Well, you know how it is...you start reminiscing, and suddenly you're remembering being 13, eating your first meal in a Greek restaurant, a couple of weeks before taking off for an educational tour of Europe. This being the modern age, I did a search for the company, New World Educational Cruises, and the ship, the S.S. Uganda.
Yes, you see rightly. That's a link to the Wikipedia page for a random ship. In 1982, the year after me, my sister went on the cruise:
In 1982 the ship served as a hospital ship in the Falklands War with the affectionate callsign of "Mother Hen". She was called up to military duty while cruising - discharging her bemused passengers of school children, who were on an educational cruise, in Naples. When the SS Uganda docked in Naples reporters turned up their microphones to hear a ship full of school children singing Rule Britannia. The SS Uganda then set off for the South Atlantic after a 3 day refit in Gibraltar. She returned to Southampton to a heroes welcome on 9th August 1982.That's my sister, one of the bemused school children.
Two years later, she was laid up, rusting, in the River Fal and despite efforts to keep her steaming was eventually sold for scrap and, rebadged as the SS Triton, taken on her final voyage to Taiwan (no school children aboard this time - and a crew of just 21) where she anchored awaiting breaking.
She was driven ashore by a typhoon (Typhoon Wayne) on 22 August 1986 near Kaohsiung, Taiwan and there she lay until broken up in 1992.
And a sad ending to one of the most memorable times in my young life.
"So, what's the challenge?" I hear you ask.
The randomness of finding a Wikipedia entry for this ship, my own little bit of history, just struck me.
What isn't covered by Wikipedia?
The prize? How 'bout sharing a case of beer with me in our hot tub, next time you're in Penticton?
Go to it!
Lori
6 comments:
The next time I'm in Penticton? Um...
Hey, hadn't seen your travel blog before. Since you also mentioned food, you might want to visit my new
24-hour diner.
And a friend of mine has just started a blog about his travels. It's still kind of 'under construction' and is mostly in Spanish, but you can also write in English. Thought it might interest you as he's recently been to Seychelles. So check out El Viajero.
I know, international community et. al. I don't really expect anyone to come to Penticton...:p
The travel blog is part of a larger thing, the Gusto.com community. Which is cool. If you sign up, make sure to follow this link to get extra photo storage space.
Which reminds me to put up a wikipedia entry for myself.
The English captain that Stamp's Landing is named after has no Wikipedia entry...although Stamp's Landing does (or did...these things are ever-changing).
Anderson Cooper's gayness has no wikipedia entry, or any wikipedia presence at all, during his intern's office hours. You can test it.
That's a relief. It would be a truly disturbing thought if everything had an entry.
So, rc, beer when you get here?
Everyone else, please keep trying...I find it calming to know not everything has been wikipedized.
This one's sorta arcane: There is no entry for "Johnson's Army," the force of the U.S. Army sent out to hold the Mormons in Utah in check. It was the largest military engagement of the time, and frankly, it's surprising some Mormon historian hasn't put it in.
Tough challenge.
How about accuracy?
Well, Ed, that's a good one. I wonder why it's not there...maybe because it's sort of embarassing that they marched on some fellow USians?
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