'CANBERRA - A Berth In History'

[Music] Sunday July the 11th 1982 Southampton Britten's unlikeliest warrior edges toward a berth in history rust streaked undamaged proud Canberra the great white whale comes home from war in the Falklands never was there a day like this and never will they be another ship like this nor a story like hers to be told [Music] this is a liner that was turned into a cruise ship a cruise ship which went to war this is a ship which once cheated the breakers and which a nation then took to its heart this is Canberra the ship that introduced a generation to holidays at sea for thousands this is the way that Canberra will be remembered since her departure from her builders Canberra has steamed more than three million miles but they were not all like this Canberra was never built as a cruise ship [Music] the requirement in the mid-1950s piano decided it was for an ocean liner it would be bigger and faster than any of the company's existing ships its role to develop the profitable passenger service to Australia and open new routes to the far eastern Pacific the 16 million pound contract went to Harland & Wolff in Belfast then the biggest shipyard in the world from the word go job number one six two one was to break new ground in ship design bill Harrison was a member of the design team Dursley lifeboats for instance which normally were on the upper deck for the first time I think ever on a ship they both in and underneath on the promenade deck that was new and it's in fact has set a pattern for passing ships to this day well she was built for the comfort of the passengers the design was radically changed the engines were put off allowing far more space in the ship for the use of passengers public rooms also were better situated Mike Bradford was one of kamberis midwives he was attached to the yard for the build the start of an extraordinary 28 year association with the ship which culminated in his becoming her captain but going back to the fired part of the ship you had in board cabins with which all could view the sea from a small window this was completely new in design and of course we were allowed to build a far bigger ship by the fact that everything above the promenade deck was made in aluminium now if for us has been loose there was a fair bit of new ground being broken because with no experience indeed no ship builder at that time that experience of aluminium welding so there was a learning at night it was very successful the decision to power the ship by steam generated electricity came as a surprise to some even in the late fifties bill Harrison it was a heavy machinery plant it was an expensive for operation and much more expensive as it turned out when was because of his fear costs but quite the most radical design feature was to place the engines in the stern it had only been done once before the theory was sound the best part of the ship the widest the squares the most spacious is midships obviously so why put the engines and the best part of this ship why not use that for the passengers particularly for things like restaurants and large public rooms so that basically was the main reason there is a an added advantage to that with the machinery aft you're taking me noise and the vibration further away from the passengers growling have the engines going underneath them but can Burrus engines were too far aft making her stern heavy to help compensate it was planned she would carry a thousand tons of cargo the idea was quickly scuppered captain whale the first captain of the ship came to Belfast just before the handover he said oh we shan't be carrying 1000 tons of cargo so right away we had a major problem in her hands as a temporary measure because of the absence of cargo for the first voyage or two we put pig iron ballast in the cargo hold and that helped to reduce the trim as more permanent than the end we converted the whole cargo hold spaces to bunkers and tankage so that with the oil additional oil forward and an occasions water ballast then we were able to cope with the trim on the ship the pig iron was removed out of the first couple of voyages one consequence though of this uneven weight distribution was to remain with a ship for the rest of her life the design draft was 32:56 but because of the machinery asked and other things in the design it was designed with a 4-foot trim by the stern which means in fact that they after draft would be at the order of 34 36 Canberra only had one problem that was a very deep draft so we were limited to various parts of the world where we could go safely a little difficult turning but once you got to know the ship fine of course in a heavy sea where you couldn't get a better ship Canberra had other important qualities in the first place she was fast the purpose of the speed was to allow us to run out to Australia and probably the best time known to date in round the Pacific and the whole voyage had been completed in just over three months I think our trial speed was about twenty nine point two three which was quite a speed and the service speed that was required was 26 and a half 27 bearing in mind that passenger ships hadn't done this for a great number of years apart from the Atlantic it was quite a move ahead for piano bill Harrison voice is one other impression of Canberra one that was to grow down the years to me as a naval architect a novice and iist she looked like a ship and frankly I think that is one reason why Canberra has lasted so long in the popularity of the public that people know they're getting on a ship to go on a cruise if you want to go to hotel for a holiday go to Hotel Canberra Hotel standard is as good as anything a fruit today but it has the advantage of being a ship and it looks like a ship it means some of the modern not all but some of the modern passenger ships look like office blocks of wheels for Harland and Wolff Britain's biggest passenger ship since the Second World War represented good news and bad the bad that it lost money not a lot but a significant amount in those days and really it was the beginning of loss making shipbuilding we had competition building up from the Far East and not just for harness of course for the British appealing and just in general it was probably in the post-war area which is all I know the best ship that Hana was built Noah though they bigger ones with the perhaps in some ways more difficult ones but Canberra to me was the epitome of British ship and a 45,000 tons of ocean-going liner ready to take the water at Harland and Wolff's Belfast Yard the largest shipyard in the world it has a long tradition of building ships for the PNR life so just nine years after primary menses had named the Canberra bummer his wife Dame Pattie gives the same name to alignment I