13 - TO BE TITLED
This is place-holder text.
1959
Date to be added - Borkum Riff, a German lightship was anchored at the mouth of the Ems River, some 54 miles northwest of the city of Emden. It was built in 1911 as a 141-foot, 485-ton, red vessel. The main center mast was taller and topped by a black conical basket as a daytime marker and shone a red light at night. The fore and after rear masts were each topped by a black, spherical basket daymark and had white lights. Each light was by a group of three small Fresnel lenses with kerosene burners. In 1918, they were electrified and in 1925, the mainmast was replaced by a thin tube tower holding a revolving optic. The ship was in port during both world wars but returned to station once peace was restored. She was the Borkum Riff Lightship until 1956. The world’s first coast radio station was established on the first Borkum Riff Lightship, officially going into operation on May 15, 1900. In 1905, its call became FBR. Retired in 1959, the lightship was sold to VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Netherland), the Verweij Brothers of Hilversum, in November of 1959 for 6900 DM expressly for a pirate radio station. The light tower was removed and a two-wire flat top antenna stretched between the masts some 66 feet high. The radio ship was anchored 3 miles offshore between Scheveningen and The Hague. Going on the air in April 1960, it broadcast to Holland from a 10-kw transmitter on 1562 kHz. Radio Veronica retired the old lightship in 1966 and got a newer vessel.
July 30 - Allan James Crawford and Michael Citroen (Crawford's accountant), place an advertisement in 'The Stage' newspaper, announcing their intention to apply to London County Council for a licence to start an employment agency within the entertainment industry, under the name of Merit Music Co Ltd of 10 Manette Street, London WI.
August 17 - Allan James Crawford left the employment of Peer-Southern in London.
1959
November 26 - Radio Yorkshire (Development) Ltd., is registered.
In Britain during 1959, Charles Orr Stanley of the Pye Group was about to launch a new political pressure group seeking to break the Crown stranglehold on radio broadcasting, because at that time, the focus was on television as the forum for pop music.
Stanley's plan was composed of both an overt and covert formula. His covert plan was surrounded in secrecy, but his overt plan was bathed in publicity. It did not begin in London, but in a town called Shipley in Yorkshire.
It was to Shipley that Stanley attracted the people behind Ross Radio Productions who made pre-recorded shows for Pye at studios in Hampstead where Simon Dee would later be sent for his first audition as a disc jockey on the embryonic 'Radio Caroline'.
In addition to Ross Radio, were people connected to Stanley's plans aiming for a commercial radio license on the Isle of Man.
In addition to these recruits was the man who formed the Local Radio Association, and his colleague who would later become head of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which replaced the ITA.
1960
April 2 - A 1963 investigation traced the origin of the name CBC (Plays) Ltd. back to a registration on this date in 1960, but although a company number was also located, no information has surfaced to indicate that the initials CBC were augmented by the word Plays. Nor is there any information presently to hand that reveals who registered this company.
July 5-8 - Radio Cambridge is operational on 250 meters at the Royal Agricultural Show. It broadcast via the electrical supply to a radius of about 20 feet in distance. A drawing of the station appeared in a two page layout within the book-sized catalog of the official exhibition. But when the exhibition opened, the actual station that was built reflected a 'packaged' Pye station, in contrast to the artist's rendition for the advertisement that was produced long in advance of the exhibition to meet the printer's deadline. One item not in the artist's drawing but which did appear on the actual building, was a designed logo with the letters 'CBC' next to the name of the station: 'Radio Cambridge'. This seems to be the first time that these initials have been used in the context of a local radio station promotion by Pye. It is possible that they represent the words 'Commercial Broadcasting Company', although the Pye Plan stressed local radio, and not necessarily commercial radio.
July 13 - mv Friendship chartered by Weatherwell Ltd..
1961
May 1 - THV Stella is launched at East Cowes to replace the THV Satellite. See reference to this vessel under '1962'.
1962
May 3 - More than 100 radio broadcasting companies registered in the UK wanting licenses to broadcast.
June 30 - Radio Nord closes down.
July 10 - Radio Mercur closes down from the Cheeta II.
