Just some of the ships and Submarines I have worked on back in the 50`s and 60`s                

These pictures are from English Heritage Chatham Dockyard.

Having given some thought to Mavis`s mesothelioma condition( Asbestosis).

I got to trying to remember all the ships and subs I came in contact with during my Early years as a Chatham Dockyard Shipwright. I can`t remember all of them but I will . But here is just some of them, maybe a contributing factor to her current condition, which being a shipyard worker myself is a high probability factor for its orogin.

My Stint on Submarines

This HMS FORTH was the Final Reason I left Chatham Dockyard . This was a major Refit. It was Gutted end to end. The Noise was deafening. Unless you experiance that level of noise for 9 hours a day for months day after day its hard to comprehend. Its probably why I have 2 hearing aids today. Ear defenders and HSE were not part of the deal in early 60`s. Get in and get on with it was the order of the day.

No advice or protection offered for the abundant Filthy exposure to asbestos.

As an apprentice Shipwright ,on 15the December 1954 . I was in my second year,we were gathered in the College For the Christmas Carol Service.

When it closed . We were instructed that we were to leave the college by the Main Gate, Not to re enter the yard. If we had belongings we were to leave them and collect them when we returned to work next. We did not know at that time that a disater had taken place just a few hundred yards away.

The caisson had blown out of the dock and the submarine inside was now stranded on the otherside of the river.

Also at that time unknown to me, my future father in law had just come ashore from the stricken submarine to make a cup of tea.

The link below gives an account from the Diver Involved.

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