Gerry Ryan. |
Conversation with Gerry Ryan on Wednesday Oct 30th 2013
at 10:00am at Godet & Young in St. George.
Alongside at McCallan's Wharf
BH. So, just what were your experiences with SOFAR. When did you start?
GR. 1960
BH. and that was right away with the Horace Lamb, right?
GR. Yes, deckhand. No, I started in the engine room actually.
BH. Engine room.
GR. Doing a refit, - done in Bermuda. I started as engineer, doing work as an engineer. Then I saw there was an opening on deck, so I went up on deck. And then I worked my way up to Captain after a while.
BH. I had heard you took her out a few times. When was that?
GR. When Clem left.
BH. That must have been 1969 or 70, yes?
GR. 1970. yes
BH. OK. I remember you did a lot of the navigation and stuff like that during the 60’s.
GR. Yup.
BH. So, what happened to Sir Horace eventually, she’s …
GR. They took her to the Naval Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, I took her up there. She’s basically been scrapped - we sort of put her in mothballs, took all the stuff off and things like that. And then I heard later that she was back in service again, going up and down Chesapeake Bay but I’m not sure what happened to her.
BH. OK.
GR. But we put her in mothballs. We came up with …* *Traffic noise* *… last job, we had been working for NASA at the time. Commander Trumbull was aboard. I guess he’s still around or is he gone, maybe?
BH. Yes, he’s gone. His wife is still around – Jane, -
GR. Clem McCann’s sister in law.
BH. So you had a pretty good innings then.
GR. Yes.
BH. must be about 20 – 25 years.
GR. Yes 20.
BH. 20 years, OK. So do you remember any of the trips you did that were memorable?
GR. Yeah, Oh Yeah! Can’t tell you half the things that I did.
BH. But I’m sure you can, because it’s all been de-classified…
GR. No. I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about some of the other things!
BH. OK. Maybe we shouldn’t go there, then!! Do you remember Cruise 222?
GR. Where did we go?
BH. We went down to Barbados…
GR. I’ve been there quite a few times.
BH. …and we got shot at by a big gun?
GR. Oh! Yeah, yeah, I got some pictures of that gun.
BH. You do?
GR. Yeah, right.
BH. If I get my webpage up and running, I’d like to put stuff like that on.
GR. I got some pictures and other stuff. You can get me on (e-mail address given.).
BH. I’ll just write that down in a minute. OK. And from there we went out into the Atlantic for…
GR. That’s right. I think they were shooting AMR and we recorded the sound.
BH. That’s right. There was an Atlantic Missile Range event going on and we wanted to get right out there for that and …
GR. And we put down these seismograms I think all along the ridge, I think, the Mid Atlantic Ridge. And we did profiles ...
BH. Ants Piip’s rig that we lowered down…
GR. With the velocimeter.
BH. Yes with the velocimeter. Yes, that’s the one.
GR. Oh Yeah. He and Brian Turner.
BH. Brian Turner was the brains behind that – No. I’m sure Ants was ‘brains’, they both were – very clever in their fields, Ants with the science, and Brian with the electronics. Great team.
GR. Brian still around, or has he gone too?
BH. No, he’s passed on. He went down to Florida when they went, but his…
GR. Did you go down to Florida too?
BH. No, I left in 69.
GR. Did you?
BH. Yes, I went to the Bank of Butterfield when they went computerised…
GR. Was your father the headmaster.
BH. Henry Hallett, Yeah, Did you ever get 'cuts'?
GR. No!! I never went to school here, I went to school in England.
BH. OK. So… Cruise 222 was memorable. It was 3 months, it was too long, too rough, and too far from home!! I remember that. And another one that I remember was when we went up to Woods Hole.
GR. I remember that.
BH. And we had a thing from Graham Lobb which we towed back to Bermuda at 3 knots. It took us something like 2 weeks..
GR. It was a vane of some type. Paravane.
BH. Yes, it just hovered at a certain depth as we dragged it along, with thermometers all up the cable, recording the temperature at various depths. (Project TOTEM) So that was one of the most boring trips because we weren't going anywhere fast!
GR. Yes.
BH. Have you got any other stories – you must have gone out on a lot of other operations as well that had any …
GR. We did whales – we did chasing whales as well for Dr. .. What’s his name? He came from… He came out of … not Woods Hole.. um .. can’t remember the name of the place he came from. Anyway, he … I think it was Long Island somewhere ... not Long Island, … Oh, shoot… Connecticut somewhere. He was chasing whales all through the islands, all up and down.
BH. That’s West Indes.
GR. Yes, down there. I think he was recording migration paths. We put a big wooden shack on the bow of the boat and depth sounder and whatnot, and recording sounds and stuff like that. That was a three month trip too.
