TSMS Lakonia Disaster.1963

[Andymc1972]

Hi everyone,
My dad also served on board HMS Centaur and was involved in the assistance of the stricken liner.

Thankfully, he kept some wonderful photographs of the incident whilst on board one of the helicopters.

He never spoke about it and was always quiet around Christmas time, which I can now understand why and maybe put it down to the horrific sights him and his shipmates saw during the incident.

Sadly he crossed the bar suddenly at home on 17th December 2021, aged 81

[BENIDORM]

Hello Andy,
First can I offer my heartfelt condolences for the loss of your Father and for me as a former shipmate.R.I.P.

Welcome to the Andalucia.com forum also, I hope that you will be a frequent visitor.

I'm sure that I would have known your Father, even if just by sight and of course we all had nicknames so not always easy to recognise names.
It's a good many years since I first wrote about the 'Lakonia' incident and I've been amazed at the huge response over the years, I was still 17 years of age at the time and as I've explained previously it did affect me and made me realise how fragile life is.
I was the same as your Father with regards to not wishing to talk about it for many years, however I'm glad that I did make the effort and it's been very rewarding for me to see how it's helped many people to have some closure over this very tragic time.
I don't know if you have any of the 'Centaurs' year books and magazines, I have some and if you wish I will look to see if there are any references or pictures of your Father, I would need his name and details of his rating/job, send by private message if you prefer.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions and if you are ever visiting Spain I hope that you will be able to visit my little museum, I do have some Royal Naval artefacts and information if you are interested.
Best Wishes,
Gordon

[Andymc1972]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the reply and for the condolences. Apologies as I've only just seen it. My dad was Alan McIntosh (Mac to many of his shipmates) and was an Aircraft Handler and also a member of the fire crew. Born on 4th May 1940 he would have been 23 years old at the time of the incident.

I remember the photo's he kept of the assistance and recall seeing them as a bairn but not anything more about it. However, I was reminded of them by a close family friend when we were discussing arrangements for dad's service. Luckily as we were going through dad's belongings we found all of his Naval photos and service records, along with an itinerary of the ships movement's that he recorded. Such treasured pieces of history!!! Dad had books on the Centaur and I have shared quite a few of his photos on a few of the fb groups he was a member of.

Reading this thread really has brought a vast array of emotions, along with a few tears, with the most being a huge sense of pride of what dad and his shipmates like yourself went through in assisting the stricken liner. For that I will always be humbled and eternally grateful for the dedication to your roles and the respect shown at the time.

I'm also delighted to see that a plaque was finally arranged commemorating such a disaster and although I've never been abroad (at 50 years of age!!!) I feel a sense of needing to visit the graveyard next year and pay respect, on dad's behalf, to the victims in what would be the 60th anniversary year of the disaster.

I wish he felt able to talk about his time onboard more as everyone who knew him was aware of how proud he was to have served on both HMS Albion and then HMS Centaur but now understand a lot more about his reasons than I originally did.

Many thanks
Andy

[Andymc1972]

Hi Gordon, I found it interesting that I was working at a customers house a few weeks back and we got talking about holidays. To cut a long story short, I mentioned about wanting to visit Gibraltar and visit the cemetery to pay my respects and he told me his friend was a survivor form the Lakonia incident and nobody else he knew had spoken about it. Talk about a small world!

[BENIDORM]

Hello Andy,
Apologies for my slow response, I've been running on 2 speeds,' slow and stop', during the heat of the summer.
Yes it really is surprising how often you meet up with someone who has a common link.
I'm still amazed at the response to the 'Lakonia' incident, I get regular e-mails from all over the world about the subject.
I think that so many important historical incidents are soon forgotten so I'm pleased at the large amount of information that is available now about the 'Lakonia', when I first started researching there was virtualy no information available.
If you do ever get to Gibraltar I recommend that you study the many other inscriptions on the grave stones in the cemetery there are such tragic, but interesting tales to be unfolded.
And of course Gibraltar is really steeped in history, going back to pre-history, well worth visiting as many sites and exhibitions as possible.
If you've never travelled far then now is the time to start, you will soon get the travel bug, get your passport ordered ...
I will try to visit Gib again soon , I love it there , but it's a bit like Marmite to some..love or hate it...

[Andymc1972]

Hi Gordon,
No apologies necessary as I know the feeling all too well as currently trying to recover from a kidney infection.

As I say travelling abroad has never entertained me personally, but this is something I feel I have to do. I keep saying to my wife that I need to visit the local travel agents to discuss my options, before time beats me and I miss the opportunity.

It sounds weird but I enjoy the tranquility of a cemetery and read a lot of the headstones I come across, so I would probably do so while I'm there.

As a chockhead dad was a member of a few fb groups including Aircraft Handlers Association (Chockheads), HMS Albion now and then as well as Navy Oppos and My Royal Navy photos and I uploaded his Navy photos there if you are a member of fb and wanted a little trip down memory lane.

Regards

Andy

[BENIDORM]

As always I stopped on Christmas day at lunchtime to spend a few moments thinking about the victims of the 'Lakonia' tragedy, not in a morbid way but more out of respect for the unfortunate souls who perished trying to escape the catastrophic fire that raged through the ship.
It really was a traumatic moment in time for me as a 17 year old and for all of the crew of course, made even worse because it was Christmas Day and we were all separated from our families and loved ones.
It's difficult to realise that the memorial event at Gibraltar was over 9 years ago and I will always be very grateful to A.Com and Chris who arranged the event so professionally.

I hope to be able to visit the memorial again next year, the 60th Anniversary of the loss of the Lakonia.
Regards,
Gordon.

[JoeMurat]

[https://www.facebook.com/groups/Lakonia/?ref=share

This my Facebook group we set up together to get in contact and share

[Katy Again]

Really interesting thanks.