port'. Had a pack of 30 or more mongrel dogs which I had a run in with once on my way back from the bush. Good old Jamaica! Good old sugar run!


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## Barber Hector (Jan 13, 2008)

Blue Funnel and Glen Line dominated ports of Singapore and Hong Kong. Especially when we had Chinese crew; they had channels both ends of the voyage at London/Liverpool and Hong Kong.
Sydney cant been beaten of course.


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## William Clark8 (Feb 15, 2013)

*Port*

Moji in Japan (Whaaa)


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## Lewis (Mar 2, 2008)

Always looked forward to Kobe


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## Bill Greig (Jul 4, 2006)

Dunedin, NZ. First trip happy memories.


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## Tony Drury (Apr 23, 2007)

John - seemed to remember you swum back to the ship one night while we all took the bum boat = must have been a radio officer thing?? Was either after an evening at the Golden Moon (if it was we were in a taxi and asked a policeman the way and he said looking skyward 'Golden Moon in sky' - Not helpful) or after a night at the seamens club watching bubble gum rally?


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## Quiney (Oct 2, 2008)

You were a bad influence Tony! Do you remember buying the Mah Jong sets (even thought we couldn't play it) Seem to remember that it was the taxi fault, took us to the main port. I nobbled the engine (removed the rotor) and then threatened to swim back because the taxi driver couldn't get the car started.
We also had an all-night session up the road in Copenhagen at the end of that voyage. You returned back onboard just about in time foe your cargo watch.
Notice on another thread that you moved on to Bank Line - ditto!


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## Tony Drury (Apr 23, 2007)

John - we all followed the path well trodden - Bank Line, Uiterwyk, Denholms, Sea Containers ,,,,,,,,,. Still have the Maj Jon set fro Mauritius plus instruction book (still cant play the wretched game) and the City of Cantebury cocktail list (seem to remember you wrote that in the few fleeting spare moments you had off on watch?) Certainly remember Copenhagen as do Liverpool.........


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## Paul Braxton (Jul 21, 2005)

Definitely Barbados. Love to go back, see how it is nowadays since I last saw it in the late '70's.


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## jimthehat (Aug 5, 2006)

used to pop into port Louis on the westbound leg of the oriental african service.One trip they had had a typhoon which had wrecked the place and there was a British and French cruiser in the harbour and they had working parties ashore helping out the locals,we were unable to load cargo so we were also asked to send crew ashore to heliport out the port,I think that we ended up there for a couple of weeks,
jim


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## Jim Harris (Mar 16, 2008)

Manaus, up the Amazon.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

jimthehat said:


> used to pop into port Louis on the westbound leg of the oriental african service.


While at anchor somewhere off the East African coast (probably Beira) I read through the entries in the Admiralty Sailing Directions for that part of the world, including Madagascar. Although I had never been there, nor ever got there afterwards, Port Louis stuck in my mind because the Sailing Directions contained a warning that syphilis was endemic there. 

Don't know when the directions were written, nor if the allegation was true but whenever I come across the name of the place, the mud has definitely stuck.


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## Fergie (Mar 3, 2007)

In this order
Home port
Hong Kong
Port Pirie, is was cooler down below than on deck


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Apia, Western Samoa was idyllic in those days, laying at anchor loading bananas off barges , cargo worker gangs belonging to each island religion so that we could use the Seventh Day Adventists to work on Sundays when the other Christian groups wouldn't.
They all used to sing in harmony while at work, balmy weather, cold Becks beer,
bags of overtime, as the ship was kept in readiness to sail at all times because of weather risks.

Bob


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## tsell (Apr 29, 2008)

Ron Stringer said:


> While at anchor somewhere off the East African coast (probably Beira) I read through the entries in the Admiralty Sailing Directions for that part of the world, including Madagascar. Although I had never been there, nor ever got there afterwards, Port Louis stuck in my mind because the Sailing Directions contained a warning that syphilis was endemic there.
> 
> Don't know when the directions were written, nor if the allegation was true but whenever I come across the name of the place, the mud has definitely stuck.


