WORLD WAR II FOCUS: In 1940 An Austrian Jewish publisher named Goldschmidt retreated to England. Alas, it was a frying pan into the fire. This legitimate citizen of Hitler’s Germany in England was considered an alien and promptly arrested. Perhaps he could be forgiven for wishing he had remained in Austria where Jewish publishers were in truth not persecuted.
In Absurdistan, an extraordinary little multi-race nation resting on the seabed off Europe, the HMS Prince of Wales flagship of the once world’s greatest navy has suffered a series of costly failures since its launch in 2019.
Ex-soldiers say: ‘McDonald’s staff earn more than us’ as they join migrants in the lengthening queues for charity and benefit handouts. The government’s own figures show almost 3,000 serving troops are now on benefits while thousands more veterans each month are applying for Universal Credit.
CHILE: ‘Good Lord Mike, you are an old fart like me, but apparently in great shape – good for you! I wish you all the best for as long as you are around – hopefully, a long time.
At the height of the Cold War in 1964, only two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the British Westminster government decided it was a good idea to breach every trade embargo in the book and try to ship a load of Leyland buses to Cuba.
On the morning of 2 October 1942, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Curacao rendezvoused north of Ireland with the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary, which was carrying approximately 10,000 American troops of the 29th Infantry Division.
Ah, such a breed of men as they,
Once sailed upon the sea,
And I was one with all of them,
Each man was found in me.
We sailed and dared, we often bared,
Our souls on oceans vast,
When gazing past horizons,
We shipped before the mast.
With his ten hours at the helm of the MV Britannic completed the tenderfoot seaman acquired his Steering Ticket. In the meantime, Michael also added his Lifeboat Ticket to his haul. Still a deck boy he was now judged qualified to follow any course given to him by any ship’s commanding deck officer.
During Christmas Week, 1951, began an incredible sea story involving a WWII era cargo vessel named the Flying Enterprise and her captain, Kurt Carlsen. Captain Carlsen was a Danish-born seaman that began his sea career at the age of 14. He became master of his first ship at the age of 22 with the Danish-American company American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines which was a New York-based US-flag shipping company from 1919 to 1977, offering both cargo and passenger ship services. In 1977 it declared bankruptcy and was acquired by Farrell Lines.
During the late 1950s, I attended a 12-week training course in seamanship at the Sea Training Camp situated in Sharpness, Gloucester. Having earned the first of my seafarer’s tickets, I then became one of the thousands of British seamen serving in the British Merchant Navy.
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Europe Renaissance 
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