Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

I am Norman Lee my uncle Rob Lee as you know was Master of this ship ( Dunedin Star) when she went aground on the Skeleton Coast.

I was thrilled to see a photo of Uncle Rob on the page,a photo of the ship and some history about him. I only met uncle Rob once I was only about 1or 2 years old we lived in Sleights which is near Whitby in N Yorks. Both he and my father Captain Norman Lee were born in Whitby, they were abandoned by their father, they were both apprenticed to Hedlams of Whitby which had ships running to East Africa and India.

My father was Mate in the RFA Tanker Slavol torpedoed in the Med, he survived this but owing to swallowing a lot of fuel oil he was sick and in hospital in Alexandria he then joined the RFA War Krishna. After the war he was with various companies Stevie Clarks comes to mind.

Uncle Rob lived in Bridlington N Yorks with wife and daughter i remember Dad going to his funeral I was away at sea, I always thought he died in UK but according to the page he died in India, also I did not know that he was involved in the Normandy landings or had a pub.

For some reason there was not much contact between the families, my brother was named after him, Dad died about 20 years ago still living in Whitby and is buried there I thought Uncle Rob was too.I have just retired after 50 years at sea in the RN British MN and Australian MN.

I remember ringing Blue Star in Sydney after a job and the Marine Super knew uncle Rob and said that his nickname was Buster,do you know what he did out in India?

Regards
Norman Lee

Norman,

Nice to hear from you, am afraid I do not know what your Uncle was up to in India.

The grounding on the Skeleton Coast was a nasty affair in a very remote part of the world.

Best wishes. 
Mac.

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