studentforever wrote:Wed Dec 07, 2011 10:22 am
I have just started work on, and am currently the captain of the Ben-My-Chree. I have actually sailed on her!!
When I was a young child we used to go over to the Isle of Man on holiday and the Ben-My-Chree was one of the old vessels, without stabilisers, still sailing the route. I hasten to add that this was after WWII NOT WWI. But when I checked her wikipedia entry it sounds like her. I am really thrilled to think that I am so tied up with MY ship's history. I seem to remember we had a rough crossing and she pitched and rolled like a mad thing once we got over the Mersey Bar. I enjoyed it because my parents were sensible and we stayed outside in the fresh air but I remember the stewards going round with the sick bags. I particularly remember her and Mona's Isle because of the names which fascinated me as a 4 and 5 year old.
I have a feeling that it was after the crossing on the Ben-My-Chree that my parents decided to try the new air service from Liverpool Speke to Douglas. That year it was foggy and we circled Douglas Airport on the Isle of Man for about 40 min in an old WWII Dakota - the stewardesses had the sick bags out again - and we reverted to the sea crossings for another few years until the family we usually stayed with retired and we started going to North Wales for holidays.
PeteB9 wrote:Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:31 pm
HMS Ben My Chree was lost in 1917 I'm afraid.
There were replacements built in 1927 and 1965 you probably sailed on the latter I suspect.
As of a couple of years ago the old Dakota was still at John Lennon airport being restored.
Bunting Tosser wrote:Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:57 pm
They didn't convert it into the Yellow Submarine, did they?
studentforever wrote:Wed Dec 07, 2011 5:38 pm
Oh dear, I still feel an afinity with her though. The one I sailed on must have been the 1927 version because it got recycled, I think in the early 50s and I was at university by 1965!. I enjoyed her, I prefer the movement of an unstabilised ship, it seems more natural somehow. I used to love getting as near to the bow as possible on a rough crossing and feeling the wind and spray in my face. The things that please a kid!
studentforever wrote:Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:05 pm
By the comments at the end of the second article neither do today's passengers. They ought to have crossed in the old Ben-my-Chree in a gale with no stabilisers - that was a real test of a cast iron stomach.
