Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Memories of Cold War Submarine Service--and Tight Shorts

Readers of this site will know something of Project Ojibwa, the highly successful effort to land the former HMCS Ojibwa ashore at Port Burwell, Ontario. She is now open to the public.
Browsing the project's website, I came across a couple of interesting photos.
In the June archive is a shot of me, along with my sister and her "Cooking Ladies" partner, when we did a walk-through of the Ojibwa. And in July, the first photo shown is of Ron Pearks, who commanded the boat 1972 to '74.
Ron came to my rescue in 1967, when I was serving as a junior officer in HMS Alderney. We were scheduled to do a cruise to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, and since it was summer, tropical white uniforms were the rig of the day. That included white shorts, which I did not own. Ron loaned me a pair. Alas, I had put on some excess weight, what with the nonexistent submarine fitness program and the effects of good British beer. When I put on the shorts to step ashore in Gibraltar in all my glory, I had to leave the top button undone and fold down the waist in order to look barely presentable.
I am grateful there are no photos that record that particular rig.

1 comment:

Harold Fisher said...

Very nice bloog you have here

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