Pat Quinn sent in this comment: "The whaler crew. If anyone is remotely interested ("Of course we are interested!" Ed.), then the crew reads as follows:

Cox (back to camera), John Pirtle
Stroke - Patrick Quin
No. 2 - Alan Chamberlain
No. 3 - David O'Dell
No. 4 - David Campbell Wright
No. 5 - Barry Clark
There was another regular crew member and I think it was John Baxter, although he is not in this particular shot. The photo was taken just as Barry had cast off from the jetty, hence his oar is not in the water yet.
We used to have enormous fun with the whaler. One of the funniest moments was when we tied up to one of the channel navigation buoys with the intention of taking a dip on the 'shallow' side. It was very low tide and we all got out of the boat and stood in about three feet of water. Stan Goetzee decided to step out on the other side and disappeared from sight in about thirty feet of water. He had stepped straight into the navigation channel! "

David Wright added some minor corrections and this comment in Feb. 2012: "What I do not understand is why we are all in Sea Cadet uniform - it might have been an Inspection Day??? I know this because I was No 4 (I call myself David Wright these days) and I well remember Mr Goetzee doing his deep six on the edge of the channel - as I recall it he suffered a serious loss of humour because we thought it was extremely funny."

Graham Forster writes: "Does anyone else remember pulling the whaler? I was not a sailor but a sea cadet and in Stretch's whaler crew spent many happy hand blistering afternoons pulling the beast up and down the Orwell. I remember one freezing day trudging back to school after a session on the river and were asked if we had been sailing. One poor unfortunate became the subject of Stretch's wrath by saying: 'We have been rowing the whaler.' He glared at the lad: 'You pull a whaler, lad; you do not ROW it.'"