Andrew’s book shines a light on life and laughter in the shipyards
Banter, pranks and a life of great friendship – it’s all in a book based on one man’s shipyard memories.
Andrew Coates loved his time in the yards and has used the experience to create a book called The Shipyard: Live life and laugh!
It is based on real-life stories and he was the perfect man to do it after starting his working days as an apprentice marine plumber at Wear Dockyard in Hendon in 1997.
He said: “The people there were absolutely hilarious.
"Every day (no exaggeration) my throat would ache with laughing so much.
“There were so many crazy characters, some of which I believe should have been stand-up comedians.
“There was always practical jokes going on and great banter between the lads which I tried to capture in the book.”
Andrew added: “Wear Dockyard was bought out in 1998 by Cammell Laird, as well as a yard in Hebburn.
“All the apprentices were moved there including myself.
"I spent the rest of my apprenticeship at Hebburn and can honestly say I loved every minute of it.
“We had so many laughs and it was just a very happy time for lots of happy tradesmen doing what they do best.”
Andrew and others were laid off in 2001 when the company he worked for went into receivership.
“Since then the shipyards in the North East have never really recovered and a lot of workers were forced to work away from home to find work,” he said.
“I went on to work in Barrow in Furnace, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Norway, Saudi Arabia.
"I had some great times working away, but I always miss Sunderland and my family.”
Andrew’s book on the shipyards is described as a comedy based on down to earth characters who had been thrown together in the Sunderland shipyards.
He is currently working on a follow-up.
He has also written a thriller trilogy which is called Don’t Believe The Truth and which is also based on a central character from Sunderland
Both The Shipyard: Live life and laugh! and the Don’t Believe The Truth books are available on Amazon.