named this ship Canberra may God protect Han and all who sail in her the pause while the launching gear takes over Australian wine to wish her well and the latest piano Lana moves majestically down the waves from the day of her launch in March 1960 Canberra has always been special to Belfast so far as Belfast was concerned today Canberra was launched it was almost a national event I albeit it's a very small nation 1/2 million people but it was a big thing and even today there's a new concert hall of the suite being built in Belfast and one of the rooms is a counter a suite well that's what 35 years or so since the ship has been I think that's the answer it's very much a belfast ship canberra opened a bright new chapter in shipbuilding as she stood off gerak the 45,000 ton liner commanded by captain geoffrey wild made around the coast cruise to show the luxury ship to the thousands of holidaymakers between there and over john west 33 assistant manager of the piano designed canberra some of the amenities will come into their own in the tropics meanwhile a few brave spirits try them out it quickly became obvious that Canberra possessed something that caught the public's imagination and affection even on the shakedown cruise and that was a terrific experience we went right round the coast from the Firth of Clyde down to Southampton and very very close and much closing it would be an enormous voyage and right round the coast of the British Isles Scotland England Wales and particularly the south coast the cliffs the shore lying with people we went in the tour Bay if I remember it was whitsunday and the number of small boats that Tim Ryan can grant our baby was something I had never experienced before nor since and that shaped and creased me was a great experience on the maiden voyage captain wild' was in command Mike Bradford one of the senior officers the three-month itinerary took them to Australia New Zealand and San Francisco of the 2238 passages who set out 870 were emigrants over the years thousands of emigrants would begin their new lives aboard Canberra traveling on 10-pound assisted passages piano saw the maiden voyage is an important flag-waving opportunity it's estimated that we had 50,000 visitors in the various ports we went to my main recollections would be entering such ports as Sydney or Vancouver or Auckland and seeing what amounted to hundreds thousands of people just waiting to see this magnificent ship arrived making her stately way up Harbor Canberra was watched by thousands of Sydney people she too was a curiosity a ship with a new look which can cut the passage to Australia to three weeks [Music] Canberra's magnificence by the way was well matched by the modernity of Sydney's overseas terminal where she birthed she's the biggest liner built in Britain since World War two one of the passengers on the maiden voyage was Alice lovely they threw streamers seamlessly at streamers it was wonderful that Sydney that people they were hundreds and hundreds of people there now 94 missus lovely particularly remembers their reception in Australia Oh wonderful Oh wonderful you she's welded up she looked beautiful she really did and there was crowds that came down and always do even today you you'll find crowds of people always come and see yourself I can remember seeing all the lovely ladies in Australia all dressed up to meet the ship with their hat and gloves and it was quite the social event of the day when a ship like Canberra arrived these were the first of Canberra as heydays she was doing the job for which she was designed carrying passengers around the world in relaxed luxury her only competition from rival liners in those days she was a two class ship the first-class section was amidships the Meridian lounge Crows Nest bar and bonito Club were all first-class preserves they were twin set and Tweedy days when it seemed the only time you took off your tie was to go swimming despite the divisions the two classes managed to fraternize as Alice lovely remembers the first class passengers used to come first a separate door it was divided off completely and I didn't realize what it was for but one of the gentlemen sent me at first class but we preferred to come through Canberra's life as a liner continued more or less without interruption although in 1962 she was temporarily crippled by a fire in her engine room no one was hurt and the ship was able to hobble safely into Malta the most significant part of that incident was the fact that nearly 2,000 passengers completed their journeys to Australia by air it was to be almost another ten years before the full implications were recognized in the meantime the seductive quickstep of sea travel seemed set to go on forever Lord's Cricket Ground headquarters of English cricket has also played a role in the Canberra story the MCC teams traveled to Australia on Canberra circle in Calgary had a hand in Canberra design he was invited to collect the cricketing memorabilia that decorates the cricketers tavern caps stumps and pads are displayed on walls which themselves aligned with willow the wood from which bats are made as a player cowardly made the voyage to Australia three times where as a dream come true it really was the excitement of travel anyway and there were there were long trips when I talked to my son's about it for instance and they say you weren't really on the ship for 23 days were you dad there was a daily routine we would meet at something like 10 I think really in 1011 we'd meet in a special sitting room signing autographs sheets we used to I think we all had to sign about 15 or 20,000 of these before we got there it was quite embarrassing and after that one we wounded her at training they not too hard by today's standards it was but we had a trodden on the boat deck and and a few exercises then unfortunately on this trip much to the class disappointment Gordon Peary was aboard the great British athlete and Ted Dexter it was a tremendous perfectionist suddenly thought wow this has been sent to us we must use Gordon Perry he he started to train us rather harder we shouldn't go down to roll our bowlers who listen not only both her last summer but the winter before you know that they had come to put their feet how they didn't like the Gordon Peary tactics at all bringing the MCC touring team to Fremantle the liner Canberra Ted Dexter and his players all set for a cricketing summer while Britain settles down to winter at a press conference the Duke of Norfolk told Australia we intend to play the cricket you want us to play that implies following the attractive play policy on board obviously us a bit too much you may have drunk a bit too much confer those continuous socialise the most lunch times of your group who would have to see some of the