Chief Stewards Info

[j.sabourn]

As regards Butchers....worked for one after school at nights and got 12 bob. The day after leaving school went full time at 37/6d. There was no waste then in a butcher shop, all the fat cut off meat went into the vat and other things beside and was the source of your dripping. There were sausages and sausages the best customers got the best sausages. The bones were sold for making soup. If he could have found a source for the blood scrubbed off the chopping blocks would have sold that, maybe it went into the Black Pudding which would have been going too far after being scrubbed of benches with wire brushes into a pail of water. Nowadays if could find a good butcher would stick with him rather than the frozen packaged meats sold in supermarkets. JS

[j.sabourn]

For those who were on ships managed by whitcos were they ever on a ship which was a self managed ship, or was the one I was on, a trial run. I was mate on the Finnish Wasa and as head of a dept. was given a budget for the deck department as regards overtime and stores etc. Every month we had management meetings and if below budget each head of dept. Chief Engineer, Chief Steward, and Chief mate, were giving cash in hand to better the crew accommodation or whatever they decided they wanted (apart from dancing girls) it was a West Indian crew. I can remember going ashore with the chief steward in Galveston looking for and buying carpets for the crews cabins as were composition decks, this is what they wanted. I left the ship shortly after and joined another which did not run under this system. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

On any UCL lioner I do not think there was ever an honest cxheif or second steward.

First class got all they wished for, but tourist paid the price for travelling that way.

rationing during the war was not as bad as it was with some of them. You would think it all came out of their own pocket, but then again most likely did as their bonus depended on how little they used.

[cappy]

####suprised you cant get kidneys today ted .....most supermarkets sell them .....beloved makes a big steak onion and kidneypie once a month when when the family gannet i call him arrives......cappy

[j.sabourn]

Cappy which was the quicker on the Avonmoor, going from the galley on the after end of the second housing aft, to the pantry forward of No.3 hatch, or aft to the messroom to the housing aft of No. 5 hatch. If remember correctly had to go down a deck to the messroom aft. You must have been built like a greyhound in those days. Or did you coerce the peggy to carry all the food containers and mess plates. js

[cappy]

Cappy which was the quicker on the Avonmoor, going from the galley on the after end of the second housing aft, to the pantry forward of No.3 hatch, or aft to the messroom to the housing aft of No. 5 hatch. If remember correctly had to go down a deck to the messroom aft. You must have been built like a greyhound in those days. Or did you coerce the peggy to carry all the food containers and mess plates. js

####12 to 4 watch john......best job i ever had at sea ...a piece off piss......plus was going back to shields.....i thought watchkeeping was a routine second to none......no body bothered you ...a bloody sight harder job working in a galley ......more or less 12 hour days against a four hour watch times two......cappy

[Red Lead Ted]

####suprised you cant get kidneys today ted .....most supermarkets sell them .....beloved makes a big steak onion and kidneypie once a month when when the family gannet i call him arrives......cappy

Cappy, Go into any Supermarket or butchers and buy yourself a big pork chop you will find the kidney has been cut away, My butcher told me its like oxtail and kneck ends which make a great barley broth, Regarded as offal,

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Cappy which was the quicker on the Avonmoor, going from the galley on the after end of the second housing aft, to the pantry forward of No.3 hatch, or aft to the messroom to the housing aft of No. 5 hatch. If remember correctly had to go down a deck to the messroom aft. You must have been built like a greyhound in those days. Or did you coerce the peggy to carry all the food containers and mess plates. js

John was the Avonmoor one of Runcimans ? I done 12 months in the Linkmoor after changing her name on a painting stage when she was taken over by Anchor Line Glasgow. Terry

[happy daze john in oz]

The modern day society does not knoe about such items as kidneys, lambs fry, oxtail or any other very tasty cut of meat. Now it all comes prepacked care of some TV personality chef and all there for those who have no idea of how to cook.

We grew up eating Rabbit as well as most cuts of offal and survived to tell the tale.

[j.sabourn]

#97... Terry Sir Walter Runciman was a well know trampship company on Tyneside, under the Heading of Moor Line. I rather think he was a controlling shareholder in Anchor Line of Glasgow. Their ships were all called something ending in Moor. When I was there it was the Avonmoor, Brockleymoor. Cragmoor, Dartmoor, Exmoor. Fernmoor, Glenmoor, Hazelmoor, Innesmoor, Jedmoor. Kirriemoor, Linkmoor, I was on the Avon, the Brockley, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Glen, Hazel, Jedmoor. During my time the Exmoor was sold after a collision whilst I was there, and believe the same week the old Kirriemoor was also in collision up the Red sea and she was also sold. They lost about 50 percent of their fleet due to war time losses, the likes of the Westmoor and Northmoor and various other named ships. Think Runciman of London ( paper boats had something to do with him or the family also). He was known for the building of a Church in Jesmond which was known by seafarers as the Runciman Church.
Dalgliesh another NE owner I worked for and the story as per him was that during the war the two plus Chapmans and Ropners and I think either one or two others were advanced funds to build vessels at Blyth for the Admiralty. However it came to light that they had been building houses instead among other things. Dalgliesh carried the can and got something like 3 months for it. It was the story at the time that due to Dalgliesh had such close ties and building a berth at Port Churchill ( Hudson Bay) that he was after a Knighthood. which was never going to happen due to his time in gaol. His son and daughter often visited the ships and were very friendly people. The daughter died very early, and believe his son committed suicide at a later date. The Fernmoor was lost off the London reefs in the pacific in 1953 there was no loss of life. Also re cappys saying on the selling of the Avonmoor, ( Runcimans) that made a total of at least 4 ships disappearing in my 11/12 years there, there were a couple of new buildings also. I was offered a job in their new headquarters in Glasgow but there were no contracts being signed so I declined and went with Dalgliesh instead for a couple of years, and then on foreign vessels. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

As the title for this post is Chief Stewards, I was always under the impression but a good chance of being wrong, that it was only when they got the title of Chief steward/purser that they gained the dizzy heights of coming under the MNAOA and proceeded to go on their pension scheme and access to their union now called Numast which isn't really a union That would be a good question at a quiz when is a union not a union answer Numast. Of old ( M.N.and Air Line Officers Association. ) The only thing necessary for a Chief Stewards job as per British shipping was a chief Cooks ticket. For a cook coming out of the army, no doubt others had more paper qualifications in the likes of a City and Guilds in such but wasn't an essential piece of paper for the job. For a Chief cook coming out of the army he had to have 7 days seatime a figure which sticks in my mind. Most of my knowledge on maritime law comes from books, apart from what I had to practice myself, unfortuanely the book I studied from Shipmasters Law a policeman friend borrowed about 22 years ago and never returned, he was interested in maritime law as it was then and at least 50 years before, it contained all the answers to questions and sorry I ever loaned to him. There are hundreds of small items such as was a 10 pound fine for entering or leaving port and not flying an ensign. Must have to reprint all these type of books as was also a 100 pound fine for overloading a ship per inch. Now drafts are in Decametres would need a calculator to work out the fine. I always admire the Americans for not changing their measurement system. Don't know why we did. Maybe something to do with the Euro. As to calling Numast a union I would call it more of a referees club, who worked for both sides with a slight leaning towards the shipowner and would never take anything on past his boxing weight. JS