About The Book:
I stood in front of the headstone which read:
“Rita Rocca Nee
Tomlin (15/6/1942 - 21/10/2020)” and thought, 'Is this all there is? Her name
on a headstone with mine to follow.’
I remembered a
warm May Day in 1948, when we both kneeled at the same altar waiting for a
priest to give us our first taste of Jesus.
She, in her
white dress, was wondering if the day would yield enough for a new doll and
pram, while I wondered if mine would yield enough for roller skates and maybe a
new football.
I recalled the
honeymoon in Jersey in 1963, Miss World at the Royal Albert Hall in 1980, and
the ball that followed at the Savoy Hotel.
I said,
"Sorry girl, I can't give you a Taj Mahal, but I will write a book, which
will hopefully make us more than just names on a tombstone."
1: What is your book, Memories
of The Way We Were, about?
It’s about the early
morning of my life, though it starts by recalling the early years of my
father’s life.
It tells how he progressed
from being a poor Italian immigrant, to becoming a successful business man, and
the first alien to become a citizen of the Irish free State.
I tell how in the 194Os and
50s, we sometimes travelled across Europe and holidayed in Tuscany and beyond. I
remember how in 1947 my brother and I played chasing each other around war ravaged
Dunkirk.
In early 1960 I started my
seagoing career, voyaging to such places as Algiers, where war was raging. The
following years my ships took me to such places as Communist China….The
American Great Lakes….East Germany…. South America…..the Philippines and Japan.
Sometimes in dreams I can still smell the aroma of copra as we passed South
Pacific islands.
2. What inspired you to
write?
One day my business partner
and I were servicing a Northrop Grumman Sperry marine Radar, and I noticed the
Captain seemed amused that two old men could still climb tall Radar masts. Reflecting
on this, we decided we had reached our sell by date, so we terminated our NGSM
agency and continued on a much-reduced basis. Having more time on my hands I started
to put some memories on paper. When my
wife died, I stood at her grave one day and recalled Peggy Lee’s song ‘Is This All
There Is?’ I finished my manuscript and sent it to Austin McAuley Publishers in
the UK where it was accepted.
3. You are about to turn
83. As you reflect back on your life what stands out for you?
My generation were lucky to
be born into a world at peace. The Marshall plan was a great success and it was
a tide that lifted all boats. We had American comics with Batman and Superman.
We had fabulous Hollywood movies. We had Rock and Roll music. We had ice cream
parlours, where we sat and listened to Buddy Holly singing ‘All my love, all my
kissing, you don’t know what you’ve been a missing’. Now my sun is well past its
zenith, and I see the dogs of war are gathering again. We can only hope that
the man who now looks so frail will prevail again when Autumn comes.
4. You spent many years
as a seagoing radio officer. What was that like?
Well, I had a nice big comfortable
cabin and an equally big Radio room, fitted with state -of-the-art equipment, which
allowed me to communicate across oceans. I could call Chatham Radio WCC Long
Island from the Canary Islands or San Francisco Radio KFS from Honolulu. Before
going to my bunk at night, I often went out to the bridge with a mug of coffee,
and myself and the officer on watch, would stare into the vast Ocean, and
discuss how we would solve the problems of the world. Some nights crossing ice
berg alley with a full moon shining on a large berg and a glassy sea, it almost
made me believe there might be a God.
5. Does life on a boat
look much better than on land?
Well, the first thing to
say is that no mariner, excluding those in submarines, would ever refer to a
ship as a boat. Ships carried boats. Long voyages could at times be boring. Imagine
a forty-two-day voyage from London to Tsamkong in Red China and an equally
boring week there? It did get better after a two-day voyage from Tsamkong to
Hong Kong.
In my day the majority of
ships carried about forty men so there was plenty of room to relax on deck and
sunbathe if the weather was good. Depending on the Chief steward and chief cook
the food could be okay to excellent.
We could buy cigarettes and
alcohol at ridiculously low prices. We always had a small library and sometimes
a few films. We also had the occasional party, particularly if it was someone’s
birthday. These occasions had to be fitted in, between watches. My watches were
two hours on and two hours off over a fourteen-hour day. Of course, sometimes
the two hours off and indeed the ten-hour off for sleeping, sometimes had to be
abandoned, if I was called out to repair the radar, send an important message,
or copy important weather or ice reports. The deck and engineer staff worked
four hours on and fours off. This might give you some idea why sailors partied and
enjoyed female company when the opportunity arose.
6. You were born in
Dublin Ireland to an Irish mother and Italian father during World War II. What
was your childhood like?
Our house was one of forty-eight
situated in a nice part of Dublin. The estate was a cul-de-sac with only one
way in and one way out. It could have been designed as a haven for children to
play, and we did play, boys and girls together, sometimes in summer from nine
till sundown.