BH. All good stuff!
GR. Can’t remember his name. Oh! Manuel, no, Sam Gerrard. Why couldn’t I remember his name!
BH. Sam Gerrard?
GR. Scientist, yeah. Once, went down Jamaica with him … put his project overboard – it sank soon as we put it over!
BH. It sank?!
GR. Yes. He said “What can we do?” I said “Stand up and salute it. Burial at sea! Nothing else we
can do.”
BH. Did you ever do anything on any of the other boats – T-Boat, or Bouy Boat, or was it …
GR. Just day trips, helping out. We had a big barge one time, you know.
BH. Oh! Right!
GR. And down below was all custom made. And the cook on her was Bruce Paynter – you remember Bruce Paynter?
BH. Yes.
GR. Quite a character.
BH. Well he was on the Horace as well, wasn’t he?
GR. Yes, he was cook on Sir Horace as well. Worked with Bill Adams as well for a long time on T-Boat.
BH. He (Bill Adams) is still remarkably well. He’s got a great memory. I talked to him yesterday – oh boy!
GR. He must be up in his 80s
BH. He’s 88, I think.
GR. We used to call him “Old Misery”, you know!!
BH. But apparently, he got things done – well, we all got things done, and I think that’s the thing I want to get out there, that we were doing something that in a way, was helping the Cold War…
GR. Oh! Yeah!
BH. … and just scientific research. And we couldn’t talk about it, so …
GR. Yes. Submarine stuff! And I worked for the Biological Station – they hired me. Did a job in Harrington Sound, went through Flatts Bridge and took mud samples of the bottom.
BH. Was that with the Bouy Boat?
GR. In the Bouy Boat.
BH. That would probably be in the 60s then?
GR. I was on the Sir Horace then, but I’d help them out – take the Bouy Boat for them when we (Sir Horace Lamb) were alongside the dock doing nothing. I think I was Second Mate on the ship then. And I did quite a few other jobs - daytime jobs – nothing going to sea.
BH. So… right. As I said, I’m going to try and get this online, and…
GR. Yeah, If I can have some memories, put them on a piece of paper… and I’ve got some pictures at home too I can put on the website.
BH. That would be great.
GR. Slides and pictures. I’ll see what my wife says – she’s the computer expert!!
BH. OK. It seems like all the women do that – Miles Mayall doesn’t ‘do computers’, his wife does it, Bill Adams says “my daughter does it”!
(The conversation then devolved into Personal items. I thanked Gerry for the great memories.)
Nov. 30th 2013
GR. 1960
BH. and that was right away with the Horace Lamb, right?
GR. Yes, deckhand. No, I started in the engine room actually.
BH. Engine room.
GR. Doing a refit, - done in Bermuda. I started as engineer, doing work as an engineer. Then I saw there was an opening on deck, so I went up on deck. And then I worked my way up to Captain after a while.
BH. I had heard you took her out a few times. When was that?
GR. When Clem left.
BH. That must have been 1969 or 70, yes?
GR. 1970. yes
BH. OK. I remember you did a lot of the navigation and stuff like that during the 60’s.
GR. Yup.
BH. So, what happened to Sir Horace eventually, she’s …
GR. They took her to the Naval Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, I took her up there. She’s basically been scrapped - we sort of put her in mothballs, took all the stuff off and things like that. And then I heard later that she was back in service again, going up and down Chesapeake Bay but I’m not sure what happened to her.
BH. OK.
GR. But we put her in mothballs. We came up with …* *Traffic noise* *… last job, we had been working for NASA at the time. Commander Trumbull was aboard. I guess he’s still around or is he gone, maybe?
BH. Yes, he’s gone. His wife is still around – Jane, -
GR. Clem McCann’s sister in law.
BH. So you had a pretty good innings then.
GR. Yes.
BH. must be about 20 – 25 years.
GR. Yes 20.
BH. 20 years, OK. So do you remember any of the trips you did that were memorable?
GR. Yeah, Oh Yeah! Can’t tell you half the things that I did.
BH. But I’m sure you can, because it’s all been de-classified…
GR. No. I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about some of the other things!
BH. OK. Maybe we shouldn’t go there, then!! Do you remember Cruise 222?
GR. Where did we go?
BH. We went down to Barbados…
GR. I’ve been there quite a few times.
BH. …and we got shot at by a big gun?
GR. Oh! Yeah, yeah, I got some pictures of that gun.
BH. You do?
GR. Yeah, right.
BH. If I get my webpage up and running, I’d like to put stuff like that on.
GR. I got some pictures and other stuff. You can get me on (e-mail address given.).
BH. I’ll just write that down in a minute. OK. And from there we went out into the Atlantic for…
GR. That’s right. I think they were shooting AMR and we recorded the sound.
