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Re: Better Times
,John #20 don't remember 0755 as the criteria for a S a S , all I can remember was when entering FWE into the movement book at 1205 it was then altered to 1155 by the Master to avoid paying a Sunday at Sea which saved the Company quite a considerable amount of money, especially on the passenger ships. On the coast we used to flog it the other way, if arriving at 1155 it was flogged to 1205. 0755 may have been the criteria for half a S a S.
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Re: Better Times
As an apprentice (65 -70) we got 4 days leave per month (not even your weekends back). We were supposed to have 1 day per week study time, that was never adhered to, we worked the same hours as the watchkeeper.
Coming out of my time in April 70, I went onto 9 days a month, which was roughly about your weekends back.
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Re: Better Times
#21.. your probably right Ivan it may have been 12 hours at sea to claim a days leave. As I didn’t get didn’t take too much notice, I do remember however one master crossing the date line tried to Lose the Sunday caused a lot of aggro on board. My statement should have read FWE 1155. I was always on A Agreement on British ships after finishing my time, purely to get the 12 weeks certificate leave.except for 2 Mate where only got the 30/- a week dole for 12 weeks. Even then the company wanted me to claim dole for mate and master and they would make the wage up. I told them to get stuffed , the Agreement was they paid the cert. leave and not the dole. I may have been completely brainwashed as onetime was extra mate for cargo duties on a ship discharging round the coast. I was doing most of the nights on board to let others off. If you remember you got 1 pound a night for such. The company said that did not apply to a port relief officer , I was not a port relief officer, the definition of such was someone who did not go to sea, I did. Being the good company brainwashed servant I refunded the money. The mnaou did their nut and wanted to make an example of such. With age comes experience comes wiseness, today I would have their guts for garters. Cheers JS.
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Re: Better Times
Paying off in Southampton with UCL we did get a cheap ticket for the rail journey, think it may have been able as return if you meant to come back for the next voyage.
Overtime was not something all crew got, very little for wingers or BR's but as officers steward with 'Chuckles Charnley' as Chief officer we got four hours a day at sea, had to be there to service any officer that required it.
But it had its perks as well, if we had to go to the bar for them, always the first class lounge bar, we would often get a small half pint rom Ron the head barman.
Wages today on cruise ships varies between companies, some do get overtime but it is based on hours per month not days.
Mainly wingers that get it when they are over their allocated hours for the month, sometimes easy to do with some guests, they are then paid at an agreed rate.
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Re: Better Times
As i have posted somewhere else John although Wingers with UCL did not get too much OT, myself and my late Brother were lucky with one Ship especially as the Second was a good mate of ours and gave us a lot of OT doing the odd jobs that were going. So we could not complain at all. But generally on all the UCL Ships that i served on,it seemed that there was always OT if one wanted it,as i recall there were many Wingers who were not interested so just gave those who were a better chance. Besides that in the Period i wa with them, the Tips from the Bloods were good too,always paid of with quite a few Envelopes filled with good Notes!
We as i recall never got any special Train discounts , but had to pay your full fare to wherever you were going. The very first Trip i wont forget is that a Guy i met on Board offered me Lodgings at his Mums House in Putney near Putney Bridge, so when going ashore for the Duration we hopped in a Black Cab (my first ride in one ) all the way to Putney. Cant remember the cost but it was a few Quid,however with my Pocket well filled with Cash who cared!
Ah! yes those were the days!
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Re: Better Times
If you were a member of the BSF John they issued the rail warrants. In the old days of a general pay off on the ship with the shipping masters etc. present there was always someone there to issue you with a warrant back to your port of engagement. If further travel was necessary they used to relax the rules and give you one all the way to your nearest at home station. Today is different as no BSF and all is done on ship by yours truly or Untruly as the case may be. JS
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Re: Better Times
I used to get Free Rail passes when in the RAF now that i do remember!
No matter where in the UK you wanted to travel to on your Leave it was all free there and back to Camp! More Happy Days!
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Re: Better Times
You got free travel also if employed by a company using the BSF for manning their ships .However you only got this if completed the run of the Articles. If you were on a 6 monthly running agreement and handed your notice in before the expiry of the agreement then You were not entitled to. However if you were sacked then you were entitled to. I had 3 trouble makers put on board to cause dissent which at he time was just before the official seamans strike. They hoped to be fired to claim the travel voucher. Not to be made a fool of I asked them back as was the usual procedure on every return to the UK. They were very distraught about this and the 3 of them went away to think about it. Came back and said it was better they left ,and could I loan them the money for their train fares . I said you must be joking. They tried to cause dissent right through the ship without success. Think they belonged to some break away union at the time. They were the only 3 to go. JS
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Re: Better Times
Hi did you ever work on the dover your name rings a bell regards len friend ex ab british rail