By registering with our site you will have full instant access to:
268,000 posts on every subject imaginable contributed by 1000's of members worldwide.
25000 photos and videos mainly relating to the British Merchant Navy.
Members experienced in research to help you find out about friends and relatives who served.
The camaraderie of 1000's of ex Merchant Seamen who use the site for recreation & nostalgia.
Here we are all equal whether ex Deck Boy or Commodore of the Fleet.
A wealth of experience and expertise from all departments spanning 70+ years.
It is simple to register and membership is absolutely free.
N.B. If you are going to be requesting help from one of the forums with finding historical details of a relative
please include as much information as possible to help members assist you. We certainly need full names,
date and place of birth / death where possible plus any other details you have such as discharge book numbers etc.
Please post all questions onto the appropriate forum
-
5th July 2015, 07:25 AM
#21
Re: Beer Issues
Brian, you and I once discussed this (on the telephone, I think), but seeing it on the written page brings home the stark, very sad, reality of what alcohol can do to us if we allow it. The thought that this lad had once been the hapless victim of a piece of human garbage masquerading as a pillar of trust and respectability sickens me. Such things can come back to haunt in later life and sometimes booze and /or drugs is the only escape (albeit temporary) from the awful, nagging, memory of what has gone before. In this instance there may have been other factors that combined to bring about the destruction of a promising and prosperous life. Sadly, as is so often the case, the impact of all this also shatters the lives of family and loved ones...those who care. Although cold and impersonal, 'colateral damage' probably best describes it. A tragic story, mate.
Roger
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 08:01 AM
#22
Re: Beer Issues
Not to make too big an issue of this subject,as some know of my dark past I was fortunate to be able to let go of the Alcohol quite a few Years ago now, one great help was of course the fact that I had a Heart Attack and was told by my Doctor if I wanted to survive I would have to give it up!
Another was of course I could see how it had started to affect my loved ones,this really brought home the awful things I had done in my life!
Not proud at all I can assure you,but with the help of sheer determination and the blessing of the dear Lord,i managed to quit instantly after the Op!
No one least of all my Family could believe this!
But here I am some 16 Years later and still on the Ginger Beer !
I still though have to watch myself ,and at times I would like to have just one with a friend,but I know in my Heart that if I take just one,that will be the end of it all again!
A sad story indeed Capt and I feel so sorry for the Family!
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 5th July 2015 at 08:03 AM.
Senior Site Moderator-Member and Friend of this Website
R697530
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 08:20 AM
#23
Re: Beer Issues
Thank you gentlemen for those comments.
The effects of alcohol really do have tragic consequences and mostly on the innocent.
He was so bad . his Partner told me, that when on the Rigs he was drinking a mouth wash called Listerine as it contained alcohol, he was drinking hand cleanser as that contained alcohol.
So his partner broke off the business relationship and that meant he had no job, no money coming in.
A man who had it all, Big money from the business, a lovely home and family , now he is just a homeless bum on the street.
We tried always to get him back but the Vodka won every time. Two or three bottles a day,
Rehab a complete waste of time and money, at £2,000 a week it was impossible to keep up and they come out just as bad or even worse.
Indeed Vernon, just one and you are back to where you were,
Another relative, Step Daughters cousin, she turned alcoholic, she lost her family, After her brother spent £15,000 on a few rehabs, she was dry for ten years, then she met a man who took he out to dinner and said to her, `If you haven't had a drink for ten years you are cured now, She had a glass of wine with dinner, and she was away again.
The man left her and she went worse, lost her job and was always on the floor, surrounded by bottles, when ever the family visited. She has been in hospital a few times with warnings of imminent death.
She has now been dry again for the last three years.
There is No escape,
When I think of all the times I was drunk when a young Seaman , I think I am lucky to survive.
Cheers
Brian.
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 08:27 AM
#24
Re: Beer Issues
Capt
What I went through is too involved and long to record here,but believe me it was at times Hell on Earth,i have been to the gutters (To Hell and Back) mate and have done some lousy things!
That in itself would not tempt me in any way to ever (with the grace of God) aain touch the stuff!
Again I feel so very sorry for anyone who is on that path to destruction!
Cheers
Senior Site Moderator-Member and Friend of this Website
R697530
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 10:31 AM
#25
Re: Beer Issues
In Heaven there is no beer, that is why we drink it here:
There are many good reasons for drinking,
One has just entered my head,
If a man doesn't drink when he's living,
How the hell can he drink when he's dead?