flares and you have the in the evening that we're cabin saying please come and join us before dinner and a very good dinner so obviously we were going to live like that the her litter but it was very nice it was a very nice holiday arrest I mean those trips were a part of my life I shall never never forget them to live in such style beautifully looked after to have time I think time to read and time to talk but now there was a distinct cloud on the horizon in January 1970 the first jumbo jet crossed the Atlantic from that moment the writing was on the wall for the long-haul ocean liner six Jumbo's could fly as many people to Australia in a day as Canberra carried in a voyage of three weeks Mike Bradford gone with the passenger liners the big jets had come in and we reverted to cruising and considering that the ship was never built for cruising the carriage of freight to Australia and the Pacific and so we changed over to cruising and I think we adapted extremely well probably better than a lot of other ships would have done into New York Harbor for the first time sailed the piano liner Canberra impressing knowledgeable folk on the famous waterfront has the latest queen of the Seas Canberra was converted to a one class cruise ship but in 1973 with a slump in the UK market she was sent to America to operate out of New York it was almost the end of her Richard as Dale was then in pianos marketing department we were very short of passengers I and some colleagues were recruited to go over there in the January of their year to try and rescue the marketing situation because we were sadly lacking in numbers there were some operational problems because Canberra had never faced the freezing weather which is experienced in New York clicking in the harbor in January in February so there were some problems with plumbing and so on but the main situation was that we had had insufficient time to make an impact on the American market to find the passengers in time for the early cruisers and indeed for the whole of her very short season there we would never anywhere near capacity no matter how hard we tried Canberra was taken out of service while in London it was debated whether she should be scrapped we on the the UK marketing scene were trying desperately to prepare a very convincing case for her retention because we were quite sure that the the market would pick up again which in fact it did and we were very relieved that our case was finally accepted but it was very much a touch-and-go situation and I'm not sure in fact with the withdrawal of the ship whether the company would have ever been sufficiently convinced at a senior management level to invest in cruise ships which eventually of course they did it would have been a very very sad decision with her reprieve one canberra entered another Halcyon period as a cruise ship pitched squarely at the British market top class entertainment in the old palace of variety became an important ingredient Tom O'Conner one of the stars who was appeared regularly on Canberra still rates her his favorite ship but isn't she a bit old-fashioned she's old-fashioned then she hasn't got a lot going for it I mean the the stadium theater which I love I love this thing it's really not the best theater in the world I mean the ceiling is low the air-conditioning is is wanting I always do the gag about you know sorry about the air conditioning somebody shot the bat and and it's really not got a lot going for it so it's got to be atmosphere alone working conditions for an entertainer are quite amazing on the ship particularly on on the big white whale because there's no doubt whether there are dressing rooms but something you wouldn't dress it you know unless you you were doing a big show and you had to change quickly the secret of working on Canberra was to change in your cabin and then find a sneaky way off to the backstage without anybody seeing you and I used to have ways of doing that because there are rooms and passageways and I'm not happy it's like like the priest holes of the old days there are backstage routes on camera that note that the passengers would never find cameras a special ship to work on because it's as if you're talking to a family all the time I mean I don't just work on stage I go around the decks and I talk to the passengers and what have you and the crew and it's as if there's a mode of life aboard that everyone has to follow you instinctively find this kind of theme when you've got to be part of the ship it's it's an it it's an institution that there's a folklore about the ship and it's so easy to work on April the 2nd 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands Canberra was in Naples nearing the end of her round-the-world cruise her master Dennis Scott massive heard the news on the radio he thought little more about it the following morning he received a signal to say his ship might be requisitioned I was firmly not to allow anybody on board together whisper of this news so I was summoned down to Plymouth met a planning party of five other officers from various sections of Her Majesty's forces we then flew out to Gibraltar here in a rather cloak-and-dagger operation and boarded the ship as he came through the Straits of Gibraltar and up came this captain and several which we relational realize what I say yes men they had everything but the dagger in the teeth and I remember a little old lady saying I think it's disgraceful that first-class passengers have to board the ship up a rope ladder and it was finally announced that it was to be requisitioned which was shortly before we arrived back in Southampton I did something which was more us unique in a merchant ship he mustered as many of a ship's company as could be spared he explained the situation and gave them until the following day to decide what they would do if their ship was called up all three something truly had on Lord of which roughly half for Asians who were not involved in this although they would have willingly come down the other 400 British on board volunteered to a man there was one exception a young officer who was a genuine conscientious objector but he was the only one he said he wouldn't come and this included all the girls the Steiner staff in the hairdressing shop girls entertainment girls people we didn't imagine they actually would need to look after a lot of book necks with 1,600 holidaymakers aboard at the end of their cruise Canberra returned to her home port in the early hours of this morning the Canberra sailed into Southampton to be converted from luxury liner into troop carrier even before the 1600 passengers had disembarked the Ministry of Defence had taken over and preparations were starting to accommodate the 2,000 troops and all the necessary equipment a