Elder Dempster Lines Ships sailed on.Two pages.
Ships of other companies sailed on. "Cairngowan", "Earner", "Hollywood", "Nicoya", "Garrybank", "Port Pirie".
M.V. "Edward Blyden". An interesting tale.
Many ships of Elder Dempster Lines were sunk by
German U-Boats
during WW2. The Edward Blyden was one such vessel. If you are
lucky enough
to possess that most excellent book by James E. Cowden and
John O.C.Duffy
The Elder Dempster Fleet History 1852-1985 ISBN 0950945315
will see in it details of
numerous ships sunk by U-Boats and in many cases photos and information
on the U-Boat captains is shown. If you want to see more
information on these U-Boats and their
captains then a site which is a very "neutral" history site with collected
photos and information on the men and their U-Boats is worth a visit.
U Boat Net
.
Memorabilia and Memories. 2 pages.
Typical ships radio station and a few morse files to bring back memories.
Some model boats I have made.
EXTERNAL LINKS OF INTEREST.
The Slave Trade.
Most of us if not all of us who sailed on the West African coast or "the Coast" as we would have termed it were aware that somehow we were sailing on waters that in previous generations had some connection with "the slave trade". Indeed so, we were traversing the ocean routes that the slave ships had traversed many years ago. We sailed the notorious "slave triangle" Europe - West Africa - Europe or variants of this. We sailed courses that in many cases ran close to or parallel with the notorious "middle passage" between Africa and S. America and the West Indies. Many of us who sailed with West African crew and most Elder Dempster ships had many such crew members, watched the reaction and indeed interaction between our native West african crew and say the Negro or Afro-American dockers in say Philadelphia or New York now "all American Guys" complete with their baseball caps and local baseball or football shirts and their Brooklyn accents. Many looked at each other recognising a facial resemblances or skull shapes that reflected their Igbo or Yoruba ancestry. Many times the guys from Brooklyn would ask us how we got on "with these guys you have on board"?. Many were curious questions and not all complementary. But all went away reflecting. Here is a link that gives a fair background as to what happened all those years ago and what legacies the "trade" has left in all countries of the Americas and indeed to Africa particularly to West and South West Africa and "the Coast " area.
"Elder Dempster Lines" site.
"Fourah Bay" site.
"Ships Nostalagia". Merchant Navy Site.
History of West Africa.
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2.4.2012
Note: If you have perhaps sailed on Elder Dempster ships or have had any links to "The Coast" trade of W. Africa and have any memorabilia eg photos of the ships of the company or views of the ports of W. Africa or ideed memories you would like to share I would like very much for you to make contact. There is an Email address link at the bottom of this homepage to enable you to do so. It is known that many of the old seagoing staff ended up in far distant places such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada as well as those living in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. This is an opportunity for you to recall old memories with this website and the two other Elder Dempster related websites links to which are shown at the bottom of this homepage. Many thanks.
