Places

Date: 19 Nov 1993

From: The Merchant Navy story

By: O'Neill, Reginald John, 1926-1998

Reference: OHInt-0321-19

Description: Reg O'Neill was born in Liverpool, in 1926. Describes sailing on first ship, the Norwegian Tannafiord, in 1940 to Trinidad, Cape Town and India. Mentions Joe Lawless, the Cunard recruiter. Recalls treatment of neutral ships and English servicemen during the war. Tells of jumping ship and joining the Falsterbo, then the Brittanic. Remembers the bombing of the Georgic. Lists further ships the Samaria, the Samgara, the Andes and the Ile de France. Recalls German attacks in the Mediterranean and details Stuka bombers and German aircraft. Recounts working aboard the Royal Mail Line ships the Deseado and the Parado. Outlines differences between Merchant Navy pay and conditions to that of the army and the navy. Chronciles activities after the war on the Carribean and the Rowallan Castles arriving in New Zealand. Discusses leaving the ship and being jailed for desertion, mentioning the necessary articles of agreement. Details interaction with Otago Harbour men Captains Stewart, McKenzie, and Church, and Donald Crowe. Outlines nautical practices of splicing, compass reading and streaming out the log. Further ships discussed are the Gripsholm, the Drottingen, the Queen Elizabeth, the H.M.S. Warspite, the Louis Pasteur, the Orion, the Marabank, the Mahana, the Pamir, the Akaroa, the Port Chalmers, the Port Waikato, and the Wanaka. Interviewer(s) - Stan Kirkpatrick Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1.20 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-4458. Search dates: 1993

Date: 09 Sep 1994

From: The Merchant Navy story

By: Keyse, Geoffrey John, 1926-2004

Reference: OHInt-0321-14

Description: Geoff Keyse was born in South Croydon, Surrey, in 1926. Backgrounds early education, disrupted by constant air raids and gaining University of London senior leaving certificate in 1943. Details attempts to join Royal Navy and enlisting with the New Zealand Shipping Co. as an apprentice. Touches on father's position with same company as master hairdresser. Recounts first post on the Orari in Liverpool, the gunnery-training course for D.E.M.S. gunners, wartime cargoes and routes through the Pacific. Outlines apprenticeship training and life at sea. Mentions sighting the Graf Spee in North Africa. Describes routes and loading of refrigerated supply ships. Describes ship the Empire Windrush in detail and other troop ships in general. Talks about transporting Japanese prisoners to Manus Island, VE Day while at New Hollandia and VJ Day celebrated in London. Talks about later involvement in the Korean War, transporting the Gloucestershire Regiment. Discusses the ex cadet ship Durham and the formation of the Durham Association. Outlines employment in New Zealand with Cook Strait Ferries, Canterbury Steamship Co. Ltd and the Otago Harbour Board. Recounts appointments as Deputy Harbourmaster in 1974 and Harbourmaster in 1977 succeeding Noel Worth. Outlines safety and lighting features of Otago Harbour and changes in shipping practices. Mentions his book entitled 'Pilots: Otago Harbour'. Interviewer(s) - Stan Kirkpatrick Accompanying material - Includes document 'In the wake' by Captain Geoffry J. Keyse, Retired HM and Chief Pilot, Otago. Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 2 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-4453. Search dates: 1994

Date: 10 May 1994

From: The Merchant Navy story

By: Stoddart, Farquhar, 1925-2008

Reference: OHInt-0321-21

Description: Farquhar Stoddart as born in 1925, on the Isle of Skye. Backgrounds childhood in Torrin, near Broadfort and Elgol. Describes prevalence of crofters and seamen due to lack of other employment in the Hebrides. Outlines crop and poaching practices. Recounts leaving home, travel to Glasgow and joining the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1941. Mentions father's posting on the Athenia in 1939 and his own position on the Nea Hellas, captained by 'Cockie' Brown, later mistakenly reported torpedoed and sunk. Chronicles landing American invasion troops near Cape Bon, North Africa, and bombing of an Ack-Ack destroyer in Algiers. Discusses German and Italian aircraft attacks. Outlines transfer to the Sampsiel in 1943, on stanby in Oban, and joining the Fort MacMurray sailing to Russia in 1944. Discusses climate and cargoes of ammunition and tanks in Russia. Talks about the invasion of France on the Empire Strait shipping troops, tents, and ammunition beaching at Arromaches. Recalls time ashore at Caen and mentions Dieppe. Discusses deserting ship in Grimsby, jail time and fine before joining the Kimball Harlow. Outlines the London Seamen's Pool used to find work. Talks about post war work in Sydney and arriving in New Zealand, in 1948. Recounts work for the Union Company in Dunedin on the Waiana, the Korowai, the Onehunga and the Aotearoa. Mentions Bill Buckley. Talks about modern ships, crew dedication and splicing. Interviewer(s) - Stan Kirkpatrick Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-4460. Search dates: 1994

