Seamen's Missions

[Lou Barron]

hi patricia what kind of stories would you like regards regards lou bbarron

[Peter Trodden]

'Morning All,
I was in Casablanca March 1992, on a Cable-Layer.We were waiting for the end of Ramadan so we could start the shore side work before Laying sub-sea cable to Madeira. The first day there a few of us went ashore for a look around,and the place was like a ghost town,everywhere closed 'till sundown. One of the lads said lets try the Mission. When we arrived at the Mish,it was open and very busy.We changed some money and ordered a few Beers and I said to the Padre that business looks good,yes he replied and not a Merchant Seaman amongst them all. He explained that they were all Wagon/Lorry drivers and had arrived the night before on the Cadiz ferry.They would have a few beers,then sleep in their cabs over night but return to the Mish in the morning for a shower and breakfast,buy a few things from the shop and wait for the return ferry to Cadiz.These drivers were German,French and Dutch and were regulars as it was an all year round Fruit and Veg,trade. The Padre said it was like this every day,and without this business the Mission would have had to close years ago. Over the years I've often wondered how long did the Mission survive.
ttfn. Peter.

[Patricia Hosie]

Thank you so much for this story as this aspect of the use of the Seamen's Missions has not come up prior to your post.

Patricia

[Patricia Hosie]

Hello Charles,

Any stories at all concerning shore leave particularly if it includes visits to disreputable areas where a sailor may be accosted. If the story is a little risque then a personal e-mail is an option. I have no intention of using names in my dissertation (or rather I will use an alias) as I'm only interested in attempting to ascertain how successful the seamen's missions were in their efforts to maintain a moral code among the sailors. It is not in any respect a judgmental piece of work but a fact finding quest. I want to ascertain how much of the Victorian attitude including the double standard influenced behaviours in the 20th century.

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

Hi.Roger
just realized that I had not responded to your #34. Yes it was the Port Melbourne mission that I was referring to. Looking through google maps things have certainly gone up market round there. I remember the milk bar and the two pubs over the road and a guy who sold hot meat pies which we reckoned were 'roo meat.
Cheers, Pete

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

Hello Patricia,
you have certainly stirred up a lot of old seafarers with this forum, you must have plenty of info. now for your dissertation and I hope it does well. One lady who has not been mentioned anywhere is Agnes Weston. But then she was more of a 'Grey Funnel Line' (RN) icon and operated in RN ports like Portsmouth and Plymouth. I think she might be worth a mention in your work, because her agenda was very much like that of The Flying Angel, but she operated alone. a very brave lady.
Good luck
Pete

[happy daze john in oz]

Hi.Roger
just realized that I had not responded to your #34. Yes it was the Port Melbourne mission that I was referring to. Looking through google maps things have certainly gone up market round there. I remember the milk bar and the two pubs over the road and a guy who sold hot meat pies which we reckoned were 'roo meat.
Cheers, Pete

Up market! So much so the mission now sticks out like dogs b**s, but it still operates and does a great trade. The cahpel is used every Sunday morning for service with a travelling padre calling now as it no longer has a permanent one. There has been an attempt of late by a property developer to buy it, pull it down and turn the land over to high rise accomodation. Thankfully however it is now heritage listed so cannot be pulled down. The pie stall is long gone as are the pubs, very little there from the 60's.now.

[Lou Barron]

hi patriciaas a very young seaman my first foreign port was capetown this was early in 1941 and we was told to keep away from number six district as it was a brothel area and very dangerous and a non drinker in them days we used the seamens missions a lot and also in durban and we did the same in fact the one in durban was very good it was there they organised boxing matches between the crews off different ships i got selected for one i end up on the deck and they use to have dances but in them days i had two left feet that is a couple of missions i have been in out of the several of other ones i have been in

[Gordon Turnbull]

Patricia, another viewpoint. Going back to when I first went to sea in '72, as a few have said, the Missions were used as a stopping off point to phone home and for a few cheap beers before heading for less salubrious surroundings. With regard to your question, in my opinion, they certainly had some success, dependant upon where they were sited. Being a tanker man most of my days we tended to be a long way from cities on most occasions, so the Mish it was. However, ones in city centres would not have the same attraction. Their drawback to me was also the beer they sold. In Sydney a few years ago I headed for the mission and thought I would stay there for the duration instead of heading over to the Rocks or anywhere else (this was post Mont'y for you old dogs :-) ) I had about a dozen cans of beer before I realised I was drinking low alcohol stuff. Booger that, I says, and heads off for some decent stuff. Nowadays, which is where I am coming from, with the crews being more filipinos etc I seem to see most of them going to the mission and staying there, not heading out on the town at all. I also feel the communications we have nowadays makes us more in touch with home than we did a few years ago.

Favourite missions? Always had a lot of fun at Tilbury for some reason. Singapore, up Spotiswood Park Road was good, Dubai was an oasis in the olden days, Darien in China probably the biggest I have ever seen. None of them kept me away from the "bad" areas. Being married for 32 years now, dallying with the nightlife does not interest me, however I do like the company of young(ish) females and the banter that goes with it so you would still find me in the bars of Lagos when I can.

Anecdotes of runs ashore are best not repeated. Not just for the sake of those who may see them but also for the delicate ears of the female sex. Rumbustiousness is definitely a word that comes to mind. From the Juniper Berry, Betty's Bar and others in the UK to the old Bugis Street of Singapore, Happy valley of Curacao, Montgomerie Hotel in Pyrmont and too many bars around the Aussie and Kiwi coast, we partied. Which actually brings to mind something else. Obviously with Oz and Kiwi being English speaking nations, various missions were plentiful. They were probably used less there than elsewhere especially by cargo boat men due to the fact the girls would meet the ship in Brisbane or whatever the first port was and leave again in the last port, thereby saving you having to go looking in every port. Happy days.

[alf corbyn]

hi patricia. just been reading bruno's post. aggie weston certainly deserves a mention and i hope you can get some info on her. she was perhaps one of the most well known ladies of plymouth where seamen were concerned. she and i think her sister ran a seamans boarding house in plymouth, which has now unfortunatly been pulled down. this should have been preserved as a national monument to seamen.there is a lot of history about our aggie which should be in any book about seamen ashore in ports away from their home. i suggest you get in touch with the plymouth evening herald which has done articles about her. alf