Page 106 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

political maelstrom that was the independence of the Belgian Congo reduced
the Belgians’ need to maintain their new ships Jadotville and Badouinville; they
came on the market in 1961 and P&O grasped the opportunity to replace Canton,
Carthage and Corfu on the Far East service. But, again, much was changing. Such
ships were unnecessary; Britain no longer needed to maintain civil servants,
bankers and troops in the far reaches of the Empire, a conglomerate that itself
was in slow decline.

With changing economic circumstances and even greater political
earthquakes, the shipping industry could rarely react to world events as they
occurred; almost any vessel took a long time to plan and build. Meanwhile, the
world’s need to absorb many new technologies and products (who had in 1963
had ever heard of ‘rare earths’?) had exponentially increased the sheer volume of
shipping that clogged the trade arteries.

For me personally the pattern of life was changing; while I had now
experienced a good variety of ships, ports, cargoes and technologies, all in the
space of less than two years, the whole nature of training in the deck officer’s
craft was becoming more specialized and attuned to life’s experiences rather than
towards a life simply spent ‘before the mast’. But in the interim, it was nice to be
at home again, this time for what was in reality a very extended time. I was again
to go to school.

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