July 23 - Mv Magda Maria, ex-Bon Jour goes to El Ferrol, Spain for inspection and repairs.
DATE TO BE CHECKED - THV Satellite. Allan James Crawford later obtained a ship's mortgage in his own name for the THV Satellite which was a steam ship (SS) that Crawford intended to use as the home for his Radio Atlanta. According to the redacted version of Jack Kotshack's book about Radio Nord (which was translated into English by Paul Harris), Crawford intended to rename the former THV Satellite as the SS Atlanta.
1963
'Early 1963' - Allan James Crawford says that this is when he first met Ronan O'Rahilly.
March 18 - After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Mi Amigo enters the Gulf of Mexico and docks at Pier 37 on Galveston Island, Texas. Charles William (Bill) Weaver who is General Manager of KILT in Houston, and National Manager of stations in the chain owned by Gordon McLendon, takes control of the ship. He pays off its crew and the ship is stripped of all broadcasting equipment which is taken to Houston and put into storage for use as 'spares' by other McLendon stations.
May 17 - Cross Channel Container Services Limited is registered as company number 20509 in the Republic of Ireland. In 2020. No other official details are readily available as to its address, or directors. This business now has a status listing of "dissolved" and having no directors at the time it closed. If this entity was formed in relation to the purchase by Wijsmuller of the mv Fredericia on December 30, 1963, then it may have been formed in anticipation of that purchase. However it could also mean that the ship was not purchased for the purpose of starting an offshore radio station, but to revive an export business by cargo ship to the United Kingdom via either a port on the island of Ireland in that region under the control of the UK and designated as Northern Ireland; or reviving shipments to a port on the island of Great Britain.
June - Ronan O'Rahilly sent by Allan James Crawford to Houston, Texas to see Bill Weaver regarding a lease of the Mv Mi Amigo based upon a new legal interpretation concerning the status of the so-called 'Hovering Acts'. O'Rahilly has to fly via New York since direct flights from London to Houston by scheduled airlines are not available. Upon arrival in Houston he stays at the Continental Hotel. KILT Chief Radio Engineer Glen Cook takes O'Rahilly to Galveston to see the mv Mi Amigo. While in Houston, Ronan O'Rahilly meets Captain De Jong Lanau, Superintendent of Wijsmuller Tugs.
July 31 - Project Atlanta Limited is registered in London with three initial directors.
August 14 - Mv Fredericia arrived at Copenhagen from Odense, Denmark, and laid up.
November 5 - Mv Mi Amigo is moved from Pier 37 to Todd Shipyards for repairs and painting prior to its lease or sale.
November 22 - President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed driving through Dallas, Texas in an open car, in the middle of the day which was dominated by clear blue sky.
November 24 - Lee Harvey Oswald shot in the Dallas Police Department garage in front of police and reporters on 'live' televsion. He had been accused of killing President Kennedy.
December 21 - The main generator and two refurbished Continental Electronics transmitters plus studio equipment, is trucked down from Houston to Galveston for re-installation on board mv Mi Amigo under the supervision of KILT transmitter supervisor Frank Maher. Some new equipment is also added because some of the original equipment had already been recycled to other McLendon stations. It is hastily loaded on board the ship because a local Galveston newspaper has taken an interest in this activity. The press coverage also attracts the attention of U.S. Customs.
December 29 - Mv Mi Amigo slips out of port at Galveston Island, Texas telling authorities that it is on "sea trials" and will return. In fact it is heading for the Bahama Islands, never to return to Texas. Its destination is Sun Cay island in the Bahamian archipelago. The ship docks at the small island owned by Clint Murchison, and picks up Prince Albrecht of Lichtenstein.
December 30 - Mv Fredericia is towed from Copenhagen, Denmark by Wijsmuller to a dock at Rotterdam, Holland.
1964
January 8 - DFDS who previously owned the Mv Fredericia, are told that it was bought as a ferry and that it will be renamed mv Iseult to service a new route between Republic of Ireland and the UK. However, the ship is still in Rotterdam, Holland and still under the control of Wijsmuller. This story about a new ferry service is a 'cover' for the real purpose behind purchase of the vessel.
