April 1975, THE BLOCKADE---ARDROSSAN
- Owner: quiet waters (View all images and albums)
- Uploaded: Oct 24 2008 09:25 PM
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- Category: A Look back in time
hunting in a cupboard for an allen key to adjust the neck on my bass guitar i came across this letter which i've no recollection of seeing before, at the time i was 13, it was easter school holidays and i went with my father on the JASMINE CN110 to join the blockade, this is a letter from the Ardrossan Harbour CO. from someone named G R Bayley, addressed to my father J.A.M SHAW.
On behalf of the Ardrossan Harbour CO LTD I hereby intimate that the company hold you liable jointly and severally with the masters and/or owners of other vessels concerned for the loss, damage and expense sustained by the company by reason of the blocking of the port of Ardrossan during the period 31st March to 3rd April, 1975. The total sum involved is conservatively estimated at £12,500. It may be that the company will not pursue the claims hereby intimated in the meantime but their position is fully reserved and you are advised that they may well decide to institute proceedings without further intimation in the event of a repetition of the blocking of the port and that whether or not the vessel of which you are the master and/ or owner is involved in such repetition.
in other words they were threatening all the owners of the boats that if the CFA or whichever body organised the blockade repeated the action my father and all the others would be sued without warning, a kind of we told you once and if you do it again your for it, and you won't see it coming until you get a summons to appear in court, at first i thought it was £12,500 each but it seems it would have been a portion of the sum, forget how many boats were involved as i haven't loaded my pic yet but it might well have been about £600 which was quite a lot of money in 1975
or i could have just said "yes, it was, got deleted" but where is the fun in that for me? 1.44am, what the feck else am i supposed to be doing, sleeping? oh clocks go back at 2am so its only 12.44am, well not really, but in 14 mins it'll be 2am, but really 1am, i lost you halfway thru that, didn't i?