Bob C. Gull-iver’s Travels: Edinburgh, Scotland

Perhaps you remember the letter I got from my granddaughter, Cecilia Pearl Gull, relative to the situation in Salt Lake City, Utah with the official State Bird and other issues concerning the Gull Family. Well, Ceci Gull is at it again and in her genealogical research she has found a long lost branch of the Gull Family in Scotland.

I have just received a letter from a nephew many times removed concerning his activities in Edinburgh, Scotland.  I would love to be able to visit Seamus Crosbie Gull, he likes to be called SC Gull, but it is unrealistic to suppose that I can fly to Scotland.  He has written me a letter and sent some pictures which I include in this message.  Here is the letter:

Hello Uncle Bob:

I am writing from Edinburgh, Scotland to let you know how we are doing.  

Cousin Ceci contacted me all the way from Utah and told me how to get ahold of you.  She says that you are my uncle thrice removed and cross several other Gull family lines. She goes on to say that you are the reigning Gull Family patriarch in California and a very high flying old bird. 

Anyway, our Family lives here in Edinburgh and we feed both on the fish in the Firth of Forth and from what we can scavenge from the tourists that visit the city.  

Farewell Drydock Eureka

This is the control room on the upper deck of the drydock. There are numerous compartments in the bottom of the facility that allows selective flooding to 'trim' the ship as it is being lowered into the water.

After more than a month in drydock we are back home at Pier 45, and I am glad of it.  The people at the drydock were very friendly, but the pickings were poor in terms of food sitting around.  Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf is such a gold mine in terms of stuff to scavenge that nothing else holds a candle to that spot.

When it came time for the ship to leave I was sitting on the rail up near the control room and heard the yellow suit guys talking.  They said that they were going to ‘pull the plug’ and flood the dock.  I have to tell you I was nervous because I had seen the big holes they cut in the side of the ship and I wasn’t sure it was going to float!  This ship is my safety net in terms of food and I am not happy about anything that puts that at risk.

The drydock is a big open kind of ship and it has no front or back or roof and big side walls.  It looks old, but it does do the job of getting the ship out of the water.

Mission Accomplished !

The work looks like it is done on the ship.  Here is a picture someone took of me and the ship just before they started to flood the drydock.  I was nervous about the ship sinking, but all is well.

Bob relaxes on a box next to the ship just before the flooding of the drydock begins. The new paint job looks great.

The new paint job looks great and the holes in the side are all patched up. I was able to get a few new pictures of the ship just before they flooded the drydock and there are some interesting new developments.

Questions and Answers !!

OK, listen up here !  Over the course of the last five months I have put out a lot of information and some of you have been kind enough to respond with questions.  Before we get into the questions I should tell you how this works: I write the BLOG and then this Editor guy comes along and adds more useless words trying to explain what I have already told you.  I humor him and let him rattle on, but I think he only confuses the situation.  As a result some of you have been sending in questions and the purpose of this message is to answer those questions.  Got it ?

Open for Tours!

photo by Jim Hafft (www.jimhafftphoto.com)

Things are returning back to normal since the Jeremiah came back to Pier 45.

I was fighting off another gull for a piece of bread bowl on the pier when I spotted the ship making her way home.  The ship has been known for years as a ‘good feeder’ for her crew.  We get the scraps.