Andrew Griffin background and family

[pat griffin]

Andrew Griffin

I thought I might write a bit about Andrew my husband, also know as Andy.

He was a caring person, and a sensitive to people’s feelings.
That also made him vulnerable. He was strong and lived by his principles. He loved his family very much.

As a young cadet, he became the victim of severe bullying and that affected him a lot. He was determined not to let that happen to others.

At the time of the rescue we had only been married a few years and had very young children. Carmel our daughter was four, and Adam at three years old.

Andrew was away months at a time so I lived as a one parent family most of the time. A couple of years before, we had bought our first home and we were struggling with a mortgage and the move to a new town where the only one we knew was my twin sister, who’s young husband was about that time dying of cancer. All in all a chaotic time.

I did not have time for reading newspapers or watching the news, things were full of the kids and keeping house.

The first I think I got to know about Andrews involvement in the rescue was when he rang me. That was so unusual as we really did not have the money to make long distance calls, apparently his company Denholms had let him ring. He told me not to worry about what was going on, and that the press would be getting in touch with me.

I was mystified! Why should I not worry?  I was so busy bringing up my two small chilldren and trying to make ends meet in a recesion that I had not  seen the news or read a newspaper. I had no idea what had happened or how big it was in the news over here.

He gave me a brief outline, the ship had picked up a lot of Vietnamese people in a boat that was sinking, and that the press were making it quite a big story. "Ok " I said, and he had to ring off to let someone else have a turn at ringing home.

That week a lady reporter came around and asked for an interview, there was not much I could tell her, but I said if there were orphans I would be pleased to take one, as I worried that they would have no-one to look after them. I was young and naive and did not know procedure, or who would be looking after them.

Not long after he was allowed off the ship to come home. He told me a lot about what had happened and settled down to family life. The rescue had affected him a lot and he cared deeply about what would happen to the refugees, but the only details we ever got was from the newspapers and television. With the refugees being taken into London, there would have been much more news in that area, compared to ours.

He did get a Denholm booklet that had an article about the rescue on it, a great painting of the rescue on the back and surprise, surprise, a big photo of Andrew on the cover. I was very proud of that picture and made a pencil drawing of it which has been on the wall of our home ever since. We also got a little trophy cup on a plastic stand from Denholms.

At Christmas the company sent a couple of Xmas cards to us from the refugees, but as far as I can remember they did not have addresses on them so we could not return a card to them. One lady did have an address her name was  Vienna, who now lives in Canada, and we have sent cards and the odd letter to each other ever since.

I thought that the Vietnamese must want to forget the whole dreadful time and get on with their lives and put the past behind them.So we did not try and contact them and maybe bring back bad memories for them.

Andrew went on to do many other things, he worked in the Arabian Gulf when the first war against Iran and Iraq was going on, that was an extremely bad time for him and he came back with nightmares.

He told me once that he had gone out to rescue a man clinging to some wreckage in the sea, after and exercet missile had blown up his craft, the man was screaming, but most of his jaw was damaged by the missile, and when he tried to pull him to safety he found that the sharks had eaten most of the mans lower body.

 He was sent to the Falklands just after the war had officially ended, but when it was still fairly dangerous to be there, and his specialist ship searched the sunken British ships and wrecks for the Royal Navy.

A while later companies started to lay off crew and he was unfortunately one of them.

He got a job working off shore in Nigeria. It was a very tense time; lots of bribes were needed by his company to get them to and from the ships safely. He was given some instruction that if men stopped his taxi with big sticks, it was called ‘road tax’ and he had to give them money to continue safely. I remember once him telling of a riot and all the crew who were going home, having to lie on the floor of the bus they were travelling while the windows were smashed in and bullets were flying.

I think it was in South America that he had to take command of a ship for a while. He was very proud that he had Captain stamped in his discharge book. (Kind of a sea farers passport)

Over ten years ago his only brother started to get sick, they did not know what was wrong with him, near the end of one year my sister in law told me they found it was cancer, and he did not have long to live. Andrew was in Nigeria at the time, so I informed his company of the situation and said I might need to get him home quickly if things were getting worse.

They did get worse and I sent out a telegram to Andrew and phoned him. The company got him off the ship but coming home the Nigerian police at the airport decided to beat him up, and he arrived with nasty marks over his body.

At least he was home for his brother dying; his father had died of Cancer a few years before. Andrew was now the last of his family alive. It was nearing the end of his leave and just after Christmas when Andrew too was diagnosed with cancer. He never went to sea again.

It was a very, very bad time for us, our money started to run out and we thought we would loose our home. He was retired on health grounds and received a pension which meant we had an income again.

We had six years, still living with his cancer, but enjoying life together as a family. Then on a routine check-up at the hospital they found a small lump in his lung. The health service wheels really went fast and he was scheduled for an operation. He gave up his smoking there and then, how he did it since he had smoked since he was a teenager, I do not know. He was strong in his mind.

He had a lung out, and that was a very painful time for him to get through. I remember seeing him after the operation with so many tubes etc all over him, and as white as his pillow. He did not look like he would survive. He did, he was always a fighter.

