The family of one of our early contributors, John McParland, has sent us some more images of John’s amazing trip from Merseyside to Tuktoyaktuk in the Canadian Arctic on the dredger Beaver McKenzie in 1975. The trip, which took four months to complete, was 12,000 nautical miles and she sailed under her own power via the Panama Canal and around Alaska. You can read the full story in our ‘Collections’ section but we thought you’d like to see one or two of the new images. The first one is of the Beaver McKenzie itself and the second is of the Marconigram sent by the owners to the ship as it left port, wishing everyone a safe voyage. Little did they know how much luck they were going to need before the end of it.
Do any of the ex-seamen among you remember Marconigrams, or radio communication (or lack of it) generally on long voyages. We’d love to hear from you if you do.