shipbuilding and repair firm moved in lorry loads of steel girders with which to construct a flight deck capable of handling at least three helicopters and officers of the parachute regiment and the Royal Marines started making arrangements for the 2,000 men who will be reporting their tomorrow also aboard will be 250 of cameras crew and 30 Royal Navy nurses now the ship had two captains Dennis Scott Mason the piano master had overall responsibility for Canberra safety Captain Christopher burn the senior naval officer at tactical command they were reunited at the Fleet Air Arm museun Inyo volton in the Falklands section Canberra had now to be accoutered for battle captain Byrne first requirement was to provide the facilities for helicopters to land and takeoff on the ship and before the ship had got back from Mediterranean cruise wasp was in Southampton and be given the order and the drawing and had proceeded with the pre manufacture of what was to be the mid ships for flight deck for helicopters and the main building function that took place whilst we were in port for those three or four days was the insertion of this flight deck over the swimming pool in the sixty hours she's been in port Canberra has been fitted out with equipment to enable her to take on fuel and stores at sea but the major work has been to the to helicopter decks this one forward of the funnels is already completed and it's special strengthening over the swimming pool is now ready to take the Sea King helicopters which will be ferrying men to and from the ships and other activity when the Canberra gets to the south of landing but this second helicopter landing pad just hold of the bridge is still a long way from being completed parts of the pad itself and the strengthening which will go below decks are still being loaded and as a result several Dockyard matey's are sailing with the ship Jeremy hands of ITN reported the war boats from Canberra and the Falklands it was he incidentally who memorably nicknamed the ship the great white whale we thought we'd probably be back within a week or so that the app outside as far as maybe Tenerife we thought and once around the Canaries and home again well mrs. Thatcher and Al Hague and the various others who are involved in the diplomatic process sorted it out little believing for a second that it was actually going to be over three months before we civilians thrown into this band of soldiers we get back home again in three days Canberra underwent a lightning conversion from luxury cruise ship to floating barracks funnily enough the actual conversion was relatively small and the carpets of the paneling or near that was removed most of the pictures on the bulkheads were left in place the steiner saloon still had hair dryers sitting there for the ladies hair and they just sort of worked around all these objects and as we addressed further south due course things got changed more and more but initially there was very little physical change by April the 9th the ship was ready to sail two and a half thousand troops mainly paratroopers and Royal Marine Commandos were now on board on the key side the ones who are being left behind were put in a grave face on it while those who are going couldn't conceal their excitement one dockside worker said it was just like the Second World War the last time troops embarked at Southampton the bands of the Royal Marines and the parachute regiment played their regimental marches aged 8 o'clock the last mooring rope was cast off and Canberra was ready to sail the liner's crew civilians who volunteered to sail with her through downstreamers while the families of those who fight if fighting becomes necessary waved a patriotic farewell I think the RISM air one reality about it in fact the military personnel quite rightly took it fairly seriously the 14 press men who we had at that time on board just didn't believe it possible that it would come to actual fighting they thought the age of that sort of thing had passed Mike Bradford was deputy captain I think most of us on board looked upon Falklands as another piano cruise but it was actually quite hilarious because we were going to war in a five-star floating hotel everybody else was stuck in horrible little floating gratings and bouncing up and down in rotten seas and and heavy weather and we were sitting gin and tonics and enjoying real cruise lifestyle going to war which was quite strange and weird some had it didn't really feel like going to war at all we still had a number of ladies on board I forget how many we had the ship's company it was mentioned at one stage that we would take the ladies out but they they kicked up such a fuss that it was decided live a senior naval captain that he would leave them on board and I think a very wise move because they played a very great part I think in the operation down in the Falklands there are 13 civilian women aboard working as telephonist nurses stewardesses and secretaries and in the shop where sweets and suntan lotion are going like hotcakes is sue wood her husband aboard is a farmer but how does she feel about the new passengers well it's good you know everyone's so pleasant anyway they're real pleasure to serve they really are it was impossible to believe that we were going to war the mood on that trip down to Ascension Island was very much like a cruise we were looked after as piano always did an incredibly fine fashion they treated us like passengers not clients or soldiers we would looked after extremely well the mood was one of obviously some sort of expectation a little bit of excitement but never any real belief that it would come to real fighting and it was a bit of a party atmosphere to be honest on the bridge it's P&O navigating officers her in charge albeit acting under naval direction and working alongside naval personnel the relationship between the crew and the troops is good the soldiers or civilians bring an air of normality and what for many of them is an unreal situation for the piano crew it's a cruiser the difference after all it's not very often that passenger counting for a bar of chocolate with a rifle under his arm I don't know would perhaps describe the ship at that time except that we were a very fully worked up military unit they were something in the order and I don't remember the exact figures now that mm tapes on board we had machine guns bristling everywhere and we were virtually around a warship we had every facility on board as well and we had hospital facilities but we were fully worked up and trained combat ship as we got closer every mile we got nearer then things became that little bit more serious a little bit more effort was put into training we had to go through exactly the same training routines and physical fitness campaigns