Growing up as a boy, I became fascinated with the sea and ships. Dad told
me endless stories of his days aboard Merchant and Navy vessels before
and during World War II. Adventure, storms and the perils of wartime.

Get all this floating around in a boy's head and if your like me, it boils down
to..."I gotta' do it some day".

Fresh out of High School, with no thoughts of University, I headed straight for
the Navy recruiting office and a few months later I was in what I called "hell".
Boot Camp!

Coming out of there as most improved recruit I was assigned to a navy ship
docked in Halifax harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada only about 40 minutes drive
from where I currently live. As a young lad...19 years young I stood at the dock
looking up at the HMCS Fraser in 1978.



A destroyer with the Canadian Navy, The Fraser was commissioned in the mid 1950's
and was "ahead of her time" in that era....a submarine hunter.

Adventure and travel...I had a lot of that with a loads of fun mixed in as well. I also
punched a lot of hours in the "Radio Shack" as a Radioman. No portholes or windows
where I worked...it was a secure room below the bridge and inside the ship as a
means of communication, when under attack.

After I left the navy... I kept tabs on the Fraser and she was later crippled by a huge
storm in the North Atlantic that damaged her keel and actually tore off her front "gun"
from it's mounts. She was then restricted from sailing above a certain "sea state"
where it feared wind and waves would further damage her. A sad day and she
was then later... decommissioned.

A few years ago I came across the Fraser purely by accident where she was tied
up in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia... bought by a Society from the Navy  to become a tour/
diving ship. Whoa! The memories flooded back when I was permitted to go aboard
and walk through her again and sit in the chair in the "radio shack" where I worked.

Today she is tied up again in Halifax Harbour, actually on the Dartmouth side embroiled
in a court case between the Reef Society and the Navy where the Navy claims the Society
never carried through with their commitment. The Fraser is officially under arrest as
the two sides go to court. The options are to either scuttle her off a reef outside Halifax
harbour where divers from all over the world swim down to wrecks there or be demolished
by a scrap yard.

After all these years, the Fraser has made headline news again and refuses to fade into
the past. I'm hoping she will be sunk off the reef where divers pictures and movies will
keep her memories alive. I'll update when I find out what her fate will be after the court
case.

Speaking of the ocean and "surf"...here online, the only "surfing required to earn" program
I am a member of at this time is called The Vault . Running since 2009, the Admin must
have a viable income other than member's upgrades to continue to pay out expired plans.
I'm midway into my second term now, after earning 132% on my first and getting paid
within 24 hours. As of now...The Vault is still "looking good".