Seamen's Missions

[Jim Brady]

The Mission I most remember is the one in B.A. I reckon most seaman went there for the cheap beer before heading upto the bars as inthe case that Captain Kong mentioned where it was quite a bit more expensive.
Go to the Mission top up on cheap beer and it made it a bit cheaper on the pocket.The place was not unlike the Cavern (Liverpool) down below with arch's, a dance floor in the middle and two Catholic Priest's serving the beer.Half way through the priest used to give a little talk and say a prayer and I can tell you he got the best of respect,he always finished up with "And the girls walk home alone".The hostess's were not supposed to get involved with the seaman (as in every mission)My mate and I did cop off with a couple of the girls they were from Patagonia,they had Welsh accents and could indeed speak Welsh.We did take them up to the (I'l try this)Venti Cinco De Marcho a bit of an up market place The Copper Kettle I'm sure a few of you went in there although I have not seen it mentioned.Somebody mentioned a fighting priest,I heard from many older guys than me that there was a Cannon Brady (no relation) he had a boxing ring in that mission and there was nothing more that he enjoyed was getting in the ring with the hard cases off the ships and doing battle.I think that was about the only mission that I frequented the others were just to post my mail and pick up a few Readers Digest.I was married at this time and I went to the mission in Durban if my memory serves me right it was quite a big place,very smart and a big dance floor.I think it was before the time that the Flying Angel served beer.From what i understand it was a good place for copping off and you could go home with the girls,there were coaches outside and the girls and seaman were getting aboard.
Being a newly married man I walked back to the ship.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

Hi.John
I don't know if it still exists but there was a Flying Angel at Station Pier, Melbourne. By the way that they have gentrified that area I would doubt if it still exists. In the 50's there was a gay padre there and as you can imagine all the queens from the ships would congregate there. The place was a hoot, it was like going to a variety show just to hear the banter between them. I doubt if this is the kind of stuff that Patricia is looking for, but thought it was worth a mention.

[Roger Dyer]

Hi Pete (Bruno)
Are you referring to the Flying Angel at Port Melbourne rather than Melbourne itself. In those days ships used to berth in both places. The railway station at Port Melbourne was about three or four stops away from 'Cloey's Bar' (Young and Jackson's) in the city. If we are speaking of the same Flying Angel, it was a two or three minute walk to the entrance of the pier at Port Melbourne. The pier poked out into Port Phillip Bay. As I recall the good reverend was batting for the other side, which seemed a rarity for a man of the cloth in those days. As far as I can recall he was always friendly and helpful to the lads (and 'lassies'.). At the time, Port Melbourne could berth about 4 medium size ships or less if one of the ''migrant' ships were alongside. I can remember that there used to be a little milk bar/shop at the end of the jetty. I was last there in 2000 andl the Flying Angel was no more, and as you rightly said other development had taken place., including a fishshop owned by the T.V. Fishing personality, Rex Hunt. Not much help, Patricia, but perhaps it does support Pete's suggestion that there existed men of the cloth who, overtly, were of other 'persuasions' even in those far distant days.
.......regards, Roger.

[Duke Drennan]

Pete,
You're the first one I've heard mention about the padre in Melbourne that was fruit. I was in there one night and late on in the night, he tried to get a couple of us back to his place. Anyway, after that, we had a few nights laughing about it. That was in early '67,

[Jim Brady]

Hi Duke,it's a long time since I heard the word "Fruit".Anyway you most probably remember the American Bar on Lime Street.I was in there one day this Yank came in and said "What's these goddam things you call Pims"The barmaid said you can have Pims number !,2,3 or 4 they all have different spirit bases.He opted for the gin based one,having ordered it he said give that guy at the end of the bar one.When he got his drink it came with all the fruit around it,he drank it,enjoyed it .He said I'l have another one of those but this time leave the fruit out,a female voice came from the end of the bar"I did't ask for one in the first place"
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Duke Drennan]

I was on Salvesen's tramp, the Salvada, on that particular trip. We left the harbour in Melbourne and anchored offshore waiting on orders and a day or two later, a launch comes alongside us to drop off a DBS. Well, she was one of the "girls", her name was Cathy. Well, I'll tell you, for the next couple of months, she threw parties that you can only imagine, it was hilarious watching her antics. I told the story before about the day we were painting the officers dining room and Cathy comes in to prepare the cups and tea for the bridge. One of the guys sat in the Old Man's chair, paint brush in hand and tells Cathy, "I'll have the main course, steward." Cathy replied, "It's not the main course you need son, it's intercourse you need, a good f-----g would put some sense into you." Well, the rest of us went into convulsions of laughter. It was my only experience of sailing with a queen aboard but it was worth it just for the laughs she gave us.

[Neil Morton]

HI fellas, the mission that stood out side the dock gates by the piers at Port Melb. is long gone the area is very "up market"; however one of the old pubs which we knew as the London Family Hotel remains in its original state and has dropped the "family" and is now The London. We attempted to have our MN Day reunion there last year, bit of a flop really.Hoping for better roll up come Sept 3rd.
The City Mission just off Spencer St soldiers on all be it almost buried beneath a motorway flyover. Happy Days John pulls his weight down there I believe.

[Lou Barron]

hi patricia i see that you live in the wirral i use yo live in rockferry went to sea in the late 1940 being a young guy my shipmate and i use to go to the seamens missions a lot in the different ports we called at wether it was the flying angel or any other one they sure looked after us i sailed from birkenhead in june 1942 on a ship called the gloucester castle there where a lot of the guys who came from the wirral but some of them did not come back in 1945 but thats another story but i all ways found that the missions was a big help for us seamen they had a lot of god people working for them lou barron

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes sadly the old mission in Melboune near station pier is long gone as is the B.P. refinery that stood there for many years. Port Melbourne is now 'yuppy' heaven but still a great spot to visit.
The other mission in the Flinders Street extention is still going strong. There has been an effort of late by some developers to get hold of the land but thankfully the building is now heritage listed and cannot be touched. It still does a great business with jazz nights, exhibitions and other functions. Each year the City of melbourne council holds an open Sunday when places of heritage and interest are open to the public. Last year the mission was one of the busiest of all the venues. I happened to drive past there about mid-day and there would have been about two hundred waiting to get in.
The 'gay' padre was there back in 64 when I first visited. The only real change over the years is that it now has a bar. There is a regular bus run when the ships are in to bring crew back to the mission so they can use the net or buy phone cards.
It also has proudly displayed two flags provided by Mike and Vernon and a few pennants provided by P.J.

[Patricia Hosie]

Hello again Ivan,

I am astonished at the stories that my request has generated and have enjoyed reading each and every one of the posts and private messages.

What comes across most strongly is that you all appear to have had a wonderful sense of camaraderie and loved your life at sea whatever the hardships which appear to have been numerous.

All the posts have interesting and useful features that I can use in my work but I would like to hear a few more accounts of when the Missions were not so successful as I'm trying to link together three areas that have much academic work carried out on each but not actually combined and they are seaman's missions, prostitution and philanthropy. I want to do an analyses on how they impacted upon each other.

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to discussion and to say, "keep the stories coming". You have such a wealth of information that shouldn't be lost.

Kind regards and thanks,

Patricia