A year after and he had become so thin, his health had deteriorated. His main love in life was our little Granddaughter Rebecca; He would rock her to sleep and play with her and give her, her bottle. He loved her so much and she thought the sun shone out of her Granddad.

In the end lung cancer went to his liver and he was like someone released from a German prison camp. So thin it was hard to see how he could walk.

He died a couple of days after his birthday in hospital with myself, my daughter and our best friend at his bedside in the middle of the night. We watched him draw his last breath and know he would never feel pain again.

Back at home that day, a post card came for him from one of his friends who worked on a ship with him in Brazil. It was so strange; to have come the day he died, when it was very rare to get correspondence for him.

I went back to the hospital to collect his belongings and then went to register his death. In the evening I got a call from a lady called Jo, she was making a film about the Wellpark and could she speak to Andrew Griffin?

It was hard to say that he had died that day, but I did.and offered to help with any details I could.The film was really very good and won an award. Well done Jo. Andrew would have been so pleased if he have seen it.

My daughter Carmel did more research into the Wellpark, it was her way of trying to get over her dads death. She found the ships nostalgia site, and from there she found out about the reunion and gave me the links to see them too.

Andrew was a hero, a fighter, but also a human being, like all of us, he had his faults too. I am proud to have known him.

[Chi Pham]

Hi Pat,

Thank you for sharing your story about your husband Andrew Griffin. I am sorry to hear that he has been through a lot of pain especially the last year of his life. I regret that we didn't have a reunion 10 years ago or twenty years ago while he was alive. But I am glad to have known you and Carmel through this web site. I look forward to seeing you guys at the reunion. With love, Chi

[andrew dryburgh]

Dear Pat,
Sorry for the delay.Just read your blog about Andy.I am proud to have known him for a while.
I was off watch when the alarm was raised in the early evening by the bridge watchkeepers. Who saw the fire on the fishing boat i dont know, but i believe it was either their last flare or a small fire in an oil drum which was seen.Its possible Andy was doing a "tea relief" to let the 4-8 officer have his dinner. andy would normally be 12-4 as second mate, so thats perfectly feasible.
All the senior cadets had lifeboat tickets so we were picked to be the boat crew. I remember thinking we were going to pick up the crew of a fishing boat, maybe 3 or 4 men! It was dark by the time we launched and the next few hours flew past in a blur. I remember Andy was on the tiller with Graham Macqueen, the Training Officer beside him.We had a nasty moment letting go of the falls (steel blocks the boat is lowered on) as the boat started to move in the swell and the heavy falls were swinging round our heads. we headed towards the casualty. I was in the bow of the boat and probably was amongst the first to see the huge number of people on the boat. They were crowded so much none of the deck was visible, all were holding on to those near the edge. Andy held the lifeboat off a few feet while we tried to pass them a rope, but there was nowhere to tie it to, they were so crowded.
Someone threw a bundle at me and i caught it.To my amazement it was a baby.I think the mother thought we would leave them and she was so desperate she would save her child.I passed it into the boat and then i remember some young lads jumping the gap and kissing and hugging us.It seems strange now but you must appreciate they were at the end of their hope.I was told one had taken her life by jumping earlier that day.
The next few hours were spent ferrying the people back to the wellpark and sending them up the ships side on nets and ropes.This was frightening as the ship was rolling and the lifeboat was going up and down the ships side like a lift.I remember an old man going up and his leg didnt go with him! It was a wooden leg! I also remember a baby, very small, in a shopping bag being sent up.I cant remember how many times we went back and forth, but it was a few.
Andy and Graham were on the tiller all the time and its thanks to their seamanship no one was lost. The last thing we did was put a mooring rope onto the empty fishing boat to tow her as she would have been a hazard to navigation. I volunteered to stay in the boat while it was recovered and winched up, which was again a feat of seamanship in the swell.
After the boat was secured i volunteered to go and take a turn to watch the tow of the fishing boat from the after deck. As the wellpark picked up speed the boat started to sheer from side to side and suddenly the bow was pulled right off and it fell astern and sank. We heaved the rope in and the rest, as they say, is history.
Afew days later i remember i couldnt find my watch, a lovely aircrew Omega which had cost me about 2 weeks wages (imagine that now!). Asking around someone said they had found it in the bottom of the lifeboat and had thought it belonged to one of the vietnamese people and given it to one of them.
That was the last time i ever wore a good watch on a ship!
I, too have the little silver quaich the Company gave us and a photo of the Royal Humane Society medal awarded to the ship. I treasure the cup, its always in view in my house to remind me of that night.

[Thuy Pham AKA Bich Thuy]

Pat,

Thank you for sharing your touching story about your husband. I am glad that he was able to share the last years of his life with his family.
You are a wonderful woman, a devoted wife and mother. I look forward to meeting you and your daughter in August.

Thuy

[Charlton]

Dear Pat
We all loved Andy, and though I had known him since I was 16 I had no idea of the pain he endured. You wrote so truthfully and acurately....I have to say it made me cry. One thing I think you should mention was his sense of humour and ability to spin a wonderful story with a grin that always made you wonder!
Gerri

[Angie Nguyen]

Pat,
I'm crying having read your writing...thank you for taking time to describe your wonderful husband. Love, angie xx