January ? - Exact date unknown at this moment in time. The ownership of mv Fredericia is registered in Panama to a company called Astrenic SA. In fact, Wijsmuller have control management of both the mv Fredericia and the mv Mi Amigo which is still owned by a Panamanian company managed by Bill Weaver who works for Gordon McLendon.
January 30 - Prior to this date, exact date unknown at present, Harry Spencer attends a meeting at 47 Dean Street, London. It has been called by Allan James Crawford operating at Merit Music. In attendance are Alfred Nicholas Thomas; Captain De Jong Lanau, Superintendent of the 'Wijsmuller Towing Company' and Ronan O'Rahilly.
January 30 - On this date Allan James Crawford writing on Merit Music Co. Ltd stationary (relocated to 47 Dean Street from 10 Manette Street), writes to Harry Spencer at Cowes in the Isle of Wight and officially tells him to go ahead with rigging of the mv Mi Amigo. Crawford tells Spencer to follow the directions of Captain de Jong who has asked Crawford to write to him. Crawford says that Spencer will be paid by Rajah Anstalt, of Vaduz, Liechtenstein, after he next meets with Captain de Jong in England.
February 5 - Mv Mi Amigo arrives and docks at El Ferrol, Spain. Harry Spencer has been staying in a hotel waiting for its arrival. Captain De Jong Lanau is there with Harry Spencer when the ship arrives. Alfred Nicholas Thomas may also be there.
February 13 - Mv Fredericia departs from Rotterdam, and originally is scheduled to dock at the Isle of Wight for Harry Spencer to work on it. The original Allan James Crawford ship was THV Satellite, and Crawford had a ship's mortgage on the vessel while it was docked at the Isle of Wight. The mv Fredericia is redirected to Greenore, Republic of Ireland and Spencer has to change his plans and take his equipment to the ship, instead of the ship coming to his yard in the IoW.
February 15 - Harry Spencer arrives at Greenore, Republic of Ireland. Mv Fredericia is already in Greenore.
February 25 - Around this date when the 'Cassius Clay Fight' was shown on TV, Harry Spencer ran into problems with the Dundalk Engineering Works whose employees were working on installing generators on the mv Fredericia. The company (DEW) refuse to allow their men to work on the ship because they had been told that it was to be a ferry for a new Greenore service, but they discover that it is to be a radio ship.
February 27 - Planet Productions Limited is registered as a sales company in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
March 13 - Approximate to this date, George Saunders arrives at Greenore with John Howard Gilman for a final interview by Alfred Nicholas Thomas. The mv Mi Amigo is already there, berthed next to the mv Fredericia. Saunders meets Thomas on board the Mi Amigo.
March 27 - Mv Fredericia departs Greenore. The ship arrived either on February 14, but more likely February 15, 1964. It was at Greenore for either 41 or 42 days, which is less time than the 44 days it was at Rotterdam. Radio Caroline begins test broadcasts from the mv Caroline (ex-Fredericia), anchored off the coastline of south-east England.
April 21 - Mv Mi Amigo leaves Greenore, Republic of Ireland, and has to dock at Falmouth, England for emergency repairs to its radio mast.
April 24 - Regarding Radio Caroline, the 'New Statesman', p.640 ['Radio Pirates'] recognizes that 1876 saw "a virtual reversal of .... Britain's anti-smuggling 'Hovering Acts'. The legacy of this reversal is still with us." This was the information that Ronan O'Rahilly took to Houston in June 1963.
May 5 - British Coast Guard Vessel Venturas asked the captain of the mv Caroline for permission to come aboard. Permission was refused.
May 12 - 'World in Action' is shown on ITA Granada Television. The film was shot at Greenore after the mv Fredericia has already left port. The reaction in Greenore to the film was negative due to its portrayal of the Caroline venture in comparing it to sea pirates who plundered and stole from vicims.
