On Thursday, January 24, 2002 2:22 AM, Ed wrote:

(snip)

> <bg> Ouch!

That's what the bloke who jumped on my head said when we were back in the
boat! :-)

> BTW, Was it a wooden minesweeper?

G'Day, Ed!  No!  It was one of the old, long WWII, metal hulled ones and
quite a large vessel. :-)

> (spent 4 years on a wooden minesweeper, "Wooden Ships
> & Iron Men")

With iron stomachs too, I bet, when you got into heavy seas!  :-)

A few years ago, a mate of mine was the 'Jimmy' on board one of the RAN's
wooden hulled minehunters.  (The timber hulls gave the vessels a low
magnetic resolution.  A useful feature when dealing with mines!) He invited
myself and a lady that he was interested in seeing more of, (I never asked
how much more of her he saw!) to lunch on board.  Afterwards, I gave her a
lift back to her office.  "Poor Bob!"  She said.  "Why?"  I asked.  "The
Navy can't think too highly of him if they put him on a boat so old that
it's made of wood!"  She replied!  :-)

Strike