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Thread: London Greeks?

  1. #11
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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    Hi Claire,
    I sailed with 4th Eng Kenny Bradshaw in the 1970s. If memory serves it was on London Statesman. We had a great trip but ended up being mined in Nha Trang, S. Vietnam by VietCong saboteurs. With some help from a salvage company we refloated the ship and were towed down to Singapore for repairs. All a long time ago but I remember Kenny as cheerful and good fun. I was 3rd Mate at that time. London and Overseas were great to sail with. Good pay and conditions and Lots Of Fun (LOF).

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  3. #12
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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    I do not think anyone can deny the Greeks are excellent ship owners and I cannot say this is varied by their location in UK. The Greeks I have experience of were all Greek manned and invariably the top four would have family ties with the owner back in Chios. The Chief Engineers were never out of their boiler boiler suit and 'off hire' was something the Master would never tolerate. They always impressed me.

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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    #11... Re. LOF. Do you recollect the new buildings they had in Italy. Although this may have been a bit earlier than the 70s. A. Master I mentioned earlier was based shoreside during their construction. He must have been well paid as managed to send both his daughters to a Swiss finishing school. He finished up with John I Jacobs back at sea. JIJ were about the best British Company I ever sailed with. I even had my mortgage through them at 2 percent when the going rate was 8. When they went to the wall they gave me 12 months to remortgage elsewhere.within the past 5 years received a small amount of money from some insurance company they had most of their people in for a non contributory pension scheme , others just ignored their responsibilitys and got nowt. Cheers JWS

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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    #9. Ref my own post re Kenny Bradshaw and the name. Sounding familiar. To his daughter did your Dad wear his hair long and tied at the back. And did he work offshore at any time.? JWS

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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    I do not think anyone can deny the Greeks are excellent ship owners and I cannot say this is varied by their location in UK. The Greeks I have experience of were all Greek manned and invariably the top four would have family ties with the owner back in Chios. The Chief Engineers were never out of their boiler boiler suit and 'off hire' was something the Master would never tolerate. They always impressed me. Jim Dixon

    Hi Jim
    I have been on two London Greek ships, and both times the most diabolical ships I have ever sailed on.

    THIS IS ONE VOYAGE OF ONE...............
    NICHOLAS K.
    I joined the Nicholas K in Liverpool at the end of 1954, she had completed discharging grain from Argentina and had loaded fertilizer in bags for Cochin, India.
    She was a Fort built in 1943 and was now owned by Kiriakides of Athens.
    She was manky, the accommodation was rough, four seamen to a cabin next the steering flat. the other two had three seamen in. Across the alleyway were nine Somali firemen. On deck were two mess rooms one for Deck and one for the Firemen.
    We sailed outward bound for Suez and then called in at Aden for bunkers. The cabins were stinking hot and mostly we slept on deck on top of the poop. The food was diabolical, after three days at sea we were on our `pound and pint`, our `whack`
    6 ounces of fresh offal per man per day per haps.
    6 ounces of brackish water per man per day perhaps.
    Or so it seemed. We got one small can of `Connie Onnie` condensed milk, every ten days. If you left your tin in the mess room all hands would use it, you had to keep your own stores locked up in your locker. Then we would have to stick a few match sticks in the holes to keep out the cockroaches.
    The only fresh meat meat we got were the cockroaches. Did you know, pound for pound there is more protein in a cockie than in a beef steak.
    So the Steward said we were well fed.
    The ship was full of big rats, yellow coloured ones,, from the previous cargo of grain, These would get everywhere including the accommodation, it was diabolical. The Chippy would put rat traps out on deck every night and they were always full in the morning and he then emptied them over the side into the sea.
    The fresh water was rationed, on the side of the house on the poop was a pump and we had to push this back and forth to pump up water from the after peak to a tank on top of the poop housing. There was a pad lock on the pump and the mate had the key, he would unlock it for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. Then no more water until the following day.
    When we got to Cochin the Steward had ordered fresh meat to be delivered.
    So one day a little Indian fellow came to the gangway with 12 goats, "Where`s the fresh meat"?.... "This is very fresh meat Sahib".
    So we got them up the gangway and the Chippy had to build a pen from the dunnage for them on the afterdeck as they galloped all over the decks and up the alleyways. It was just as well they were on the hoof, we had no fridges on this ship. We got them a load of straw to eat while they awaited their fate.
    When the Cook wanted meat he took one out, it was struggling and bleating, must have known what was going to happen. Then killed it by beating it over the head with a hammer and then cut its throat and hung it up off an awning spar, draining the blood into a cut down oil drum. The Galley boy would then gut it and skin it. Chop it up and a handful of curry powder and we were eating like champions.
    We sailed then light ship to Port Lincoln in the Spencer Gulf in Australia for a cargo of wheat. The ship had a contract for two years to take wheat to Calcutta and then load iron ore in Vizaghapatam, down the coast from Calcutta, for the Steel works in Whyalla, again in the Spencer Gulf. We were going demented over that, two years, we were innocent men, what had we done to deserve a sentence like that.
    We arrived in Port Lincoln and anchored on a Friday morning. They would take us along side on Monday.
    That afternoon, the Captain told us to lower a boat , he, the Mate and the Chief Engineer were to go to the Agents Office. We rowed them ashore to the pier, they were each carrying a small bag.
    Don`t wait for us, the Captain said, we will get a boat from ashore to bring us back.
    We took the boat back to the ship and hoisted it back inboard.
    A nice peaceful weekend at anchor, no work to do, lovely.
    On Monday a tug came out to us with a Pilot. Where was the Captain, Mate and Engineer?. The Second Mate was running around like a scalded cat. No sign of them, in the end he decided to take it alongside. When we berthed the Agent came on board and said he had never seen the three of them. They had obviously skinned out and disappeared.
    It must have been a bad ship when the Captain, Mate and Chief Engineer jump ship.
    We loaded the grain in bags and when we had completed and battened down the Second Mate and Agent had been on to the owners about the loss of these men. The Second Mate had a Masters Certificate, so he went as Master, the Agent found a Mate who had jumped ship in Adelaide and was awaiting deportation so he was brought up to Lincoln by the Immigration man and put on board.
    We sailed then for Calcutta, what a stinking hole that was, we were moored to buoys in the Hoogly and discharging into barges. The decks were full of screaming Indian dockers, spitting red beatle juice all over our decks that were covered in spilt grain. All the accommodation was battened down, because they would have been in it, using the bathrooms, and in the cabins. It was stinking hot and a mess.
    The worse part of being in Calcutta is up River they push their dead into the river and then the corpses float down and get fouled of the anchor cable or rudder, these would be bloated and stinking, with the `Shytalks` sat on them pecking away.
    Then one day we got the good news. Load a cargo of manganese ore in Vizaghapatnam and take it to Birkenhead. Fanbloodytastic.
    We were singing all the way home.
    We walked down the gangway in Birkenhead, six abreast, whistling, we were so thin.
    I paid off, thankful that we didn`t have to do the two years, when I got home Mother could hardly recognise me, I had lost so much weight. There was more fat on a cold chip.
    .
    Looking back I would not have missed it as it was quite an experience and that is what life is about.
    Cheers
    Brian
    Last edited by Captain Kong; 9th September 2017 at 01:01 PM.

