Travel times: London to Amsterdam

[cappy]

only ever once saw a seaman being told to piss off in no uncertain terms ....think I have reported this before old Roberts on the cragmooor......it was my 1st trip after the vindi and he said to the ab do I know you the seaman sed know .....old Roberts shouted so bloody loud we all jumped.....your a liar and a drunk and your not sighning on this ship......me thinking bloody hell I don't want to be on his ship but it was to late ...as sed before I think the term is martinet.......or master before god.....cappy

[j.sabourn]

Was 2nd. Mate with him a couple of ships. He was a lonely old man used to scare everyone, but if you stood up to him he respected you more. Have believe told a few stories about him on here. Would have no problem sailing with him. Must be a long time dead now. Was always good for a tot of whiskey coming off watch at 0445 in the morning after the mate did his usual sleeping in act. Cheers John Sabourn

[Ivan Cloherty]

John all I was trying to do was answer Samantha's question via my #11, giving an actual experience of a series of voyages in former times be it the 50's or 70's to show time frames which she asked for, duties which she asked for etc. How we got onto this other nonsense I don't know, and I certainly in no way intended to demean, or question any of your experiences especially as Master or any other position held. So I apologise if you feel I have slighted your experience and achievements I can only relate what my own duties were at a given time during my employment and certainly never interfered with a shipmaster's decision unless they were drunk at that time, and unfortunately not all masters are sober upright men, even though good at their job. Having sailed deep sea and coasting I never got discharged or engaged on an ENG2 (A?) whilst on Foreign Going Articles, but my Discharge Book shows that I have been signed off on an ENG2 (not ENG2A) in the following ports Plymouth, Whitstable, Poole, Goole, Hull and Blyth whilst on HT Articles.

Anyway that's enough from me on this unrelated subject, if Samantha has not been put off and needs any further clarification from me on 'my' experiences, I will be only too happy to assist

Regards Ivan

[robpage]

You better not tell her what you did as a sixteen year old lad in Danny's Bar then

[j.sabourn]

#33 Nothing taken from repartee Ivan, just a lot of chinwag.. Its that Cappy stirring it up, that's what keeps a lot of us going, memories. Some good some bad. Old Roberts Cappys on about kept what he considered discipiline by fear and it worked with some. He was a nice old bloke if anyone took the time out to find out. , started bawling me out about setting an example to the crowd after catching be at 0700 coming back to ship in Japan, whilst he was doing that the rest of the crowd slipped up the gangway with their bottles of saki without him seeing them. When he finished just told him to mind his own business I was over 21, never bothered me again apart from feeding me with Whiskey. He was no fool and that was the way he chose to run things, everyone was the same but also different in those days. Cheers John Sabourn

[Trader]

John, number 19, and restricted to HT

Ivan, I sailed in two coasters in the 60's /70's both over 200 grt and we only carried a master and one mate.
The first was the "Somme" of 451grt and the second was the "Scheldt" of 396 grt. They belonged to Wm.H.Muller and we were on the Rouen/Paris trade with general cargo. The "Somme sailed out of Liverpool/Manchester and sometimes Glasgow and the "Scheldt" sailed out of London. I was AB but I got the Mates job on the "Somme" for good attendance and did a few trips relieving Mate on the "Scheldt".

I also sailed on a couple of Robertsons of Glasgow Ships, the "Emerald" and "Amethyst" which were of 1500 grt and we carried two mates.

Alec.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Alec, I always stand to be corrected, so my apologies to John

[Trader]

Doc Vernon, why was my quote in #36 edited ?. It made my post look meaningless.

Alec.

[Stuart Henderson]

Yes Johns very informative answer No.10 above seems about right, Was on GSN ships from Irongate Wharf or London Docks and would say 24 hourswas a good average.
Stuart H

[Captain Kong]

The Pilotage distance from London, Tower Bridge is 80 miles to Southend Pier, about 8 hours down river, then across the lower North Sea to IJmuiden locks for the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam about 15 miles inland, roughly two hours.
Forgotten the sea distance, used to do it regular in the 90s.
Brian.