Ted, Not sure if my reply went OK on Facebook so this is just to say thanks for sending the picture It certainly brought back memories of the upteen times I experienced bad weather in my years at sea, most notably a couple of hurricances in the North and South Atlantic and a couple of typhoons in the China Sea, when I think back I realize how lucky I am to be still around. Mauri

Hi Maurie, Your response came back perfectly ! looking at it myself it must be a hell of an experience to stand with a tiller and in control of the power below in seas of this magnitude and hope she climes the next one. it must be some leveler? Regards Ted

Ted, The most scary experiences in rough weather were the two tyhoons I went through one in the Sea of Japan on the Australian aircraft carrier "HMAS Sydney and the other in the Yellow sea on the 1200 ton frigate HMAS Murchison. The Sydney carried approx 44 aircraft Sea Furies and Fireflys, we had just returned to the US navy base in Sasebo Japan from a Korean patrol this was around November 1951 and along with other anchored ships in Sasebo harbour were ordered out to sea to ride it out, leaving a few hundred lucky guys of the ship still ashore on shore leave. We had a lot of aircraft secured down on deck with steel moorings but we still lost six aircraft over the side that were ripped off their moorings, also a couple of little tractors used to move the aircraft around.
The one we went through on HMAS Murchison just after the Korean war ended was the worst one because of the size of the ship which was only 1200 tons so we really took a beating and were lucky she did not turn right over, I was an old man then of 24 who just took it in my stride but some of the teenagers we had were really scared out of their minds and a couple broke into screams when it looked like we were going right over,it all seems like a dream now. Mauri

Mauri An old 24 Years Old and confidant to face these experiences and instilling confidence in your junior's in these situations !Some scenario to look back on today Mauri and I honestly think "Someone up there liked you " Regards Ted
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Hi Mauri



I have also been unlucky enough to have been through a couple of Typhoons. In the engine room it was an absolute nightmare with no point of reference for orientation. Yawing and rolling made it almost impossible to stand or walk. Like being inside a washing machine (with the water on the outside). Once in the officers mess at lunch one of the anchored chairs broke free under the combined stress of an obese 3rd engineer and extreme rolls. He careered about like an ice hockey puck smashing plates, tables and bowling over several stewards who had tried to stop him.

Hi Hildenboy, At least you had your meals served to you, on the Murchison we had to line up at the galley with plates then carry the meal back to our messdeck which in rough weather meant you had to perform a balancing act trying to stop from falling or losing your meal, with a crew of two hundred and fifty living on top of each other it was a far cry from the comforts of the MN ships I worked on years later.having said that I can just picture the bedlam when the 3rds chair broke free???. Mauri