Discharged

[John Gill]

Leafing through my discharge book recently along with one of my grandchildren, he remarked that I must have been ' a very good boy', referring to the VG entries. Never having had a DR,( a couple of VNC's, who hadn't?), made me think about the terminology of that discharge. I know it translates as Decline to Report, which would not describe the reason for such an entry. My question is, do the reasons for this discharge get entered in the ships log, and would any other agency have access to that information, eg shipping federation, Pool, union etc. I'm certain there must be a couple of Old Masters aboard here who might enlighten me.
Gilly ( VG VG).

[Louis the fly]

Although not an Old Master , the answer to your question John is all of the bodies mentioned would have access to information regarding a D.R. discharge.
You have to report to the Pool for a committee to decide your fate , with a union rep. to advise .
Many companies would not sign you on after a D.R. so it often meant joining a ship no one else would take.

[j.sabourn]

Louis is correct. O.L.B.s were handed back in to the Shipping Federation. As said to Jim when I was mate on the ore carriers particularly the Pennyworth the deck crew used to be sent down to the ship with their pool papers and their discharge book. Some were that desperate for jobs that they used to put money in their book, Whenever that happened to me I used to leave in book. Myself I had a preference for seamen with a DR as knew they were anxious to get a clear discharge and would have little or no trouble, no sea lawyers among them. I also knew that in a lot of cases the DRs were not really deserved. I saw 13 double DRs on one ship I was on as second mate paying off in Liverpool, they were mostly un-deserved and were given for a minor misunderstanding when the crowd walked ashore in Bahia Blanca and demanded to see the British consulate. This trouble had been built up when the ship returned to the continent after 7 months and the master refused to change the Articles. We were also in collision that voyage which had nothing to do with the crew, and think a lot of the discharges were pure malice. There are now no such thing as discharges in ones book. A report has to be written and a copy given to the seaman if an adverse report is going to go in about him. However saying that, the whole lot has probably changed again and would have to ask someone serving at sea at present. Cheers JS

[Jim Brady]

I was never knocked back by a chf/stwd wasn't given that chance,it was the Pool that was putting the blocks on me,4 months attending sometimes 5 days a week never even got sent through to be considered.The union man kept promising to see to it that I got fixed up he would give me times to come in and see him and he would have something for me,never came off.One day I walked into the Pool he was waving to me you would've thought that he had secured a job on the best ship out of Liverpool for me,yes you guessed it a ship nobody with a good book would take the King Henry.Yes as John S said you could not get a better crowd than a bunch of lads clearing their books.When we returned to the UK the catering super called me into the chf/stwds office and asked me to join Clan Line as asst/purser chf/stwd and the promise of quick promotion to purser chf/stwd which I declined.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[j.sabourn]

#1... Seamen when logged a days pay and/or fined a days pay were supposed to have the log book entry read out to them and asked if they had anything to say in reply, which had also to be entered in the Log Book. A copy of the entry and reply if there was one should also have been given to the miscreant. Most seamen just accepted it, if they knew they were in the wrong. However one always got the one who wanted to make a big long statement and if too long was printed out on foolscap and attached to the log book. Most masters I sailed with used to write in pencil and if no further trouble used to erase before the end of the voyage. The ones who made a big deal about it were probably well known in the Shipping Offices around the UK and must have had nothing better to do on their leaves than attend tribunals, rather than be at home with their wives and families. Apart from the one incident with the 13 Double DRs cant really remember any other such occurrences. Cheers JS

[Jim Brady]

With hindsight I should've bypassed the Pool and gone straight to the shipping company. I suppose I was under the impression at the time that I needed Pool forms and this was not so.I'm sure had I gone to CPR's office I would've been given a job.There were guys who flip flopped from Cunard to CPR for years who had never set foot in the Pool.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[gray_marian]

To the uninitiated what circumstances would merit a DR ?

[Hugh]

In the ship's OLB - in the list of crew and report of character section - the DR would normally be cross referenced to the page in the ship's OLB containing the report on the DR.
The seaman's CRS 10 would also have the DR noted.

Loads of reasons why a DR would be given Marian but I will leave it to the merchant seamen to give the examples.

Regards
Hugh

[John Gill]

#8 refusing to fight.

[Ivan Cloherty]

With hindsight.
Regards.
Jim.B.

Had many a man with DR report to me when I was Supt, bypassing the Pool, some well known to me, others not, always contacted the vessel's Master on whether or not they would ship him 99.9% of the time the answer was yes, not many let me or the Master down as some realised that they had families to support and there's nothing worse than a seaman who wants to ship out and cannot because of a clash of personalities mostly involving some jumped up shipping clerk in the Federation. Never kick a man when he's down, offer him a chance and most will respect you for it, but as in any profession some bad apples are beyond saving.

Marian as others have said a lot of DR's were not justified, some Masters thought that if they had a reputation of giving DR's then they were seen as tough old seadogs and would hand out DR for minor infringement, late for duty, reporting drunk for duty, answering back, personally I always found that hitting them in their pockets soon brought them round. Of all the Masters (except one) I sailed with as mate/2m/3m I was lucky that all were gentlemen in every respect, polite but firm and made their displeasure known to miscreants in no uncertain terms but politely and there is nothing better for making a miscreant feel guilty and not wish to upset such a good skipper again. I learnt a lot by obsrvation.