Ask the audience: Back in the 1960s, I was a serving British Merchant Navy seaman when my ship docked in Cardiff en route to Birkenhead near Liverpool.

After relaxing at a dockside bar, several of the crew returned to their cabins accompanied by three laughing and cussing teenage temptresses.

I spare you the details but can tell you that the three young women fully enjoyed being passed from one bunk to another; it was consensual.

The night was raucous

When the vessel departed for its final destination, the three uninhibited girls went with it, and the night was raucous with the antics of the crew and their new girlfriends.

On alighting the following afternoon, the three teens happily went on their way back to Cardiff.

A seaman’s life

RIGHT. Mike Walsh. British Merchant Navy seaman.

Naturally, we learned the girls’ names and as much about them as we needed to know. It was no big deal; it was par for the course in a seaman’s life.

The memory of that shameless and debauched night was still fresh in my mind when months later a news story in the News of the World newspaper caught my eye.

Rape

Following a case in the High Court, three young men had been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for raping three ‘schoolgirls.’

From the case, location, descriptions and news report, I was in no doubt that the three ‘schoolgirls’ were the very same round-heeled promiscuous teens who had enthusiastically debauched themselves on my vessel.

THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL: Ex-Liverpool seaman Michael Walsh Bestseller. A first-hand account of the British ships, seafarers, adventures and misadventures (1955 – 1975). Click the picture for details.

Victims?

What struck me most was the description of the ‘victims’ in the court. All three ‘innocents’ were said to be dressed in school uniforms; two were said to have their hair in bunches.

To put it in seamen’s terms, those three teenage girls had had more pricks than a secondhand dartboard. They were the ‘town’s bikes’, and there was hardly a man or boy who hadn’t ridden them.

Where is Solomon when you need him

What had occurred during their erstwhile adventure with the three sentenced young men?  I had no idea. Perhaps the consensual slap and tickle had got out of hand and ‘hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn.’

Had I heard about the court case beforehand, would I have offered myself as a witness for the defence; should I have afterwards got in touch with the young men’s solicitors?

The case has bothered me for nearly sixty years; I still don’t have the answers. Do you?

THANKS FOR SHARING WITH FRIENDS AND SOCIAL MEDIA