The Bitter End

The Bitter End is the personal website of Steve Monks to record some of the important events from my past and to share some of the things that interest me. This website was founded in 1995 and like many personal websites is constantly being developed. I recently found a load of pictures from model boat builds that I hadn't uploaded before, these are being added to the model boat section.

Bitter End ((nautical): the inboard end of a line or cable especially the end that is wound around a bitt)

I was born and raised in York. At 16 I left home and went to sea as an indentured cadet with British India Steam Navigation Co. (BI). Though BI was amalgamated into P&O in 1972 the ethos of BI lived on for many years afterwards. This can be seen in the posts of the many members of the BI ship group on Groups.io website, and now on Facebook.
Information, picture galleries and details of My Voyages on the ships I served on for 22 years can be found on My MN Ships page and information about BI can be seen on The BI Pages.

I spent 9 years on ships trading between Japan and the Arabian Gulf and became fasinated, while in Japan, with the Art of the Edo Period of which Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849) produced some of the most iconic images. The series 36 Views of Mount Fuji are probably some of the best known and loved pictures ever created.
Utagawa Horoshige (1797 - 1858) was another famous artist of this period whose series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo and The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido are equally well known and greatly respected.

After leaving the Merchant Navy I joined HM Coastguard. I served as a Watch Officer in the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Bangor, N.I., as a Sector Manager at Tobermory, Isle of Mull, as a Technical Rescue Trainer at the MCA Training Centre at Highcliffe, Dorset and then in various roles at MCA HQ in Southampton, laterly as Head of Coastal Resources and Technical Rescue Trainer, until I retired in March 2016.
HM Coastguard which, like any organisation, is continually evolving began the rollout of changes for the Future Coastguard project in 2012, this is split into 2 parts, Coastal (dealing with Coastal Safety Operations) and Maritime (dealing with Civil Maritime SAR cordination).

{Recent changes to Google Maps API in v3 has changed the functions and calls in Javascript so my map pages no longer work, I would have to recode all the map data to get them to work - hence the error message on the pages with Google Maps. I managed to get the CGOC page to work but only by re-writing all the code.]

Since retiring I have been keeping myself busy with a number of hobbies and interests. Computing - keeping our home network and devices working, Gardening, Cooking, admin for my wifes very popular website Hare in the Moon and a return to model boat building after a stalled attempt at HMS Bounty, whose rigging proved to be too small and fiddly for me. I will post details of my build of the Mobile Marine Models tug Ayton Cross as that progresses. I am also a volunteer crew on the Basingstoke Canal trip boat John Pinkerton II, during the summer months.

Created: 21st December 1995 - - - - Last Updated: 19th May 2021