Blue funnel line

[kurutai]

Brian I see you still do plenty of travelling to this day but all those places from the Far East to South America are now hardly worth the trouble from what I can make out. I have never been one for memory lane I will never revisit those wonderous ports from long ago I will just have live with my memories one place I would liked to have revisited though is Shanghai but my health has stopped me , to walk along the Bund with my dear wife would be a treat I stayed in the seaman's club on the Bund I was there a week after they discharged me from hospital then they put me on a train for over 2 days to travel to Hong Kong how much would you have to pay to travel across China nowadays I still have my rice paper visa and my train tickets we did a cruise back in 1997 I just about stood it to many people for me 13 nights i could not wait to get off regards Dave

[Captain Kong]

Hi Dave
I was on the Bund in Shanghai in 2008 on the QE2. and met a pretty young Chinese girl .
I go cruising every year for two month trips and up to four months, would not do anything else. always choose the right ship, the right size, the right Itinerary
Cheers
Brian
On the Bund looking across the river, and the Bund.

[Trader]

I first went to sea with Blue Funnel as peggy (deck boy) on the Bellerophon in 1952. I did six Far East trips and three coasting trips, two years in all on the same ship. I left her and did a couple of coasting trips on the Nestor and Ixion (both Aussie ships), I then finished up on the Astyanax and did two more Far East trips and a coaster on her. My next ship was the Neleus and I did two Aussie trips in her. I did four years in Blueys all together, some good times and some bad especially in my peggying days, I hated it some days and don't know how I stuck it but I did and I think it served me in good stead in my future thirty odd years at sea.
I left Blue Funnel and joined Manchester Liners (my hometown) and what a difference, no bull...t like in Blueys.

I wish I could tell a story like Brian (Capt. Kong) but afraid I haven't got the gift. lol.

I did quite a few years with Manchester Liners, a good outfit, good grub and crews and decent runs except North Atlantic in winter. I managed to get on the smaller ships and did the Great Lakes in the summer and Canary Islands or Meddy in winter.

I did a lot of coasting as well with Robertsons of Glasgow and W.H. Muller & Co. on the Paris run. Manchester/Liverpool to Rouen/Paris. United Baltic was another good outfit I sailed in, I was on the Express, Sprite and Viking. I think my best job was a small deep sea motor yacht (100 feet) Mary Fisher. Did two years on her all round the Greek Islands, Italy, Spain etc. . I was Deckhand/Mate and would have stayed in her but the money wasn't much cop. Went to places you would never go to on a ship.

I finished up here in Dover on the Hovercraft and Ferries where I finished my seagoing days. Wouldn't call ferrying seagoing really but I got married and it was like a shore job. Did twelve years in the same ship "European Trader" and would have done a few more years but got caught up in a strike (another long story).

Sorry for boring you all, all the best............Alec.

[j.sabourn]

Trader covers a lot of seatime, and not a day to day account. Most have experienced similar. All similar but different. There are or used to be many ships on the oceans of the world and life isn't long enough to get around all of them. I counted up the ships I was on and apart from 3 or 4 I have no official record of, came to a total of 83 I served on. Life cant be a bed of Roses on 83 ships, and was never meant to be. But was a livelihood apart from everything else. I am more practical than anything else, but will say at times life was hell on earth, and not all wine women and song, what part that played in the scheme of things was very small, but is always remembered. That was the big difference when I retired found that people ashore thought and acted different, is only now after swallowing the anchor 14 years ago think I am beginning to fit into present day society with all its faults and woes. All the best JS PS will always remember first trip Joined Avonmouth part cargo discharge of Grain and part in Belfast, lightship to Cuba, sugar to Japan, down to Cairns ( FNQ) load sugar for Purfleet on Thames, then round to Cardiff to Load coal for South America, must have been a kindly skipper because he let me go home for 2 days whilst the ship went from the Thames to Cardiff. Knocked on the front door and the old man answered, the first thing he said was have you had enough then, if he had kept his mouth shut I would have packed up there and then and gone into the building trade with him as he wanted. Just saying what he did was the cause of me staying at sea for the rest of my working life. He died not even knowing either. I no sooner got home than there was a telegram to come back. It was over 12 hours by train in those days to get to the Bristol Channel ports so think I got one night, maybe two at home before away again. That seemed to be the score the 50 years I was in the Industry. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