June 5 - Greenore Port Unlimited Company is registered in the Republic of Ireland, with company number 21631 at Greenore, Co. Louth, Republic of Ireland. Directors listed as shown (right):
June 7 - Prior to this date, Allan James Crawford met with Harold Colebourn of Radio Manx Ltd., on the Isle of Man. By this date, Bernard Rafferty had left the IoM. Rafferty was a local Irish politician whose jurisdiction included Greenore. He also had a relationship to the recently incorporated (June 5) Greenore Port Unlimited Company which owned land adjoining the territorial waters of the Irish Republic, but it did not 'own' a 'Port' at Greenore, per se. Operation of a Port at Greenore required authorization from on site Irish Customs who had control of any shipments into and out of the Irish Republic.
June 7 - Isle of Man TT Race is broadcast from a 'packaged radio station' made by PYE of Cambridge for Electronic Services Ltd., a company incorporated in the Isle of Man. Broadcasting only on VHF, it is located within a mobile caravan with the name 'Manx Radio' painted on the outside.
July 2 - Radio Atlanta ceases broadcasting and the next day (July 3) it begins broadcasting as Radio Caroline South.
July 3 - Radio Caroline changes name to Radio Caroline North and sails from a position off Essex to Ramsay Bay, Isle of Man.
July 8 - Isle of Man Broadcasting Company Ltd., is incorporated in the Isle of Man for two shareholders: Electronic Services Ltd., and Col. Richard Leveson Meyer. According to the Tynwald edition of Hansard, the ownership of IOMBC, Ltd was divided equally between ESL and Meyer who represented his own London based company called Meyer and Associates Its office is located very close to the London office of Radio Luxembourg. Meyer managed Captain Leonard Plugge's International Broadcasting Company (Radio Normandie) prior to WWII. He became a close associate of Charles Orr Stanley of PYE after WWII during the formation years when commercial television programming contractors were franchised by the UK Independent Broadcasting Authority as a rival to the British Broadcasting Corporation. Meyer became responsible for all broadcast programming on Manx Radio, and he placed his stepson John Grierson in charge of its daily management. Electronic Services Ltd., provides the 'packaged radio station' that was supplied by Pye of Cambridge in England for the IoM TT Race back on June 7.
October 15 - Tories lose the UK General Election and a hostile to commercial broadcasting Labour Party takes office under the leadership of Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
November 23 - Manx Radio owned by IOMBC Ltd., begins broadcasting on VHF only.
December ? - Exact date unknown at present - Radio Manx Ltd winds down and directors resign. The board of this company is headed by Harold Colebourn; Roy Thomson (Canadian) publisher; Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI; Tom Arnold, impresario. This company was denied a licence to broadcast by the GPO in London in May 1961.
December 2 - Greenore Plastic Company Limited is registered with company number 22102 with an address given as Greenore, Co. Louth, Republic of Ireland. No other details available. Company dissolved.
1965
1966
1967
August 14 - Marine Offences Act becomes UK law in the UK at midnight and it was subsequently extended to cover the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man from midnight on August 31. 1967.
1968
January 17 - Tynwald Court Proceedings - involving the shares owned by Electronic Services Ltd., in the IOMBC Ltd., due to the intention of Electronic Services Ltd selling its shares to Pye of Cambridge, England, which was in the process of being bought-out by the Dutch company Phillips. When Col. Richard Leveson Meyer also announced his intention to sell out to Pye, it presented a legal issue that needed resolution because Manx Radio had a licence from the Isle of Man, and the IoM had got its licencing authority from the UK General Post Office via a 1952 British Crown Order in Council. With the announced sale of shares, a chain of events could result in the ownership of the IoM company that held the licence for Manx Radio being answerable to a company located in the Netherlands. This could then present a problem of jurisdiction, if future legal proceedings were to be undertaken against Manx Radio regarding its IoM/UK licence. The IoM decided to buy the shares of both Electronic Services Ltd and Col. Richard Leveson Meyer to prevent that problem arising, while leaving the licence in place as granted to the Isle of Man Broadcasting Company Ltd.
March 3 - The mv Mi Amigo and mv Caroline are towed away by Wijsmuller. Because of the many false claims made about Radio Caroline after August 14, 1967, we will be uploading information relating to those claims on this page.
