one for the navigators

[Chris Allman]

Just drifting off thread here chaps, maybe a touch of the helm to get us back on course - - an empty bridge was totally unthinkable in my time - always someone looking out, even if it was Sparky should an urgent call to the heads be required.

[Ken Norton]

It was revealed that the ships cook was on watch on the bridge when we had that huge environmental disaster here in Cornwall, The Torrey Canyon disaster 1967. Sometimes you think that world shipping would have learnt but as per #53 it is still happening probably, to a greater extent. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13280507 interesting article as to the recovery of marine life.

[Chris Allman]

Thanks for that Ken an interesting article, especially about the quarry. I seem to remember something about that bacteria being used in experiments to clear up oil, good to know that it is now in use. We seem to see seaborne collisions on a regular basis nowadays - I dont remember it being that bad in the 60s / 70s or maybe there was not as much publicity in those days - has radar helped or hindered and do watch keepers rely too much on instrumentation rather than the Mark 1 eyeball, so much for progress.

[Ken Norton]

Yes Chris with all the advancements of modern technology there is something missing. Becoming reliant on state of the art instumentation very often leads to slack human judjement, I read on here about a sensor not being in place on a machine and the apprentice being totally confused that the machine had been repaired by a man of experience (visually) and that there was no need to plug a lap top in for fault diagnostics. Think it was one by Rob. Sums it in a nutshell. Great to see how the environment regenerates it self, an abundance of knowledge is usually generated by a disaster.

[happy daze john in oz]

One of the problems with container ships could well be the number of crew.
Many of them that come here into Port Melbourne have just the minimum basic number required by the law of the country they are registered with.

[Tony Taylor]

One of the problems with container ships could well be the number of crew.
Many of them that come here into Port Melbourne have just the minimum basic number required by the law of the country they are registered with.

In 79/80, I was deck engineer on 70,000 ton lightening ship, we were trying to tie up with a 250,000 ton Kuwaiti tanker. They did not have enough men to form fore and aft parties, so they tied up for'rd first then all ran back down aft, well that is some of them, cook could only manage a shamble, I guess his untied apron must have caused some drag (what was that recent conversation on safety?). Speaking with their third mate who was British, he said there were so many different languages spoken some of them could not communicate with others, all deck officers were different nationalities and the Capt. being Egyptian

[j.sabourn]

Tony in 1969 I joined a ship as mate in Rotterdam she was discharging copra from the pacific it’s immaterial to the crew but she incidentally closed most of the cafes in the port due to the masses of copra bugs investing the cafes and eating houses. Anyhow she was manned by an Irish captain, myself as mate, an Egyptian 2 mate and a Chinese third mate,.started off with 2 British engineers who lasted about 3 months, one of them dying in Singapore later. They were replaced by two Indians, the crowd were Chinese. After Rotterdam we went to Gdańsk to load coke for Karachi. Coming back via the Kiel Canal , the Egyptian 2 mate decided he wasn’t coming with us and jumped over the the side , this left the 3 mate and self , he spoke little English , his brother was the Bosun who spoke no English so all communication was via the 3.mate. The 2 mate was never replaced and after 10 months I walked off in Japan and paid my own fare home on borrowed money. The ship was under the Gibraltar flag but had been under other flags to suit. I learned very good pidgin English that trip. As regards safety that was nothing for as well as language difficulties among other things the lifeboats had been condemned for the past 2 years. When people talk about Hell ships they don’t know the half of it. I always have a quite snigger when people talk about safety. I doubt if there was a safety pin on that particular ship. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

When one comes out with stories that to others seem improbable at least, and if one seems to be moaning about, they will always say various things such as why did you join , or why didnt you kick up about it, both arguments along with others are immaterial . We were trained for adversity at our first few years at sea. To me every ship was a challenge and was part of the job satisfaction. As to the attitude of if you don’t like it you shouldn’t have joined is rubbish. Myself like many others went to sea to earn a living and support a family. After 1966 the gradual decline in shipping numbers under the red Ensign together with the demanniing made it harder and harder to find employment, and one had to take it where and where it was. I chose to remain at sea as knew nothing else, so like others had to take it where found. I have no regrets apart from not seeing family for long periods of time. But sometimes just keep my mouth shut as to some of the adversity’s some of us had to live with to carry out our occupation. The general public will never know some of the obscene conditions at various times we endured in this so called super safety conscience world we are supposed to live in today. So I will just carry on with my sniggering and not say too much to rock the boat. To this day I consider my one failure at sea was not to complete the 12 months contract by 7 weeks of a heap of rubbish by not being allowed to having a say on how she was loaded among other things , and walked off in Japan , and to do this I threatened to bring in the consulate on the demand that she was unseaworthy which she was , I was allowed to leave the ship on the fear I would think that I proceeded with this threat. I didn’t , and for a few years believed the ship had been lost with all hands, this was like an albatross round my neck until found out otherwise , as blamed myself for not calling for a survey on the vessel. It cost me a lot of money and a lot of heartbreak and a lot of grey hair. But is the only time I didn’t complete a contract. Seamen will suffer most things , but I took that ship as a personal failure on my part. JWS

[happy daze john in oz]

I know it may sound a little trite but for catering crew it was not an easy ride.
Bloods who were the curse of all, second stewards who were more interested in their end of voyage bonus than service to bloods.

Chefs and cooks who thought they were the greatest, but maybe not always at cooking.

Only time I ever recall a language problem was with a winger from Liverpool who no one could understand and a cook from Newcastle who only spoke Newcastle English???

[j.sabourn]

The Newcastle one was probably dual language John , spoke Japanese as well, haway thro the ammer ower ere. Every one should be responsible for themselves and most seamen were, it was the wide boys who saw a means of making an industry out of it and naming their own salary’s. Like Forces personal who are trained in self preservation it normally comes second nature to a seaman, who already knows he is running a risk coming up a gangway half sozzled, it’s his choice and doesn’t need a lecture on it. Maybe a bolliking and told other people had better things to do than sew him into his burial suit. The safety book was put on ships to keep the shipowners yardarm clear and save any retribution’s. It was there for the owners benefit . And not the employees. I never saw any ship delayed for at least 6 hours while everyone read and signed it, and was printed in Chinese as well as other languages. Cheers JWS