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Thread: Radio Officers on Ships

  1. #31
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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    Quote Originally Posted by j.sabourn View Post
    #29 Another thing with the upbringing of the farming side of the Irish life according to a Sparks I sailed with, and I must say in our cups at the time was that in the usual large families , the farm and all the monies went to their eldest son. Which left the siblings looking for work. A lot as you say went into Radio at sea, the girls looked for richer husbands , the boys were always later in getting married as couldn’t afford a wife until had accrued enough money to support one. The beneficiary of the fathers death , being the elder son , could then afford to get married who was usually a much younger girl.Saying that however that could also apply to anyone in Britain also. Morals were different then , and I know myself I was brought up to believe that the man supported his wife monetary , and was his privilege to do so. Looking at some of the females today if you still held those views all the money would be spent in the tattoo parlour. Ugh ! JS
    An instructive overview of the Irish sparks - a colourful bunch of fellows. I was relieved on a Nourse tramp by one who's hobby was collecting unusual neckties. He insisted I look through the collection he kept in a small suitcase. He was being sought by the Mayor of Capetown for jilting his daughter. I did not tell him that the ship was a regular to Capetown - unkind of me perhaps, but I was desperate to get down the plank.
    Harry Nicholson

  2. #32
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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    Quote Originally Posted by happy daze john in oz View Post
    With modern technology I doubt if there would be a need for a radio officer as we knew them.
    On cruise ships as far as I am aware there is no such rank.
    Container shipos have so few crew now that i doubt they could afford the luxury of one.
    Strange there aren't a host of R/O's bursting in on this topic. \Or are they all fading away into the ether from whence they came. After 44 years at sea as an R/O, Man and Boy, I feel I can add something for a change instead of just reading all the interesting stuff on our website. I feel priveleged to have sailed through a whole lifetime of change in our industry, and of course the demise of my job came with much heart searching and not a little acrimony.
    I sailed in all manner of vessels , early tankers, war built BP sluggards, homely Houlders gas tankers, ( easily the best company that ever existed ), foreign flag arab run, and various weirdos registered all over the place, In later life I gravitated to " easy street" the cross channel ferries, till the Tunnel ruined it, and I sought pastures new. It was the early 90's so cant understand anyone not seeing an R/O after 1984
    To my delight at 52, I finished up witnessing the last of the truly fabulous cruising days with a really top class outfit, all quality, and operated with a vigour the SS would have been proud of. I just caught the end of the days of Chief Radio Officers, all dressed up like a 1850's guards officer, being presented before dining ( along with other worthies ,of course) to adoring American matrons, hanging on your every word as you regaled a lifetime of experiences ( always modified for each set of listeners) over really fabulous meals, and complimentary wine. In my 50's by now and new to it, I found the paucity of work mystifying for two R/Os, but after only a couple of years , it went down to just l'il ole me.. As the years progressed the actual "radio" work disappeared to be replaced with space-age technology. I , alas, was not much up to it. every trip I struggled with fibre optics, keeping the sat domes lined up ...till that itself became automated,

    Here was a guy who had started out having to know the colour code on a resistor so as to replace same on a board the size of Manhattan, so that my valves would remain lit and operational in my radio transmitter,, and I could wrestle with the vagieries of the ionosphere to send my MSG's to Portisheadradio ( which is buried under a housing estate now !), now sitting head in hands worried sick that each time I returned from leave with a working idea of the job, the whole damn thing had changed, whole technologies had changed, my 16 yr old son who travelled with me for a trip once ( to Alaska), learned how to do my job in 2 days whilst I floundered. How debillitating is that?.
    By the turn of the century, even any pretence that R/O's ever existed was gone , with the introduction of IT Officers.
    No more cosy " Captains Introductions" demotion to a cabin down in the bowels of the ship, introduction of "speciality dining" $40 extra.... water slides, tree-lines avenues, 5,000 pax, ships looking like blocks of flats, ( and that goes for the box boats too.
    When I reached 62 I couldn't get off fast enough. I was having panic attacks ( in private) and worried sick about how to get through each day. I still had nightmares 12 years after I retired.
    But now in my 83rd year,I am living a contented life, a little gardening, a lovely wife, and no worries, Just the memories.
    I wonder if any other jobs changed with such alacrity, such that almost overnight , you were expected to do a totally different set of activities.
    I loved the early days, cabin next to the radio room, only guy on the ship who knew what was going on in the world, receiver of orders for next port, everyone agog for you to break " secrecy of communication" oath. In the middle years I had my wife with me, who added greatly to my ( and often , the ship's) entertainment.
    Yep, it was a great job, and I wouldn't change my life for a second, I just wasn't up to the changes at the end happening so fast. But that was my fault, no one elses.
    Have I struck any chords here?