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  11. #16
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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    Hi Jim
    I have been on two London Greek ships, and both times the most diabolical ships I have ever sailed on.


    We walked down the gangway in Birkenhead, six abreast, whistling, we were so thin.

    Brian[/QUOTE]

    Thanks Brian, that I like. An expression I first hear many years ago in Tatems

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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Dixon View Post
    I do not think anyone can deny the Greeks are excellent ship owners and I cannot say this is varied by their location in UK. The Greeks I have experience of were all Greek manned and invariably the top four would have family ties with the owner back in Chios. The Chief Engineers were never out of their boiler boiler suit and 'off hire' was something the Master would never tolerate. They always impressed me.
    Gosh! Sorry to disillusion you.
    May i just give a few excerpts,from the previously, mentioned, well researched Book ,Mayday
    Chapter 5 ,is headed. Beware of Greeks offering Cruises

    Goes on then to ,in particular ,relates to one Company,the Eporirtki,lost Three ships ,in three years. The Jupiter. Pegasus and Oceanus.

    Describes ,also some of the Scams used. Captain Dimitrio Georguis,(recently granted a C.Officers licence,from the Republic of Panama.) assumes Command.of the Ship ,Salem.
    Loads 193,000 tons Oiil, at Kuwait.for ITALY.Wheeling and dealing,takes place, eventually discharges173,000,of it at DURBAN.
    Back at sea,that is replaced by Sea Water. Whilst going up the W African coast ,off Senegal .The ship, now renamed Leina,suffers an explosion ,leaves a large oily Wake emanating from it.The British Trident, picks up the Crew. The Owners,having paid $100 thou.for coverage,of $18 million attempted to claim only 10 millions. THis puzzled the Insurance Co. Scotland Yard,were alerted. Scam discovered. Bimitrio was a "Bit of a Boy" (my words) .Don't know whyit's mentioned.Though whilst in Durban ,He sent the Ch.Electrician,back to Greece, whilst being Shacked Up ,n a Hotel, With the unfortunates Wife.
    Would You buy A second Hand car from That Guy?
    Last edited by Evan Lewis; 11th September 2017 at 06:42 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Evan Lewis View Post
    Gosh! Sorry to disillusion you.
    ?
    Not disillusioned at all! Read that book some time ago and would say it told me nothing I did not already know. You get rogue owners in all nationalities. London is no stranger to colourful characters in shipping. I base my post on having interface with the Greeks whilst working for Hull underwriters/ P & I etc.

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    Hi Claire, I remember Kenny quite well.
    This picture was taken on the deck of London Statesman in 1972. I believe that is Kenny in the middle. Statesman was nearly sunk by the Vietcong whilst we were unloading rice at Nha Trang. I was 3rd Mate when i sailed with Kenny and remember him well. Always lively and lots of fun. Hope the pic downloads ok.
    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 23rd September 2020 at 10:42 PM.

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    Default Re: London Greeks?

    Hi,Oh my gosh that is him!!!! I cant believe it!! Wow!!Thank you so much, i will show him later and will get back in touch, im sure he would love to share some stories.Thank you once again, you have made my day xx

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