Union fees

[Tony Taylor]

I think Louis is trying to point out what most do not realize the difference in vessels off shore in the UK which I suppose and hope by now they have smartened up the poor side of going to sea. Most British shipowners In the supply and towing side were federated we’re reasonably well paid had a union if they wanted and were reasonably happy in their life. On the other side of the platter you had the stand by safety boats which had to be there by legislation and lip service was paid to them. The owners of such vessels hired them out to the oil company’s who took them on the lowest charter rates possible sight unseen , just to fit the legalities ofthe industry. The biggest apparent worry about getting a cert.for these vessels should have been the last one ,anyhow it appeared to anyone who sailedon these ships as long as they had seating arrangements for the number of survivors , towel, and blankets they were ok , plus of course the FRC which was the important one. Nothing about the amount of freshwater bathrooms toilets etc required for 200/300 men. There were all sorts of discrepancy’s apart from this too deep to put on here. They were vessels that no one wanted either by the oil companies who were always trying to get the legislation changed to the people who sailed on such and was the only job they could get. They were non union could and did pay what they wanted so the wages had wide fluctuations . If you read the small print in the regulations you would see they were broke regularly but were never checked , one was I believe to be part of a FRC you had to be under either 30 or 40 years of age, most I say were usually in their 50s .All very well if fit.Most of the ships themselves left a lot to be desired . As master on a supply boat I had been on 18000 pounds a year
and 1 on and 1 off. On a stand by boat I was on 9000 pounds a year and a week off a month take it or leave it. So imagine what others were getting.There has always been a cloud thrown over these ships as the conditions in most cases were shameful and the likes of explaining who know about it, would not be wanting it to be brought into discussing it by some. Yorkshire tv years ago wanted me to appear on a program and I said no. The next time they spoke to me they said the program had been cancelled ,and I have a good idea why .Louis was sitting ok on his regular anchor handler or whatever it was, but he knows the conditions of other tonnage out there ,and doubt he would have joined such if he had any sense . Cheers JS

In 89/90 I was invited to interview for 2/E on a Norwegian flag on a brand new purpose built standby / rescue vessel. The vessel was managed by a company in Buckie and I travelled there, for interview, and back in a day (quite a hike). The vessel was chartered by Shell and it would be immediate start.
I got a call next day (a Friday) to say I was successful so would be travelling to Aberdeen the following Friday to attend a medical course and a fast rescue boat course. So the following week had my Norwegian medical, and had my kit packed Thursday afternoon, went to dole office and signed off.
9am Friday morning got a call to say the job was cancelled due to the Norwegian authorities demanding the vessel had a Norwegian in the position, so it was back down the dole at 9.30 to sign back on.

[j.sabourn]

#29 you were probably there much earlier than me Roger, I was first in the North Sea with Wimpey in 1978. Then it was all tying up at the rig stern to and and anchor out , imitating what I always recognised as a half Mediterranean moor .when I came back not too long after there was no dropping anchors and tying up , it was all snatching using engines and bow thruster all the time with maybe water, fuel and cement hoses attached . All very well on a DP ship but hard work otherwise . I rather think but never read up on any history , but imagine it was cheaper to put an old fishing boat on as stand by at say 800 pounds a day than hold back and delay a supply vessel at 5000 pounds a day. The charter rates were always in Lloyd’s list for supply and anchor handlers, but never saw the stand by rates so may of even been less. Cheers JS.

[Roger Millard]

Thanks for that JS, it filled in some of the gaps, yes it was ten years before you I had these experiences, However Wimbrown 1-2 and three i sailed on, three had fire fighting equipment for rig fires high pressure hydrants on a gantry. My last ship was East Shore Offshore marine with Captain Ken Thompson great ship handler never failed to put her stern on in one while we grabbed the mooring lines off the crane. I had a young family at the time they took precedence over my amazing adventure at sea so came ashore leaving memories onboard. I was at a loss when i heard she went down with all hands in the Meddy, the East Shore that is. Regards R.

[j.sabourn]

#33... coming from the neck of the woods that you do Roger you will probably know Mickey Slack an old Wimpey man, then ? Maybe you also know Mickey Reed though he wasn’t with Wimpeys he came from Lowestoft .The last time I saw him he was standing on the quay seeing to one of these stand by /fishing vessels as he was the supt. For same and hadn’t been ashore very long. JS.

[j.sabourn]

#31... can you remember the name of ship Tony.? Nomis the managers of the Silver Pit were owned by a Norwegian Company. As have said before the company name was Simon backwards . Maybe some family Christian name ? I used to think of Simple Simon. Thinking back they already had 1 purpose built ship then working in the British Sector. Maybe that was a second one , or maybe still the first. Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

John #22, the farmers have to pay award wages for all employees, it may not be high but is real.
Problem is the town folk are not interested in manual labor now.
Kiwi has the answer, during the Kiwi season, fruit not people, the farmers employ many from overseas and lopcal.
Have to provide accomodation for them, usually well provisioned huts and pay a gov set wage.
If you live within 50 klm and are on the Dole, you have a choice, pick fruit or dole stops for 3 months.

[j.sabourn]

#36.. It is hard to imagine when I first came out here to live anyone going short John. But our feelings change with the times I suppose. We forget what hard times were and think everything in the garden should be rosy. I however can still remember the hard times at my own level and still think Australia has everything going for it , the only danger being those at times sitting in the driving seat patting themselves on the back are at times going to make the wrong decisions. No ones perfect I know but it seems the most imperfect ones seem to get to sit in the big house. I can’t see no starving people on the streets here, the ones who have no homes probably sold them for drugs or booze , there’s only so many scroungers any country can afford ,and agree if they don’t accept work, then they don’t get dole. I took jobs I abhorred , beggars can’t be choosers and that’s what most of them are. If there is work there then they have no choice. If they want to rampage don’t put them in gaol put them in a tent encampment and surround it with barbed wire . If they want to act like animals , then change the law and treat them as such. JS

[Louis the fly]

#33 Roger we may have crossed paths on our travels. I was also on Wimbrown 2 and 3 in 1975 working mostly from Den Helder at first then off the Italian coast. I went from there to Offshore Marine before joining Maersk.

[j.sabourn]

#31. Further to your near miss Tony, Shell had the Fourties Field which was in the British sector , so nationality should never have come into it. The Norwegians had a habit of flooding the British sector with their ships and making excuses for not having many foreign ships in theirs . One time I was master on an anchor handler and was allowed a charter working out of Bergen, this was more for appeasement than anything else I would imagine. We were working out of Bergen , all the Norwegian ships were in and out without a pilot , but they said pilotage was compulsory for foreign vessels. This made the charter not very conclusive to times of turnaround etc. having delays of waiting for late pilots etc. so the charter didn’t last too long. One thing the norwegians did have however were more modern ships. But it was never equal shares in the chartering. What I saw anyway. I can see Britain In her present situation as regarding shipping in general will be taken advantage of by others in Europe due to the lack of foresight of the British government in general due to lack of ships. If it hadn’t been for the availability of foreign tonnage for the Falklands war it would of been nigh on impossible , and things have gone downhill since then, I doubt we will ever hear of the excessive charges that the government had to bear to hire shipping outside of ones own flag. Cheers JS

#38 Louis you were never on the Maersk Runner were you ?, that was the only ship that came anywhere near the blaze of the Piper A , and will be ever thankful to them for picking up my FRC which I failed to do with having no engine at the time. JS

[Louis the fly]

Hi John I was on Maersk Ruler