The only thing a man should worry about is his health and then..
if he's in good health, there's nothing to worry about; but if he's not in
good health, he worries whether he is going to live or die..
if he's going to live, he has nothing to worry about; but if he is going to
die, he worries about whether he's going to heaven or hell..
and if he going to heaven, he has nothing to worry about; and, if he's going
to hell , he'll be too busy shaking hands with all his friends to have any
time to worry !
So stop worrying !
Ode to Beer:
Of all my favorite things to do,
The utmost is to have a brew.
My love grows for my foamy friend,
with each thirst-quenching elbow bend.
Beer's so frosty, smooth, and cold
It's paradise Pure liquid gold
Yes beer means many things to me
that's all for now cus I gotta Pee.
DISCARDED LOVE:
He grabbed me by my slender neck
I could not yell nor scream.
He dragged me to a darkened room
Where he could not be seen.
He tore away my flimsy wrap
And looked upon my form.
I was so cold and damp while he was hot and warm
His feverish lips, he pressed to mine
I gave him every drop.
He drained me of myself I could not make him stop
He made me what I am today
That’s why you’ll find me here
A broken bottle thrown away
That once was full of beer.
– Fred Kent
K.
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 02:45 PM
#26
Re: Beer Issues
I have just remembered, ...
My granddad was killed by alcohol,
He worked at the ship yard, Vickers, in Barrow in Furness, and lived on Walney Island across on a ferry, a bridge there now. He always called in at the Ferry Inn, still there, for a pint on the way home.
In the pub, he won the Calcutta Sweep, a lottery, £500, a fortune in 1914.
The Landlord refused to pay and said he could have it over the bar with drinks.
Two weeks later he was Dead, aged 36, leaving a widow and four very young daughters , one my mother.
No benefits in those days, Nothing, So the landlord said he would pay for the Funeral out of the winnings.
He gave two Irishmen a few bottles of grog to dig the grave in the church yard.
When they turned up with the coffin they had to put it down and get the two Irish men out of the grave, clear the bottles out and then bury Granddad. The Landlord then went back to the Ferry Inn, went upstairs to his bedroom , lay on the bed and cut his throat in remorse.
So the drink killed two people.
Grandma had to work in the Shipyard at Vickers to feed the kids.
At the age of twelve grandma sent my mother on the train , 90 miles south to Bolton to stay with Aunt Cissie and start work in the cotton mills sending the wages back to grandma on Walney Island.
It was in the Mill where she met my Dad and here I am.
So if Granddad had never won the lottery he would not have got drunk and died, mother would have grown up on the Island and married a local lad and there would have been another family there and I would not exist.
So Thank you Granddad, they say Life is a lottery, it sure is.
Brian.
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 05:32 PM
#27
Re: Beer Issues
Hi shipmates, beer issue yes on some ships? we saved them up for the weekend for a {sing song} made our own fun in them days, I remember a small Irish seaman we called him {patsy Fagin} Dont know his real name, after a few cans was to sing all the Irish folksongs, he was a class act? I remember a couple of shipmates played the mouth organ. string guitar and a wash board, one played the bones, we had great fun on the weekend only No T.V films on a white sheet by No 4 hold black/white No colour, books ? a few westerns on most ships but that was a few years ago? we had a swimming pool between hatches canvas on wooden planks for crossing the line.
-
Post Thanks / Like
N/A thanked for this post
-
5th July 2015, 05:45 PM
#28
Re: Beer Issues
Most ships i was on it was 6 cans per day, usually dutch beer, but remember these were half pint tins. Couple of ships i was on had a free rum ration once a week, but for the life of me i cannot recall which ship, KT
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 06:51 PM
#29
Re: Beer Issues
I guess some of you sailed on some posh ships, six cans a day. most I was on were Dry Ships, if lucky two cans at the weekend. on some ships, or hardships, we were lucky to get food, pound and pint.
Brian.
-
Post Thanks / Like
-
5th July 2015, 09:36 PM
#30
Re: Beer Issues
Originally Posted by
Keith Tindell
Most ships i was on it was 6 cans per day, usually dutch beer, but remember these were half pint tins. Couple of ships i was on had a free rum ration once a week, but for the life of me i cannot recall which ship, KT
Wish I'd been in that Merchant Navy
-
Post Thanks / Like
Similar Threads
-
By Doc Vernon in forum Requests for Help
Replies: 19
Last Post: 4th December 2013, 06:04 AM
-
By Neville Roberts in forum Poetry & Ballads
Replies: 2
Last Post: 31st May 2012, 11:07 PM
-
By Gulliver in forum Merchant Navy General Postings
Replies: 9
Last Post: 8th July 2010, 07:49 PM
Tags for this Thread
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules