November 2004 Archives

Readers’ Head Line Memories

 
The last Kerr’s Corner article on the Ulster Steamship Company –the Head Line - has brought a flurry of responses from Wizard Ads readers – much more than any previous column. Thanks to all of you who took the trouble to write.

 
Rhoda Watson worked in the old Head Line Buildings in Victoria Street in 1967 or so. She typed waybills opposite another girl who did the ships’ manifests. In those pre-fax and pre-email days, they were constantly getting telexes from the Dutch firm, Hudig & Veder and other overseas companies. 

I remember the Head Line telex machines too.  They were incredibly noisy machines as they typed out incoming messages line-by-line.  I never saw a fax machine until 1987.  When we got one we thought it was marvellous, even though it was very fiddly task to refill it with rolls of special shiny coated paper.

Rhoda’s son, Alan, worked for the company as a dock boy. In those pre-fax days, he would have carried messages and documents back and forward several times a day between the main offices in Victoria Street and the Dock Office at the Dufferin Dock in the port. One day, she tells me, ‘He was with the post boys in their little room and I heard an argument.  Next thing I looked up and there were three faces staring at me over the counter. Alan said: "Aren't you my mammy, Mammy?  Tell them you're my mammy. They don't believe me."’  The shipping bug must have bitten Alan as he went to sea on a tanker when he was 18, experienced many adventures before settling in California.

Rhoda wondered if Ronnie Heyn – a descendant of the company’s founder, Gustavus Heyn – is still alive.  Sadly, he’s not. He died a lot of years ago. Now he was a character!  He always claimed that that having the same name as the company was a terrible burden as everyone came to his door when they had a problem thinking he could crack a big whip and sort it out.  Yes, maybe, but I often recall him phoning out with the message, ‘This is Mr Heyn, from G Heyn and Sons, Belfast here.’ I think that Ronnie must have been the last of the Heyns as there are no longer any listed in the residential section of the phone book.

Jim Markey from North Belfast takes issue with my suggestion that the Head Line failed because it was caught napping by the container revolution in the 1960s. He argues that the fleet could still be sailing today if it had ‘flagged out’ to another registry, like Panama or Liberia, and employed cheaper foreign labour. Perhaps, but I doubt it.

Terry Cadden thought the article made very interesting reading as his father sailed with the Head Line for a time. Terry has never have seen Wizard Ads before and would like it again. He wonders if there any way to ensure that it comes through his letterbox again.  He also lives in North Belfast. Well Terry, Wizard Ads is delivered in North Belfast, Newtownabbey and East Antrim under contract with the Royal Mail.  We appreciate feedback from readers as it lets us know that the papers have indeed been delivered to the target areas and not dumped in a skip or up a back entry by a less than conscientious postal worker!  Part of the reason we set up competitions and ask for feedback is to let us know that people out there are receiving and reading Wizard Ads. For similar reasons, we’d be grateful for it if you mention where you saw the advert if you purchase any goods or services advertised in these columns.

John Kennedy from Rathcoole worked for Heyn up until two years ago. He says that he knows former Newtownabbey councillor Davy Hollis well doesn’t he'll thank you for saying he sailed with the Head Line in the early 60s. Well now, I asked him and published his answer so I don’t think he’ll complain.

Mr Kennedy tells me something about the Ulster Red Hand on the Head Line flag. “I always from childhood believed the hand was the red hand which rose from the sea to protect the fishermen” He goes on, “Members of the Royal Black Institution will be familiar with this biblical happening, I learned about it in Sunday School at Sinclair Seamen’s Church, (in Corporation Square behind the Harbour Office) I would be most interested in your view.” Thanks, Mr Kennedy. As the saying goes, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the Royal Black Institution, so I am unfamiliar with the reference but I’d certainly like to learn more about it.

Robert Haughey from Newtownabbey has sent such an interesting letter, I thought it better to quote it in full.  He writes…

I did not work for the Head Line directly, but did work on the maintenance squad, as an apprentice, when the vessels docked to have routine maintenance carried out. I think a number of the ships were built in H & W.

The main reason for contacting you is regarding my wife's uncle, Robert Sterling, who worked for the Ulster Steamship Company for more than fifty years. (Regretably now deceased)

He was office oriented and was a remarkable character, small in stature but gigantic in heart. He lived at Abbotts Cross, on the Doagh Road, not too far from Rathcoole.

I remember him when I was first "going to sea" as a Junior engineer. He arrived at my then future mother in laws' house driving a Triumph Mayflower car, in black, I think it was called a "razor edge", due to its sharp lines, but it was the last word in luxury. He also rode motorcycles of various capacities and he told the story when stopped by a police and army checkpoint, when astride the largest Honda on the market he was asked to remove his helmet. The soldier was speechless, at this small man of 74 years, sat on this monster of a machine, his toes barely touching the ground.

Approaching his eighties he learned to fly, (assisted by Noel Orr of motorbike sales fame) and piloted Noel's cruiser down the lough and into the Irish Sea - (illegal?) Anyway this Head Line man did it - a remarkable individual by any standards.

Now David, it’s your turn, as an ex Head Line employee, to set targets and add to your achievements, at your age you've plenty of time yet. The above may not be the response you had in mind, so treat it as a longwinded way of saying that we enjoy your column.”