as the soldiers themselves we were going to go ashore with them and they said you can only come with us if you prove yourselves to be fighting fit so we had to get involved in all their PT and so forth and we wanted to we didn't want to be the usual sort of journalists drunks and smokers that we really were I mean we had to be as fit as they were and we did but that didn't start until later that really was when we began to think goodness be right we really might be going to war here there was a fine Spri decor and morale was extremely high the naval discipline Act which we came under when we left Ascension Island was never used against the Merchant Navy crew so that's a great proof of the discipline that existed and the code of conduct which existed amongst their Merchant Navy and the piano crew as it's likely that Canberra will be spending long periods at sea it was essential to prove that she could be replenished by the feat auxiliaries with her accompanying her refueling at sea was not a normal maneuver for a cruise ship even more foreign was to effect a blackout on a vessel which were designed to be lit up like seaside illuminations biggest problem we had actually senior officers senior military officers I should add who often called from dinner to go to their cabins to put their black out in order and I think probably on the worst jobs in the ship the junior officers military officers who were designated to ensure the blackout was effective the Task Force sails house on April the 20th Canberra arrived off Ascension Island where the final preparations were to be made but while she was there that her size proved an unexpected advantage system chief wireless officer came to me one day and said that even up on top of the bridge he noticed he was a merchant ship that had been on the horizon several days this of course was visible from Canberra and her bridge which is much higher than any other ship antelope was sent immediately to investigate and it turned out to be an Argentinean merchant ship which while sitting on the horizon watching the operations that were going on at essentially she was chased forth now the mood changed otama got to ascension the various reasons it became apparent and we probably would have to go through with the operation the ship at ascension there was a moment when we actually realized that we were probably going all the way that moment was wearing my cameraman Bob Hanlon saw another warship flashing across to Canberra and he's a shortwave radio expert and knows all about Morse code and I said what are they flashed and he said a 69 a 69 and Canberra had suddenly been given a naval number the thing was really I think brought people's reality it certainly brought the press to reality was the fact of Sheffield being sunk on Belgrano being something that really made people wake up with a start then it got colder and windier and rougher and there's the extra edge to the weather there was the extra edge in the way people were talking to each other we suddenly realized we were going to go and end up on the Falklands and it wasn't going to be very pleasant and very soon after leaving ascension then we realized that that's exactly what was going to happen it became sunny stopping a cruise it suddenly became a campaign 3,000 people were now going to war in a 45,000 ton ship 10 stories high painted white and with yellow funnels which in her cruising days had been varnished to give them an extra shine we felt extremely vulnerable by far the very largest unit master at sea and abroad the white color was actually an advantage because due to the very misty conditions one gets down there it was probably about the best camouflage color one could have and 1 melded into the background there were many times but we could see the grey painted warships long before they ever saw us we were told that yes the ship is is part of the task force yes you are well protected nothing can go wrong and we wanted to believe that and we did believe it but deep down there's this sort of rather strange feeling about do I really want to go down - we do if we do get hit by a rogue missile or a torpedo or whatever and because the heart starts pounding and the mind starts playing silly games so we tended to spend more time either on deck or as high up in the ship as we possibly could and we weren't alone in that some of these very brave fighting macho men were suddenly behaving exactly the same way as we were can Burrus task was to land her troops of san carlos but to begin with there was no thought that she would have to go right in Alysha there have been ideas but this would be done for long distance by helicopter nets but invasion have parents and that number of people and the number of helicopters available it would have taken so long that it was impossible that ship would have to go into land in fact the troops at Japan and I think was about Ascension Island when it was finally confirmed that in fact we would be needed to go into of Solaria I believe that if we'd stayed outside we might have gone in the first attack with Arden - which was the first ship to go down as Arden was outside by going inside at least we had protection from the ships around us and eventually of course the military took report took their missiles ashore and if you like bring the whole area with defense as for being innocent Carlos felt considerably safer there in many ways than being out at sea because I knew he was sunken sand Carlos at least a bit lot sticking out above the water whereas see the prospects would not have been so good so on May the 21st Canberra entered San Carlos water everybody was extremely tense then of course when we actually went into San Carlos water which was just before daybreak we had no idea what the day would bring it was fairly dramatic say the least of it I mean one realized having always been taught in military circles will never do an amphibious landing unless one have complete air superiority here we were doing an amphibious landing when we had no esperar to talk and one was aware that frigates and particularly outside of the Sun were having a very rough time and this indeed is poor tankless even more when our boot who actually had a higher level of people killed than any other unit in the falklands war was sunk whilst non-south bombarding the screen and we embarked alter survivors the dawn broke and very shortly afterwards we saw I think it was a procurer aircrafts and staffing one of the naval escort ships out in the sound his offices for real you know till then we Prince thought nothing would ever happen but this was actual shots being fired in anger and not at us at the time he then just the car again turned towards us and you know he's gonna start firing at us he didn't in fact it turned away over