#14... I was still only 16 at the time, so there was ample time to change vocations. JS

[Captain Kong]

Hi Alec nothing wrong with your story telling, Just write it as it happened.
I did one trip on the Manchester Merchant, Halifax, NS, down to Jacksonville FLA and back up the coast, good job.
My mate who lived around the corner from me was Bosun on the Liners for years, think you know him, Dhobi Jack Lomax, long dead now.
Cheers
Brian.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Sorry for boring you all, all the best............Alec.

Alec, not boring mate, very interesting, that's one thing you can say about going to sea, it wasn't boring, though it may have seemed so at times, now boring is 9 to 5 everyday, knowing where to stand on the station platform because that is where the door will be, planning your holidays 3 to 4 years ahead, now that is boring. Where as we turned in with nothing in sight and woke up to a vista of a land we had never approached before, although we may have sailed down a river many times we sailed along at different states of the tide, passed different ships, loaded different cargoes destined for different places, no at sea our lives were never boring for which we can ever remain thankful, and we never stop learning, as this site has proved on numerous occasions, I have been to 90 different countries in my sea/shore career and there is so much I still haven't seen, I would love to do the Argentine Tango in Beunos Aries, a place I have never been and doubt I ever will, but what memories good and bad I have of other places, something no one will ever be able to take away from me (I hope as long as that fella Al Zheimer doesn't call around) so keep your stories coming

[Louis the fly]

The sense of freedom is why I enjoyed my early days at sea. I decided where I wanted to go and how long I would be away for. If there was nothing on the pool I fancied I used to ring a company and find my own jobs , although I would always be in trouble when I next reported back to the pool.
Nothing remains the same , the good times disappeared together with the ships. Flags of convenience , cheaper foreign crews and obscure ports of registration became the norm for the ships still sailing. We were lucky enough to have lived through a time when the world was ours , great friendships , lots of laughter , tarpaulin musters to have one last night ashore. The bad times quickly forgotten.

[Captain Kong]

I would love to do the Argentine Tango in Beunos Aries, a place I have never been
Ivan.

Hi Ivan if you cannot go to Buenos Aires, let me bring a little to you,
Below The Tango Show we went to in B.A. and me doing a "tango" with a "young" lady? in La Boca, B.A.
The Show was Mucho Fantastico,
We called in for a few days on our way to Antarctica, 2009.
Cheers
Brian

[Ivan Cloherty]

Hi Dave
I was on the Bund in Shanghai in 2008 on the QE2. and met a pretty young Chinese girl .
I go cruising every year for two month trips and up to four months, would not do anything else. always choose the right ship, the right size, the right Itinerary
Cheers
Brian
On the Bund looking across the river, and the Bund.

Last time I was in Shanghai, (1960's) everyone was dressed in Chairman Mao suits, couldn't tell the men from the women, still pretty much the same in Shekou (in 1986). Armed guards on the gangways and ships in the 60's and escorted shopping to 'The Foreigners Shop' with armed guards on the bus. 1986 the military still in abundance in the port and on the ship, but no one entered your cabin at will as was prevalent in the 60's, again memories

- - - Updated - - -

I would love to do the Argentine Tango in Beunos Aries, a place I have never been
Ivan.

Hi Ivan if you cannot go to Buenos Aires, let me bring a little to you,
Below The Tango Show we went to in B.A. and me doing a "tango" with a "young" lady? in La Boca, B.A.
The Show was Mucho Fantastico,
We called in for a few days on our way to Antarctica, 2009.
Cheers
Brian

Thank you for the taster Brian, just checked my lottery ticket, will have to wait a bit longer!