Ireland’s population was
only two million and the primary industry was agriculture, so even in wartime,
no one went hungry, or at least there was no reason why they should. Some
things were rationed like tea, but that was of little interest to us. Petrol
was difficult to get, but my father ran his old Ford on charcoal gas, which
incidentally he manufactured himself as a sideline. Well actually it was made by
three Italians, the government had interned when WW2 broke out. They were
handed over to my father with their absolute agreement.
They were very well fed and
paid. What a lovely way to spend a war!
As an infant I went to a
convent school mainly for girls and then primary school with lay teachers. As I
already said, we had American comics and Hollywood films. Things got better
when the war ended, and we got a new Ford V8 in 1948. In the early fifties we
got a 14-inch black and white television.
7. What was it like
serving in the British Merchant Navy in the 1960s
It was good and I only
suffered the occasional anti Irish remark. I always had a nice cabin and office.
Every meal was silver service in dining saloons where every table had crisp
white cloths with silver cutlery. I normally sat at the Captain’s table along
with the deck officers. The Engineers sat at the Chief Engineer’s table. He was
the second most senior man on board. In fact, the C/E was considered by some,
to be almost equal in rank to the Captain.
Much of the mealtime
conversations were about the war. Many of the senior men had served on Merchant
ships. Some even served in the Royal Navy. Some survived being sunk by
U boats only to wind up as
POWs. Others talked about Dunkirk and others talked about fighting the German
and Italian navies in the Mediterranean Sea.
As a half Italian coming
from a neutral country, I just listened to their fascinating stories.
8. Did you ever have any dangerous situations
arise while at sea?
It was December 1961 and
the MV POLAMHALL was sailing in the roaring 40s off the South African coast, when
we lost engine power. We started to roll like we were in a tumble dryer, and
matters weren’t helped by the Second Officer remarking “I hope our cargo of
iron ore doesn’t shift or we’ll be swimming with the fishes” The Captain
ordered me to advise all ships in the area that we were not under command, and
should consider us to be a navigation hazard. I also advised the Naval base at Simonstown
we were not in distress but would advise them should our situation deteriorate.
The engineers did eventually get the main engine going on reduced power, and we
limped in to Walvis Bay for repairs.
In February 1963 the mv.
Baron. Ardrossan was sailing across the Bay of Biscay when we were hit by a
storm of hurricane strength. It came up so quickly we had no time to heave to
and head into it, which is the safest thing to do.
Trying to go on reciprocal
course would have been extremely dangerous, so we had to stay on course while
the storm battered into our stern. The view from the wheelhouse was a mountain
of water running away from us. It actually didn’t stop our second officer going out briefly onto
the for’d deck to record it on his cine camera. He was from the Isle of Man!
We lost two lifeboats which
wouldn’t have helped us anyway, and all the lower accommodation was flooded.
The starboard weather door was stoved in but the ship’s carpenter and crew
managed to shore it up with heavy blocks of timber. My cabin and the Captain’s suffered
no damage as we were housed on the top deck. The chief officer put his best
helmsman on the wheel and we made the safety of Falmouth harbour.
March 1961 the mv ARCTIC
previously named Hollywood was alongside in Baton Rouge when the city was hit
with the outer edge of a hurricane. At the time the storm hit I was in a local bar
with some of the crew, and crew members from other ships. It was too dangerous
to leave so we just partied along with the bar staff all night, and returned to
our ship the next morning. A very happy memory!
9. How would you
describe your writing style? I’d say nothing heavy or too academic, just
easy going. The feedback I get is that readers feel they are present with me as
they travel from page to page.
10. What challenges did you
have in penning your book? No great challenges really.
I’d just write a few chapters and leave it for a week or two before resuming. I
relied on my memory and some old letters and diaries. I also consulted with
some old colleagues I sailed with.
About The Author: The author, Donal Rocca, also known as Don
Rocca was born on 5th August 1941 in Dublin, Ireland to an Irish mother and
Italian father. After a formal education by nuns, lay teachers and Christian
brothers, he started his third level education in Atlantic College Dublin
followed by Kevin St College, Dublin. Further third level education spanning
more than forty years took place in Plymouth Technical College and Company
courses run by Marconi, AEI, and Racal-to name but a few.Don became a
seagoing radio officer with Marconi Marine in 1960 and in 1966 he joined their
staff as a marine technical assistant. In 1974, he joined the Decca Radar Co.
later Racal Decca rising to Dublin area manager in 1984. In 1993, Don in
association with Kieran Campbell started their own marine electronics company.
Camroc Electronic Ltd. CAMROC...CAMPBELL ROCCA. Don is still owner and joint
managing director of Camroc Electronic Ltd.
Need PR Help?
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this
award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He
is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow
their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping
thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and
motivator!
About
Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two
kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9
million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named
one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized
by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was
also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past
three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s
largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two
independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published,
authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities
such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil
Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy
Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin,
and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America
several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers
Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan
James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His
letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA
Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News
(Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The
Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook. It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and
Miami Herald.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.