Union Castle at Southampton 1963

[Doc Vernon]

Thanks Danny
You were on her a bot before me then, but the name still seems very fimiliar to me ,as well as that you come from Glasgow, its a long long time ago but i recall if it was you that is ,that we were in the Juniper Berry in Soton, it was me my late brother known as Mac, You and another Lad called Julian , that day it landed up in a big brawl with us four managing to get out in the end with some nice Cuts and Bruises. Julian had a Zepher Zodiac parked outside the Pub,so we all jumped in and did a Runner. Just as well as the next day there was a piece in the Local Paper about the Seaman who trashed the Juniper Berry. LOL
Oh them were the days
Cheers

As said Danny may not have been you but you were sure as hell had a strong Scottish accent or someone like you! ????

[happy daze john in oz]

Vernon mate, the JB in Southampton, still there today, was the scene of so many incidents involving seamen it was a wonder the authorities allowed I to stay open.

It was a long crawl back to the ship from there, some taxi drivers were not keen on taking you from there.

Remember singing Christmas carols in there one Christmas eve.

[happy daze john in oz]

May have posted this before, but worth another read maybe?Being a winger in the tourist gallop on any of the Lavender Ladies was always a challenge. But for most of us it was a challenge we readily accepted. There have always been some difficult bloods on any liner, be they first or tourist class. This lady in question, in tourist, had been on four tables before being placed on one of mine. A lady of some repute for not getting along with others at her table, and for giving the winger a rough time. I was her fifth winger and table in eight days. By dinner of the first and only day on one of my tables I realised why. Being a little outspoken I told her what I thought of her, and her behaviour, as a result found myself up on the bridge deck in front of the skipper.
He told me, ‘lad there are some passengers I would rather not carry, but having paid their fare we as company representatives, must do as the company tells us’. It was just a reprimand not a logging and I left the bridge somewhat relieved.

It was with that thought in mind, some voyages later as officers steward, I stood looking over the ships side in Southampton as we boarded the latest bloods for our next voyage south. They were I mused, a well mixed bunch. The long and the short, the thin and the rotund, young and old. Ladies of bearing as well as breeding, men of wealth and some with very little to show for a lifetime of endeavours. Some going home to South Africa, some going on a holiday of a lifetime, and some no doubt on business.

As I stood and observed a very large sedan pulled up on the quayside, long and black looking like the vehicle of a wealthy person. A chauffer alighted from the driver’s side opening the passenger door from which emerged a rather short rotund gentleman immaculately dressed in a pin- striped suit. He was followed by one of the most stunning ladies I had to date seen. Tall and slim with long blonde hair and break your back legs, she was drop dead gorgeous. It appeared by the looks that he was very much her senior, and at first I considered father and daughter, but no, they were a newly married couple. He was close to fifty and she in her late twenties. This was to be their honeymoon on their way back to South Africa where he was involved in the wine industry with KWV. All this information I gleaned from Bob the officer’s steward in charge. Bob was one of the alternative sexual brigades, though not the camp sort. His very good friend was a bedroom steward first class and this couple were two of his passengers.

The ship sailed with all the usual pomp and ceremony, steamers flowing from deck to shore like some giant umbilical cord, the last hold on the people ashore and on board. Slowly the cord parted and we were on our way south. Until we reached Las Palmas on the Monday morning it was just the normal voyage. For the crew and bloods, just another day in port. The bloods ashore to see the sights and purchase worthless baubles form the locals. The crew to get a beer, go to Doris’s bar in the hope of getting a leg over, all paid for in silver. Silver tea- pots, salvers, veg dishes, cutlery etc. courtesy of UCL. Then a few days later, many of the crew who visited Doris’s bar would make a visit to the ships doctor, in the hope that he could rid them of the souvenirs given to them by the lovely ladies in that bar.

The newly wed couple had no doubt enjoyed their morning in Las Palmas as they had been observed arriving back aboard with a variety of goods purchased ashore. Being in first class they were afforded the luxury of having a steward appointed to take the goods to their cabin while they enjoyed lunch.
We sailed from Las Palmas and, as ever, set course South for Cape Town some ten days hence. The sea was calm as we again settled into our daily routine. For the young couple a chance to enjoy the day, but after only a few minutes on deck after lunch adjourned to their cabin. No doubt the morning activities and the generous lunch, swilled down with a modicum of wine, left them in a frivolous mood. Such a mood, that they considered once again consummating their marriage.

From the reports later gleaned from the young lady in question all had been going well. He was as she put it, a veritable lover of consuming passion, more than capable of satisfying her. Having enjoyed a pre nuptial romp they had got down and dirty to some serious stuff. He was at the business end of the action ready to fire the torpedo when it occurred, no warning, it just happened. Many a man had dreamed of leaving this world in such a manner, and for this kind soul it was the truth. A massive heart attack at a poignant moment had taken him to the world beyond, leaving his young bride not only distressed and heart broken, but also pinioned to the bed. Such was his weight and shape that she could not move him.

Unable to reach the bedside call button she had lain there for over an hour with her husband still on top of her. Her biggest concern then was rigor mortis setting in, leaving him stiff all over. But a saviour appeared just at the point when she considered all was lost. The cabin steward on his afternoon rounds knocked at the door to asking if the couple required any thing. Her scream as he knocked was enough for him to rush in and find the terrible situation. Having removed the husband he then called for the ships doctor, who was at that time in the first class lounge bar preparing for evening surgery. He pronounced the man dead, and it became obvious that yet another burial at sea would take place on the Windsor castle.

William was a K.P. par excellence; no chef had ever met one quite like him. His name was William and that was it, no Bill would he answer to, it was William or nothing. There were many stories about William, he had served in the war and had a bad experience, he had been crossed in love, his wife had died in a terrible accident. Which was the truth, who could say, as they were all suppositions, no one knew the full story about William.

