The story started with Sugar Line and trips from the West Indies to the UK. It was then to Japan to pick up a new ship, Canadian Pacific's Pacific Logger, which was to be on a regular run from the West Coast of the US to Japan. Mike showed us what a precarious load that a deck cargo of logs can be. The securing cables and chains often needed adjustment and tightening and loss of logs not uncommon. There were also pictures taken from the top of the cranes of the ship in heavy weather - "not rough just a heavy swell", we were told!
Grain was the cargo in a service between Australia and Bangldesh, whilst the most eventful seemed to be a trip to Finland in the winter with a cargo of coal from Philadelphia. Pictures of frozen seas were a remarkable sight. Soon the German Icebreaker was on the scene making a passage possible. The decks and gear were covered in ice and when it came to unloading the coal this too was frozen solid. Mike served on the three ships Nosira Madeleine, Nosira Lin and Nosira Sharon, and briefly touched on ships we had seen on previous shows from Mike. His time on "Sharon" showed how much better a deck cargo of packaged timber was, compared to logs. We then paid visits to America both north and South, Poland, France, Morocco and the Sudan.
We also were shown several T2 standard types that had been modified almost out of recognition. and some interesting shots of Victory and Liberty ships of the American reserve fleet. During the Iran / Iraq war Mike was in the Gulf and showed us pictures of ships that had been attacked and some that had sunk. Our journey ended in India and Sri Lanka.
Our thanks to Mike for making the return trip from Dover to show us his slides and giving a first-rate commentary to this exceptional collection.