Article contributed by Davy Wilson - (2005)
The photo below used to be the Musgrave
Channel, where the launched ships would be towed & made fast to one
of the many jetties. Store rooms lined the north side of the channel.
In the
late 50's & early 60's we had 40 minutes for lunch. On summer
days
the men would sit with
their backs against this wall & watch "Dick", the nude swimmer
entertain them.
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The Belfast Musgrave Channel
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Most of the lunch-time was spent bantering Dick. He had a whole repertoire
of tricks, cartwheel, floating on his back & his "piece de resistance"....
wait for it,he would climb up a ship's hawser as far as his age would let
him & then
he would let go, to tumultuous cheers. He thrived on this.
He wasn't a young
man - in his 50's I would guess. What made him mad was when he was floating
somebody would shout "hey Dick! @#$@*floats too!!".
Dick's response
was "come on down here & say that to my face". The
crowd egged them on something shocking, all in good fun.
This was in
the musgrave
channel, which
was a back water. Because of this the water never circulated & there
where all sorts floating. I'll leave that to your imagination.
All the best - Davy Wilson
We might
have another reference to the mystery swimmer
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