Robert Bland: 1933 – 2008

September 6th, 2008 by JCB
Posted in Obituaries | No Comments »

A Geordie by birth Robert was born on 24^th September 1933, in South Shields on the banks of the Tyne. He
signed indentures at the age of seventeen with Huntings Shipping Co., of Newcastle
upon Tyne and travelled the world with them onboard the “Thames Field“.
He left Huntings to attend Marine School to study for his 3^rd and 2^nd mate’s foreign going
tickets.

In his early twenties he joined Henry & McGregor’s of Leith , Edinburgh as Second Mate and subsequently gained his 1^st Mate’s and his master’s ticket at South Shields Marine and Technical College. Returning to Henry & McGregor’s he took command of his own ship the “Marwick Head” and later the “Cantick Head” He was contracted to run to Russia via Finland and Denmark carrying cargo’s of timber and coal on which trips he made many friends.

He then came ashore and moving with his family to Suffolk to join Trinity House as a pilot on the River Orwell. He loved the job seeing the wildlife and all aspects of river life at all hours, day and night. Circumstances at Trinity House resulted in an amalgamation of Orwell and Thames pilots which necessitated travelling between Ipswich and London where he made many contacts and met many more friends some of whom had been to the marine school and had moved south to obtain work.

As time passed, the travelling got very stressful and he took early retirement from the service at the age of fifty seven. He then, with his wife Dorothy, moved to Felixstowe to be nearer the sea to enjoy a great retirement watching the ships plying their trade with the rest of the world. He loved Suffolk for its fauna and flora and the warm and dry East Anglian climate.

He passed away peacefully at home on the 20^th March, 2008 after an illness bravely borne leaving his wife Dorothy, children Alison and Andrew, his in-laws Chris and Julia and six lovely grand children all of whom he was very proud.

Mrs Dorothy Bland