Oliver Slay

There's no indication when the article was written... so at some point Boatshed Essex acquired the 'dodgy' "Humphrey Morris Cutter" which they note is one of the more 'interesting and unusual vessels' on their lists.

The Medical Officers' Cutter, "Humphrey Morris" is an old boat. Boatshed write that it was built in 1966 (but this is not possible because the BMJ printed their article about its launch in 1961) "by James Pollock & Co in Faversham, Kent for the City of London Port Health Authority, the boat's original functions were to meet incoming passenger liners at the North Foreland, conduct health checks, remove casualties and to give the ship health clearance inwards". It was converted to a private yacht in 1997.

The "Humphrey Morris" has 25 berths in 10 cabins. It's been totally re-fitted with a bar. "Further alterations have guaranteed that the floating Florence Nightingale will most likely find her next calling as a sailing club's dream clubhouse, or the perfect live-aboard for the large boat enthusiast."

I can't find the listing on their website - I've emailed so I'll wait... Perhaps this news item is quite old... why don't people think to put the date of the news item on their 'News' web page?

Posted 16 Aug 2011 19:37 by Oliver Slay

Human Biology (SK277)

The results are in for my Open University 'Human Biology' course... Grade 2 Pass...

Also I have just signed up to SDK228 The Science of the Mind - from Oct 2011... to keep me occupied over the winter and spring months :-)

Posted 3 Aug 2011 09:08 by Oliver Slay

The Humphrey Morris cutter

"A new quarantine cutter for the Port of London Health Authority, the Humphrey Morris, was launched recently. This cutter, which is being built at a cost of about £70,000, will be the latest weapon in the fight to prevent infectious diseases entering London from overseas: 28,000 ships of over 44m. net tons enter the Port of London every year, and the Humphrey Morris will be able to go alongside any ship in all weathers to enable medical officers to carry out examinations or to take suspected cases to the isolation

hospital at Gravesend. Its equipment includes a radio-telephone to allow interrogation of ships without necessarily boarding them, and its 240-volt electrical system will link it to the ordinary land supply when it is on stand-by duty.

The Humphrey Morris will replace the 30-year-old Howard Deighton and will be faster, larger, and have comfortable accommodation for three stretcher and four sitting cases. It will be of 130 tons, with an overall length of 97 ft. 2 in., a depth of 9 ft. 6 in., and an operational speed of 12 knots. There will be a crew of five. The vessel is named after the late Humphrey Morris, who was chairman of the Port of London Health Authority from 1957-1959."

Br Med J 1961;2:305 doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5247.305 (Published 29 July 1961) (access here)

It turns out that my great grandfather, Humphrey William Carlile Morris, died in 1961... and worked for the City of London... so I have to guess that this ship was named after him... fancy that!

And now the more I look for Humphrey Morris and 'cutter' the more I can find about it...

The last spotting of this ship that I can find was by Gerolf Drebes... on the River Medway nr Sheerness in 2007

And it's the one on the left here on GoogleMaps

Posted 12 Oct 2010 10:56 by Oliver Slay

CertHealthSci(Open)

I have now finished my Certificate in Health Sciences with the Open University... which enables me to use the above letters after my name...

I chose modules: Human Genetics, Understanding Cancers, Introducing Health Sciences (using Case Studies) and Nutrition.

Introducing Health Sciences was a very good course... beginning in October and ending in June with an exam. It taught health from 7 different (topical) cases (Water, Pain, Alcohol, COPD, Breast Cancer, Trauma/Recovery, Eyesight).

I thoroughly recommend studying anything you can in the evenings...

http://www.open.ac.uk/

Or try their free-to-the-public to learn something new and see if you might want to study more:

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

And now I am beginning on the next level... the Diploma of Health Sciences... beginning with Human Biology...

Posted 21 Sep 2010 08:09 by Oliver Slay

Robert the Bruce, King of Scots

It's not often I find a history book that really captures my interest... But I picked up this one in the shop at Edinburgh Castle a couple of months ago, and it is an eye-opener of a story...

Little bits of information... the Isle of Mann was given to Scotland by the Norwegians in return for money... the Flemish had an early Embassy, the 'Red Hall' in Berwick-upon-Tweed in return for keeping the British out... and Aberdeen having been a virtual Flemish enclave...

Small pieces of info about the different languages spoken around Scotland and the North of England / Yorkshire etc...

And how the Normans managed to get a footing as major landholders...

Ronald McNair Scott's book is a very interesting read so far...

I may be a little biased however... according to historical records, my great-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandmother was Robert's sister, Margaret Bruce...

On BBC2 this week, I managed to also catch The Normans (iPlayer in the UK)... which went over some of the same ground as in the book...

Posted 18 Aug 2010 10:22 by Oliver Slay

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