It was hot, humid and airless at the anchorage and buoy berths and spending a
week there in the days before ships were air conditioned, loading timber plank
by plank, was not a favourite pastime. It used to be such a relief to get to
sea again and have a nice breeze blow through the accommodation.
The photo that interested me most was the one of the "Pyrrhus" in Port
Swettenham, with a tiny tug alongside.
During the war my father was injured whilst on a Russian convoy, and was
subsequently pronounced unfit for sea service, but he managed to get a job with
the "United Towing Company" of Hull. Immediately after the war, I took a day
off school and went out on the trials of this brand new, tiny tug. Up and down
the Humber, over the measured mile, followed by, in those days, a sumptuous
buffet. I can still remember the ham sandwiches!
On my first trip, on the Glenorchy, crawling up to Port Swettenham, what should
come round the bend but THE tug.
My father had sailed her ( though I didn't know at the time ) from the UK to
Malaya. I don't know how long it took, but I do know that they hardly lost
sight of land all the way!