1959
Date to be added - Borkum Riff, a German lightship was anchored at the mouth of the Ems River, some 54 miles northwest of the city of Emden. It was built in 1911 as a 141-foot, 485-ton, red vessel. The main center mast was taller and topped by a black conical basket as a daytime marker and shone a red light at night. The fore and after rear masts were each topped by a black, spherical basket daymark and had white lights. Each light was by a group of three small Fresnel lenses with kerosene burners. In 1918, they were electrified and in 1925, the mainmast was replaced by a thin tube tower holding a revolving optic. The ship was in port during both world wars but returned to station once peace was restored. She was the Borkum Riff Lightship until 1956. The world’s first coast radio station was established on the first Borkum Riff Lightship, officially going into operation on May 15, 1900. In 1905, its call became FBR. Retired in 1959, the lightship was sold to VRON (Vrije Radio Omroep Netherland), the Verweij Brothers of Hilversum, in November of 1959 for 6900 DM expressly for a pirate radio station. The light tower was removed and a two-wire flat top antenna stretched between the masts some 66 feet high. The radio ship was anchored 3 miles offshore between Scheveningen and The Hague. Going on the air in April 1960, it broadcast to Holland from a 10-kw transmitter on 1562 kHz. Radio Veronica retired the old lightship in 1966 and got a newer vessel.
July 30 - Allan James Crawford and Michael Citroen (Crawford's accountant), place an advertisement in 'The Stage' newspaper, announcing their intention to apply to London County Council for a licence to start an employment agency within the entertainment industry, under the name of Merit Music Co Ltd of 10 Manette Street, London WI.
August 17 - Allan James Crawford left the employment of Peer-Southern in London.
1959
November 26 - Radio Yorkshire (Development) Ltd., is registered.
In Britain during 1959, Charles Orr Stanley of the Pye Group was about to launch a new political pressure group seeking to break the Crown stranglehold on radio broadcasting, because at that time, the focus was on television as the forum for pop music.
Stanley's plan was composed of both an overt and covert formula. His covert plan was surrounded in secrecy, but his overt plan was bathed in publicity. It did not begin in London, but in a town called Shipley in Yorkshire.
It was to Shipley that Stanley attracted the people behind Ross Radio Productions who made pre-recorded shows for Pye at studios in Hampstead where Simon Dee would later be sent for his first audition as a disc jockey on the embryonic 'Radio Caroline'.
In addition to Ross Radio, were people connected to Stanley's plans aiming for a commercial radio license on the Isle of Man.
In addition to these recruits was the man who formed the Local Radio Association, and his colleague who would later become head of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which replaced the ITA.
1960
April 2 - A 1963 investigation traced the origin of the name CBC (Plays) Ltd. back to a registration on this date in 1960, but although a company number was also located, no information has surfaced to indicate that the initials CBC were augmented by the word Plays. Nor is there any information presently to hand that reveals who registered this company.
July 5-8 - Radio Cambridge is operational on 250 meters at the Royal Agricultural Show. It broadcast via the electrical supply to a radius of about 20 feet in distance. A drawing of the station appeared in a two page layout within the book-sized catalog of the official exhibition. But when the exhibition opened, the actual station that was built reflected a 'packaged' Pye station, in contrast to the artist's rendition for the advertisement that was produced long in advance of the exhibition to meet the printer's deadline. One item not in the artist's drawing but which did appear on the actual building, was a designed logo with the letters 'CBC' next to the name of the station: 'Radio Cambridge'. This seems to be the first time that these initials have been used in the context of a local radio station promotion by Pye. It is possible that they represent the words 'Commercial Broadcasting Company', although the Pye Plan stressed local radio, and not necessarily commercial radio.
July 13 - mv Friendship chartered by Weatherwell Ltd..
1961
May 1 - THV Stella is launched at East Cowes to replace the THV Satellite. See reference to this vessel under '1962'.
1962
May 3 - More than 100 radio broadcasting companies registered in the UK wanting licenses to broadcast.
June 30 - Radio Nord closes down.
July 10 - Radio Mercur closes down from the Cheeta II.
