Louis I used to have paper discharges when I was on a foreign going tug with the RFA in the early sixties. We used to do a lot of work in the Med. I had to sign articles every six months while on her. Did not get a discharge book until I joined the Pool and I still had to wait until they opened the books to do that so it was not a sure thing of obtaining a discharge book. Mind you I still had to be in the union and pay my fees to them. I was only a boy rating at the time.
That's the way the mop flops.
My thanks to Brian for this site.