13-11-2016, 09:38 PM
Here is the radio office of RMS St. Helena (I) in which I spent 11 years. 16 years old when I joined and 27 years old when I left. (The ship, that is , not me! 
) Very small, 3,150 gross tons, 300 feet long. Voyage Avonmouth - Las Palmas, Ascension Island, St. Helena Island, Cape Town and back with 76 passengers, and general cargo. A very up-to-date rig with VHF, MF and HF R/T. MF and HF W/T and IF/HF teleprinter. Satellite communications voice and teleprinter. I put through the very first satellite phone call from the newly-opened Earth Station at Goonhilly, in 1983 from the anchorage in Port Stanley Harbour. I also sent the last distress message using morse code from a British passenger liner on the high seas on Halloween Night, 1984 during a serious fire. We, and the ship survived, but after drifting for a week with the oil tanker Overseas Argonaut standing by, we were towed to Dakar, West Africa by the German salvage tug Fairplay IX. Remained in Dakar for one hot, sweaty month, undergoing repairs, and then resumed our normal run for a further 5 years before being sold when RMS St. Helena (II) came into service.
Bob
) Very small, 3,150 gross tons, 300 feet long. Voyage Avonmouth - Las Palmas, Ascension Island, St. Helena Island, Cape Town and back with 76 passengers, and general cargo. A very up-to-date rig with VHF, MF and HF R/T. MF and HF W/T and IF/HF teleprinter. Satellite communications voice and teleprinter. I put through the very first satellite phone call from the newly-opened Earth Station at Goonhilly, in 1983 from the anchorage in Port Stanley Harbour. I also sent the last distress message using morse code from a British passenger liner on the high seas on Halloween Night, 1984 during a serious fire. We, and the ship survived, but after drifting for a week with the oil tanker Overseas Argonaut standing by, we were towed to Dakar, West Africa by the German salvage tug Fairplay IX. Remained in Dakar for one hot, sweaty month, undergoing repairs, and then resumed our normal run for a further 5 years before being sold when RMS St. Helena (II) came into service.Bob