Barahona, Dominican Republic 1952, weeks loading sugar on the edge of the jungle, we were warned by the German doctor not to touch the local women as 75% of the population were infected with syphilis. Apparently, this was the explanation for most of the street kids suffering shocking deformities.
We weren't advised of this and only found out as we were being patched up after a big fight in a jungle 'bar'.

Taff


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

San Sebastiao - like Skegness but warmer


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Not so bracing I guess.


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## tom roberts (May 4, 2008)

DURANGO said:


> Recefi Brazil took some beating



Ow DUrango Recife? I wouldn't shake hands with any of the women there unless I had thick rubber gloves on and as putting my lower appendage into action not bloody likely we used to call it Recif after that well known social curse that needed a visit to that famous Dr Ross bottom of Park Lane Liverpool which to me was the best port in my 15yrs paid tour of the world,the judies there are the best in the world.Again every port where we had a good time we will always remember with affection ,needless to sa the crap ones are best forgotten for me it was the only two Aussie ports I ever had the misfortune to call at.
.


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## stehogg (Mar 14, 2016)

*Best Port*

Visited a little gem on the Ivory Coast,San Pedro about half a days steaming north from Abidjan,a little paradise with a beautiful beach and really little else but peace and quiet,no doubt any ex Silver line lads will remember it with affection.Dont know if it was true but there were some rather exclusive and individual properties overlooking the beach that belonged to film stars etc.(*))


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## Elders R/O (Jan 23, 2013)

stehogg said:


> Visited a little gem on the Ivory Coast,San Pedro about half a days steaming north from Abidjan,a little paradise with a beautiful beach and really little else but peace and quiet,no doubt any ex Silver line lads will remember it with affection.Dont know if it was true but there were some rather exclusive and individual properties overlooking the beach that belonged to film stars etc.(*))


Yes, I remember San Pedro well and the really awful approach to the harbour. Not much ashore, though there was a nice restaurant about I mile along the coast.

Best place on the West Coast - Lome they even had a bar in one of the sheds.

So, was the call sign 5TA or 5VA?


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## jimg0nxx (Sep 1, 2005)

5VA was Lome and 5TA was Nouadhibou in Mauratania.


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## J. Davies (Dec 29, 2010)

Sorry chaps but you are all wrong.

Best port was during 1980 on board the renowned speciality cruise vessel, MS Lindblad Explorer, along side the wharf at Benoa in Bali for three weeks.

We had planned to pick up a full compliment of 80 passengers in Bali for a cruise of the Indonesian spice islands, but there were too few punters so the cruise was cancelled.

Days and nights ashore sipping gin and tonic at the Bali Hyatt, surfing on Kuta beach and hanging out with Balinese girls.

Eat your hearts out. (==D)


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## richardwakeley (Jan 4, 2010)

Im really eating my heart out! I saw the sparkie job on Linblad Explorer advertised in the South China Morning Post sometime in the late 70s or early 80s, and would really liked to have applied to Swires, but I had just flown out to Hong Kong to join a Blue Funnel ship. I guess you saw the same advert!
Richard


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I saw Lindblad Explorer having some sort of re-fit in Sembewang in the '80s. She ended up sinking at the Antarctic in 2007 under the name of "Explorer".

John T


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## J. Davies (Dec 29, 2010)

Yes indeed John T. Anyone who sailed on her keeps close tabs. Some of us from that era still keep in touch. The Swire skipper spent many years as a Torres Strait pilot after that, now retired. The lecky died of a heart attack thirty years ago. I lost touch with the hairdresser though, nice girl from Cairns.
Loved that ship.


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## alan ward (Jul 20, 2009)

Pre AIDS Mombasa


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## Johnny Walker (Mar 27, 2010)

BANGKOK. Great women, great bars, great food, and some fantastic sights to see when you needed a rest from the other attractions.