July 23 - Mv Magda Maria, ex-Bon Jour goes to El Ferrol, Spain for inspection and repairs.
DATE TO BE CHECKED - THV Satellite. Allan James Crawford later obtained a ship's mortgage in his own name for the THV Satellite which was a steam ship (SS) that Crawford intended to use as the home for his Radio Atlanta. According to the redacted version of Jack Kotshack's book about Radio Nord (which was translated into English by Paul Harris), Crawford intended to rename the former THV Satellite as the SS Atlanta.
1963
'Early 1963' - Allan James Crawford says that this is when he first met Ronan O'Rahilly.
March 18 - After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Mi Amigo enters the Gulf of Mexico and docks at Pier 37 on Galveston Island, Texas. Charles William (Bill) Weaver who is General Manager of KILT in Houston, and National Manager of stations in the chain owned by Gordon McLendon, takes control of the ship. He pays off its crew and the ship is stripped of all broadcasting equipment which is taken to Houston and put into storage for use as 'spares' by other McLendon stations.
May 17 - Cross Channel Container Services Limited is registered as company number 20509 in the Republic of Ireland. In 2020. No other official details are readily available as to its address, or directors. This business now has a status listing of "dissolved" and having no directors at the time it closed. If this entity was formed in relation to the purchase by Wijsmuller of the mv Fredericia on December 30, 1963, then it may have been formed in anticipation of that purchase. However it could also mean that the ship was not purchased for the purpose of starting an offshore radio station, but to revive an export business by cargo ship to the United Kingdom via either a port on the island of Ireland in that region under the control of the UK and designated as Northern Ireland; or reviving shipments to a port on the island of Great Britain.
June - Ronan O'Rahilly sent by Allan James Crawford to Houston, Texas to see Bill Weaver regarding a lease of the Mv Mi Amigo based upon a new legal interpretation concerning the status of the so-called 'Hovering Acts'. O'Rahilly has to fly via New York since direct flights from London to Houston by scheduled airlines are not available. Upon arrival in Houston he stays at the Continental Hotel. KILT Chief Radio Engineer Glen Cook takes O'Rahilly to Galveston to see the mv Mi Amigo. While in Houston, Ronan O'Rahilly meets Captain De Jong Lanau, Superintendent of Wijsmuller Tugs.
July 31 - Project Atlanta Limited is registered in London with three initial directors.
August 14 - Mv Fredericia arrived at Copenhagen from Odense, Denmark, and laid up.
November 5 - Mv Mi Amigo is moved from Pier 37 to Todd Shipyards for repairs and painting prior to its lease or sale.
November 22 - President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed driving through Dallas, Texas in an open car, in the middle of the day which was dominated by clear blue sky.
November 24 - Lee Harvey Oswald shot in the Dallas Police Department garage in front of police and reporters on 'live' televsion. He had been accused of killing President Kennedy.
December 21 - The main generator and two refurbished Continental Electronics transmitters plus studio equipment, is trucked down from Houston to Galveston for re-installation on board mv Mi Amigo under the supervision of KILT transmitter supervisor Frank Maher. Some new equipment is also added because some of the original equipment had already been recycled to other McLendon stations. It is hastily loaded on board the ship because a local Galveston newspaper has taken an interest in this activity. The press coverage also attracts the attention of U.S. Customs.
December 29 - Mv Mi Amigo slips out of port at Galveston Island, Texas telling authorities that it is on "sea trials" and will return. In fact it is heading for the Bahama Islands, never to return to Texas. Its destination is Sun Cay island in the Bahamian archipelago. The ship docks at the small island owned by Clint Murchison, and picks up Prince Albrecht of Lichtenstein.
December 30 - Mv Fredericia is towed from Copenhagen, Denmark by Wijsmuller to a dock at Rotterdam, Holland.
1964
January 8 - DFDS who previously owned the Mv Fredericia, are told that it was bought as a ferry and that it will be renamed mv Iseult to service a new route between Republic of Ireland and the UK. However, the ship is still in Rotterdam, Holland and still under the control of Wijsmuller. This story about a new ferry service is a 'cover' for the real purpose behind purchase of the vessel.