the land I think himself his bosses back in Stanley probably we derived Jeremy Hans who was now ashore had a grandstand view of the sound and in the following morning which was incredibly frightening staggeringly frightening cold miserable wet we didn't know what was going on we didn't know where we were going we thought it was surrounded by Argentinian and then suddenly over the hill quite literally came Canberra and it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life I started laughing because it just seems so incongruous that there she was in a war zone we were being attacked we were surrounded by a very ferocious enemy who had quite happy of killers and then in came our old friend the cruise liner and his parked opposite Canberra was a primary target yes and we know now the Argentinian certainly one may wonder liberals attack on they hope it's going to hit actually camera to Argentine aircraft sky holds was sent into attack and they attacks over the hills they wouldn't seen what they were attacking till the last minute and dropped their bombs and actually enter levels in our bure that we'd gone and they hit and now the first of those two aircraft hip antelope's mast and was therefore in fact wrecked and unable to make any reports and the other one who probably made a report they attack the gone inland being a hit with shotguns and mentally off with bias and see Harry and that was followed immediately by the Argentinians announcing on the wireless the cameras had been hit and damaged and this game was actually confirmed that they view they had done it and when we went to Argentina the end in order to land prisoners the Argentine in general who came on board kept looking round ship why are trying giving him coffee saying where is all the damage where is all the damage I mean every day we were in San Carlos we used to look across and there she'd be and and we thought thank God she hasn't been hit and she could she never was nothing ever hit her but did we see the aircraft flying through San Carlos water the Argentinians dropping bombs the anti-aircraft fire the missiles going off in all directions we thought God she can't survive this and she did and she sat there and it was like a like a lucky token in some respects I mean we'd obviously all fallen in love with the ship on the way down because he do after that things of time and there she was we said please God don't let her get hurt you know she it's like the family we were terribly exposed raided lament on board but they didn't go for us they went either side and we witnessed lots of runs by the Skyhawks and bombs being dropped but we were fortunate Canberra was withdrawn to safer waters but she was still important to Jeremy hands we certainly used the MERIS that system he's tough have to queue up for this and it'll cure outside the Radio Shack to make our reports back as and when we could and whenever we could get transport but it'll be a helicopter or more often than not standing on a beach waiting for a friendly launch to go past and say can you take us to Canberra please and we've got stories to go back for you know for the BBC and for ITN but she was always there and always a friendly welcome and more important than had a bath or a shower and then it was over Canberra had been on active duty for 13 weeks and had completed a three-month worldcruise before that her reliability had been exceptional now the merchant ship the Argentinians would most like to have sunk was coming home there was a day the one will never forget nor much brings tears to my eyes now I suppose when we were down there going down there when we were down there we dreamt of such a day but didn't dare think it might ever happen we didn't know what was waiting us we had no idea it was foggy it was cold it was clammy and there were people still leaning over the rail and we couldn't see much then like a curtain the fog lifted as we came back and we could see Southampton more and perhaps more amazingly was the amid the flotilla around us a little ships and large cruisers and yachts and Inga's leaving a party of boy scouts went past in canoes I can remember this and then you could see what was a blur to start off with you could see was a sea of faces and and there was the Welcome in the banners and the cheering and the shouting Whitney watched on television it was one of those infrequent occasions when a lump was brought to the national throat I gotta say I've seen my company grow they've had a baptism of fire and we took our voice we were like many all the way back we had to contain something like 2,000 dog teenagers or just won a war they were marvelously well behaved I must have one of the things worth mentioning I think testament to the discipline all the caravan board was really never a case of any vandalism people who I had a tremendous amount of time for really brave tough men just in tears totally in tears falling about hugging each other we're home we've made it we're back the reception was almost beyond belief and the people turned up just on there it was candra's finest now she came back she looks scruffy she was a mess and I don't think ever I can't think of an occasion in the history of this country where one particular ship has held the affection of the British nation as much as she did at that moment it was just unbelievable to see we were very very lucky to get her back in one piece the war over Canberra and her captain could go back to their day jobs [Music] very quickly got back into the old after our passengers who usually a bit more demanding only soldiers they could be quite demanding to in a different way I think she very rapidly held a very special place in the hearts of those not only cruised in her butt but his public at large Canberra which had previously been a favourite was now a heroine everybody who sailed in her had their own personal reminiscence among them the chairman of P and O Lord Stirling could see the first ship I think I probably still won't which I stepped aboard and it was the first ship that my family and I and we had a very young daughter was that you about two of those days ever ever travel long but they were saying I do remember about the ship which says a lot about the ship I remember speaking to somebody and at a bar and he would say this is about the 25th time he's travelled on camera and I bumped into him again later on the cruise and we got to know each other a bit then we have another drink together up in the old Crowsnest and there's a matter interest where you gain next year on holiday always a camber of course I said done where you going no idea you have I lost the wife and that for me said it all it was the ship which is what they were in love with and where they were Goering was almost incidental camber is present