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Anecdotes & Memories from the Leith Division |
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The Anecdotes & Memories from the other Waterguard Divisions listed below have their own sub-pages to facilitate faster browsing and for ease of maintenance. They can be viewed in the normal way by selecting the appropriate 'button.' |
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Leith Division - Page contents: |
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God Save The King
In February 1952 I was on a rummage crew in Bo'ness - nr. Grangemouth but now completely filled in. The ship was a small German cargo vessel discharging pit props for the local mine. I was in the wheelhouse when the door burst open and the captain stood in front of me, saluted, and announced in a sombre voice, 'Your King has just died'. He immediately left and lowered
Whilst Idly Leaning Over The Side Of The Ship . . . .
Whilst serving in the rummage crew in Grangemouth as an APO in about 1953, we were concerned about the smuggling activities of a certain Dutch shipping company.They always seemed to evade our efforts to catch them. We decided to mount a concerted effort to put a stop to it when they arrived on their regular Monday visit.
Both crews were called into action, one at night and the other on a 6 to 2 shift, in order to cover all eventualities. I was on the 6 to 2 and was discussing the lack of results with my PO Charlie Vick while leaning on the ship's rail. It was a blustery Spring day and there were lots of bits of debris bobbing up and down on the water. Charlie looked at me and said 'do you notice anything odd about that piece of wood floating over there'. I said it was rather odd that it was going up and down but not going anywhere in spite of the strong wind. We decided to investigate further and set sail in a borrowed dinghy.
On reaching the mysterious piece of wood, we pulled it out of the water and found a small hook underneath, attached to the hook was a length of rope which in turn was attached to a large red oxide drum stuffed full of tobacco and weighed down with a piece of concrete. Examination on the other side of the ship revealed a similar set up. The captain was astounded at our discovery and was convinced we had been tipped off. A member of the crew owned up and appeared in court. The Scottish Daily Express reported the incident the following day with the prefix 'Whilst idly leaning over the side of the ship etc etc' - Brian Fox
'Many officers, not only in Leith, will remember AWF (Gus) Cameron, PO. Stories about Gus are legion, and this is only one of many. In his youth, Gus was a considerable footballer, and in later years was `trainer` of the Leith team in Lupton Cup and other matches. On this occasion, one of our players went down with a recurrence of an old knee injury. The trainer rushed on the field with a boarding case, supposedly containing his medical equipment. When Gus opened the case, the player was only mildly surprised to see that its contents consisted of four cans of Export and a half-bottle each of over-proof rum and water - being mainly for the trainer`s sustenance. "Aye, Andy, that`s a bad knee," says Gus. "The best I can do is strap a couple of cold Exports to it."' - Gerry Lynch PO
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