Carl Thomson was an engineer with Radio Caroline in the sixties. His skills were put to good use on both Caroline North and Caroline South, as well as on the mv Cheeta II, the ship the station borrowed in 1966 when the mv Mi Amigo ran aground. Carl took a large number of photographs during his time with Caroline. Many of them have been published before - in books, magazines and on the web - but we make no apology for including some of them here as well. They are a fascinating record of life aboard the UK's first and best known offshore station. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame is very grateful to Carl for allowing us to publish them. We start with a page of photos dating from Carl's time with Caroline South. Four of these pictures were taken at the end of 1965 when Keith Skues and Paul Noble were about to leave the station. They held a mock ceremonial funeral for Keith's cardboard shoes! |
Paul Noble, engineer Patrick Starling, Keith Skues and others on deck, as the cardboard shoes are draped with the Panamanian flag in preparation for the “burial” at sea. |
Engineer Tony Visscher, Dave Lee Travis, Patrick Starling, Keith Skues, and various crew-members gathering on the deck of the Mi Amigo for the ceremony. |
Left to right: Keith Skues, Paul Noble, Dave Lee Travis and a crew-member on the deck of the Mi Amigo. |
Left to right: Keith Skues, Paul Noble, Dave Lee Travis and Patrick Starling surrender the cardboard shoes to the deep. |
Left to right: Tony Blackburn, Norman St.John and Dave Lee Travis. |
Patrick Starling, left, and Tony Blackburn on the tender Offshore I |
Tony Blackburn and Norman St.John on Offshore I. |
The Caroline South studio. |
