MS Queen Victoria Makes History On the Mersey.

[Keith Tindell]

I sailed on two ships 50+ years ago with a mixture of german-dutch crew, all uk officers, as far as i know none held AB or lifeboat certificates, i assume the officers held the required number of lifeboat certificates to comply with any regs. The British companies were South American Saint line, and Baltic shipping co, KT

[j.sabourn]

#11... Keith if the ships were registered in the UK and flew the Red Duster, you can say with certainty that they held the correct and certificated personnel. UK ships were the best manned ships crew wise 50 years ago, we talk about corrupt officials, but as regards shipping beleive the old time shipping masters ashore would not release a ship not correctly manned, unless in an emergency. The training methods by practical experience was and is to my mind the best way of doing things. Due to lack of shipping these days this is obviously not possible to train people the same way. The British Merchant Service 50 years ago was held in high esteem for its maritime competency. May have had a bad name amongst some British owners re carousels ashore and left behind in gaol, but seamen behaved as they were treat to a large extent. Cheers John S

[Red Lead Ted]

Keith, I fully agree with John mate flying the red duster meant the crew back then were B.O.T. Standard, Its not the same today sadly and I believe that's why there are so many unnecessary accidents considering the size of our Merchant fleet 40/50 yrs ago and yes we had our share of accidents I think on an count of ships manned by British crews then as oppose to today, And he variation of shipping we manned every ship threw up different challenges. But hey most of us are here to tell the tale Regards Terry.

[Colin Hawken]

Capt Kong. you unfortunately were not there at the meetup so will not appreciate the joke between Jim and I. Thanks for the interesting reply.Where I live I overlook Southampton Water,as you might imagine all of the Cruise Liners and the Worlds largest Container Ships are a common sight.I only have to look out of the window.They can arrive or sail at any state of the tide,as I'm sure you know. Incidentally the Container Berth has been dredged to take the next Generation of even bigger ships. The new cranes are already in place.Their size is absolutely mind boggling.

[Keith Tindell]

Just to clarify my point with foreign crews, the engine room were british officers, but German donkeymen, and on deck from the Bosun down all were german or Dutch, except myself, pretty much all the ABs and bosun, it was their first british ship (they never stopped moaning about the grub), so there must have been some recognition of European seamen qualifications to allow this?? KT

[Red Lead Ted]

You unfortunately were not there at the meetup so will not appreciate the joke between Jim and I.

Colin, Who is you........... Terry.

[Jim Brady]

Not you Terry.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[John Arton]

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/s...aves-1-6648910
The link above will take you to an interesting article in my local rag about a young female Sea Cadet who is the first Sea Cadet of 2014 to complete and pass the Advanced Seamanship Course. The qualification tests sea cadets on their knowledge of such elements as rope work, rigging and splicing, while practical tests include working in a team to rig equipment.
Around the North East there are a number of branches of the Sea Cadets and they all seem to be well attended.
The thing is, the sponsors of this award are Carnival who say it is their way of broadening the sea cadets career opportunities in the Maritime Industry. So just maybe Carnival who control P and O along with Cunard, are looking to increase their numbers of U.K. seafarers, both Officer and Ratings.
The course is being run Nationwide so anyone else here aware of their local Sea Cadets, their numbers and if any of them have entered this Course. Apparently there are around 14000 Sea Cadets, which if only 50% of them took up a seagoing career would certainly boost British Seafarers numbers, though alas many of them would end up serving under Foreign Flags.
rgds
JA

[John Gill]

Capt Kong. you unfortunately were not there at the meetup so will not appreciate the joke between Jim and I. Thanks for the interesting reply.Where I live I overlook Southampton Water,as you might imagine all of the Cruise Liners and the Worlds largest Container Ships are a common sight.I only have to look out of the window.They can arrive or sail at any state of the tide,as I'm sure you know. Incidentally the Container Berth has been dredged to take the next Generation of even bigger ships. The new cranes are already in place.Their size is absolutely mind boggling.

In my personal experience Colin. I've never considered size as important.!!

[Captain Kong]

Hi Colin
didnt mean to take anything from the Joke, It has been mentioned before about the Cunard boats from Southampton, and a little bit of rivalry twixt Liverpool and Southampton. but then they were registered in Southampton, it was on the ars end of the 3 queens.
Only it is not today and I was really getting at Cunard for Flagging out and having Hamilton there instead.
Cheers
Brian./