Reunited with Ruda's Bell

The good ship Ruda's bell returned!

Here’s a rather nice story… 

It’s dinner time. Dad rings on a ship’s bell to summon the kids to the dinner table, as had become his custom since collecting the bell as a souvenir of a war not long over. Many years later one of those kids, now retired and having time for such things, muses upon the name engraved into the brass of the bell which had played such an important role in his early life. Had the boat from which it came been destroyed in the war, or had she simply rotted away in some quiet backwater?

He types in the name “Ruda”, and is astonished to discover that she is not only alive, but very well indeed and cruising in far-off Finland. He straight away resolves to reunite the bell with the boat, and thus her crew learned something of Ruda’s early war history thanks to Leading Engine Man Jimmy Green’s autograph book, and the recollections of his son.

Jimmy Green bound for New York on the S.S. Orbita

The bell has been carefully looked after by the Greens, and the blacked, engraved letters which spell the ship’s name still look well against the polished brass.

When spring finally chased the snow from Ruda’s winter quarters in Finland, bell and boat were reunited, and she rejoiced in a sound not heard on board for seventy years.

Profound thanks are due both to Jimmy Green for his foresight in removing Ruda’s bell for safekeeping, and to his son for generously returning it to her (thanks also to the keepers of the registers at National Historic Ships UK for enabling this story by putting us in contact). More about Jimmy’s, and Ruda’s, time together can be found on the ‘Ruda at war’ page.