The Canadian warship HMCS Athabaskan visited Liverpool 15-20 April 2011.
I saw it arrive when I looked out of the office window on the morning of Friday 15.
Canadian flags were flying from the Liver Buildings to welcome the ship and it's crew - who I spotted enjoying the city's welcome over the course of the following week, mostly to play golf by the looks of things!
The ship sounded it's horn to mark the end of the Hillsborough memorial 2 minutes silence on Friday - which was a nice touch.
Later that evening people were arriving at Princes Dock in formal evening wear, and heading down the gangplank to a party that was being held on board.
On Saturday a memorial service was conducted to remember those Canadians who died in the Battle of the Atlantic, when the first HMCS Athabaskan was lost in 1944. Wreaths were laid at the memorial stone on Canada Boulevard, on the Pier Head in front of the Cunard Building (next to the Liver Building).
I was working on Sunday evening, so managed to nip out and take some sunset photos.
I took some more on Wednesday, when the ship was leaving, to the usual set of Landing Stage tunes (Leaving of Liverpool, Theme from Carousel, Johnny Todd and Sailing). I chatted with some of the people there who had gone to watch the ship depart, about how good a visit it had been - glorious sunny weather and a crew who seemed to be taking in the sights and enjoying the city (and it's golf courses).
I walked across to Canada Boulevard to take a couple of photos of the wreaths laid there, and discovered that there's a memorial stone for the 1944 HMCS Athabaskan on the Boulevard - The Lord Mayor had laid a wreath there.
No comments:
Post a Comment