Robert Deans

Thankyou both so much for your reply. I have to be honest. I suffer from Mental Health issues. I have (self-diagnosed) bipolar. Last week I woke up at midnight during a hypomania episode. My brain told me, go and search for the SS Explorer. I was shocked to find this site. I cannot believe the ship has survived as a museum ship at Leith Docks to this day. I know I have photos of my journey in the middle of the NorthSea in 1982. I intend to go up my loft and find them and post here in next few days. For whatever reason when I am hypomanic I want to write, a lot, an awful lot. I remember I took with me my cassette player and a Genesis album. It was the only album I possessed at that time. Torry Research Station holds so many happy memories for me. About 60 or 70 staff. It was a great place to work. I started my IT career there in 1984 or so. IBM mainframe computer, paper-tape readers, an Apple II on which I wrote my first MS Basic program. The VAX VMS operating system. Fortran77 programs I wrote for the scientists. A gentleman called Ralph, the head of the IT dept, a Mathematician from Eastern Europe who inspired me to follow my passion for IT. Oh gosh I could write forever. Anyway back to the SS Explorer. One day soon I intend to write another story, a best-seller on another subject. If it makes me a profit, I will help the preservation team to restore the vessel to its former beauty. Now, that would be a fantastic story indeed. And may God bless those colleagues who have sailed away with the passing of 44 years. Your response to my first post has lit up my mind. I am back in Aberdeen since 2022. Four years now with ScottishWater. I abandoned my IT career in 2005. I have a passion for the environment, our beaches, marine wellbeing, thus I am now a Shift Process Technician at Nigg, Aberdeen. I want to be a writer. You have inspired me so thankyou so much. Let us all keep the SS Explorer alive, for all of time. If only the Torry Research Station building still stood. It is long-since demolished, but when I close my eyes, I can still see the chemistry lab in which I started off, the computer room, the table-tennis table where I played a Mr Johnny Murray so many lunchtimes, way back in 1982. If only I could see him again, play one more game. He was very very good at Table Tennis, and a true Gentleman. He sailed that journey too. Maybe I will see him back on the Explorer, one day with my old boss Peter. I hope so.

SS Explorer

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On the SS Explorer in 1982, survived a Force 10 Hurricane and 14 days and nights of being sea-sick. As a very green seafarer, I had joined MAFF, Torry Research Station as a 16-year-old. My previous life experience was as a hustler on the snooker tables of Aberdeen YMCA. This did little to prepare me for this adventure. We're going to sea Bob, said my boss Peter. "ACE, I thought". Went down a ships outfitters on Market Street. Got my ppe, including somehow a pair of wellies that were two sizes too big for me! Soon drove down to Leith docks. Off we went. Peter asked me what I thought so far as we got aboard. "Brilliant" I replied. Mmm, if only I knew what was coming...I will post more later! Chapter 2, Hughie. I am introduced to the ship's crew. One gentleman asks, "Hey Bob, have you met Hughie?" Only a few hours later I would meet this mysterious entity. We left the harbour and Hughie was getting closer and closer....to be continued

SS Explorer

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