January ? - Exact date unknown at this moment in time. The ownership of mv Fredericia is registered in Panama to a company called Astrenic SA. In fact, Wijsmuller have control management of both the mv Fredericia and the mv Mi Amigo which is still owned by a Panamanian company managed by Bill Weaver who works for Gordon McLendon.
January 30 - Prior to this date, exact date unknown at present, Harry Spencer attends a meeting at 47 Dean Street, London. It has been called by Allan James Crawford operating at Merit Music. In attendance are Alfred Nicholas Thomas; Captain De Jong Lanau, Superintendent of the 'Wijsmuller Towing Company' and Ronan O'Rahilly.
January 30 - On this date Allan James Crawford writing on Merit Music Co. Ltd stationary (relocated to 47 Dean Street from 10 Manette Street), writes to Harry Spencer at Cowes in the Isle of Wight and officially tells him to go ahead with rigging of the mv Mi Amigo. Crawford tells Spencer to follow the directions of Captain de Jong who has asked Crawford to write to him. Crawford says that Spencer will be paid by Rajah Anstalt, of Vaduz, Liechtenstein, after he next meets with Captain de Jong in England.
February 5 - Mv Mi Amigo arrives and docks at El Ferrol, Spain. Harry Spencer has been staying in a hotel waiting for its arrival. Captain De Jong Lanau is there with Harry Spencer when the ship arrives. Alfred Nicholas Thomas may also be there.
February 13 - Mv Fredericia departs from Rotterdam, and originally is scheduled to dock at the Isle of Wight for Harry Spencer to work on it. The original Allan James Crawford ship was THV Satellite, and Crawford had a ship's mortgage on the vessel while it was docked at the Isle of Wight. The mv Fredericia is redirected to Greenore, Republic of Ireland and Spencer has to change his plans and take his equipment to the ship, instead of the ship coming to his yard in the IoW.
February 15 - Harry Spencer arrives at Greenore, Republic of Ireland. Mv Fredericia is already in Greenore.
February 25 - Around this date when the 'Cassius Clay Fight' was shown on TV, Harry Spencer ran into problems with the Dundalk Engineering Works whose employees were working on installing generators on the mv Fredericia. The company (DEW) refuse to allow their men to work on the ship because they had been told that it was to be a ferry for a new Greenore service, but they discover that it is to be a radio ship.
February 27 - Planet Productions Limited is registered as a sales company in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
March 13 - Approximate to this date, George Saunders arrives at Greenore with John Howard Gilman for a final interview by Alfred Nicholas Thomas. The mv Mi Amigo is already there, berthed next to the mv Fredericia. Saunders meets Thomas on board the Mi Amigo.
March 27 - Mv Fredericia departs Greenore. The ship arrived either on February 14, but more likely February 15, 1964. It was at Greenore for either 41 or 42 days, which is less time than the 44 days it was at Rotterdam. Radio Caroline begins test broadcasts from the mv Caroline (ex-Fredericia), anchored off the coastline of south-east England.
April 21 - Mv Mi Amigo leaves Greenore, Republic of Ireland, and has to dock at Falmouth, England for emergency repairs to its radio mast.
April 24 - Regarding Radio Caroline, the 'New Statesman', p.640 ['Radio Pirates'] recognizes that 1876 saw "a virtual reversal of .... Britain's anti-smuggling 'Hovering Acts'. The legacy of this reversal is still with us." This was the information that Ronan O'Rahilly took to Houston in June 1963.
May 5 - British Coast Guard Vessel Venturas asked the captain of the mv Caroline for permission to come aboard. Permission was refused.
May 12 - 'World in Action' is shown on ITA Granada Television. The film was shot at Greenore after the mv Fredericia has already left port. The reaction in Greenore to the film was negative due to its portrayal of the Caroline venture in comparing it to sea pirates who plundered and stole from vicims.
