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Thread: federal cowboy

  1. #1
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    Default federal cowboy

    did a run job on the piako in july67,also worked by on the paparoa in liverpool before signing on the middlesex 25/08/67to 22/12/67 had a great trip as peggy, sailed under a french charter maritime marine, went around the med then headed out for madagaster it was a great place to explore plus mauritious/ french reunion then into the bay of biscay/bordeaux/nantes and back homefalmouth 22/12/67 some of the crew i can remember2nd stw rocky/tony and shaun pantry boys /mick galley boy/chief cook krueschoff/jack holt and alex watson ab,s snowy the greaser/davie the lamp trimmer/bill smith the bosun ? and charlie whale chief mateif there,s anybody out ther say hi

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    Default another federal cowboy

    Hi Paul, I was on the Middlesex at the same time as you were on that French charter, but to my shame I dont remember you. I was one of the two Paddy ABs who shared a cabin in the starboard alleyway. Yes I can remember Jack and Alex the two ABs who were Manchester Liner men, and the white Russian cook and the mate Charlie Whale who had been on Canadian icebreakers. Do you remember the snooty French supernumery? And also a first trip catering boy who got malaria? Some of us missed the last boat back to the ship in Mauritius, and "borrowed" a little white rowboat to get back aboard.This was easily spotted by the harbour police who caught us just as we reached the bottom of the accomadation ladder, however the officer of the watch smoothed things over, and we got away scot free.The homeward cargo was a full load of brown sugar in bulk which was poured inthe ship in a few hours in La Renunion, the wharf rats there took no notice of us as we were going ashore. The arrival in Falmouth was the only occasion I saw where we had to finish the tie up with the insurance wire, what a wrestling match, the bitts were too small for a wire that size.Arrived home Christmas Eve with a good payoff. Happy Daze!!

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    Default federal cowboy

    hi willie i think i can remember you,what sticks in my mind is that you had a large radio in your cabin ,i think it was called an eddison?i was the deckboy on that trip the other deckboy was rather quiet and didnt drink ithink he was from lowestoft and saving up for a fishing boat.jack holt and alex use to call me the cheekiest peggy in the navy i allways use to argue with them and come out of it worse off/head dipped in gash bucket or tied to the mast and hosed down especially when i use to forget to put tea in the water at smoko,i once chucked corn flakes over alex,s head after he had been winding me up which was a bad idea,that got me several dunks in the gash bucket.I can remember missing the liberty boat and try to borrow a speed boat but we couldnt get it started so i more than likely went on the rowing boat with you,i was to drunk to get up the gangway and the galley boy (mick) put me over is shoulder to get me up,we had been to some sort of dance and mick sean and my selfstarted throwing fire crackers on to the dance floorwhich upset the locals so we had to make a quick exit and all piled into one taxi.the rats you you talked about were huge i can remember one chasing the galley boy after he tryed to hit it with a piece of 2x2 never laughed so much.We borrowed the skippers jolly boat once and when we came along side there was the biggest one we had seen and we had to stay on the boat till cleared off,can you remember the ab with the beard we called him fungus face he was a right poser, me mick and sean chucked a bucket of water over him from the deck above when he was coming of watch i dont think he liked it because he gave each one of us a good hiding while we were a sleep in our bunks i dont think that was fair do you it was a good laugh though.that sugar you were on about went solid in the hold i think and they had to get diggers in to break it up.i hope some of this jogs your memory or makes you laugh,i could tell you plenty more ,but we will leave that for later bye for now hope youll keep in touch willie

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    Default another federal cowboy

    Hi Paul your memory is spot on, the radio was an Eddystone. I remember the dance hall, and the reason none of us found romance there was because all the women were horrors! And yes, we all piled into a Morris Minor, we were not prepared to leave anyone behind, for as you said we had annoyed the locals who were a dodgy looking bunch.Another use the firecrackers were put to was for calling the watch, a loud bang and a cabin full of smoke, that soon got them out! I remember the AB with the tash, and his cabin mate maybe an OS, they used to drink wine and listen to classical music, and became known as the culture vultures. Oh, and that was me you were in the dingy with, we put the sails up and tried to sail but without much success, as we didnt know how to sail! Do you remember a few of the lads lining up on No 4 hatch and mooning a commie Chinese ship at anchor as we were entering the port in Mauritius? As for that stuffing your head in the gash bucket,- that would be classed as bullying in the workplace today, and you would be in line for a big dollop of compensation!Rgds, Willie.

