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Article: Better Times

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    Better Times

    28 Comments by John T Morgan Published on 26th September 2018 01:34 PM
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    It was September 1951 when I left Esso Tankers and in October joined the “City of Hereford” as a Quartermaster/Able Seaman. Her main trade was the UK to and from various ports in India. General cargo outwards and raw material homeward. She was an old ship, built in 1927 and basic in the navigation department, no gyro compass, no automatic steering and 1951 was long before the days when radar was fitted to Merchant ships. She was a coal burner with a steam ‘up and down’ engine but nevertheless capable of twelve knots. She was owned by the Ellerman group which had a massive fleet of ships trading mainly to India, and of course they all carried Indian crews, with British Officers, Engineers and Quartermasters. The “City of Hereford” was no exception.

    The Captain was the epitome of an English gentleman and was nearing retirement, as was his ship, he was frail but always very pleasant, even under the discomfort of the heat of Bombay where he wore his white tropical uniform as though it was a personal air conditioner, he also reeked of Germolene. His demeanor was the same even when muffled up and on the bridge during the stress and cold of transiting the English Channel in thick fog.

    There were two cadets, both about my age, who had the same ambition as me but had the advantage of a far better education and were products of excellent pre-sea training schools such as the “Conway”. We had a mutual respect, but it was at arms length, after all, they were better educated and were expected to become officers, while I was ‘clawing my way up the hawsepipe’. Oh, how we British loved and protected our class distinctions!

    There were six QMs, two to a watch, and our duties were steering and other general duties around the Bridge. Quartermasters were generally older ABs who could no longer face the rigours of general ship work, at my age of eighteen I was considerably younger and so was know as ‘the young QM’ a title which I retained until I passed my Second Mate’s Certificate two years later. We had our own cabin and a mess room which was quite spacious with plenty of table surfaces for me to use while studying. We also had the services of Indian stewards. The Indian crew did all the other ship work under the directions of the Chief officer and second engineer who were ably abetted by the senior Indian, a fearsome looking character called the ‘Sarang’.

    This was my first experience of Indian crews and I was impressed by their numbers, at least twice as many as a European crew, but after a while I learned that there were reasons for this. There were very many unemployed in India and the authorities wanted to see as many employed as possible, and their pay was far less. The Indian cast system controlled what job a man could do, for instance a low cast man could only do menial jobs such as sweeping decks and cleaning toilets, woe betide him if he handled a rope. There was strict segregation between Indian crew and the Europeans, mainly due to religion. Our crew had to have their own eating and cooking facilities, as did the Europeans; so, there were two galleys. This made for a lot of crew but all in all it worked very well. Communication with the crew was expected to be in Hindustani although some could speak good English, this led to my purchase of another book called ‘The Malim Sahib’s Hindustani’.

    The cooks were good and could prepare excellent European food as well as the inevitable variety of Indian curries, I hadn’t tasted curry before and at first was not impressed but soon acquired a taste for it. A taste which I still have.

    Taking bunkers (coal) in India was an interesting sight. A rickety set of steps made from bamboo and planks lashed together with rope yarn was constructed leading up the side of the ship from dockside to the deck. A group of women known as ’Coal Bibbis’ with baskets of coal on their heads formed a single file, carried the full baskets up to the deck, dumped the coal and then climbed down for a refill. A sort of continuous human conveyor belt. A similar system was used to transport the coal from deck to bunker hold, all in all a dusty, hot and arduous system which required a great deal of sweeping and washing down afterwards.

    The ‘City of Hereford’ being a coal burner required a great amount of coal shoveled into the furnaces beneath the boilers, this was accomplished by stokers who had to remove he resultant ashes, so, at the end of each watch, every four hours, the ashes were transported to the deck and dumped overboard. This was accomplished using a bucket and lift system up a chute which passed by the QM’s accommodation. The system was hand manipulated, so the yelling up and down of the chute together with the rattle and bang of the bucket caused a great deal of noise. Unfortunate for us but the only times when the serenity of our noiseless cabin was disturbed.

