Video P&O Days Part 1

P&O Days - Part 1, Life in the P&O Fleet circa 1960s - A young officer's pictorial record

The first three videos produced by Captain Joe Welch (see Shop)  covered his career with OCL, P&OCL and PONL, but the fourth might be considered a 'prequel' as it is about his early days at sea with P&O in the 1960s.  

Through this 43 minute show we are treated to a fascinating series of still images starting, as the career of a trainee officer would have started in the late 1950s, with photographs of (the then) Cadet Welch and his classmates at the Nautical College at Warsash (including a great photo of a cadet on sentry duty complete with rifle and fixed bayonet!)  Like all cadets accepted into the Merchant Navy at that time, Joe had to sign indentures as an apprentice but first he had to gain a merit badge from the Outward Bound School at Ullswater, and we are treated to a series of photos covering that course (what cadets joining Maersk today would make of this is anybody's guess!)

The next voyage was on the newly built P&O-Orient Lines' passenger vessel, ss Oriana.  Joe was on the Oriana's voyage no.4 which was a world cruise out through Suez to Australia and New Zealand, then across to the west coast of Canada and the USA via Honolulu, before transiting the Panama Canal and then home to Southampton.  The shots that Joe has included of Sydney are particularly interesting as they include cargo vessels berthed at Campbell's Wharf near the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House under construction.  This was the voyage where the Oriana famously maintained an average speed of 30 knots, securing the Golden Cockerel Trophy for the fastest Trans-Tasman crossing (a record that this sadly long-gone vessel still holds).

In addition to the photographs, this video also has a number of line drawings produced by Captain Welch's own hand.  The painting of the ss Iberia that is used to illustrate the disc is also one of his own.  A man of many talents!

While very different from the three containership videos that Joe has produced over the last two years or so, this will be just as interesting for ex-sea staff, office personnel and anyone with a passion for maritime history.  The photographs are a fascinating record of the early stages of a lifetime career at sea, the viewers literally seeing things through the eyes of a cadet and young officer in the late 1950s/early 1960s.  Today, cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney bring no surprises.  We've seen them in the movies, on TV and on the internet, and the logos on the shops, banks and city firms are the same the world over.  The photographs on this video however show another world, one in which every port would have brought surprises.  

Having seen part 1 we are really looking forward to being invited to review the second video in this series. Joe tells us that part 2 will cover voyages in the 1960s on the Stratheden, Ballarat, Baradine and the Canberra, so as the saying goes, do watch this space!