Herry's Archives

 Richard Sayer: 'The ship caught fire on January 9, 1972, two days before completion of her conversion into a floating university. Bob flew out to HK on January 10. On January 11 I flew from London to Singapore because a CY Tung tanker - the Atlantic Faith - had collided with the Anson. Remarkably (but those were indeed the days) the AF was leaving Singapore after repairing the damage caused by an earlier collision, which I had investigated for the Tungs in Singapore some months earlier. Having finished my statements on the Anson collision I rang Bob to say that I was in the area. He asked me to come to Hong Kong to assist him in establishing the facts HK maritime enquiry. In those days it was almost unheard of to have two partners work on the same case. I flew from Singapore to HK on January 16, for one of the most interesting, and exhausting, two weeks of my life. I had worked in a supporting role with Bob before and it was g...

Loading sulphur The Cambridgeshire was a newly built bulk carrier that loaded a cargo of sulphur in Vancouver for Mozambique. Sulphur is a fine yellow powder produced as a by-product of the oil and gas industry and in Vancouver, it is sprayed with a fine mist of water during the loading operation to prevent fires and pollution. On arrival at the discharge port and when the hatches were opened, it was found that some of the sulphur had hardened and turned black and when the hardened sulphur was chipped away, the ship's sides were terribly corroded. The cargo had to be dug out and the ship sailed to South Africa, where she was repaired over a period of almost six months. The total losses suffered by the owners (in lost time and repairs) was $10m, which they sought to recover from Canadian cargo interests. To begin with, no one had any idea how this heavy corrosion had occurred. I had appointed Dr RF Milton & Partners investigate the cause, but for once, Reg Milton was stumped. Th...

Nina with Annette c. 1926 R eaching back, as we still do to idyllic Stocks, all dogs and muddy boots and Mum sitting at the Aga doing supper "just using up some leftovers" (!)  I recall as H has, visiting Nina in Warwick after her stroke when her character changed from prim and reserved to warm and welcoming. I sat with her talking of life as a med student like a decoy as mum beetled off to raid family stuff from the cellar before any other (brothers) got there.  Thrifty she certainly was and strong-willed - "that ruddy driver" - and a tough 'pull your socks up' type of person when hobbling with arthritis. I recall the wonderful flower arrangements, the Verdi (not Wagner!) playing and the friends, oh the friends!  And the pool at Stocks comfortably swimmable only in the last week of July at most!  Annette in the pool at Stocks. Herry on the side Return to Annette Lawford Return to Nina Herbert  Return to Archive Index  

A shoot at Dunley c.1943. The woman is Patrick's sister, Sylvia, holding 'Danny'. Photo by Patrick.  My earliest memories of shooting are of standing still in a hide at dusk, being careful not to show one's face to the pigeons flying home to roost nearby. I held a 4.10 and later a 20 bore and any birds I succeeded in getting were taken home and hung in the game larder and later plucked and gutted ready for the table. They would be cooked in an old blue casserole with vegetables and a large sprig of thyme, and thus we ate pigeon at least once a week in the winter months, My father Patrick learned to shoot while a pupil of Percy Bragg at Headbourne Worthy and shot regularly with his friends and later at Litchfield and the neighbouring estate of Dunley with his step-father-in law Sir Alfred Herbert . He was fortunate enough to be given a beautiful pair of Holland & Holland 'Royals' by the then owner of Litchfield, Charles Carey Druce, which he used all his li...