Fact #79041
When:
Short story:
UK pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is towed away by a Dutch salvage company, Wijsmuller Transport, from its mooring to Amsterdam, to secure unpaid bills for servicing.
Full article:
Roger Day (Radio Caroline deejay) : I did the Breakfast Show, and I played continuous music until 6.00 a.m. to warm the transmitter up. I don't know why, it was warm anyway. I went and had a shave and shower because living on a boat I felt better if I had done those things.
All of a sudden there was a boat alongside us and it was one of the big Wijsmuller tugs. Now there was nothing unusual in that because Wijsmuller used to supply us with Offshore I and II and with fuel. They used to have tugs in every ocean because they made their money from listening to the SOS frequencies and salvaging ships that were in trouble on the high seas because they were there first. They came alongside if they were in the area and have a chat with the Dutch crew.
Now the Dutch have a great sense of humour. There was a guy on board called Harry and I asked him what was going on. He said, 'Englishman, we are towing you to Japan!' and I told him that he must be joking and he laughed.
So I went into the studio to get ready for my show and the captain of the MV Mi Amigo came in along with the captain of the tug and he said that I had five minutes to get out of the studio. Now this is probably where I made the biggest mistake of my life. So many times since I have known what I should have done and I didn't.
I should have actually got them out of there and told them that they weren't taking me out of there, but I didn't realise how serious it was. I should have just flung open the mike and said that we needed help and get somebody out here now! That's what I should have done. Easy to say now, but I didn't. I just left the studio and they locked it and that was it!
We arrived in one of the locks that go up in stages that take you into the main port in Amsterdam. This lock keeper came out to let us in and it was dark so he didn't know what he had in there. He had his big torch and the beam from his torch started going up the mast and it kept going and going until it got to the top and he was totally amazed.
When we arrived in Amsterdam a guy came across and asked when we would coming back on air. We said, "Oh when we've paid the bills." I don't think we actually believed that. We knew that once we were in port, the British Government would put pressure on and we wouldn't get out, no matter what we did. So we got our air-fares home and went back to England, the end of a dream.
(Source : not known)
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All of a sudden there was a boat alongside us and it was one of the big Wijsmuller tugs. Now there was nothing unusual in that because Wijsmuller used to supply us with Offshore I and II and with fuel. They used to have tugs in every ocean because they made their money from listening to the SOS frequencies and salvaging ships that were in trouble on the high seas because they were there first. They came alongside if they were in the area and have a chat with the Dutch crew.
Now the Dutch have a great sense of humour. There was a guy on board called Harry and I asked him what was going on. He said, 'Englishman, we are towing you to Japan!' and I told him that he must be joking and he laughed.
So I went into the studio to get ready for my show and the captain of the MV Mi Amigo came in along with the captain of the tug and he said that I had five minutes to get out of the studio. Now this is probably where I made the biggest mistake of my life. So many times since I have known what I should have done and I didn't.
I should have actually got them out of there and told them that they weren't taking me out of there, but I didn't realise how serious it was. I should have just flung open the mike and said that we needed help and get somebody out here now! That's what I should have done. Easy to say now, but I didn't. I just left the studio and they locked it and that was it!
We arrived in one of the locks that go up in stages that take you into the main port in Amsterdam. This lock keeper came out to let us in and it was dark so he didn't know what he had in there. He had his big torch and the beam from his torch started going up the mast and it kept going and going until it got to the top and he was totally amazed.
When we arrived in Amsterdam a guy came across and asked when we would coming back on air. We said, "Oh when we've paid the bills." I don't think we actually believed that. We knew that once we were in port, the British Government would put pressure on and we wouldn't get out, no matter what we did. So we got our air-fares home and went back to England, the end of a dream.
(Source : not known)