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Members no longer posting.

81K views 294 replies 87 participants last post by  duquesa 
#1 ·
Have I missed something but some of the regular posters have been absent for a while and wonder what has happened to them.
I have not seen "Keltic Star" for a while nor "Binnacle to name but two."
 
#39 ·
I found it difficult to believe at first. Bill and I came from the same hometown, attended the same school and both of us joined Blue Funnel at age 16 as deckboys, although Bill was five years ahead of me.
When the allegations surfaced that he had been posting under various names, I couldnt believe it but the ,then, site owner, Steve, actually telephoned me and gave me chapter and verse of Bill's rule bending, I was gobsmacked.
It was a shame. As others have said he was a very knowledgeable seaman who had accomplished much in his life. Latterly he was, maybe still is, a farmer in Shropshire, who occasionally shipped out as master on VLCCs.
 
#42 ·
I think the ' Great Gallery Drama of '17 ' had a lot to do with it getting so quiet.... what with the old owner of the site then going and setting up in opposition and taking half the trade away... I thought that a rather cynical move.

That plus most of us have already told all our yarns at least once... not that that matters as most here won't remember having read it before anyway....

I miss the quiz stuff and the ships needing identifying ... that seems to have all but disappeared.....
 
#49 ·
Quote

I would say to anyone who writes for their own satisfaction to keep their passion alive and hope that their grand children may one day read them, contact your local University Librarian (or the one near where you spent your childhood) as your jottings are all part of history. My own ramblings about what I could recall from age 5 to 27 (120,000 words) are lodged with Hull University, it is not necessary to have been to University, my own formal education virtually finished at the age of 13. However I have always been an avid reader[/QUOTE]

I have been an avid writer ever since I bought a computer 18 years ago and I never miss an opportunity to place on paper any of the experiences or thoughts that come to mind.
The great majority of this scribe lays dormant in my hard drive with the hope that some day some one might dig to its depths and expose the meanderings of this old man who may have been their Great great grandfather!
A fair bit of my jottings are imbedded on this site, one of the reasons my hackles are raised when SN's existence is threatened, an emotion stirred that is as powerful as a mother reacting to a critisism of her child or that of a woman scorned.

One day Molly Woppy I might be discovered.

Bob
 
#50 ·
don't give up the ship

I have nothing to offer regarding the ships mentioned in this post, but I encourage members to continue following this site because you never know what will happen. Sometimes the new information about a ship you knew nothing about will incite your interst and start you on a new quest. Other times (as was the case for me) you will find present in a post something which at first seems only tangentially related to your search but ends up being a very close clue. So, sorry I have nothing to add but encouragement...
Oops! also gratitude to all the members who continue to help perfect strangers in their search for the important stories that make up our collective international and personal nautical heritage.
 
#53 ·
I have nothing to offer regarding the ships mentioned in this post, but I encourage members to continue following this site because you never know what will happen. Sometimes the new information about a ship you knew nothing about will incite your interst and start you on a new quest. Other times (as was the case for me) you will find present in a post something which at first seems only tangentially related to your search but ends up being a very close clue. So, sorry I have nothing to add but encouragement...
Oops! also gratitude to all the members who continue to help perfect strangers in their search for the important stories that make up our collective international and personal nautical heritage.
I agree with your views, people should continue posting even if occasionally the stories get repeated............(Thumb)

Frank
 
#52 ·
#50

Thank you, Linda!

Without exception, we all like the sound of our own voices, or we would not post here at all. Those of us who continue to post are most grateful that SN exists - and happy to hear that a non-mariner might sometimes even read our scribblings.

Until a mere twenty-five years ago, nothing like SN ever had existed - and for most of us today it is hugely refreshing to be able to turn the clock back, if only in our own minds, for far more than twenty five years. Much very useful information is exchanged

Vive SN!
 
#62 ·
#50


Until a mere twenty-five years ago, nothing like SN ever had existed - and for most of us today it is hugely refreshing to be able to turn the clock back, if only in our own minds, for far more than twenty five years. Much very useful information is exchanged

Vive SN!
There was shortwave radio, R/Os (active and retired) would exchange stories, but the internet really opened up the world for communicating.
 
#58 ·
"A bit of a half wit". Well ES (CC) I recon your maths proves both of you are a every bit an astute person!! A bit of two halves make you two bits of a wit. Or does that make both of you a bit of two half wits or a bit of two wits?
Sit a bit before you pit-your-wits to answer that bit.

