I had absolutely no idea this happened. Thank you very much for this post, really amazingly interesting. I'm not a stamp collector, but I love reading about history, and wow. Again, I had no clue that ships were stranded for so long. posted by Science! at 6:27 PM on January 13
You'd think the governments responsible for those ships would make some kind of effort to extract their crews. We had helicopters in 1967, after all. posted by Mitrovarr at 6:49 PM on January 13
WOW! This is the stuff that makes MeFi what it is. Actually go read the first link - the crews weren't stranded for seven years, just the ships. posted by mwhybark at 6:59 PM on January 13
A 15th vessel was anchored in Lake Timsah, TT ‘Observer’, USA. Ship and crew were not part of the Great Bitter Lake Association.
And may I say, Fiasco da Gama, you nearly qualify as an eponystericist. posted by mwhybark at 7:06 PM on January 13
This is a great post, thanks. I wish all my mail was sent from such places with such names and histories as the Great Bitter Lake and looked as interesting as this. I try tell myself that bills from the sub-basement of the Great Bitter Telecom are just as exciting, but, sigh, they just aren't. posted by Staggering Jack at 7:07 PM on January 13
wow, that is just a fantastic story and piece of history - thanks so much for this post! posted by lapolla at 2:19 AM on January 14
"A number of ships, with their crews"? Nowhere in any of this narrative does it say that any persons were "stuck" for the entire 8 years. Clearly, crew members left and were replaced. I very much doubt that any human being was literally on any of these ships, without ever departing, for eight years straight. The second link makes it clear that the ships had tiny skeleton crews in the end, so it's not as if any of this was akin to being held in an Austrian dungeon. posted by ethnomethodologist at 7:33 AM on January 14
I suspect that the ship owners had to keep the ships continuously manned throughout, or risk having the ships taken by salvers as derelicts. (Which is exactly what they'd be, if unmanned.)
It does seem from a few of the links as though in some cases, ships were essentially turned over by the owners to their insurance companies, presumably at some kind of loss, so maybe some of the skeleton crews were there at the behest of the insurers. posted by Kadin2048 at 8:35 AM on January 14
Ethnomethodologist, you are quite right. The second sentence in my post is misleading; I merely meant that the crews were on the ships when the canal was blockaded. posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:58 PM on January 14
What a superb post Fiasco da Gama. Just the marvelous kind of story that is a delightful discover. Something so creatively charming, poignant, rebellious, plaintive, innocent, mischievous, whimsical in those handmade stamps.
My dad sailed in his early 20's around the world on a schooner with three other guys his age, who all became my godfathers. The three godfathers sailed up the Suez Canal and one wrote a wonderful description of their passage up this ornery part of the planet in his book, On Wits and Wind.
Having read that book I can only imagine how hard it was for the sailors of those various stranded ships. And this story has so much romance to it. Graham McMorine's rugged sailor tone in the telling of his story is delightfully blunt, evocatively macho.
Some visuals of the Great Bitter Lake part of the Suez Canal. Apparently, the ships that got stuck during those years became known as the Yellow Fleet because of the increasing amounts of desert sand that lay on their decks.
Subscribe
posted by Science! at 6:27 PM on January 13