captains rounds

[Keith Tindell]

On one of the Ellerman boats i was on we had a phantom crapper, everything had been cleaned and polished ready for the old mans inspection, the poor old peggy looked in the toilet at the last minute, and to his horror there was a huge *floater*, the poor little bugger tried to flush it away, all to no evail, but he had a sense of humour, and stuck a matchstick and sail in it, the old man did not share his humour, and a severe bollicking followed KT

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Hi keith, as a ex peggy my self , as was my old mates laurie R.I.P. I did not use Lime juice for the tables, in my time they had some kind of plastic on them? with edges for bad weather, Cant remember what they were called? but we drunk lime juice in Lager it took the gas out , but it was good for brass work port hole dogs soaked in lime juice came up a treat.

[Ivan Cloherty]

some kind of plastic on them? with edges for bad weather, Cant remember what they were called?

On trawlers we called them 'Fiddles' name originated from the top of the galley range where the cook could fiddle about with various iron bars to form sqaures to keep his pots from skidding off the range they ran thwartships and fore and aft, absolutely essential on trawlers both in the galley and messroom with the old gal bucking like a bronco most of the time. Also used them deep sea on more than a few occasions

[j.sabourn]

Was the correct name not fiddlies Ivan or you forgot the I. Fiddles is what one did in other connections. Like fiddling while the ship went down, or as Nero while Rome burnt. JS

[Jim Brady]

Was the fiddlie that part of the engine room where they could bring ashes up etc.I know it was behind the galley on two ships I sailed on.
Regards.
jim.B.

[j.sabourn]

Believe that's correct Jim. Something to do with the boiler area anyway. Trying to think of another name for the sides of messroom tables that usually used to hook up. They only used to stand up 2 to 3 inches anyway, didn't stop too much stuff hitting the bulkhead. JS

[Jim Brady]

We used to wet the table cloths down in the saloon that stopped the slipping and sliding.In the messroom with the formica tables I've seen some crew members resting their plate on a wet rag.
FIDDLEY.iron framework around hatchway opening.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Richard Quartermaine]

We used to wet the saloon table cloths and in real lively seas we'd lift up the fiddles from the table's edge - I'm sure we called them fiddles.
Richard

[Ivan Cloherty]

Was the correct name not fiddlies Ivan or you forgot the I. Fiddles is what one did in other connections. Like fiddling while the ship went down, or as Nero while Rome burnt. JS

Positive 'fiddles' is correct John, but then again I have sailed with men who said 'sweeties' instead of sweets' !! As a youngster on trawlers I was told to 'fix the fiddles lad' as they also ran thwartships and fore and aft on the messroom table as well as the galley range

[Jim Brady]

The galley stove fiddles had varying cuts in them for&aft port-starboard so that they could be adjusted to accommodate various size pans.Here is an antique picture of a table fiddle.
Regards.
Jim.B. http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/coll...se/?irn=247803