William we all knew travelled light, very light. He came aboard with a brown carrier bag in which he had, two pairs of shoes, two pairs of socks, two T shirts, two pair of chefs check pants, toothbrush, razor and comb. Apart from that the clothes he stood in, a suit of some age, white shirt and tie, black shoes and socks. Every night at the end of his shift William could be seen doing his dhobi, today’s clothes, with a clean set ready for the next day. William was a very quiet man, one pint ever night in the pig before turning in, and his ventures ashore were as he put it, ’to meet the locals’.

His work ethics were not to be ignored; often castigating cooks who brought burned pots to him. ‘If you burn the food then you cannot cook’ he would tell them. At the end of the day the pot wash area would be the cleanest spot in the galley, with all pots and pans correctly stored and gleaming. A credit to the head chef and the galley.

Funerals at sea on the Windsor were carried out at 1700 hours from the Gun Port door on the Second Stewards landing. The ship would slow to about five knots for this service. This was an area outside the office of the second steward and went from one side of the ship to the other. To one side the second stewards office, to the other the bulkhead between the main galley and the landing.

There was always some ‘man of the cloth’ on board most voyages so he would be called upon to carry out a very simple service, accompanied by the relative of the deceased, two deck hands, to tip up the board, and the officer of the day. The body would be placed on a plank stretched out between two trestles and draped with a flag. After a few words from the ‘man of the cloth’ the two deck hands would tip the board and the body, duly weighted, would slide into the water.

In the main galley there were two gash chutes, one close to the pot wash, the other closer to the bulkhead and close to the fish corner. It was the responsibility of William to ensure that these were cleared on a regular basis. On the days of burials at sea the sous chef had the responsibility of making sure they were locked until after the service. The bakers department had been very busy; dozens of sponges as well as Crème Caramels so between them had used over one case of eggs. One case of eggs produces a lot of eggshells, all of which had been deposited in the gash chute.

William being the worker that he was always turned to on time and carried out his duties to the letter. Every evening at 1700 hours William would arrive in the galley and commence his duties. The first of which was to empty the gash chutes. On this particular day when he arrived they were locked, as they should be, but no one had informed William of this, the sous chef had not done his job correctly. William being the diligent man he was duly went to the head chef’s office to obtain the key, he knew where it was kept so getting it was not a problem. Having taken the key he then set out to do his duty and empty the gash chutes.

Timing is they will tell you every thing, without timing you will never even get through the day, and for William time was of the essence. Every duty he performed was to time and today was no exception. The ship had slowed to the regulation five knots and the service was under way. Having completed his service the body was committed to the deep and slid over. Unfortunately William had also done his bit pulling the handle on the gash chute maybe a second or so before the body went over. The gash was not all of a heavy nature, a large amount of green waste, and the egg shells floating along like table tennis balls across the surface, arriving at the proximity of the gun port door as the body went over right into the middle of it.

For a second nothing happened, then the wife screamed as she realised what had occurred. One of the deck hands being a bit quick witted had the presence of mind to close the gun port door in a bit of a rush and the officer of the day took the lady, now in tears, away. William unaware of the event continued his duties and was never spoken to about it. The sous chef ended up on the bridge in front of the skipper who tore him to bits for not informing William. Ray Meadows the head chef was moved to another company ship next voyage, and William did not return next voyage. We never ever heard of him again.

[John Gallop]

I was on Penndenis castle Athlone Castle Edinburgh Castle and the old Arundal Castle in the 50-60s I was an AB the gold was always loaded in Capetown on the return trip to Uk it was the last thing to be loaded in the afternoon as the ship always sailed at 4 Pm it was stored in a strong room in the after end of number 3 hatch j just forward of the bridge in the same hatch all the mail was was loaded as well as soon as the ship docked in Southampton at 6am on a Friday morning the gold and mali were unloaded straight away before any thing else was touched John Gallop

[Sean Currie]

Thank you, John.

[Doc Vernon]

So seems that i was correct after all in saying that i recall the Gold being loaded in Cape Town as well. I thought i may have forgotten thus my apology in prior posting.
But thanks to the post of late well Horah! my Memory is not that bad after all!

[happy daze john in oz]

Gold in Durban I well recall, but as to Cape Town no!
But it could well have been loaded in a very secretive manner along with the mail.
So much went into some of the holds, as many as 8 on some ships, besides the fruit and other items who knows what we carried.

[vic mcclymont]

#47 definitely Durban.
Vic

[Chris Isaac]

I was on Penndenis castle Athlone Castle Edinburgh Castle and the old Arundal Castle in the 50-60s I was an AB the gold was always loaded in Capetown on the return trip to Uk it was the last thing to be loaded in the afternoon as the ship always sailed at 4 Pm it was stored in a strong room in the after end of number 3 hatch j just forward of the bridge in the same hatch all the mail was was loaded as well as soon as the ship docked in Southampton at 6am on a Friday morning the gold and mali were unloaded straight away before any thing else was touched John Gallop

No gold was ever loaded at Cape Town
It was always loaded in Durban.... just think where the gold fields are. Armed guards on the quay, on the fore deck and in the hold.
Last this to be loaded in Cape Town was the registered mails, they went into the bullion room with the gold.
First thing out in Southampton was the registered mail followed by the gold, as for armed guards in Southampton, there was one policeman with a dog and even the dog stayed in the police van if it was raining.

As an ex 2nd Mate on the mail ships and as the officer responsible for loading and tallying both the gold and registered mails, I have some experience of this.

[Doc Vernon]

Well that blows me down Chris LOL
I had forgotten (mind not what it used to be) but i do recall seeing Gold Loaded somewhere! Must have been in Durbs then!
Thanks
That clears that up