QM2 Man Overboard??

[j.sabourn]

#19... Vic was the rest of the story the big pyss up put on at the survivors expense, and did you have another one lined up for the next party. The PS to the story sounds interesting. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

Ref to #20 and the wearing of long trousers, some Heli operators also insisted on long sleeved shirts. The reason given was for exposure if in the water. Judging by the number of sharks one used to see when flying over very clear waters it was probably also to cut down the sight of pale flesh when in the water. One rig I was at at had a man overboard exercise by throwing a dummy in the water made up of dark rags, the FRC was there within 3 minutes but a shark had already torn it to shreds. How anybody can be against shark culling beats me. Another one where a bit of cheating went on was when the OIM instructed the safety boat they were going to have a man overboard exercise, usually they were out of the blue, the safety boat came in right close unbeknown to the rig, the roustabout threw the dummy over the side and shouted into his radio, Man Over Board, Man over Board, Immediately came back the reply Recovered Recovered. He had landed on the deck of the stand by boat, it must have been the quickest recovery in the Guiness Book of Records, about 2 seconds, one the sharks didn't get. JS

[j.sabourn]

Maybe with the girl in between. With ref. to 3 in a survival suit. JS

[Captain Kong]

I still have my survival suit. it is just like a plastic boiler suit with a hood and enclosed hands and feet,
It came in very useful when I found a Wasps nest in my roof, it Was six feet long and three feet wide. Must have been there for years.
So I got it out and cleaned up with two million wasps trying to have a go at me. So I did survive.
Cheers
Brian

[John Arton]

I see in the news that the guy who went over the side from the QM2 was a chef and that Cunard (sorry Carnival) have now banned alcohol for all crew members on all their ships. So that will put a stop to "and one for yourself" when ordering a drink from the barmen on Carnival liners and the Captains cocktail party is going to be a pretty dull event if he cannot down the g & t's with the passengers.
During my brief spell on the Empress of Canada I never sailed with such a number of alcoholics again on any ship even given the percentage of crew numbers on a passenger ship as opposed to a cargo or tanker ship.
The Captain was a two bottles of gin a day plus drinks in 1st class bar when entertaining. The third mate was an alcoholic who had the 8-12 bridge boy constantly trotting down the outside stairs in order to reach the scotch bottle left in the open window of the 3rd mates cabin and top up the 3rd mates glass. Both senior R/O's, the Doctor and many others were alkies. There were huge notices posted around all the officers and crew alleyways telling everyone that they had to be properly dressed and sober when ever they had cause to enter passengers areas.
On one occasion one of the senior 2nd engineers came staggering out of the lifts, jacket open, tie and cap astray, staggered across the foyer almost tipping over the chefs cold meats display situated there, weaved across the dance floor and through the passengers table before reaching his table, slumping down and immediately falling asleep. When one of the passengers asked if he was ill or drunk, the reply was, oh he's fine, its two hours before he has to go on watch.
On night rounds at 0200 part of my duties was to ensure that the pig and whistle (huge bar converted out of one of the redundant tween deck spaces) was closed and shut down. Now with something in the region of 600 crew which included a large numbers of not only alcoholics but just normal heavy drinkers, you would have thought that closing the bar would have been, to say the least, a bit problematic for a fresh faced young 5th mate, but no. Even the night staff were mostly that pissed by 0200 it was usually just a case of making sure the barman had the nights takings locked away with the shutters down and locked as most of the inhabitants were passed out pissed, even many of the night chefs, deck and engine ratings etc. Many was the times that I had to go up to the crows nest to check that the lookout was still awake and not snoring his head off in a drunken stupor and even though the night watches on deck had their duties (holystoning and washing down outside decks, working alleyways etc.), they could mostly be found sleeping off the effects of booze in hidden corners around the ship.
The workshy and drinking culture amongst many of the crew (catering, deck and engine) coupled with Captains being frightened to impose proper discipline led in part to the demise of the Empress boats.
rgds
JA

JA

[John Pruden]

no drink no smoke no cruise?? nuns and priests apply as crew? jp

[Captain Kong]

I sailed from 1955 on the old Empress of Scotland, France, England and Britain as QM and AB and in those day I can honestly say I never saw drunkenness on that scale. A few bevies in the Pig was all, some lads on guitar and singing rather than getting legless. They were from the War days and a little more mature, But I believe a new type of seafarer that came later in the late sixties took advantage of the system,
Cheers
Brian

[j.sabourn]

#24.. Yours must have been bought in Port Said as a job lot Brian. Plastic was barely invented then. Was it not imitation camel skin. Cheers JS

[Keith Tindell]

I think i posted before, 1962, we were mid pacific bound for Japan, and was my 21 st birthday. I was on the 12-4 watch, and as usual for those days reduced to two on a watch, Tommy Driscoll, lovely old scouser, but complete alky offered to do the first two hours as i was having a drink with the rest of the deck crew. About 0100 hrs as i recall, the ships whistle blew continuous , rushed up to the wing of the bridge, skipper was already there in his pyjamas, panic stations, till they found the cause, tommy had sat on a mushroom vent on monkey island, fell asleep, and fell onto the whistle lanyard which ran around the front on monkey island. The skipper was very calm, and just said *take him away*. Poor old Tommy was logged heavily the next day. Tommy must be long gone now, but would have thought he was well know in Liverpool, KT

[John Arton]

Survival suits
re. #20 from JS
Don't know what the regulations regarding passenger ships crew is regarding survival suits, but on all other merchant ships a survival suit has to be provided for each crew member plus at least two spare for use by pilots or supernumeries. The problem with this is that the manufacturers only make suits in 3 standard sizes and with crew changing on a regular basis how many of each size does the ship owner provide. In my experience they plump for supplying mainly large size with a small number of medium and small. Abandon ship drills where we all had to don our survival suits often turned into a farce with small Filipino lads even been swamped in medium sized suits and huge Russians trying to squeeze into even the large sized ones. I often used to wonder about the effectiveness of these suits given that the head and neck seal were not 100% given the size of the wearer as opposed to the suit size. The sight of a small Filipino sailor trying to operate life saving gear whilst enclosed in these suits where sometimes his arms were not even long enough to allow his hands to fit into the gloves that are moulded as part of the suit, made them look like Bill and Ben the Flowerpot men. These suits have to be annually tested for leaks and this usually has to be done by an accredited shore service station at something like 30 euros a suit.
immersion_suit.jpg
This is how you are meant to look in your survival suit, reality is a bit different with baggy legs and arms being the norm.
As cadet we thought that the Captain had gone overboard during the night as the steward did not find him when he took him his wake up cuppa and he was not answering his phone. We had searched the ship and were just considering putting out the man overboard message when he came strolling into the wheelhouse rubbing his eyes and wanting to know what all the fuss was about. After explaining to him that we thought he had gone over board he explained that as the a/c was not working (we were outbound in the Gulf of Oman) it was that hot in his cabin that he had decided to kip on the monkey island, where he had got a great nights kip, thanks. Only thing was he had slept right through sunrise and was now suffering from mild sunburn.
rgds
JA