Settling issues for my family ... 4th July 2004

[Norseman]

Originally Posted by Snash

Kyrre

Really, really interesting - wow rowing to school....

What a great dive for you to make. Proving an old story one way or another.

Do you have any photos of the old house/ jetty when your grandad was there? Would be great to see those scanned in?

Regards

Simon

I was looking for pictures because we've got quite a few from way back and also right before they tore it all down. Lemme have a look through "the archives" Watch this space.

[Snash]

Originally Posted by Norseman

I was looking for pictures because we've got quite a few from way back and also right before they tore it all down. Lemme have a look through "the archives" Watch this space.

Excellent! Really looking forward to seeing them.

Simon

[Lou]

Agreed on all the above. Great story, great for you to do the dive. I am awaiting the old photos. Put one of your grandad up if you can - let the whole world see who was right!

Part of my reason for wanting to dive Scapa Flow is that both my grandfathers were there with their ships in WW2. My maternal grandfather has some great stories. Apparently they had a "temporary pub" set up for the sailors ashore and a long floating pontoon for the rowing boats to ferry the sailors from ship to shore to drink at the "pub".

So sailors go ashore, imbibe a few and meet back onthe pontoon to get the pre-arranged boat back to ship. Not getting back aboard was a serious offence so missing the boats was not an option - except for grandad.

He had a few, rolled down the pontoon and saw his boat rowing away! So the cheeky young lad that he was, he hitched a lift with another ship's crew and got them to make a detour so he could sneak back on board the QE without being missed.

He always said that you sat up in Scapa waiting for deployment knowing that if you left the flow and turned one way you were into the north Atlantic convoy which no-one wanted (but my other grandad did). if you turned the other way it could only get warmer! He ended up visiting the Seychelles, SA, Western Australia......

Lou

[RichClark]

Cheers Kyrre, what a great story!

Rich

[Mark Chase]

Great story M8. What a wonderful feeling that must have been to prove the old guy right.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Norseman]

Thanks for the comments, guys, and thanks Lou for telling about your grandads' experiences.

Well I couldn't find any pics of my grandad just now - but my dad found some old pics that he scanned and sent off for me. I'm definitely going to go through some of those old albums when I'm down there (1000 miles from here), because I found these pics very interesting.

Here's one showing the house in 1960



Here's one my dad took the first time he visited his in-laws. Boy did he meet a different world being a city slicker who was used to cinemas, roads and popping down to the corner for a lolipop.



Here's one I did on my own when I visited the abandoned house in 1993, on my way up to serve in the army.



And here's one showing the derelict state of the house in 2001, just before it was levelled.



Hope you enjoy them. I sure did.

Regards,

Kyrre

[Tim Ingmire]

Jeez Kyrre, It seems very sad to see the degeneration of the house. It must be even more so for your family.

[Norseman]

Originally Posted by Timing

Jeez Kyrre, It seems very sad to see the degeneration of the house. It must be even more so for your family.

Well yes and no. I guess the family has moved on. I think for people who grow up under such conditions it might not be all that bad. We did try to buy the house back, it was expropriated back in the 80's, but the local counsil would have nothing of it.
It really is a rather godforsaken place so it's not really the place you'd want to stay and get old. It's incredibly dark in the winter and with the high mountains summer isn't that long either.
Nevertheless my mum and aunts thought it was fun getting some of their china cups and bowls back. Cheap stuff, but full of history.

Here's another picture from 1960



And this is the corner where that vice was situated. I think you can actually spot it in the second b/w photo further up.

[Lou]

Kyrre,

Those are really very cool photos. I guess it is easy for us to be romantic about it. The house and location looks stunningly beautiful; as you say though the reality of living there and working the dock all your round must have been terribly hard.

It is sad that you were unable to preserve that piece of your family history, but it looks as though you have quite an archive of period photos. It is brilliant that you can now add some of the underwater scenery that your grandfather never saw in that way despite probably knowing every ripple and swirl of that bit fo water.

It is really nice to have stories like this on the board. If anyone else has any I, for one, would be interested in hearing them.

Cheers

Lou

[Simon TW]

Really enjoyed this thread Kyrre, nice insight to your country and life as it was.