    When navigating in fog regulations required the sounding of a prolonged blast on the ship’s whistle every two minutes, this to warn other ships of our closeness and visa versa; the ship’s speed through the water was measured by a log which consisted of a rotor attached to a line which was towed through the sea and which in turn was attached to a clock which indicated the speed. Our log clock was attached to the wing of the bridge where we QMs kept a lookout. It was a source of amusement to me to see the ship’s speed reduce from, say seven knots to five after each blast and then to slowly return to seven. I realised that the use of steam to sound the whistle took pressure of the engine, and so we sort of hiccupped our way through the water.

    I spent five months on the “City of Hereford” and then transferred to the Bibby line, again Indian crew, where I spent the rest of my time as a QM.

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  3. #11
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    Default Re: Better Times

    The only thing I question is if Mr Morgan was an AB at the age of 18 he must have started at sea when he was 15 or lower,
    One had to have three years sea service to be raised to AB status. and surely to be qualified to be a QM should require a few years as AB/.
    Bill , No.9

    At 16 I was a Deck Boy, then Ordinary Seaman, At the age of 18 took the EDH Exam and then 4 years as EDH got the AB Certificate.

    I was a Quarter Master , QM. at the age of 20 On Cunard's `GEORGIC`the last of the White Star Liners in 1955.I was an EDH,
    On a Coaster Joined as O.S, made up to AB, then Cook Steward then Coal Burning Fireman
    Brian
    Last edited by Captain Kong; 3rd October 2018 at 07:26 PM.

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    #10 Rob I took one job through the Miss Silver of Liverpool in 1969. Unfortuanetley it didn’t work out as expected. After stipulating the wages I wanted and the 12 months maximum away, she got back to me and was complaining about all the overseas phone costs I was costing her for phone calls she negotiated with various people. My answer was well how much do you get for supplying bodies. She said I. Get the equivilant of 3 months of your wages. I believe this to be true. The Chinese crews I sailed with came through Hong Kong and according to them their first 3 months wage went to the crewing agency, unfortuanetley they had to pay this themselves , the Chinese always wanted 2 years on a ship, if they got they reckoned they could then go back to the mainland and live for a year ashore. In 1969 on Hong Kong articles as mate I was getting 32 pounds a day, the same as I was getting in 1988 in the North Sea. I was also getting more leave in 1969 as think it was 2 months after a year.. in the un recognised stand by vessels it was grab here or there or you could at your own expense. In 1969 the crews on Hong Kong articles were on 27 pounds a month. And at the end of 1969 philipinos were brought in as think they were cheaper at 26 pounds a month. Then people turn round and say seamen weren’t abused I went and worked for a Malaysian company in 1999 and the pay scales were negotiable but they were always linked to your nationality . The Cheng. I had was Russian the second engineer on another ship was Polish and getting a thousand dollars a month more than the chief. The payment was always in US dollars. The crew were always paid in local currency. And as said before even on a Russian ship I was well aware of what they earned and they were the lowest paid I have ever seen , so living conditions in their own lands must have been cheap. With Indian crews my experience with secunnys or QMs as they are called , was they were always older men , and thought that maybe they were past most physical exertion that would be expected from them on deck. The respect they got from the kalassis I would of put down as respect to an older person. The Indian crews i sailed with was prior to 1969.JS.....
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 4th October 2018 at 08:05 AM.

