A no picture quiz

[Austin Carl Largan]

Well, it worked better with the girls. ��
Actually I (we) crew changed out of Gt Yarmouth for the first couple of years and then the company switched over to…….to?.can’t remember the name of the place, north of Aberdeen and south of Nigg Bay. It was the end of the world, cold, bleak and miserable, sideways rain and snow most of the time. Great Yarmouth was just that…..Great, full of girls on holiday looking for fun and a good time. No one ever went on holiday to the place north of Aberdeen . The idea of having fun for the locals was to get into a fistfight . So what did all us thrill seekers do when the got to Scotland? Caught Air Angle Iron from Dice to Norwich and take a taxi to Yarmouth.

[Austin Carl Largan]

Yes you are right, and I have been called that plenty of times. I was in a pub in Liverpool (on a nostalgia trip as i was born there) and some aggressive scouse called me one. I replied “ Well, I have had 25 years in the UK and 50 in the USA, so you tell me which is the ‘plastic’ bit. I thought he was going to clobber me as he clearly took offense but he cut me some slack when he spotted my old fart walking stick. The bartender suggested as nicely as possible that perhaps now would be a good time to leave. Oh well, I thought, I’ve been given the bum’s rush out of worse places than this.

[Austin Carl Largan]

Peterhead. Just remembered the name of that truly forgettable place. …..Peterhead.

[j.sabourn]

#33 Remember it very well Austin . Used to look up at the prison and envy the inmates as we sailed out into a gale. JS

[Austin Carl Largan]

Yes, memories are coming back. My last vivid memory of the place was in a taxi to Aberdeen. We were just outside Peterhead and it was late with sleeting rain and we were slowly working our way around a very serious traffic accident . The police had only just arrived and there were literally bodies of unfortunate people who had been thrown through their windshields lying in the road. It didn’t improve my opinion of Peterhead even though it was not exactly their fault.

I quit the North Sea shortly afterwards because the Brits had started to close down the tax evasion loophole that their countrymen had been using and the net was closing. The reason I had to quit was because the UK tax people approached the US based companies and asked for a list of all Brits working for them. I had moved to the USA but I was still a British citizen so my name made it onto the list. When I was informed that I was going to be eligible for UK taxes i contacted them and explained that I was now a US citizen and already paying taxes there. The Brit tax people said “well that’s as well maybe but this is the deal, you pay us the taxes first and then as you are a legitimate US citizen, just show us your tax records and we will refund you” yeah, right. Pay taxes twice and then try to get a refund. I opted to go to a bush job in Africa instead and quit before the net closed. After experiencing Africa I honestly felt as though I would have been better off just taking my chances with the tax people.

��

Austin

[j.sabourn]

I was on one of the first conversion jobs of ex Mexican Gulf American supply vessels after changes to the law re offshore safety. The American master brought her to Sunderland and I took over there , sailed on her after the conversion . 2 other Americans brought other ships across and stayed to sail them in the North Sea. One of them living in Hawaii , they used to do a double header to pay for their airfares . The ship I was on was called the Veesea Topaz , she maybe even going today and whilst still had a lot of faults was better for the job than old outdated fishing vessels. People once again imagine American seamen were well paid. Sailing in Australian conditions in the 1990s and being told an Australian AB was better off than an American master and those were the words told me by one and the same. Who I had to sign on as 2/mate . JS
If I remember correcty an Australian master was on 70 to 80,000 Aust $ per annum and an AB nigh on 50,000 A$ per annum and that was with only 6 months work , if you worked more than 6 months it could be taken as cash in hand. I doubt if these figures are correct today or the conditions. Compare that for a seaman in a similar mode of job in the uk of 18 pounds a day , 3 days paid leave a month , in some cases depending who you worked perhaps no paid leave. all your expenses between home and the port of working from you paid yourself. No mind why these owners of these vessels would not allow a unionist anywhere near their vessels. With the time gap between the 90s and today no doubt these figures have gone up but doubt they have gone up proportionally as to what they should have. People decry unions but they certainly gained better conditions in Australia before various changes of government . Cheers JS
PS I also saw Australian seamen paying off in retirement with 600,000 dollars after 25 years service how does that compare with the NUS. ? JS.

[j.sabourn]

Australian ships during my 11 years working in the oil fields out here were run by the Australian Maritime Union , and they took the place of the BSF of the UK. The ship owner was obliged to pay into the retired benefits schemes of all seafarers who were A Registered seafarers. If B registered which was not permenent they did not, but in that case had to pay the seafarer 27% on top of the standard salary rate. I chose several times to go B registered which was for run jobs mainly , also one only paid 2% of union fees . As far as I am concerned I was as well off as I was ever going to be. The weather out here was better as well. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Australian ships during my 11 years working in the oil fields out here were run by the Australian Maritime Union , and they took the place of the BSF of the UK. The ship owner was obliged to pay into the retired benefits schemes of all seafarers who were A Registered seafarers. If B registered which was not permenent they did not, but in that case had to pay the seafarer 27% on top of the standard salary rate. I chose several times to go B registered which was for run jobs mainly , also one only paid 2% of union fees . As far as I am concerned I was as well off as I was ever going to be. The weather out here was better as well. JS

And the beer is always bloody cold!!!!! Beautiful

[j.sabourn]

My biggest problem at the moment is getting to the bottle shop and back without a car. Dont think am capable of carrying it back even if did manage to walk both ways. JS

[Colin Wood]

A feww flush deckkers, like samboats, a couple of 3 islander, Bulk carriers, converted tankers to ore carriers and landing barges.