Ian Anderson was on board the mv Mi Amigo in October 1973 when the aerial mast collapsed. He took these photos over the days that followed.
The captions, below, are Ian's own words.
“After the Mi Amigo's triangular mast collapsed at a point above the first section on 1st October 1973, broadcasting continued by extending the antenna length to the rear mast with up to four wires while work
got underway to replace the lost sections.”
15th October 1973: “Two sets of replacement sections arrived on board the Mi Amigo and, while on board, each delivery was stored on the boat deck which was the roof of the deckhouse,
above the studios and the messroom.”
“The plan to use the replacement sections was abandoned when the remaining base section of the mast came off its three base insulators on 18th October 1973. This required stabilising by cutting and
welding by crewman-engineer Teun Visser, seen here preparing his equipment.”
14th October 1973: “This coincided with the end of the contract with Radio Atlantis and the agreement with Radio Mi Amigo which paid for a new generator to be delivered by the occasional tender
Dolfijn.”
“With the Mi Amigo and Radio Seagull silent, a decision was taken to evacuate the rest of the broadcasting team and some crew on the Zeester. Left to right: shore office manager
Charlotte Ribbilink, the back of Johnny Jason (‘JJ’), Ian Anderson, Barbara Johnson and, just in frame,
Michael Wall-Garland (‘Mike the poet’).”
“Since he was also transmitter engineer, Bob Noakes remained on board which he described in Last of the Pirates as ‘someone was needed to take measurements’.
This is Bob, prone on the bowsprit, dressed in white shirt and trousers, equipped with a retractable measuring tape, and two crewmen for ‘safety’.”
20th October 1973: “For several of us this was our last-ever view of the Mi Amigo, including Michael Wall Garland who died in a road accident in Italy the following year.”
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