Robin Stafford

[Robin Stafford]

SHIPS NAME AND SERVICE RECORD

Full Name

Robin Stafford

Discharge Book Number

R 698831

Department

Catering

Your Rank/Rating

Chief Cook

Which Ships were you on and When

Cortona,
Brazil Star,
Argentina Star,
Santos Star,
Middlesex
and multiple others

Notes:

Many ships over many years

[Richard Quartermaine]

Welcome aboard Robin. I'd be interested in the 'Many ships'; any on this side of the Globe?
Richard
Richard

[j.sabourn]

Robin, did you ever sail with or know a Dave Siggers in ANL. would of been Chief Steward or catering officer or whatever the title was then. He started off in 1948 as bell boy on the old Queen Mary. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

Havent spoken to him for some time now. Last year know he was a very sick man and suffering from the usual memory loss, really a bit scared to ask in case he has gone, will see someone who knows him and try and find out. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

Rob going back through the Realms of time on here remember on the 22 Nov 2014 # 28 on the post Queen Mary asked the same question, his wife apart from the Queens could only remember one ship and that was the Poseidon, don't know if this was one of ANLs or not. Cheers JS

[Rob Stafford]

Sorry mate, the only Poseidon I knew was in the movie of the same name *smile* and I am very glad to say I never sailed on her !! As for Dave Siggers, I have been cudgelling my memory and I am afraid I can't find him in there. I hope you find him before he crosses the bar though,

Regards

Rob

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Robin
Welcome the site and thank you for listing your details and Ships
Always nice to have new Crew aboard!
Hope you will find lots here to take your interest!
Enjoy!
Cheers

PS Your Number is quite close to mine! (R697530)

[j.sabourn]

#6. Talking to someone last night and Dave Siggers still with us. But has moved to a different address. Cheers JS

[Rob Stafford]

Good Day Richard,
Yes indeed. Just about all the bulkships that sailed out of Gladstone ( ANL and ASP) as well as the Altrans ( a horror ship) a couple of Ampol tankers and a number of Iron Boats. A good one for a while was the Mobil Flinders until the Boy Bastard from Adelaide joined as skipper. I also sailed on the new Lake Barrine and Lake Eildon and the old Lake Boga and she was just a floating joke *smile*
I enjoyed my time on the Aussie ships, right up until the last trip on the Alltrans ( and thereby hangs another tale) when I chased the captain with a meat axe. But I have to say, I enjoyed my time on the Home Boast a hell of a lot more *smile*

[Rob Stafford]

Hello Doc, sorry I've been so tardy in replying. No excuse except sheer laziness I'm afraid. Yes we are close there mate. I went to the Vindi in about 59/60 I think. I honestly don't remember. I'll have to dig out my old discharge book and have a look. When I left the Vindi, I went into the hospital with a bad bout of pneumonia. The doc reckoned I must have had it for a while. So much for the medical service at Vindi. It took me a while to recover but when I did, my first ship was a Donaldson ship, the Cortona. She had nearly a full crew of Glaswegians but was a hell of a lot of fun until we went on charter to the French government as a floating freezer and she went and lay alongside a little village called Bassins just outside Bordeaux on the Gironde. It was as boring as bat-s**t and after 3 months there, I left her and moved on. I hear she stayed there for a couple of years and was then sold to the Chinese. A pity. When she was on the South American run, she was a good ship with a lot of good blokes on her.

We used to have a saying on the old conventional ships; " If a shoresider asks you to tell them about your life at sea, tell them a lie. They'll never believe the truth !!" *smile*. It still holds true.