    Flashman R692715

  3. #33
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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    #31 One of the many Irish ones I sailed with was when working in Canada for Saguenay Terminals apart from the radio part of his job was being the paymaster and paid us every month in US dollars. His hobby was writing music especially for the steel bands and during Carnival time in Trinidad there he was in the middle of one of the bands who were playing his music , he nearly won the competition as well. It was nearly 3 days of shuffling around the streets band after band , that music certainly got inside ones head to keep the Old Oak rum company. JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 1st July 2022 at 10:56 AM.
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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    #32. When computers arrived on the scene and sparks disappeared for communications , I worked the head and usually told the second mate he was responsible for communications , I in return used to answer any queries he had on the sextant. Changei for Changie without him knowing I hoped without him realising it. Youth is a wonderful thing when not cluttered up with a lot of unused and past it’s used by date knowledge. Cheers JS
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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    A great post, Francis. You had a rich time at sea. I saw few innovations in the 50/60s, except that one day the Brocklebank's super give us a box of transistors to play with on the long trip to India. We came back with an electronic bug key. Next trip we got a simple Cossor oscilloscope - goodness, we thought, where will this end?
    I applied to Elliot Automation for a shore job in 1962. The manager was impressed that I could use an oscilloscope and offered me a job developing air to air wire-guided missiles. But next day I had an interview with a TV studio company for thirty bob more - so I took that. Did 32 years in ITV, and prospered. Ended up engineer in charge of the biggest drama studio in Europe at the time. Got bored in the end and took a redundancy package. Retire early and find out who you really are . . . comes recommended.
    Harry Nicholson

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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    Quote Originally Posted by Harry Nicholson View Post
    A great post, Francis. You had a rich time at sea. I saw few innovations in the 50/60s, except that one day the Brocklebank's super give us a box of transistors to play with on the long trip to India. We came back with an electronic bug key. Next trip we got a simple Cossor oscilloscope - goodness, we thought, where will this end?
    I applied to Elliot Automation for a shore job in 1962. The manager was impressed that I could use an oscilloscope and offered me a job developing air to air wire-guided missiles. But next day I had an interview with a TV studio company for thirty bob more - so I took that. Did 32 years in ITV, and prospered. Ended up engineer in charge of the biggest drama studio in Europe at the time. Got bored in the end and took a redundancy package. Retire early and find out who you really are . . . comes recommended.
    Nice one Harry, you enjoy it. Every time I see your name it reminds me of my mentor who encouraged me to join MN. Harry Nicholson, NZSCo. C/E

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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    Hi Francis reading your post has saved me a lot of two finger typing went through the same experiences started off with valves then came transistors then ic chips which you had to teach your self what it was all about never seem to stop studying, joining a ship with gear you had not seen before and just given a book diagrams and words which I used to call the Comic Cuts after the comic book of my youth with the Marconi engineer giving you a quick run through it before legging it with the final words Have a good trip and from then on you were on your own.
    Rgds Den

