Afkomstig uit een ander forum de messcherpe kijk op Caroline blunders van  de Ierse maverick door P Moore....

 

 

Caroline was put out of business when the big mast fell as it was a daft thing to build in the first place. A shorter mast or two masts may not have been so impressive but Ronan prioritised image over longevity. Had a sensible robust mast been built and if the money thus saved ( that which did not end up in Lichtenstein ) was used to keep the ships registration fully in place, there may have been no raid. I do not know 100% if it was a stupid idea to broadcast the SW on a marine distress frequency but I guess it did not help.

But that was Ronan, ducking and diving, telling lies, keeping secrets, never letting the right hand know what the left hand was doing, always dreaming that the next mad scheme would be the one that worked.

In 2006 after softening me up by praising my long term efforts, he switched to blagging me in to putting 50% of the supporters money in to a Lichtenstein company under his remote control. When I refused, his anger was frightening.

PM.

 

en het gaat verder......

 

Ronan wanted 558Khz from the outset. So many times he told me ' Hey, baby, 50K on 558 '. This was his dream outcome and those around him said that the masive mast was needed to perfectly suit that frequency. But as Tom Anderson sabotaged Ronan's wish for a Gold format, Peter C also decided to use 319 ( it is a good frequency that we have used before ! ).
So, much time passed and only the capitulation of Laser made 558 available.
I am not a marine architect but just work on common sense. Ronan was driven by ' why not ' but my mantra is ' what if '. To be fair, Ronan may not have thought that the UK would extend territorial limits and nobody expected the 87 hurricane.
As I am sure everyone knows, ships ' pitch ' fore and aft and ' roll ' side to side. The rolling motion is more extreme and Revenge is only 38ft 6ins wide. With the weight of the tower and the pendulum effect, the forces acting on it were extreme and it was entirely reliant on the side stays. Now I don't know ( maybe others can advise ) if the stays were ever tensioned and made to match the tension on each opposite stay. I suspect not. I speculate ( only that ) that the hurricane fractured some insulators on the port side and de-tensioned the stays which is why the mast fell over the stbd side. Anyway it was in the sea. Ronan said that an identical mast would be made and flown out by helicopter, which just showed that he had nil knowledge of engineering.
But the ' what if ' factor came and bit him as he knew that if the ship went inshore anywhere, it would be impounded by creditors due to the way the project was funded in the early 80's. So Revenge was trapped at sea.
Then came the conundrum of who would pay for any new mast of any design. If money was salted away in Lichtenstein this could not be admitted. So I guess that Lotto 6/49 were persuaded to fund the miracle Valcom glass fibre tower that was 100% unsuitable and failed beyond repair the first time it was erected. Had it been structurally sound, it was doomed anyway being rated for only 5KW. Nobody held their hands up to say they thought it would handle 50KW.
So it came down to the Aussie who liked to be called Mick Dundee to find secondhand towers in a metal scrap yard at £250 a section. Nobody congratulated him.
When the station was operating again it was soon raided, as discussed in a previous posting.
A long saga of things getting buggered up time and time again.
I am still cursed by 500+ tons of cement in the hull that was poured to counter balance the sodding mast. Now she sits far too deep at the stern that will hamper dry docking, while I hope I don't need a sharp intake of breath when a surveyor orders me to break up and remove the cement to check the condition of the tank tops.

Ah, the romance of radio from the ocean !

PM.

 

Vooral het verzoek van R o R in 2006 om 50% van de supporters donaties op de rekening  in Liechtenstein te storten was shocking. De Ier  had de controle over de rekening. 

Yes, I happened to see a 'Ross Revenge appeal' video the other day and was surprised to hear the narration mention that the big mast was "unwise" - it seems that is now the party policy:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhVowvOxC3k

 

It's claimed on the Offshore Echo's website that the big mast (which was probably around 270' tall, not 300') was "designed by the engineering department of the University of Barcelona". No idea if there's any truth behind the claim.

 

I believe that few people could have predicted the extension to territorial waters. The Ross moved to a more exposed position only 4 months before the Great Storm.

 

Steve Conway claims in his book that 5 days after the storm, an unusual tender ('Eileen' captained by someone called Sammy) arrived. Then he recounts a comedy of errors.

