Radio Caroline 1970s History 3

Radio Caroline 1970’s - History (3)

On 30th Decem Dutch police on board Mi Amigo December 1972 ber 1972, Radio Caroline's transmissions again closed unexpectedly at 3.00am. The Mi Amigo's master, Captain van der Kamp, had gone ashore, but returned shortly after the station had left the air, cut the anchor chain and towed the radio ship to Ijmuiden. On arrival the Dutch Shipping Inspectorate declared the Mi Amigo to be unseaworthy and issued instructions that she could only leave port after major repair work had been carried out.

In a separate action the Captain and crew had been granted, an injunction to impound the Mi Amigo until they had received their outstanding pay. In response to this Court Order Ronan O'Rahilly announced that he had sacked the entire crew of the ship and was arranging for all repairs required by the Shipping Inspectorate to be carried out as a matter of urgency.

1973

The repairs were completed by New Years Day 1973 and the Mi Amigo was towed towards the North Sea. However, the Shipping Inspectorate at IJmuiden stopped the Mi Amigo, ordering a leak in the engine room to be repaired before the vessel could be allowed to travel any further. With the Mi Amigo temporarily detained once again the former Captain and crew were granted a further Court Order and Captain van der Kamp boarded and re-claimed possession of the Mi Amigo.

Ronan O'Rahilly managed to raise money and, after several hours of negotiations, the outstanding pay was handed over to Captain van der Kamp and his crew. With the Shipping Inspectorate officials off duty because of the New Year holiday superficial repairs to the Mi Amigo were hurriedly completed and she was towed back out to sea before any more official action could be taken to detain her. Transmissions from Radio Caroline started once again on 2nd January 1973 on 253m.

Radio Caroline settled into a regular 24 hour format during early January 1973 and the station's signal quality gradually improved. Dutch language programmes were broadcast from 6.00am-6.00pm, with an English language service in the evenings and overnight.

However, at the end of the month the station started to experience a number of technical breakdowns and there were further problems with the Mi Amigo's generators during February and March 1973. They failed altogether on 26th March, forcing Radio Caroline transmissions to be discontinued. Lack of finance to replace vital parts meant that the station was likely to be off the air for some time.

Adverse weather conditions caused much worse problems for the three radio ships off the Dutch coast on 2nd April 1973. A gale had been blowing all day which steadily increased in intensity until it reached hurricane force, turning out to be the worst storm in living memory.

The Mi Amigo lost her main anchor during the storm, but the crew were able to lower the spare anchor which stopped the vessel drifting too far. She then remained largely unaffected by the severe weather, although at this time Radio Caroline itself was already off the air.

During the same storm Radio Veronica’s ship, Norderney, had run aground, putting the station off the air. Ronan O'Rahilly, realising the plight of Radio Veronica saw an opportunity to generate some much needed income and offered Veronica’s directors the use of the Mi Amigo's studio and transmitter facilities as a temporary base for the stranded Dutch station.

After several unsuccessful attempts had been made to refloat the Norderney and Radio Veronica had been off the air for over five days the directors decided they would accept the offer for the temporary use of the Mi Amigo.

A hectic 48 hours aboard the Mi Amigo saw the generators repaired, studio equipment overhauled and a new temporary aerial erected, all at Radio Veronica's expense. By 9.00am on 11th April 1973 test transmissions were able to commence with regular Radio Veronica programmes from the Mi Amigo starting at 12 noon the same day. Transmitter power was less than 10Kw but, given the temporary nature of the aerial which had so hurriedly been erected, a satisfactory signal was achieved enabling Radio Veronica programmes to be heard over a large part of the Netherlands.

Regular Radio Veronica programmes re-commenced from the now refloated Norderney on 18th April 1973 and the Mi Amigo continued to relay Radio Veronica programmes until 20th April 1973, when the temporary arrangement between the two rival stations ended. Although the relay was not strictly necessary Radio Caroline planned to start its own programmes again after over a week of capturing Radio Veronica's audience with their radios tuned to 253m. Unfortunately, at the vital moment equipment on board the Mi Amigo failed once again and the station Mi Amigo June 1973 was forced to close.

Using the money received from Radio Veronica in the form of airtime hire fees, Radio Caroline was able to purchase a completely new aerial mast and during the early part of May 1973 engineers and DJs on the Mi Amigo erected most of a new 165' lattice mast. They also constructed a second studio, refurbished another transmitter and installed a second aerial.