Date: 12 May 1994

From: The Merchant Navy story

By: Parish, Harry, 1924-2008

Reference: OHInt-0321-20

Description: Harry Parish was born in Wavertree, Liverpool, in 1924. Mentions Victoria School education before joining the Merchant Navy in 1939 aboard the Ringwald, later lost at sea. Talks of transferring to the Indian Princess sailing to Cape Town and Lourenco Marques. Recounts attack at Torpedo Junction off the Island of Tobago and rescue. Mentions travel to Florida on the DC3 aircraft and being housed by Mr Hoover, of vacuum cleaner fame, in the Everglades Hotel. Outlines next ships the Esso Palbo, shelled at Aruba, and the Ocean Glory which transported train engines to Russia. Touches on depth charges in the Gibraltar straits. Details landing troops at Red Beach during the invasion of Sicily, the Durham Light Infantry at Salerno Beach, nurses at Gibraltar and returning wounded servicemen to the United Kingdom. Mentions submarine base on Island of Tobago. Speak of involvement in D-Day landings and celebrations of VJ-Day. Describes army discharge, membership of the Seamen's Union, involvement with the Stewart Island ferry the Wairua and dredging in Otago Harbour. Recounts the formation of the Merchant Navy Association. Other ships discussed were the Taranaki, the Beacon Light, the Rangitira, the Poolta, the Storm and the Breeze. Interviewer(s) - Stan Kirkpatrick Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 55 Minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-4459. Search dates: 1994

Date: 06 May 1994

From: The Merchant Navy story

By: Sutherland, James David, 1924-2013

Reference: OHInt-0321-22

Description: Jim Sutherland was born in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, in 1924. Backgrounds family poultry farm and family members including brothers and father at sea. Mentions desire to go to sea but surplus of apprentices due to ships sinking. Describes apprenticeship to Hugh Hogarth and Sons on the Baron Ramsay in 1942. Outlines apprentice duties and living conditions. talks about history, size, speed and crew of the Baron Ramsay and the Baron Forbes. Names fellow shipmate Bob Crawford. Talks of the diet and food at sea. Discusses problems encountered with boiler ships. Talks about the Loch Ewe convoy assembly point and lists other ports at Havana, Demerera, Georgetown, Huelva and Seville. Recalls U-Boats attacks, safety precautions taken against Italian limpeteer mines and dogfights betweeh Focke Wulfe and Liberator aircraft. Details finishing apprenticehsip in 1945, further qualifications from the Royal Technical College in Glasgow and joining the Strick Line Bardinstan and the Bank Line Tweedbank. Details the history of the bank line, its ships and crew. Describes shipping cargoes and ports in New Zealand. Speaks on the Cook Strait ferries and shipping in the Marlborough Sounds. Outlines employment with Keith Ramsay and the Otago Harbour Board. Also discusses the Baron Cochrane, the Port Waikato, the Holmdale, the Alert, the Lucy Star, the Leicester, the Tekoa, the Tau Paka, the Holmglen, the Toward and the Baron Inchcape. Interviewer(s) - Stan Kirkpatrick Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-012810 Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-4461. Search dates: 1994

Date: 21 Apr 1999

From: Trade union oral history project

By: Wesley, Tatane Alex Tarewai, 1934-

Reference: OHInt-0478/03

Description: Tatane Wesley was born in Christchurch in 1934. Describes his father Harold Tarewai Wetere Te Kahu. Explains his grandfather was a tohunga from Otakou. Discusses biculturalism in the family. Describes his mother's opposition to his father being in the army, his father being lifted out of the army and farming the family land at Otakou. Recalls his father being manpowered to the freezing works where he became secretary of the Burnside Freezing Workers Union. Describes how eighteen people from Otakou, including his father and relatives were blacklisted from freezing works. Discusses his father's supplying of meat and potatoes to locked out watersiders in 1951 and his work for Maori education. Recalls pa in which he lived (Tuahiwi, Ruapake, Port Levy, Little River, Lake Ellesmere, Temuka, Glenavy, Moeraki, Huirapa, Otakou and Bluff) and discusses Kai Tahu. Describes working at Burnside freezing works before joining the army, training at Waiouru and doing a tour in Borneo and Vietnam. Recalls working in Australia where he joined the Drivers Union. Describes coming back to NZ, working at Burnside, on the railways and at Wrightsons Wool and Grain. Recalls membership of the Storemen and Packers Union. Reassesses his father's contribution to the union movement. Interviewer(s) - Shaun Ryan Quantity: 4 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-1796. Photographs of Tatane Wesley