BH. That’s right. There was an Atlantic Missile Range event going on and we wanted to get right out there for that and …
GR. And we put down these seismograms I think all along the ridge, I think, the Mid Atlantic Ridge. And we did profiles ...
BH. Ants Piip’s rig that we lowered down…
GR. With the velocimeter.
BH. Yes with the velocimeter. Yes, that’s the one.
GR. Oh Yeah. He and Brian Turner.
BH. Brian Turner was the brains behind that – No. I’m sure Ants was ‘brains’, they both were – very clever in their fields, Ants with the science, and Brian with the electronics. Great team.
GR. Brian still around, or has he gone too?
BH. No, he’s passed on. He went down to Florida when they went, but his…
GR. Did you go down to Florida too?
BH. No, I left in 69.
GR. Did you?
BH. Yes, I went to the Bank of Butterfield when they went computerised…
GR. Was your father the headmaster.
BH. Henry Hallett, Yeah, Did you ever get 'cuts'?
GR. No!! I never went to school here, I went to school in England.
BH. OK. So… Cruise 222 was memorable. It was 3 months, it was too long, too rough, and too far from home!! I remember that. And another one that I remember was when we went up to Woods Hole.
GR. I remember that.
BH. And we had a thing from Graham Lobb which we towed back to Bermuda at 3 knots. It took us something like 2 weeks..
GR. It was a vane of some type. Paravane.
BH. Yes, it just hovered at a certain depth as we dragged it along, with thermometers all up the cable, recording the temperature at various depths. (Project TOTEM) So that was one of the most boring trips because we weren't going anywhere fast!
GR. Yes.
BH. Have you got any other stories – you must have gone out on a lot of other operations as well that had any …
GR. We did whales – we did chasing whales as well for Dr. .. What’s his name? He came from… He came out of … not Woods Hole.. um .. can’t remember the name of the place he came from. Anyway, he … I think it was Long Island somewhere ... not Long Island, … Oh, shoot… Connecticut somewhere. He was chasing whales all through the islands, all up and down.
BH. That’s West Indes.
GR. Yes, down there. I think he was recording migration paths. We put a big wooden shack on the bow of the boat and depth sounder and whatnot, and recording sounds and stuff like that. That was a three month trip too.
BH. All good stuff!
GR. Can’t remember his name. Oh! Manuel, no, Sam Gerrard. Why couldn’t I remember his name!
BH. Sam Gerrard?
GR. Scientist, yeah. Once, went down Jamaica with him … put his project overboard – it sank soon as we put it over!
BH. It sank?!
GR. Yes. He said “What can we do?” I said “Stand up and salute it. Burial at sea! Nothing else we
can do.”
BH. Did you ever do anything on any of the other boats – T-Boat, or Bouy Boat, or was it …
GR. Just day trips, helping out. We had a big barge one time, you know.
BH. Oh! Right!
GR. And down below was all custom made. And the cook on her was Bruce Paynter – you remember Bruce Paynter?
BH. Yes.
GR. Quite a character.
BH. Well he was on the Horace as well, wasn’t he?
GR. Yes, he was cook on Sir Horace as well. Worked with Bill Adams as well for a long time on T-Boat.
BH. He (Bill Adams) is still remarkably well. He’s got a great memory. I talked to him yesterday – oh boy!
GR. He must be up in his 80s
BH. He’s 88, I think.
GR. We used to call him “Old Misery”, you know!!
BH. But apparently, he got things done – well, we all got things done, and I think that’s the thing I want to get out there, that we were doing something that in a way, was helping the Cold War…
GR. Oh! Yeah!
BH. … and just scientific research. And we couldn’t talk about it, so …
GR. Yes. Submarine stuff! And I worked for the Biological Station – they hired me. Did a job in Harrington Sound, went through Flatts Bridge and took mud samples of the bottom.
BH. Was that with the Bouy Boat?
GR. In the Bouy Boat.
BH. That would probably be in the 60s then?
GR. I was on the Sir Horace then, but I’d help them out – take the Bouy Boat for them when we (Sir Horace Lamb) were alongside the dock doing nothing. I think I was Second Mate on the ship then. And I did quite a few other jobs - daytime jobs – nothing going to sea.
BH. So… right. As I said, I’m going to try and get this online, and…
GR. Yeah, If I can have some memories, put them on a piece of paper… and I’ve got some pictures at home too I can put on the website.
BH. That would be great.
GR. Slides and pictures. I’ll see what my wife says – she’s the computer expert!!
BH. OK. It seems like all the women do that – Miles Mayall doesn’t ‘do computers’, his wife does it, Bill Adams says “my daughter does it”!
(The conversation then devolved into Personal items. I thanked Gerry for the great memories.)
Nov. 30th 2013