THE M.V. DURHAM - ANECDOTES

Bill Fraser has written an account of his time, as an apprentice, on the Durham in 1941. It tells of the voyage from Gibraltar to Malta and back – the second leg of which proved to be so eventful. Although Durham was not operating in the role of a cadet ship during World War II, this account is too good to miss, and it is available for download as a pdf here.

David Watt was the Instructional Officer on the Durham in 1962 when she was involved in a dramatic medical emergency mission in the North Atlantic. An account of this mission compiled from material kindly provided by David is available for download as a pdf here.

Peter Matthews was an apprentice on the Durham between 1956 and 1959. He has written an account of his experiences based on a letter that he sent home to his mother in 1956, and it is available for download as a pdf here.

Mike Smith’s second voyage as a cadet on the Durham turned out to be an epic. Mike has recorded his memories of this 13-month voyage, during which the Durham spent 6 months in Galveston, Texas, whilst the broken crankshafts from both her main engines were replaced. His account, complete with photographs from Peter Lloyd and Peter Snow, is available for download as a pdf here.

John Norris was an Able Seaman on the Durham during the early 1950s, when she was not operating as a cadet ship. He has written this very interesting article about his experiences on Durham during her voyage number 35, and it is available for download as a pdf here.

John Norris has also provided the Track Chart of voyage 35, which was given to him at the end of that voyage. This chart has been digitally recompiled, and it is available for download as a pdf here. It is best viewed at a magnification of between 200% and 300%.

Captain Richard (Dick) Baker was an extraordinarily talented man who started his sea-going career during the Second World War at the age of 16, and, whilst still an apprentice, he was transferred to the Durham on her first post war voyage as a cadet ship. Quite apart from being a first class seaman, Dick was a painter of some considerable note. His friend, Jim Highfield, wrote a moving tribute to Dick, which was read at Dick’s funeral on Wednesday 29th September 2004. An image of one of Dick’s paintings, showing the Rakaia and the Otaio passing at sea, has been added to this tribute, which is available for download as a pdf here.

Volume 2, No.1, of the Durham Log magazine, published in July 1946, has particular significance in that it marked the return of Durham as a Cadet Training Ship after service in the Second World War. A facsimile of this volume, the original of which is stored in the Durham Corner on HQS Wellington, is available for download as a pdf here.

The Australian Women’s Weekly newspaper published a very interesting article on Durham cadets on 11th May 1946, and a document combining the text of this article with twenty-four photographs is available for download as a pdf here.

Any anecdotes that you may have of Durham would be most gratefully received.

< back to Durham page

NOTE ON DOWNLOADING

To download pdf's please click on the links above or use the download panel on the right.

PC Users: Using the right hand mouse button click on the link and choose 'save target as...' from the popup menu.

MAC Users: Holding down Ctrl, click on the link and choose 'download link to disk...' from the pop up menu