 

Although supplies and staff were transferred, the Eileen left after 10 minutes. There was a rigger and welder on the tender, but the captain kept them hidden and just sailed back to land. The captain had been paid "a substantial extra sum" to stay alongside the Ross Revenge for the hours needed for the work to take place.

 

Then back on land, the rigger broke his leg and forgot to tell Cosmic Johnson what had happened. So those on land assumed that the survey and repairs were done. Those on the ship assumed the workmen were yet to arrive.

 

"The only person who knew what had happened was the tender-skipper Sammy, who just took our extra money...".

 

 

Regarding the claims about Ronan O'Rahilly. Well he's not here to defend himself, but I always understood the ship was owned by Grothan Steemship Lines, Inc. of Panama. I would suspect the owner or part-owner of this company would be O'Rahilly. Now that he's gone, this begs the question: to which person does the ship now belong?

19 uur geleden zei Marinebroadcasters:

Vooral het verzoek van R o R in 2006 om 50% van de supporters donaties op de rekening  in Liechtenstein te storten was shocking. De Ier  had de controle over de rekening. 

Tja hij probeerde het gewoon. Ik krijg de indruk dat de mensen met wie hij zaken heeft gedaan achteraf niet erg blij waren. Sylvain Tack is ook helemaal uitgekleed door Ronan. Sylvain kocht 50% van de MV Mi Amigo van Ronan in augustus 1973, maar draaide uiteindelijk nog voor alle kosten op.

22 augustus 20232 jr. bewerkt door pvanklei

Yes, I can't help feel that Sylvain Tack was taken advantage of.

 

After O'Rahilly and Tack first made an agreement over the airtime:

 

"Tack announced that he was going to hire a small aeroplane to take a look at his new investment. O'Rahilly was horrified. [...]

After the recent storm there was no transmitting mast on the ship. Ronan reacted swiftly and told Tack it would be too dangerous to do that. If he was to fly a small plane anywhere near the ship, the radiation would act like a magnet and make it crash into the mast. To his amazement, Tack believed O'Rahilly's story and the deal went through unhindered".

 

(From "Far Out at Sea" by Gordon Kelly).

 

In the original version of the story I heard (but can no longer find, possibly something written by Andy Archer), Charlotte Ribbelink, who was interpreting for O'Rahilly, was on the verge of bursting out laughing as she explained the "magnetic ship" to Tack.

22 augustus 20232 jr. bewerkt door Lightkeeper

From the official site of Radio Caroline concerning the ownership of the vessel Ross Revenge..

 

===================================================================

At this time it was also decided to settle the matter of ownership, as while no approaches had been made between 1991 to 2014 there was a possibility that someone with a legitimate claim to the ship might appear. Messrs Andrew Jackson, marine lawyers were hired and over three years they researched the matter knowing that with Radio Caroline having been a clandestine operation, everything had deliberately been cloaked in mystery. It was eventually shown that no trace now existed of the overseas organisations that may once have owned and operated the ship at sea, while the present volunteers had expended around £400,000 in the last 26 years. At the Admiralty Court, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, it was ruled that the vessel had truly been abandoned and ownership was awarded to one Peter Moore, who had overseen both the ship and radio station activities, again as a volunteer, since 1991.

======================================================================

 

Henk Kruize

This appears to be correct, some of the details are available if you search for "Smith v All Other Persons Claiming to be Interested in the MV ‘Ross Revenge", e.g.: https://www.cbp.com.au/insights/insights/2017/december/shipping-news-december-2017

 

"The "Ross Revenge" was a fishing trawler built in 1960 which had been converted to act as a pirate radio station. Between August 1983 and November 1990, she was used as a base for "Radio Caroline" and "Radio Monique". She had been owned by Grothan Steamship Lines, which is registered in Panama. 
 

Since 1985 the plaintiff had acted as a volunteer providing food and necessaries to the vessel and raising funds for her maintenance. The vessel had grounded in 1991 and he had raised funds to pay for her salvage. Thereafter the plaintiff had effectively been the manager and custodian of the vessel and had raised considerable sums in that regard. He had attempted to make contact with the owners and the then mortgagee of the vessel with no success. 
 

In these proceedings he sought a declaration that he was the legal owner of the vessel and was entitled to be registered as such under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. 
 

