Thanks Trumpy, but all praises are due to the original writer and photographer- I was only the mail-man, ( often am- most of my info. comes off the Net!). I only wish she could have been saved- but we can't preserve everything from the past, we have to move on. But the legendary USS Missouri (Mighty Mo) has been superbly preserved at Pearl, the cruiser HMS Belfast is on the Thames in London, and the tiny HMS Victory, (from the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805) is now lying at Portsmouth. As the car-ferry eases up the Solent past the forts into 'Pompey', I often gaze across at Victory sleeping at her mooring, and think of all those long-dead, but remembered, craftsmen lovingly hewing her from hearts of oak. It's not just nostalgia- every day our history is being formed, and just as fast destroyed. Take those totally stunning photos of E57's work recently posted -'gobsmacked' was an understatement, there is something else there, not just a 'job' - compare those to some of the so-called 'Conceptual Art' of today! 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever', and we're lucky now that digital-photography can preserve better the skills and sheer artistry of the crafts, those things which must eventually be scrapped when their usefull purpose has been served.
Alan
