Seadogs Index A-B

'I joined Oriana for her maiden voyage and served on her throughout the early and mid sixties. I was a Steward. I joined her more or less straight from school and was a Bell Boy for the first two years. I was assigned to the print shop and spent most of the time walking round the ship delivering menus etc. When I got my rating I worked in the first-class dining saloon. Happy days! Best wishes to all ex crew members.'

Alan's email address is available in the interactive area.

Alan Conlin (aka TT)

Here he is in the shit as usual.

TT was a really likeable guy. I can’t remember ever hearing him say a bad word about anybody. The nickname TT came from his likeness to the actor Terry Thomas because of the trademark gap between his two front teeth.

Here’s a very recent shot of TT and his lovely wife Debrah and yes that is Adro, the winner of Australia’s Biggest Loser.

Alan sent this message;

‘My other half, Debrah, recently became a Subway franchisee. A week or so ago we attended a Subway convention in Coolum in Qld, and as major sponsor to the programme 'Biggest Loser', one of the guest speakers was the winner of the game, Adro. That’s Deb and I having a chat with Adro after his presentation, he is a genuinely decent bloke. I mentioned that I had a friend who had been inspired by the programme to change their lifestyle and he sent best wishes and encouragement and strongly recommends you log onto an online ( FREE) health programme he says will help, which is...’

http://www.free-online-health.com/

I really appreciate that TT so if there’s any more seadogs out there struggling with trying to get rid of the odd pound then check that site out.

There’s more photos of TT here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,

Alan’s email address is available in the interactive area.

Alan MacKenzie

Alan joined P&O in November 1976 as a Trainee Radio Officer. His first ship was the Canberra followed by 7 others totalling an amazing 26 years at sea. He started as Radio/Electronics Officer, later ETO and finally, in the last ten years or so, SETO. The above shot was taken on the 10th September 1980 and his gorgeous companions are Joy & Helen, Social Hostesses. They’d bring joy to anywhere wouldn’t they :)

Alan’s Sea Career was as follows;

Canberra	about 12 years on and off 1976-1996
Oriana (I)	about 2 years total 1977-1982
Sea Princess/Victoria	about 7 years total 1979-2001
Uganda	only 1 month regretfully, June/July 1980
Sun Princess (I)	4 months, August-November 1980
Island Princess (I)	1 week, June 1982
Royal Princess	building standby, then six months, 1984/85
Arcadia (III)	18 months, curtailed by necessity, 2001-2002

Sadly he had to leave the Sea in November 2002 to become a permanent carer for his increasingly aged and disabled parents.

Alan wrote the following in his email to me;

‘Firstly may I say how very impressed I have been, going through the wonderful collection you have put together on this website. I have spent literally, hours going through it (I think I've just about seen it all now) and bits are just so nostalgic it almost hurts!’

‘It is just so atmospheric looking through all this material, it really brings the old ships back to life again’

Thanks Alan, receiving feedback like that makes it all worthwhile. We wish you all the best with, what many would see as, the burden you now have to bear. Hopefully you don’t consider it a burden but a privilege.

Alan’s written an amazing account of his time at sea which I considered selecting pieces from to post here but decided it needed to be read in it’s entirety so click here to read it.

Alan’s supplied over 200 photos all with his own narration which I’ve split into 9 new sections which are now all posted here.

You really have to check out this new section. Alan actually owns and operates two ships and you can see them both here.

Alan’s email address is available in the interactive area.

Alan Richards (aka Yorkie)

Alan was definitely on the Canberra because I cut this from the 1984 Xmas Eve group in the Island Room but I'm not sure of the rest of his sea history. You can see the full photo here.

Alan has supplied some additional interesting information about the infamous Baron Von Barraclough pourout.

Alan's email address is available in the interactive area.

Alan Sinclair

Courtesy of Roger Lownsborough

Christmas 1977 on the Strathaird, Alan Sinclair EO as Father Christmas and Roger Lownsborough collecting his Christmas present (He tells me he'd hoped for a replacement radar!).

Alan Wadham

Photo & narration courtesy of Steve Hodge

Al Wadham - Alan Wadham AELO on Pacific Princess. Al was pretty good at darts as I remember - better at getting people in the head than double tops though. That's Jim Lakin in the background. Jim was an Ug Tug man on PP for motor time, I don't think he enjoyed it too much - noisy diesels and all that oil in the bilge!

There’s more photos of Al here, here, here,

Alec Sunderland (RO)

Alec was a Radio Officer on Oriana but due to the relatively large size of the Engineering Dept we tended just to socialise amongst ourselves and didn’t have the need to get to know other officers which of course, in hindsight, was pretty narrow minded.

When I first received this picture of Alec I remembered his face but realised I’d never actually spoken to him. I also discovered he’s been living just a few miles away from me here in Perth for years now.

There’s more of Alec in Alec's Memories section.

Alec’s email address is available in the interactive area.

Alex Morton

Alex was one of the first guys I met when I joined P&O. We were on the induction course together in Southampton. Alex & I sailed on TE Canberra together in 1974 and later on SS Nevasa. Here he is sharing an Allsopps Lager in my Canberra cabin. Note the froth on the top … warm beer. I couldn’t do it these days.

This is Alex in my cabin on Nevasa with his left arm around Judith Garbutt (Nee Wright) who at the time was just a passenger but has turned out to be my Cousin by marriage and I was the Best Man at her wedding.

This is the latest shot I have of Alex with his girlfriend and her mother. He tells me he’s very happy with his life. Lucky man.

Above is the Crown Princess which Alex and wife, Lynn have just spent a few weeks on sailing from New York to the Caribbean and back. They thoroughly enjoyed it and are going again next year.

Relaxing on the private balcony.

Speaks for itself.

A very handsome couple indeed. Alex says his life has been wonderfully crazy since he met and married Lynn. He knows he left it a bit late but boy have they had fun since that happy day. Good luck to them both.

Alex’s email address is available in the interactive area.

Alistair ? (aka Super Mac)

That’s Super Mac on the right with John Thow. He was a legend at wheeling in. His record was 6 in one night. I take my hat off to you Mac. He’s another person I haven’t been able to track down since I started the original website. If anyone knows anything about him please let me know.

Here’s a good shot of Super Mac in Athens I think it was with Dirty Harry on the left and TT behind.

Does anyone know where he is now?

I’ve just received the following information from Brian Griffin;

‘After leaving the sea, Alistair moved to Sydney, in 1979. We met up regularly for a 'few' beers at the Neutral Bay, Oaks Hotel, in Sydney, and reminisced about the good old days. Mac, like myself was a VO, and he was employed by a company called Atlas Air, whilst I was with Danfoss, both in Sydney. During 79-81 we met regularly until we both got 'involved' and the last I heard of Mac he was married/living in North Ryde, in Sydney. I too would like to catch up with him, if anybody knows his whereabouts....he owes me a round from the Oaks!’

There’s more photos of Super Mac here

Amanda ? (Nursing Sister)

No photo yet!

Amanda recalls;

A few faces I remember from my time as a Nursing Officer. Had the pleasure of being on the Oriana for her Maiden Voyage and two contracts on the good old Canberra. Lots of 'hazy' but happy memories of my 2 years with P&O

Amanda's email address is available in the interactive area.