The Admiralty Registrar in the United Kingdom, Jervis Kay QC, determined that the court had jurisdiction to determine the claim and had the power to grant a declaration and that ownership of the property could be abandoned by the owner, the lapse of time capable of being evidence of such an intention. Accordingly, he drew an inference that the previous owner had abandoned the vessel and the plaintiff had taken on ownership."

 

 

Still, it may explain why O'Rahilly was asking for money in 2006, as he likely would have considered that he owned the ship and it was still some years before Moore took any action regarding this.

 

 

Also interesting that the above mentions a "mortgagee". Perhaps O'Rahilly could have been that, rather than "owner"?

 

I seem to remember hearing that the "Canadian directors" (probably Nelson Skalbania and/or others who were involved with International Betcan Ltd.) took ownership of the ship, perhaps via Grothan Steemship Lines, Inc., for a substantial sum in the early 1980s.

 

Then O'Rahilly (or one of his companies) bought it back in instalments, or was supposed to.

 

(Or maybe it was the other way around).

22 augustus 20232 jr. bewerkt door Lightkeeper

Op 22-8-2023 om 16:48 zei pvanklei:

Tja hij probeerde het gewoon. Ik krijg de indruk dat de mensen met wie hij zaken heeft gedaan achteraf niet erg blij waren. Sylvain Tack is ook helemaal uitgekleed door Ronan. Sylvain kocht 50% van de MV Mi Amigo van Ronan in augustus 1973, maar draaide uiteindelijk nog voor alle kosten op.

Tja, wat bleek achteraf? Sylvain had nu juist die 50% van het schip gekocht die al voor 100% was verrot. Sylvan had gebakken lucht gekocht. 

 

Op 22-8-2023 om 21:13 zei Lightkeeper:

This appears to be correct, some of the details are available if you search for "Smith v All Other Persons Claiming to be Interested in the MV ‘Ross Revenge", e.g.: https://www.cbp.com.au/insights/insights/2017/december/shipping-news-december-2017

 

"The "Ross Revenge" was a fishing trawler built in 1960 which had been converted to act as a pirate radio station. Between August 1983 and November 1990, she was used as a base for "Radio Caroline" and "Radio Monique". She had been owned by Grothan Steamship Lines, which is registered in Panama. 
 

Since 1985 the plaintiff had acted as a volunteer providing food and necessaries to the vessel and raising funds for her maintenance. The vessel had grounded in 1991 and he had raised funds to pay for her salvage. Thereafter the plaintiff had effectively been the manager and custodian of the vessel and had raised considerable sums in that regard. He had attempted to make contact with the owners and the then mortgagee of the vessel with no success. 
 

In these proceedings he sought a declaration that he was the legal owner of the vessel and was entitled to be registered as such under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. 
 

The Admiralty Registrar in the United Kingdom, Jervis Kay QC, determined that the court had jurisdiction to determine the claim and had the power to grant a declaration and that ownership of the property could be abandoned by the owner, the lapse of time capable of being evidence of such an intention. Accordingly, he drew an inference that the previous owner had abandoned the vessel and the plaintiff had taken on ownership."

 

 

Still, it may explain why O'Rahilly was asking for money in 2006, as he likely would have considered that he owned the ship and it was still some years before Moore took any action regarding this.

 

 

Also interesting that the above mentions a "mortgagee". Perhaps O'Rahilly could have been that, rather than "owner"?

 

I seem to remember hearing that the "Canadian directors" (probably Nelson Skalbania and/or others who were involved with International Betcan Ltd.) took ownership of the ship, perhaps via Grothan Steemship Lines, Inc., for a substantial sum in the early 1980s.

 

Then O'Rahilly (or one of his companies) bought it back in instalments, or was supposed to.

 

(Or maybe it was the other way around).

 

Thank you Lightkeeper voor this information. Lightkeeper? Lighthouse or Lightvessel? 

More about the mortgage:

 

"The vessel is still bound by a marine mortgage from MRK in Switzerland. This organisation is the theoretical financial owner of the ship in the eyes of the authorities and consequently until the matter can be clarified the ship is not going anywhere."

 

Source: Caroline Movement bulletin 57 (Spring 1993)

 

 

I can find no more detail of who or what "MRK" is (unless this is a reference to Merck?).

 

Switzerland is of course conveniently close to Liechtenstein - they share a currency and Customs union.

 

23 augustus 20232 jr. bewerkt door Lightkeeper