The slides were from Roy�s collection that he has acquired over the years during correspondence with a member in Canada. These started in 1959 with a selection of �lakers�, some of great vintage being built at the turn of the (20th) century. There were also ships converted for the lake trade typically T2 tankers, some still having a recognisable appearance and others, that had been lengthened widened and deepened, showed no recognition to a T2 whatsoever. One early �laker� from the show was the Mohawk Deer of 1896 that had the distinction of sinking three times and being declared a total loss each time. The first was in 1914, the second in 1943 and the last instance was off the Italian coast on her voyage to the breakers.
When coming to builders of ships it showed that Britain was, pre 1960s, a large shipbuilding nation. Many ships were attributed to British yards, from Aberdeen and Dundee to Belfast, Glasgow and Newcastle.
Also shown were ships from familiar lines of the time (and some still surviving), Manchester Liners, Cunard, Finnlines, Canadian Pacific, Head Line, Stolt Tankers, United States Lines, Maersk and Moore McCormack.
This was also the time of the emergence of containers and the decline of transatlantic liners. It was good to see a slide of Polish Ocean�s Batory of 1936, to be followed by her successor, Maasdam, a few slides later. There were also some slides from January 1966 with Russian and Canadian ships making their way through the ice floes.
We thank Roy for compiling the show and look forward to part two which will be shown later in the year. It was good to note that with only a few exceptions the quality of the slides had been maintained after 40 to 50 years.