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    Default Re: Better Times

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Seward View Post
    The only thing I question is if Mr Morgan was an AB at the age of 18 he must have started at sea when he was 15 or lower,
    One had to have three years sea service to be raised to AB status. and surely to be qualified to be a QM should require a few years as AB/.
    My discharge book shows the following
    I sailed on my first trip on my 16th birthday 16/2/49
    Under qualifications it reads:
    Certified EDH 9 March 1951
    17 March 1952 Eligible under MSA 1906 for AB rating
    I signed on the “City of Hereford”
    12/10/51 QM/EDH
    9/11/51 QM/AB
    I trust this answers your query,
    John T Morgan

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    Default Re: Better Times

    Hi brings back memories some good some not quite so,was a QM on the City of Chester

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    Default Re: Better Times

    We had the very same in Brocklebanks

    So great seamen they were .
    Ron the batcave


    On S S Mahseer our engineer steward disappeared while we were docked in Glasgow .
    We were asked if we would take the Topaz in his place .
    He was the best one I every had.
    One year later I met him again and he was now the Captains Steward.
    He treated me like a god when I met him on the M V Mahout
    never thought that we brought his family and generations up a good few castes.
    Last edited by Ron B Manderson; 5th April 2020 at 09:11 PM.

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    Another discharge similar to EDH/ QM was AB/ Handyman , which was in place of a carpenter. When it was first initiated it meant 10/- month for an AB. There was also a discharge Bosun / 2 Mate. Which I took advantage of at least once in The offshore industry.. However the minimum manning on any British deep sea ship prior to Automatic helmsmen was. 9 ABs this was to cover the steering of the ship and the 3 watches. The QMs on Indian ships were usually past physical work as such. They also did all the gangway watches in port. Indian crew in the catering department were usually Goanese as Goa was predominanently Christian. JS

    On Australian ships when I left them didn’t officially carry ABs , I still referred to them as such, but their title was IRS ... integrated ratings., in British ships they were called GPs....General Purpose. Or in Australian ships as new to the industry PIRs ..... Provisional IRs and were on 50 % of an IRS wage.
    JS.

    The manning scales were adjusted to facilitate the reduced manning after the seamans strike off 66/67. The first move being to reduce 3 on a watch to 2 if you had automatic steering and a bell or a phone to the messroom. After that it was complete decimation of crews as we knew them. One seaman on a watch soon followed and today and for some time before retirement the only watchkeeper was the Mate on watch.
    As regards the E.R. On some ships the chief is totally dependent on an alarm system as the E.R closed its doors at 1700 hours. This is your modern shipping of today, makes you feel like putting a bigger amperage fuse in the main fuse box. Cheers JWS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 6th April 2020 at 08:54 AM.

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    Default Re: Better Times

    When i was first at sea , late 1957, we had the usual 3 man watches, and at that time at sea, after midday Saturday it was stand down time, except for the helmsman , so mostly bronzee, dhobi etc. At some time shortly afterwards it was decreed that weekends were classed as overtime, no idea when that was, so thereafter of course we turned to on normal duties, painting , soggy etc, kt
    R689823

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    Keith coming out of Port Talbot we were the 2 ship out, and even then it was 2 men on a watch. It was all set up , and what the seamen made made they lost on the roundabouts. It was essential overtime only those were the orders from above. JS

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    Default Re: Better Times

    When did Sundays at sea come into being?

    We got them on UCL and they were added to our shore leave, ten days between voyages unless you were called for stand by duties in Southampton.
    Though the ten days were not paid leave, just a break between voyages.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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    Believe they were there when I first went to sea, but as apprentices didn’t get any official leave. Had to have a full minimum of 8 hours at sea on the day claimed. If FWE was rung at 0755 you didn’t get. Think the official leave was about 3 weeks similar to a shore worker.. For every day’s leave you also got a day’s subsistence. A few bob a day.. Going back to after the seamans strike in the 60s the working day was brought up to 9 hours , as an hour a day for domestic and sanitary duties was brought in. Then it shot to 10 hours a day why ? I’ve forgotten. Today most ships are a 12 hour day with no overtime payments. The salary’s are all consolidated to someone’s idea of what the job is worth. In the North sea agreements you were expected to last out for 18 hours before a break. What ever happened to loss of sleep may one well ask. JWS

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