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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Taylor View Post
    Nice one Harry, you enjoy it. Every time I see your name it reminds me of my mentor who encouraged me to join MN. Harry Nicholson, NZSCo. C/E
    Nice one, Tony - we Harry Nicholsons do get around: I'm reminded of the day I joined a Nourse tramp at Cardiff in 1956. Here's a snip from my memoir 'Best of Days'. I've joined the others in the saloon for the first time.
    An Indian steward, in starched white jacket, ushers me to the table. 'Marconi Sahib sit here,' he says, with a Bengali lilt.
    There's a place for me, two chairs from Captain Stuart. Beneath bushy brows, he fixes me with sea-faded eyes.
    'I'm your new radio man, sir,' I venture.
    'Oh, yes? And what would your name be?'
    'Harry Nicholson.'
    He nods at my accent and wrinkles his eyes. 'Harry Nicholson, eh? That sounds like a collier out of the Tyne.' There's a round of laughter. 'So, Harry Nicholson, what part of Geordie-land are ye from?'
    'Hartlepool, sir.' I know what's coming …
    'Ah! That's where they hung the monkey, isn't it?' Another round of laughs. 'Why hang a poor wee mite of a monkey?'
    I consider the usual riposte: 'Have you lost your father?' but think better of it. I'll try a more considered approach. 'Hartlepool's townfolk were a simple sort in those days. During the war with Napoleon, a French ship was wrecked in Tees Bay. The only survivor came ashore at Hartlepool, clinging to a raft. It was the ship's pet monkey wearing a little uniform. Local fishermen captured the creature and took it to the mayor. He questioned it, got only a jabbering reply, and decided it was a French spy. He ordered execution. The monkey was hung from the mast of a coble on the shore. But it's only a legend. Mind you, I've heard that a local pub once displayed a stuffed monkey on the bar counter. It had rope burns around its neck.'There's silence, so I turn my attention to the chicken curry before it gets cold.
    Bill Coleman, the first mate (who I confronted over my lost bag), gives me a nudge. He speaks a cultured, but still thick-tongued, Merseyside. 'That's a good story, Sparks. You're well informed. I'd not heard the full explanation before today.'
    Captain Stuart stops sucking on a chicken bone. 'I've always said the Geordies are daft as rags.'
    The chief engineer speaks for the first time. Like the mate, he's also from Birkenhead. 'Some would have it that Geordies are Scotsmen with their brains bashed out.' There are a few cautious snorts.
    'Better than Yorkshiremen,' I respond. 'They're said to be like Scotsmen bereft of generosity.' There's a howl of laughter, but Captain Stuart's face has a Fifer's glower. I worry I've gone too far. I should keep my mouth shut.
    The captain stops chewing to wipe his mouth with a napkin. It leaves a yellow curry stain on the freshly-laundered linen. 'You can poke the Scots as much as you want. It's nae bother tae me. I'm no Scot. I'm a Pict!' He gives the rest of us a glare. 'The Scots are invaders from Ulster. I descend from the original inhabitants of Caledonia. I'm pure Pict! We've been in Scotland forever. Nobody knows where we came from.'
    I fail to keep quiet. 'I've read somewhere that some scholars think the Picts might be one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.'
    The cutlery around the table falls silent. Captain Stuart's eyes bulge. He takes a long swig from his glass of water.
    Stefan, the engineer across from me, breaks the hush. He is the younger of the two Poles; a man with gentle eyes. 'Harry. Tomorrow we sail. Tonight we go ashore for visit pub. You come along?'
    Last edited by Harry Nicholson; 1st July 2022 at 08:01 PM.
    Harry Nicholson

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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    #36. Tony I recently said I had put a couple of posts in the village monthly issue of their paper. Pleased to see they have put in paper. However reading other posts there is one about Eric Burden and the author is a Bruce Taylor who has recently moved into the village , I will be given him a ring shortly to see if he is from Newcastle or not. You don’t have any relations out here do you , just in case I put my foot in it . JS
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    Default Re: Radio Officers on Ships

    Some of the best posts or awhile, Thank you Harry and Francis, you have just made my day much more pleasurable, I can now look out at the grey cold sky with a smile on my face.
    Des
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    Lest We Forget

  11. Likes Harry Nicholson, N/A, Denis O'Shea liked this post
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