JJ.
 
#59 ·
Being ex Royal Navy I feel that all my mates from the 1950-70 era have all passed away or no longer use the computer as I seem to be the only one here on SN who is still alive and kicking (just !!!!), lost contacts from the lads I knew on the RFA RESURGENT 1958/9 and the lads from my old navy ships have dwindled away ,even the navy reunions that I attended have closed due to lack of membership, it would be nice to log on one of these days and see someone asking the where abouts of
Dave from the cruiser CEYLON or one of the other ships---I`m 83 now so I haven't many years in front of me so please if there is anyone out there who knew me make my day and get in touch--BUT-- If I owe you money don`t bother, 4 Grand children and 6 Great grandchildren and a wife to support, I`m broke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Thumb)
 
#60 ·
Hi Ceylon
I've often wondered when I see your Postings whether you were on "CEYLON"
back-end of 1956 - beginning 1957
I was First Trip Apprentice on the Molasses Tanker ATHELSULTAN (13 month trip !) at the time aged 16 - and now just coming up to 79
and we were tied up alongside "CEYLON" at Port Louis, Mauritius (the Molasses-loading jetty being the only berth at that time in Mauritius
"Keep those legs moving"
Roger Harrison now Perth Northern Suburbs (Western Australia)
 
#63 ·
Maybe you have all lost your sense of fun and the ridiculous? There's nothing better than a good laugh to lift spirits.
Try it. Start with me if you like.
A good sense of humour saved my bacon lots of times when in difficult situations as I travelled the world. Old age doesn't last.
 
#65 ·
How often have we said, or had said to us, "Stop me if I have told you" or "Have I ever mentioned " and many similar phrases that serve as a cautionary introduction to yet another nostalgic story . Some stark truth, some embellished , some pure bull dust , but all in the gem category.
Keep them coming .

Bob
 
#75 ·
"I miss the quiz stuff and the ships needing identifying ... that seems to have all but disappeared....."

My quiz because unworkable when image source sites became available online.
One member in particular used this "option" ruthlessly when it first appeared but I continued for a few months as other members didn't.
I would use various paintshop techniques in order to try to defeat the source sites......but it became too time consuming .

I was aware that many members enjoyed "sparkles quiz" and was saddened that it was scuppered by one member using advanced technology........my admittedly terse ending of the quiz reflected this at the time........belated apologies.

In truth.....If he hadn't used it...... someone else would have eventually.

S2182
 
#77 ·
Members no longer posting. Yes, I'm one of them I suppose, not that anyone would notice.
It is now around one year since I last logged on.
Reasons? It dawned on me that I was kidding myself that virtual mates are similar to people who one knows face to face. Members of any on-line forum who I have never met and will never meet. Folk who in the case of this site, unlike me, properly went to sea and know the life.
I am perhaps just a fraud and out of place. Happy to have a virtual chat and help out in any way I can, but not really part of it.
So, after my last cruise one year ago, which was likely my last ever cruise thanks to 'Management' having a different idea on her finances, I thought that I should keep clear of ships in a vain attempt to retain what is left of my sanity - Fat chance!

Thanks for listening, apologies for interrupting,

'Old Nobby-no-mates' - Mad landsman - Malcolm.
 
#83 ·
Your no fraud just an honest landlubber who say's it as it is. keep posting my virtual friend we all have something to share, Being a Seaman I could not have done some of my work without shore people for example linesman, dockers, victualler's, bunker men, tug men and pilots, albeit some of the aforementioned had nautical experience. Fifty years I have been ashore with numerous experiences, but not adventures like the MN.Regards (C)
 
#79 ·
I wondered where you were, Malcolm. Virtual mates are worth having if we share interests - a visit here each day can be a rowdy experience or completely sober, but often enriching. In actual life, not much happens in our sleepy cul-de-sac except the exchange of surplus fruit and veg, and the helping out of folk even older than us. A visit here livens me up. I do miss posters when they are absent. Keep well and keep smiling through.

Amazing that our posts zoom into space and bounce back in a wink.
 
#82 ·
When I swallowed the anchor, I used to post on SN sometimes. But then I started to get bogged down with disagreements on things that were not important anymore (just like arguments in the ship's bar years ago). I stopped posting and started concentrating on my present not my past. But since the monthly alert has been sent out, I have started to take an interest again. Realistically the members are getting older and many have fallen of the perch so it is to be expected the traffic will slowly decline but hopefully not for a few years yet.
 
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