Music

…The ‘Utrecht’ had one disadvantage, there was only DC voltage on board.
Most of the crew took their transistor with them to have some music.
So I also lugged my tape recorder and all the associated tapes with me.

That gave me some problems because that material all ran on AC voltage.
On board only the gyro compass was running on AC voltage.
A special inverter was installed for that purpose.
Soon I was busy laying cables to those cabins where AC was required.

All cords for a bit of music.

The result was that the inverter was very heavily loaded.
Since a gyrocompass was very important for the ship, it was handled with care.

Later a larger inverter was installed and we even got television.
Then we watched ‘Top of the Pops’ and saw all those great musicians of the sixties in that program: Jimmy Hendrix, The Stones, The Beatles, The Pretty Things, The Who and The Kinks, you name them.
Lulu was a favorite with her short skirt.

Marie Laurie or Lulu.

We think she was poorly portrayed by those camera people.
I even saw The Honeycombs perform in the ‘Wintergarden’, a dancing just outside Penzance.

Another favorite on board was ‘The Magic Roundabout’, a children’s programme, which was always broadcast around dinner.
The tune that was played with it was contagious.

That kept nagging in your head!