captain the current custodian of the legend is Rory Smith securing his part why does he and others who know think Canberra has attracted such a following she is probably one of the last of a kind she was built at a time when cruising was very much in its infancy if was considered an industry at all and she has a great feeling of warmth about her which over the years has developed into almost patina that surrounds the whole ship and it is something that passengers comment on time after time is the friendliness the warmth and the intimacy that camera has I like camber because it's all English when I want to go off for the day I only have to go down to the person's office and they've given me their money and change my money it's all so easy and so simple one of our great strengths is that Canberra is not a ship for the exclusive clubs it is a ship of the people of Britain she's more of a family ship if you've been on the bigger ship then you know what I mean there's a lot of them yet if you go out of your cabin you meet people and you chat and and after you go to it after have your meals and you sit and check it there's such a big difference we noticed it especially we went on the Queen the qe2 810 years ago first of all and there was there was such a difference it's too massive let's move it back on the camera that's better there are certain Knights aboard ship that you couldn't reestablish ashore but a certain certain moments in my mind now for instance island night which is usually in the Caribbean or somewhere and you've got the stadium theatre company and all the all the in-house entertainers on the and the old legs like myself out on deck balmy breeze warm what maybe a mid mid 75 80 something on that and and it's as if you've just opened the doors of your house and you're entertaining all the neighbors around the swimming pool the band to play in 1940's music the people are singing about all the backing singers the dancers it's stunning it really is stunning the classic story of course has got to be when Orianna beautiful ship went on a maiden voyage and I was on it and I I always do about a half an hour show of just my normal act gags and routines and then my second half hour are usually based it on what the people have said or done or reacted to on board the cruise and the biggest line that everybody said aboard Orianna on her maiden voyage was it wasn't like this on the camera hit her on camera there are rooms you can go to when you feel in different moods I have different bars and corners and libraries and what-have-you away if I want to write some of my book or I want to sit down and just think or if I want to go and have a good time and as a piano playing and it's it's like the world under one roof if you like and I'm not sure that modern ships are going to get that kind of thing they're beautiful they're floating palaces I know but I'm not sure they're gonna give you that those are the places of comfort like having your own hometown where there's a local pub to drink in the local restaurant you can go and sit quietly and talk there the boys in the bar and I'm not sure that you could you're gonna be able to build that anymore all pre-departure checks have now been satisfactorily completed and Canberra is about to sail for Tom if Canberra had developed a personality in her passengers Minds she was every bit as much of a character to her captain's Commodore Jim gibbous known her for 17 years what she liked to drive idiosyncratic I think you always had to be on your mettle because she never did the same thing one after the other you coming into Southampton each time was an experience she handled idiosyncratically I think that's the only way I can say about it you had to watch her she was like a wayward lady sometimes she was heavy and she had some babe very powerful engines which fortunately were turbo-electric that got us out of many difficult situations but she only had a single rudder and that was a thing that you had to watch certainly making the very tight turns at the entrance to Southampton the TrueType turns off Cal shot and the bambbles were quite difficult heavy she is a very heavy ship for her size which is one of the characteristics of why she is so good and very heavy well er but as far as the driving of the ship maneuvering circumstances so long as you take her slowly she reacts in the main as you would expect and she is very forgiving she was always extremely good as a sea ship I think probably one of the best sea ships I've been with she had the length and the sleekness to cut through most of the waves that we experienced she was built for traversing the world in any sort of weather in September 1993 she was hit by a famous storm Rory Smith was her captain well the wind strands got up to they were about four twelve and it becomes a bit difficult to gauge it after that she performed beautifully they seized were high and obviously the wind likewise was very strong and it was deemed for the comfort of the passengers that we should heave to as we say so we reduce speed to the most comfortable speed that we could and it was quite an experience to look out at Canberra this lovely old ship plowing through this very heavy sea at 12 knots whereas other ships much more modern newer which had also been forced to heave to they were going backwards in later life her speed was geared down to about 23 knots partly to container 250 tons of oil a day fuel consumption but she could still turn on the power when needed Ian give I would call very clearly one occasion where a lady was in hospital very seriously ill and the doctor wanted to get to a port as quickly as we could where she could be looked after in the most professional way and we spoke to the chief engineer and he managed to find somehow and we don't know where an extra knot and a half and we were speeding along at 25 knots up the Adriatic the woman's assistant purser in fluent Italian was able to speak to the heart surgeon who was waiting at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning we landed her into the Carabinieri craft and she was whizzed over to the hospital and he was operating by four and she survived the experience and I don't think many ships could have pulled that out and she was a 30 year old ship at that time and to pull that little bit extra out of her marvelous if you think of asking your grandmother to run the hundred yards you can equate that Canberra of course has her own hospital including a small operating theatre of all the dramas it is witnessed none was happier than the occasion in 1981 supervised by sister Allison Ross Andru Terry was born on the ship he and his family have cruised on Canberra every year since yes the ship was in the news again in 1987 when it rescued the Jones family whose