June 5 - Greenore Port Unlimited Company is registered in the Republic of Ireland, with company number 21631 at Greenore, Co. Louth, Republic of Ireland. Directors listed as shown (right):
June 7 - Prior to this date, Allan James Crawford met with Harold Colebourn of Radio Manx Ltd., on the Isle of Man. By this date, Bernard Rafferty had left the IoM. Rafferty was a local Irish politician whose jurisdiction included Greenore. He also had a relationship to the recently incorporated (June 5) Greenore Port Unlimited Company which owned land adjoining the territorial waters of the Irish Republic, but it did not 'own' a 'Port' at Greenore, per se. Operation of a Port at Greenore required authorization from on site Irish Customs who had control of any shipments into and out of the Irish Republic.
June 7 - Isle of Man TT Race is broadcast from a 'packaged radio station' made by PYE of Cambridge for Electronic Services Ltd., a company incorporated in the Isle of Man. Broadcasting only on VHF, it is located within a mobile caravan with the name 'Manx Radio' painted on the outside.
July 2 - Radio Atlanta ceases broadcasting and the next day (July 3) it begins broadcasting as Radio Caroline South.
July 3 - Radio Caroline changes name to Radio Caroline North and sails from a position off Essex to Ramsay Bay, Isle of Man.
July 8 - Isle of Man Broadcasting Company Ltd., is incorporated in the Isle of Man for two shareholders: Electronic Services Ltd., and Col. Richard Leveson Meyer. According to the Tynwald edition of Hansard, the ownership of IOMBC, Ltd was divided equally between ESL and Meyer who represented his own London based company called Meyer and Associates Its office is located very close to the London office of Radio Luxembourg. Meyer managed Captain Leonard Plugge's International Broadcasting Company (Radio Normandie) prior to WWII. He became a close associate of Charles Orr Stanley of PYE after WWII during the formation years when commercial television programming contractors were franchised by the UK Independent Broadcasting Authority as a rival to the British Broadcasting Corporation. Meyer became responsible for all broadcast programming on Manx Radio, and he placed his stepson John Grierson in charge of its daily management. Electronic Services Ltd., provides the 'packaged radio station' that was supplied by Pye of Cambridge in England for the IoM TT Race back on June 7.
October 15 - Tories lose the UK General Election and a hostile to commercial broadcasting Labour Party takes office under the leadership of Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
November 23 - Manx Radio owned by IOMBC Ltd., begins broadcasting on VHF only.
December ? - Exact date unknown at present - Radio Manx Ltd winds down and directors resign. The board of this company is headed by Harold Colebourn; Roy Thomson (Canadian) publisher; Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI; Tom Arnold, impresario. This company was denied a licence to broadcast by the GPO in London in May 1961.
December 2 - Greenore Plastic Company Limited is registered with company number 22102 with an address given as Greenore, Co. Louth, Republic of Ireland. No other details available. Company dissolved.
1965
1966
1967
August 14 - Marine Offences Act becomes UK law in the UK at midnight and it was subsequently extended to cover the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man from midnight on August 31. 1967.
1968
January 17 - Tynwald Court Proceedings - involving the shares owned by Electronic Services Ltd., in the IOMBC Ltd., due to the intention of Electronic Services Ltd selling its shares to Pye of Cambridge, England, which was in the process of being bought-out by the Dutch company Phillips. When Col. Richard Leveson Meyer also announced his intention to sell out to Pye, it presented a legal issue that needed resolution because Manx Radio had a licence from the Isle of Man, and the IoM had got its licencing authority from the UK General Post Office via a 1952 British Crown Order in Council. With the announced sale of shares, a chain of events could result in the ownership of the IoM company that held the licence for Manx Radio being answerable to a company located in the Netherlands. This could then present a problem of jurisdiction, if future legal proceedings were to be undertaken against Manx Radio regarding its IoM/UK licence. The IoM decided to buy the shares of both Electronic Services Ltd and Col. Richard Leveson Meyer to prevent that problem arising, while leaving the licence in place as granted to the Isle of Man Broadcasting Company Ltd.
March 3 - The mv Mi Amigo and mv Caroline are towed away by Wijsmuller. Because of the many false claims made about Radio Caroline after August 14, 1967, we will be uploading information relating to those claims on this page.
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