Wasteful Thinking

[Tony Taylor]

Lewis, on pay off the quickest method of squaring the ship up was binged through the porthole all the dining gear, or so was said, i never experienced that myself, as i was peggy in the deck crew, but that was the rumour from the catering dept

On my first trip the crew were getting pretty wound up when they found out were had been on the coast for some time, after being told she was going deep sea.
A certain section of them started heaving their crockery and cutlery over the side after a meal in way of protest. It stopped when they were told - no gear, no chow.

[Doc Vernon]

Unfortunately Lewis in those days there wee s many that did things like that, it was sort of part of the Catering regime ! Yes it was silly and a bad thing t do, as you say lost the Shipping Companies Tens of Thousands a Year, and no doubt did contribute to the decline but i dont know that was the only thing, there was the fact that Air became so much faster and cheaper, easier too, so one will never know really.

It wasnt so much of the not doing ones Job , it was more of the Bravado thing, what you can do s can i ??

Anyway it is all over now and those days were still the best for thousands of Young Men, who of that Experiences grew up to be fine Young Men that have made a life for themselves and their Families!
Cheers

No one was or is in fact Perfect! LOL

[happy daze john in oz]

Lewis, tea spoons and tea cups for some reason were always in short supply.
Not taken by the bloods but just never enough, cups get broken and the second steward on UCL was always looking after his bonus.

But there was a story, could be true, that on one voyage of the Stirling the head water in the Tourist gallop called all the wingers up on deck, showed them a box with all the tea spoons in then threw it over the wall sayin no problems with tea spoons this trip.

[Ivan Cloherty]

The only thing I ever took off a ship was me and my balance of wages, and that wasn't in a suitcase!

[Steve Taylor]

In the 70’s one well known tanker company I sailed with got sick of their poop decks being in such bad condition. The culprit was the rosies full of galley waste being dumped over the wall some of which spilt onto the deck and some of which blew straight back over.
Their solution was to install, at massive expense, port and starboard sh*t chutes to one ship during her dry-dock. At the next convenient port a superintendent visited the ship and saw that the poop was in the same state of distress as it had previously been. The reason given was that the chutes tended to block and then the debris would blow back onto the deck. The solution was to fit lids to the chutes to prevent the blowback. At his next visit the superintendent was even more concerned at the state of the poop and asked why things had only got worse when he thought they should have improved. The reason given was that now the chute lids were fitted the blockages in the chutes got even more gross and often only cleared when the lids were opened and stuff blew back onto the deck.
The next solution was to provide the ship with thousands of waste bags into which the waste could be poured before being jettisoned via the chutes.
At the superintendent’s next visit the poop was once again sparkling and he asked for a report on the new method only to be informed that the rosie’s were emptied into the bags which were then heaved over the wall and the chutes were no longer used!!

[cappy]

on one of runcimans tramps in 57 the cook got on the penfolds in oz in one big way .......coming back aboard he chucked everything in the galley over the wall .....7 bells breakfasts were none existent .....which suited me the galley boy....the chief steward from north shields was trying to find extra pots and pans signed for in shields before we sailed ....alas to see them going ashore in shields before we sailed i wondered why they were taken away ....up peoples jumpers etc ...and later saw them for sale in the eagle vaults and the mechanics for the price of a couple of pints or so .......the cook was finally sober enough to get logged charged with the cost of the new gear and the old man told him if he kept himself sober he would not DR him......we sailed for south africa ....after the second or third port i think it was loure nco marques......the cook did it all again .....isaw him in the winter gardens in laygate years later ......jeez we had a laugh.....he was nocking up wooden pallets easier than nocking up a batch of bread he said ......we had a a good drink ....and although he has now passed ...i remember that voyage and that drink with a smile on my face even some 67 or so odd years later .......proper ships proper tramps proper seamen.....what a spirit we had .....container ships ....jeez it must be like locked in a room .....happy days and if the cook is looking down .....i am still smiling doc .....lol cappy ps just back from shields raining cats and dogs yesterday

[Malcolm Lawrence]

I wonder how fish know the difference between Gash Soup and the other substances

[Ivan Cloherty]

I wonder how fish know the difference between Gash Soup and the other substances

They are all full of vitamins, ask the dung beetle!

[Richard Walker]

In the galley we would take any waste aft and throw it over the lee side. I remember when I was galley boy on MV Cornwall N.Z.S.Co, our cook kept burning pots, unable to clean them they would go out of the porthole. He wasn't amused. In port especially in the U. S. we had a barge tied alongside which was towed away when full.
Dick Walker.

[John S Martin]

As understand it it, present MARPOL regulations allow certain wastes 'to go over the side' outside of a range from land. There are special areas in which ships are not to dispose of food (and other sorts of waste) within a twelve mile limit. (Mediterranean, Baltic, Black Sea, Gulf areas, Antarctic, Red Sea, North Sea) The wider Caribbean Area has a restriction of three miles. Disposal of plastic including garbage bags is totally prohibited. Floating material can only disposed of outside 25 mile limits. Food waste, meals (not broken up or ground) bottles, rags, meals, cans etc. to be disposed at more than 12 nautical miles from the nearest land. Outside of 'Special Areas', Ground food, crockery etc. can be disposed at more than 4 nautical miles from the nearest land. Cooking oil is (as any other oily waste) is prohibitive. Most ships now have incinerators to burn packing, cardboard, paper, rags etc.

But you are right modern cruise ships have all 'mod cons' to dispose and systems to recycle. Regarding food waste, it is mascerated, into holding tanks for discharge when outside 'limits'.

One might remember the oil drums slung over the stern in port for galley gash that was tipped into 'gash barges' and taken away. On one cruise ship I was on early 90's, I had a cabin in the same alleyway as the garbage room. Everything went in there. At night the shell-doors were opened and a utlity crew shovelled it all over the side, hosing it all down and disinfecting the room. After overnights in port it smelled pretty rotten.