round-the-world yacht sank in heavy seas off Panama the Joneses life raft had been drifting across the Pacific shipping lanes for almost 18 hours when the camera finally closed in for the rescue the family had been forced to abandon ship in such a hurry that they had no radio and only five flares on board the Canberra executed the rescue maneuver after being called in by a Korean ship after arresting some food the family told how the Korean vessels own attempt at the tricky rescue almost went disastrously wrong and all of something cool aureus white sight came over the horizon and we knew I said be God I think it's one of ours you know as he graduated close I'd yeah I could see the boundary I could see the name I said what could an antenna count me the camera really said it jolly well is you know in 1994 Canberra found herself at the center of national affairs once more when she took part in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of d-day it was an occasion Commodore Gibb will never forget it was the day of the Spithead review and that was quite indescribable it was magnificent the ships all dressed overall it was quite a blustery day we had to maneuver ourselves into a very tight anchorage during the hours of darkness and when dawn broke it was blustery but we were all there waiting for the royal yacht to be led by the Patricia which is the Trinity House vessel around the circuit and then having the Royal Yacht having passed and I it was wonderful a wonderful experience to see all those boats dotted about the white water we then picked up our anchor maneuvered clear of the Anchorage and set off across the channel and during that passage we had the most magnificent of church services [Music] [Music] today we have with us 1500 veterans their widows or families who participated in the d-day landings in another war they had found a Padre who had been on the beaches the only remaining Padre and he and I took this service with all the old veterans men and women a more magnificent group of people I don't think I've ever come across tears were brought to the eyes and then when the Lancaster bomber came over and dropped the poppies I don't think there was a dry eye in the house wonderful experience Canberra has been of enormous importance to P and O Lord Stirling it's been a true flagship I mean it's a it's a term which is often used quite loosely but I think we're where that ship is concerned and that's what it really stands for and probably it was the first ship which in the public mind represented cruising in the modern age when one talks about the feeling in public's mind we talk about the ship but the ship is only alive that is crew and I think possibly the relationship between the actual ship itself and they the atmosphere created by the crew is what people really think about camera so you can't separate it from the crew and the friendliness and the atmosphere onboard that ship it's one of the same you can't really separate the fabric for the human factor no story of Canberra would be complete without mention of our Asian crew traditionally the cabin and restaurant Stuart's come from Goa the engine room staff and deck crew from Pakistan several have served many years with piano often continuing long family traditions they all miss the ship as much as anyone but why is she being withdrawn Lord Stirling again that has to be I'm afraid you get to a stage where the facilities onboard a ship longer term and what in practice you would have to spend on that ship taking in her age really it's not practical and more important I think that the facilities which strange very people have prepared to accept I mean the back end of the ship is not quite the same as the front end if we put it that way around and I think the modern versus is that people actually want is something you couldn't possibly provide in the longer term so sadly so like a good party he mustn't let he go on to a point where people start to be dissatisfied they we feel that it was greeted for the sense of sadness but not total surprise and so Canberra approaches her final cruise Alice lovely had booked three previous years thinking each would be her last this time when her travel agent called she checked and she said what about the camera missus lovely oh I should have done three years thinking it's the last voyage I said I'll leave it until it is he said it is the last voyage as it is it really she said yes it's a farewell trip I should have a book mean nearly at the end of my life and I'm so pleased I'm going to be going on the last voyage to say goodbye to it to her captain Bradford has planned his own farewell I'm hoping to pick up an aircraft from my flying club from shopton which is in Herefordshire and fly down to Southampton water and sort of waggle my wings and wave to the ship he comes in last time that's what I would like to say I don't think I'd like to be there in person it'd be rather sad Rory Smith will be in command on the final voyage as far as the ship's company are concerned we are going to treat it not as a time of reminiscing but of a time of celebration of all the things that the ship has been through in 36 years we intend to really remember the good things they the marvelous times and the experiences that she's had over 36 years and the emotional time will come when she comes up so them tune water for the last time that is when Lee emotions will be jerked suddenly this institution this home will go and it will be a very difficult time for many of us they knew she was special when Canberra was launched her layout and her looks ensured that no one though could have guessed what she would become she was the liner that closed one chapter in British marine history and the cruise ship which opened another she was a national emblem above all in 36 years she has cherished close on 1 million passengers but let the final words belong to those who knew her best to me the Falklands was Canberra she was home she was she was based she was sanity in an insane episode of history a very beautiful kid my special should always hold a special place in my heart a great ship and a great lady she's there she's think the grand old lady she's the queen mother of the Caesar a wonderful ship one that will probably never be replaced in people's minds you can't beat her I don't think she's a marvelous ship they'll never see the likes of her again and I certainly very very pleased and proud that I was able to sail in one of the great British institutions [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: POHeritage

Views: 240,240

Keywords: P&O, CANBERRA, P&O Ships, Passenger ships, Falklands, Falklands War, archives, archive film

Id: tnLRaZ6QbBY

Length: 65min 43sec (3943 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 10 2020