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## the brit (Jan 31, 2010)

alan ward said:


> Pre AIDS Mombasa


got to agree Alan first trip paid off sick there but spent a week in and out of the hospital there before flying home from Nairobi what an eyeopener for a 16 year old driving around in sand buggys no licence drinking under age most nights jungle bar gorgeous woman and some not so but after a few brewsky's whoever cared.great train ride from Mombasa to Nairobi and flight back to uk. yes great place to be 
remember lying on the beach in Nyali i think and hearing of the shooting death of john lennon.1980


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

> and hearing of the shooting death of john lennon.1980


I was alongside on a bulk carrier in Durban when I heard that news and didn't believe it at first. I immediately tuned in a local broadcast station and there were Lennon songs one after the other, unbelievable ... shocked .... and stunned.

= Adrian +


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Mr. Lennon is dead?


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## Rinrada (Oct 29, 2008)

*Bangkok..Krungthrep..*

and...45 years later..still here..(Pint)


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

William Clark8 said:


> Moji in Japan (Whaaa)


Moji was special as was Kobe and the surrounding mountains .
Colombo was also special with lots of things to do and see. Derek


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## R.kearsley (May 14, 2012)

moji in japan then port louis


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

#58 . Remember Moji Meri and her giggling girls flogging their junk on board. Rumour had it that she owned the ACB Bar too, dunno if that's true. The Lecky and I plucked a couple of girls from there and whizzed them through the tunnel to Shimonoseki - memorable for all the wrong reasons.

John T


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## TonyAllen (Aug 6, 2008)

Derek Roger said:


> Moji was special as was Kobe and the surrounding mountains .
> Colombo was also special with lots of things to do and see. Derek


oh yes MOJI .FISRT TRIP TO JAPAN .ANCHORED .SO A SAMPAN TO A HOUSE THAT THE CATERING CREW KNEW .WAS LIKE THE WALKING DEAD THE NEXT DAY .BILL JOHNSON THE CHEF "WONDERFUL MAN "
SAID THE BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU IS LEARN TO PACE YOURSELF .AND THEN GAVE ME EVERY JOB POSSIBLE THAT DAY.

LESSON NEVER FORGOTTEN


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

posted by J Davies


> _along side the wharf at Benoa in Bali for three weeks._


I had never heard of the place, BUT: around 1980 on a 270K dwt ore/oil carrier with iron ore to Japan from Brazil, passed Northward through the Lombok Passage and a couple of hours later a wiper fell in the engine-room catching his right leg in a ladder resulting in a compound fracture of both the tibia and fibula. Pumped him full of morphine to lessen the screams and consulted the P & I club as on that course the nearest port which we might have been able to approach looked like being Davao, at least two days away.
P & I said turn around and go to Benoa. It was dark by then so we couldn't see much but were met by some sort of coastal patrol boat with a dozen armed men in uniform on deck. Given the size of the ship, we must have appeared as frightening to them as they were to us. Anyway we got the chap down the gangway and onto the boat with his bag, passport and a note explaining the cir***stances.

Ten days later, in Oita, the company vice-president (US owners) came aboard and said, "that fellow you diverted to land in Bali walked off the plane in Cairo a couple of days ago, all healed up. Do you want him back?" 

I had previously heard tales of miraculous (?) healings being performed in Indonesia, apparently by proper doctors. There must be something in it.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Identity theft?


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## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

I lived in Mauritius for three and a half years and am intrigued as to where the fleshpots of Port Louis where. I must admit that I had my family with me and lived a good clean life. I have often wondered how it appeared to seafarers.


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## Chillytoes (Dec 9, 2006)

An awful lot of 'best ports' have been posted by RO's. Guess they had more time to enjoy them than most of us.
However, I have to put my favourite as Lumut on the west coast of Malaysia. Did two trips there with wheat, the hospitality and the food was such that you tended to look forward to your gear turn, so you could actually get some sleep!


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## bluemoon (Jul 19, 2009)

I totally agree with you about Lumut. Was there 3 times, also with wheat for the flour mill and had a great time.

The local people were very friendly and could not do enough for us. We always played a football match against them each visit and then they laid on a feast at the local Ding Dings club. To reciprocate, we invited them on board for a table tennis tournament followed by drinks and a buffet.

Needless to say they "whipped" us at both football and table tennis,but everyone had a great time.