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    Talking federal cowboy

    hi willie hope your fine,glad i can rememberyou its funny i rememberd the radio, it was probaly the way you use to earth it with acertain part of your body when you lost the signal(haha)better not say anymore on that.the lad who got malaria was tony one of the pantry boys,i cant remember the chinese ship,i might have been washing up in the messroom doing my peggy duties.do you remember the officers stw i think is name was willie he was scottish i think, they played a trick on sean the pantry boythey hung willie up in the dry stores down below to make it look like he had hung himself then sent sean down for some stores,poor kid he came back upat top speed and unable to talk until the 2nd stw calmed him down he was never the same again(haha). things you do at sea when bored.speak to you again willie bye for now

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    Default Re: another federal cowboy

    Hello Willie, I was on that trip that the Middlesex went to Mauritius. I was Second Cook/Baker, the Chief Cook was a Ukrainian called Josef Schuprinka ( or something like that) who was nicknamed 'Kremlin Kate'. He hated it. The galley-boy was Brummy Mick.
    I went into the drink in Hamburg to pull Jimmy Rigley ( a/stwd) out. It was the middle of Winter and the water was freezing. Pretty stupid really because Jimmy could swim and I couldn't. I was carried off in Dunkerque with double pneumonia. I was put in the paupers hospital there where the conditions were horrific. I was discharged from there at 04.00 one morning, just dumped outside the gate with my suitcase and into ankle-deep snow. All good fun. I was 3 months recovering from that and re-joined the Middlesex when she got back from your fun-trip.
    The French supernumerary was a Captain in Messageries Maritime and apparently he came on board with a large stock of French wines for his own consumption, a fact that the stewards and cooks were very quick to take advantage of.
    Part of the cargo was French beer for the Legion Etrangere in Madagascar and that was well appreciated by all who attended the opening of the crew bar, including the officers, engineers and that bloody French captain, who kept saying how surprised he was that we served French beer on an English ship. I think our Captain was Mackay that trip and he lied like a trooper to cover our arses. Oh yes, do you remember the mural that Danny the A.B. painted on the walls of the bar ? Pirates burying treasure on a tropical island.
    As I said, I missed that trip and re-joined in Falmouth for what was to be the last trip of the Middlesex. A sad day and if anybody remembers the day we left her, it was a horror of a day too, in the blazing heat of Calcutta. That's another story; in fact that last trip holds a lot of stories and really great memories.
    I still think of it as the best trip, with the best crew and officers and especially the Captain ( Willie Dan) , that I ever had the good fortune to experience. Every seaman should have a trip like that at least once in his career.

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    Default Re: federal cowboy

    Willie Waterson was the engineers stwd. Jimmy Rigley was officers stwd. Sean was a really nice guy but one of those kids than stands still and trouble comes looing for him. The following trip we were in Las Palmas for bunkers and everybody was ashore with the crew of the Essex, that was tied up behind us. Sean had a skinfull and decided to go back to the ship, couldn't get into his cabin because his key wouldn't fit, so he climbed in through the porthole and went to sleep on the deck.The Essex sailed in the early hours but around 07.00, there was a radio message asking if we were short one pantry boy. Sure enough, Sean had done it again. The Essex put back and unloaded Sean with dire threats from her Captain and Willie Dan laughing his head off with the rest of us. Apparently Sean had managed to turn to but when he didn't recognise any of the blokes in the galley or pantry, the penny began, ever so slowly, to drop.

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    Default Re: another federal cowboy

    My mistake. I woke up in the middle of the night with the chief cooks correct name. He was PIOTR ( not josef) Schuprinka and he once served in the Wehrmacht during WW2. Bit of interesting but totally useless information !!

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