- Contributed by听
- 大象传媒 Open Centre, Hull
- People in story:听
- Lol Shortland
- Location of story:听
- Alexandria
- Background to story:听
- Royal Navy
- Article ID:听
- A7737104
- Contributed on:听
- 13 December 2005
Lol Shortland passed away, after a long illness, in the Hull Royal Infirmary on 14th October 2000. He was survived by his wife Lil (nee Lilly Easter Hatfield), daughter Pat and grandchildren Matthew and Louise. He is pictured here on his 80th birthday with grandson Mathew helping him to light his present, a very special hand-made Meerschaum pipe. Lol always enjoyed a pipe and had a drawer full of old-fashioned white clay pipes which he used all of the time. He left everyone who met him much happier for the experience, he was an exceptionally fair and gentle man and is greatly missed by all.
Whenever we went to Alexandria, we used to get a barrage balloon and our Captain had an obsession with one which had a small propeller at the rear end. They would take it ashore fill it with gas and return it. This trip they came and told us that they had run out of gas and would not get any more until after we sailed; but they had brought up an ordinary one, with no propeller. I told the Captain and he did his nut. He then told me to put the gas out of the ordinary one into his favourite one. I said 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 impossible Sir.鈥 He then said, 鈥淣othing is impossible, get it done now.鈥 It was one of those times when I wished I was dead, I ran below and I yelled to my men, 鈥淎ll hands on deck鈥. Thirty men arrived and I told them we were going to put the gas out of one balloon into the other one. One man replied, 鈥淏loody impossible.鈥, so I turned to him and said, 鈥淣othing is impossible.鈥 We got going but it was hard work. When we got half the gas in, a dozen men had to jump, and I mean dive, on top to get the gas out. When we had emptied the new one, it was not really inflated, but I was very lucky. I found a gas bottle with a bit of gas in it, and the skipper had his bloody balloon. When we raised it blowing in the wind, I saw the skipper smiling away, up on the bridge.
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