An Odyssey: From Ebbw Vale to Tyneside |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 13
Page 86
... freighter SS Ganymedes as a pantry-boy and I was to join the ship immediately. I was not sure what the duties of a pantry-boy were but was assured they were more or less the same as those of a cabin-boy. I was not told where we were ...
... freighter SS Ganymedes as a pantry-boy and I was to join the ship immediately. I was not sure what the duties of a pantry-boy were but was assured they were more or less the same as those of a cabin-boy. I was not told where we were ...
Page 87
... freighters, loading or unloading their cargo using their own steam-derricks or dockside cranes. Some of these were grand-looking vessels which I hoped Ganymedes would resemble, but I wasn't really worried as long as she would take me to ...
... freighters, loading or unloading their cargo using their own steam-derricks or dockside cranes. Some of these were grand-looking vessels which I hoped Ganymedes would resemble, but I wasn't really worried as long as she would take me to ...
Page 95
... freighters could only guess at what was happening as we had no sonar or other means of detecting the presence of U-boats. In fact we were defenceless and relied solely on our meagre naval escort for protection. We knew that depth ...
... freighters could only guess at what was happening as we had no sonar or other means of detecting the presence of U-boats. In fact we were defenceless and relied solely on our meagre naval escort for protection. We knew that depth ...
Page 104
... freighter with a cargo of sugar . Within a few days of our departure from Halifax there was a concerted attack on Convoy HX 229 by the large pack of forty - four U - boats in mistake for HX 229A . By a miraculous piece of luck the ...
... freighter with a cargo of sugar . Within a few days of our departure from Halifax there was a concerted attack on Convoy HX 229 by the large pack of forty - four U - boats in mistake for HX 229A . By a miraculous piece of luck the ...
Page 108
... freighter could easily carry far more than a 4,000- ton cargo. The next ship was a Dutch coaster called the Vliestrom and I joined her at Barry, a town I knew well. My new ship was coal-fired, as one would expect of a collier. She was ...
... freighter could easily carry far more than a 4,000- ton cargo. The next ship was a Dutch coaster called the Vliestrom and I joined her at Barry, a town I knew well. My new ship was coal-fired, as one would expect of a collier. She was ...
Common terms and phrases
accepted Archie Thompson arrived Aunty Babcock Barry Barry Island became boys Cardiff Cardiff University career civil engineering coal colliery completely convoy Cousin crew deck director Ebbw Vale father felt forecastle freighter friends future Ganymedes Garn Terrace Gloucester grammar school Halfway House Head Wrightson Hicks Huwood idea industry interest John Buckley join Keith Mitchell knew later learned lived look managers Marjorie Marjorie’s matriculation Merchant Navy merchant ships Michael miles mother Newcastle Newport Norman Staff Painted from memory parents play power-station problem railway reactor realised result River Ebbw Rochester sailed seamen shipmates Simon Carves sister soon South Wales Stan stay steel steelworks surprised Susan talking technical thought told took trip Troake U-boats Uncle Ron Uncle Ted usually valley voyage walk Waunlwyd Welsh Winget York
Popular passages
Page ix - Let the dead Past bury its dead ! Act, — act in the living Present ! Heart within, and God o'erhead ! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time ; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate ; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.
Page ix - In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife 1 Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Page 219 - This man is freed from servile bands Of hope to rise or fear to fall : Lord of himself, though not of lands, And, having nothing, yet hath all.
Page ix - Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act — act in the living Present! Heart within and God o'erhead. Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time. Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving...
Page 85 - For the bread that you eat and the biscuits you nibble, The sweets that you suck and the joints that you carve, They are brought to you daily by all us Big Steamers— And if any one hinders our coming you'll starve.
Page 85 - Oh, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers, With England's own coal, up and down the salt seas?" "We are going to fetch you your bread and your butter, Your beef, pork, and mutton, eggs, apples, and cheese.
Page ix - Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! — For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.
Page 224 - But see ! The rising Moon of Heav'n again Looks for us, Sweet-heart, through the quivering Plane : How oft hereafter rising will she look Among those leaves — for one of us in vain ! ex.
Page 54 - You hollow skull, what has your grin to say, But that a mortal brain, with trouble tossed, Sought once, like mine, the sweetness of the day, And strove for truth, and in the gloam was lost.
Page 54 - And walls me in like any pedant hack? Fellow of moth that flits and worm that delves, I drag my life through learned bric-a-brac. And shall I here discover what I lack, And learn, by reading countless volumes through, That mortals mostly live on misery's rack, That happiness is known to just a few?