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Welcome Aboard     Maria (Powers) Briscese, Gerald Brunelle, Tom Carr, Skip Cluster, Carol Foster, Nancy Grow,  Doug Hoerle, Brad Lucas, Barbara McKinney,  Anita Olson, Barbara Rhoades, Cathy Pitt and Regina Mulhall Seeger.

 

 

REUNION IN HONG KONG NEXT MARCH?  A Special Report.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Sea-Land Daze!

 

Our planning team has met in Hong Kong and we had considerable discussions on how to ensure a grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the commencement of Sea-Land’s scheduled service to Hong Kong.

 

In spite of all that is going on in Hong Kong for the past weeks, we believe these issues should be resolved by the proposed reunion dates. We will keep all who are attending updated on the situation before booking.

 

So here are our suggestions for your consideration and comments.

 

1. PROPOSED DATES FOR THE REUNION

 

We have had considerable feedback, and it appears that the most convenient time for the majority of attendees would be in early 2020. 

 

So with that perfect 20-20 vision….we then considered the weather and public holiday times in Hong Kong.

We suggest that the best time from a weather perspective and also….lower hotel and travel costs, due to lack of holidays and the Rugby 7s…..would be in late March of 2020. (5 to 8 days)

 

We need to obtain your ideas and suggestions for Events before we propose actual dates for your consideration.

 

Here are our ideas for your review and comments.

 

Please reply to Yvonne at Yvonneyfchu@gmail.com  with your selection of events you would like to attend.

 

1. SUGGESTIONS FOR OPTIONAL EVENTS

 

We believe that we should provide our visitors with a productive and memorable visit. Therefore we provide you with various optional activities. Of course, many of our colleagues will want to have off-days during which they can reunite with special acquaintances and/or visit places holding special memories.  

 

With that in mind we would like your thoughts on the following suggested activities:

 

Option 1-A. Late morning tour of the Maritime Museum followed by a Daytime Reunion Luncheon Party at the Maritime Museum’s Café 8 in Central, for our visitors and many local colleagues.

 

Option 1-B. The same evening board a private coach for a dinner party at a scenic Stanley restaurant with music, great food and wonderful views coupled with nostalgic memories. Then take the private coach to the Peak for a stunning night view of Hong Kong.  Coach will then take us to Central or Kowloon to recover at your hotels.

 

Option 2. Morning trip by private coach to Macau on the new bridge/causeway and a full day tour of the old world heritage areas of Macau and the new area of Cotai to see a stunning modern version of Las Vegas.  Schedule to see a show at night.  Overnight in Macau at one of the hotels in the Cotai strip or the historic Pousada De Coloane Beach Hotel.

 

Option 3. After breakfast catch a morning ferry from Macau to Shenzhen for a full day tour as follows:

 

Check into the hotel then a full day private coach tour of the magic of Shenzhen, to possibly include the following:

1. The world’s largest artist village,
2. Visit to a huge pedestrianized shopping district and then lunch,
3. Visit to the creative and futuristic Silicon Valley of China to feel and see the future,
4. Tour of the OCT historic district where they have converted old factories into creative

      & beautiful restaurants and artistic shops.

1. Visit a beautiful historic park to watch the locals dance and sing and entertain us with

                     music.

1. Partake in a pleasant dinner near a theme park..
2. After dinner enjoy an evening watching a stunning show of a Broadway standard.
3. Back to the hotel for a good rest.               

 

Option 4. Breakfast at the hotel and then back to Hong Kong by private coach.

 

To show our visitors the wonderful verdant green and mountainous countryside of Hong Kong and its picturesque waterways: Have a full day private coach tour of the Hong Kong new territories/countryside including lunch at Sai Kung or at a picturesque village.  Early evening back to the city to your hotels by coach.

 

Option 5. Lunch & then an afternoon boat tour of Hong Kong harbor, then cruise to Tai O for a walking tour of this historic village. Possibly see dolphins in the nearby waters. Then cruise to the Gold Coast and early dinner before cruising back past the Kwai Chung container terminal to the harbor for the Sound & Light show.

 

Let us know your thoughts.  Comments welcome.  We can add or subtract events.  Looking forward to a great get together.

 

Alan Goldstein

Byron Lee

Wiñnie Yeh

 

 

Alumni News

 

1. Rich Hopkins hrichjoy@aol.com asks if anyone knows how to get in touch with John Burrell.

 

2. Gary Ritzman reports that the Baker Lunch Bunch gathering on September 12th had a record breaking

        attendance: Tom Cowan, Marv Buchanan, Bud Meachem, Bill Niemann, Wayne Prochaska, Tom Murphy,

Duane Smith, Charlie Ogle and Ritz.   He wonders how many Sea-Landers can identify the guy shown

On the next page who pitched a no-hitter on July 21, 1961 against C. Co., 17^th Transportation Bn. to win the Division Trans Eastern Softball League Championship.

 

 

 

3. Doug Hoerle, who was a crane maintenance engineer in Oakland during the whaleboat racing days, recalls

        what great spirit of comradery they generated.  In 1985 he transferred to the Tacoma Crane Shop and

        retired in 2002.  He and his wife Helen now live in Marina del Rey, California.

 

 

September in Sea-Land History

 

1962      ELIZABETHPORT arrives in Oakland on first intercoastal sailing.

 

1969    SL-7 construction orders increased to 8 ships from original 5 planned.

 

1978        SEA-LAND ADVENTURER, the fourth of our diesel-powered D-6 class christened in

Kobe, Japan.

 

        D-9 class construction program for 12 ships authorized with a $586 million budget.

 

1981        PFEL’s antitrust suit against Sea-Land dismissed.

 

1986        CSX acquisition of Sea-Land completed.

 

 

Industry News

 

1. Maersk Line A/S will be changing its name to Maersk A/S and “Line” will be

removed from the hulls of Maersk ships.

 

2. A test of the ability to crew and put to sea 28 idle ships in the government’s ready reserve in five days without any advance notice was conducted in September. Included were three former SL-7s, that were known to us as SEA-LAND McLEAN, SEA-LAND COMMERCE and SEA-LAND TRADE. The greatly diminished number of Navy warships make it very unlikely that there will be enough Navy ships to escort cargo ships if there is a wartime deployment.  The ability of the 8 former SL-7s to operate independently at high speeds is believed to improve their survivability under such conditions.

 

 

Final Sailings

 

Alice Corey departed on her voyage from this life on September 17^th a month short of her 96^th birthday. A many decades member of Sea-Land’s West Coast team from early days, her life well-led will be remembered at a Memorial Mass at 11:30 AM on Thursday October 10^th in Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church, 837 Tennant Avenue, Pinole, California, followed by a luncheon reception at Famiglia Italian Restaurant, 812 San Pablo Avenue.