From what I can gather, Lumut is now unrecognisable from the "old days". There is a large Malaysian Navy base there and the island just off the entrance to the port is now an exclusive 5*resort.


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## J. Davies (Dec 29, 2010)

Naytikos said:


> posted by J Davies
> 
> 
> 
> I had previously heard tales of miraculous (?) healings being performed in Indonesia, apparently by proper doctors. There must be something in it.


3rd Eng on a Swire box boat I sailed with got a terrible case of that well- known unmentionable drippy embarrassment somewhere on the Indonesian coast. 2nd Mate didn't have powerful enough antibiotics on board and it just went from bad to worse. Amputation, we said, was the probably the only way out. Poor fellow was a wreck. Went ashore to the local quack in Surabaya and in the waiting room met a beautiful nurse who wanted to meet him afterwards to practice her English. But after the doctor had given him a hefty jab of canamycin (the wonder drug at that time) in the leg, he hobbled out of the surgery back to the waiting room and the nurse completely ignored him. Oh well.


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## pitcrew (Jan 12, 2011)

Most memorable port for me was Galveston Texas. We were there a week and almost every night we patronised Lee's Love Nest. It was an eye opener and I'm surprised it hasn't appeared on this site already. 
The two waitresses would dance topless if there was a song they liked on the juke box and later in the evening, for our entertainment, they would do a magic disappearing trick with various sized bottles.
One busy Friday night one of the girls passed a sombrero round and said if we filled it with dollar bills she and the other girl would put on a show we would never forget. The whole bar filled the sombrero in jig time but the other girl said she had too much respect for her body. We all got our dollar back but it was a real disappointment. 
If they danced topless and swallowed bottles for a 25 cent song on the juke box what were they going to do for a couple of hundred dollars?


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## Austinsparks (Apr 30, 2013)

5TT said:


> I was alongside on a bulk carrier in Durban when I heard that news and didn't believe it at first. I immediately tuned in a local broadcast station and there were Lennon songs one after the other, unbelievable ... shocked .... and stunned.
> 
> = Adrian +


I was in port in NY that morning, and actually doing some work in the radio room first thing and wondering why each local radio station I tried was playing non-stop Beatles music. When the steward brought my coffee I learned what had happened. I left the radio on and eventually the tribute ended and the DJ announced they were returning to their normal programme. His first record: Queen - Another One Bites the Dust!!


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## richardwakeley (Jan 4, 2010)

G'day Austinsparks,

So we were in the same port on the same day! I well remember the NY radio stations playing non-stop Beatles.
I was on one of the Barber-Blue Sea (Blue Funnel) ships over at Port Elizabeth.
Too far away to go ashore, a bad move for us from our old berths at Brooklyn.

Richard


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## AlbieR (May 18, 2007)

That makes three of us in the same port on the same day, I was in an hotel after paying off a Kuwaiti container ship waiting for a flight. As a Scouser who saw John Lennon in the Cavern in the early days it was a particularly sad day for me, one I will always remember, I went to Central park to join the mourning crowds.


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## Austinsparks (Apr 30, 2013)

richardwakeley said:


> G'day Austinsparks,
> 
> So we were in the same port on the same day! I well remember the NY radio stations playing non-stop Beatles.
> I was on one of the Barber-Blue Sea (Blue Funnel) ships over at Port Elizabeth.
> ...


Hi Richard,

Yes that's a coincidence! I was on a P & O cargo ship called Stratheden and would have been in Newark too! I had been there before (and would be again) and was familiar with the transport links and used to make plenty of time to see the 'sights'. On that afternoon myself and some shipmates found ourselves outside the Dakota Building; I don't recall if we had planned to or if it was just how things panned out. We soon felt uncomfortable about standing among the crowd and looking at the building, and went away to wander around Central Park instead. I still have a NY newspaper from that day, which is dominated by Lennon as you might expect. On my final trip to NY a couple of years later we found ourselves parked in Brooklyn instead, which was much handier. I have a picture somewhere of the ship and docks which i took from the top of the World Trade Center.
Best wishes,
Austin.


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