QM2 Man Overboard??

[Captain Kong]

Hi John
I believe what you say, all I was saying is in the 50s to 60 we did have a pride in our jobs, and we looked after them. In CPR we always had Very Good ABs, No Cowboys on Deck, all good Seamen. the Empress boats were very good jobs, only 17 days away and back home again so the men looked after their jobs. It was the same in the Cunard boats, The Catering lads were the same, they had good paying jobs with good tips which in many cases were better than the wages. So the men took care and looked after their positions.
Then I think after the 1966 Strike things started to change, the good guys were retiring or getting shore jobs and new ones coming in, The Sea Schools as we knew them were closing down, like the Vindicatrix, that turned out well trained Seamen closed in 1966, ABs??? were trained in two weeks in the new system , and not over six years as everyone did in the old days. So the old skills and the Pride of being a good AB also went. so that was part of the cause of the demise of good seamanship and the Merchant Navy.
When I was Mate and Master in the 80s and 90s they were just a bunch of losers, I did not tolerate them and got rid of them as they were a liability. Some ABs on the wheel did not know which was port or starboard and were a danger. I enquired as to where they got their AB tickets from, One told me he did two weeks at Gravesend and got an AB Certificate without setting foot on the deck of a ship, and so the job was just one big laugh to them. I got out soon after. totally disillusioned.
Cheers
Brian

[cappy]

new an AB in yorks ....smoked weed every day took it to sea with him......he was on the act boats ......nobody to talk to so few crew aboard .....thats not the life we knew ....very sad ....cappy

[j.sabourn]

when I first started in the North Sea in 78 I had to start all over again as Mate, it was a totally different learning culture. After the first Rig shift which in those days was a very heavy job especially on ships with the old gear. The Skipper would get every man on the ship on the Bridge, 10 of us, pull a 40 ounce bottle of whiskey out of where he had it stowed, pull the cap and throw over the side, and every man stood there until the bottle was empty, every one then carried on and ship proceeded back to port, where further festivities proceeded that night ashore. The job came first and then was time to play. Nowadays you see the crews sitting on board in Aberdeen frightened to go ashore in case anyone reports them for drinking. The whole backbone on seafaring has been removed. The skipper who had this ritual was not a plonkey, I don't know if any others performed this ritual, but there cant be many left if they did. Cheers JS

[Charlie Hannah]

I was on the rigs on this coast for about three years Helicopter to and from rig longest trip was five hours,All we wore was a life jacket.
Also i was on the Empress boats in the fifties and sixties,The crew Pig & whistle,was very well run you could always rely on a good night sing song and lots of laughs.The only time i ever saw any scrapping was one day in the Mess room a fight broke out between two ABs "Jimmy Grace" & "Frank back" didn't last long they shook hands and that was it.Funny how it started though we had an Ab. Polish guy "Frank back" one of the Qms payed off,just by chance Ah Ha frank and a nicely ironed and pressed Qms uniform with him,Jimmy besides playing guitar and being a good all round act,was also a good cartoonist and he posted a cartoon on the notice board "Our Hero" Frank being subject to the skit saw it on his way past charged in to the Mess room and demanded the person who post it own up.Of course up stood Jimmy and he told frank it's just a joke Frank,well frank wouldn't cop it so it was on.I happened to be sitting on the end of the bench seats we had in the mess when Jimmy threw a hay-maker Frank stepped to one side i had to duck really fast result Jimmy's fist connected to the big vent shaft that ran along the deck head.Left a big dent in it!They shook hands and that was it.
Just came to me there was one other fisticuffs on the France that trip nothing much to it but very funny at the time,Seven in the cabin "Johnny Bickerstaf"made a crack about "Jimmy Wilson"about having a skid mark in his daks,and it was on both good mates half a dozen punches thrown but no damage done again they shook hands and it was all over.You could always rely on a good crowed on the Empress Boats.

[j.sabourn]

It has been mentioned a few times in these posts about a time limit being imposed on search times. During instances where I have been employed in such searches have never heard of before. I did keep abreast of all the "M" notices put out of that era but can"t remember ever reading. Most searches were usually co-ordinated through a shore station by the Safety Controller or as in Australia AMSA, while they did not have the Authority to demand a master to exceed what he thought were the limits of his vessel and crew, they did have the authority to call other ships in the area to assist in search patterns etc. It was the norm for them to call off the search and release ships of their obligations. If search was not co-ordinated from the shore the master would use whatever facilities were at hand, and was on his judgement when the search was called off, there were no time limits as such that I was aware of. If in an area not conducive to other shipping, he would probably on giving up the search put out a Securitay message as a finale saying where he thought the area of where the body may have been and asked all ships transitting the area to keep a lookout. That piece in the papers about the master of the Concordia being told by some wanker ashore to stay where he was, and picked up by the press for a headline, was the usual press misconception of the facts. Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Do not recall seeing any working crew the worse for drink when working. Ashore I have seen some in the gutter stoned out of their mind, but the same ones who turn to in the morning with maybe a sore head but they still worked.

[John Pruden]

#30... For those who haven't seen before the black thing hanging above his baggy crutch is the zip. The other black tube is for blowing himself up, not to be confused with giving himself a blow job. This is a perfect fit as John says and is how it should fit but never did. I cant imagine Brian crawling around his loft exterminating wasps, but there again I can. How can one pull that zip up or down with hands like that, certainly would be even difficult holding a can of ale. As for a fag JP impossible in any case no mouth to put it in. Cheers JS

I am a non drinker or smoker I am getting a grumpy man where smoking or drinking is concerned?? I must be going mad....jp

[j.sabourn]

#44.... Charlie is always good to know there were a few seamen on the rigs. The difference between offshore work out here and on the rigs in the North sea was like chalk and cheese. In the North Sea they were kept apart wage wise and work wise, most on rigs in the North Sea thought if you were on a ship you were driving a motor car and taxi service, were totally immersed in their own life style and paid way above any seaman. Out here was a different story the shoe was on the other foot and were forced at times to take advice from the ship in attendance, were not as well off financially as the seamen and in general was a different atmosphere all round. I lapped it up. When ever one got staff straight from the North Sea on the likes of seismic ships and drill ships, it gave me great pleasure when they tried throwing their weight around to tell them that they were no longer in the North Sea but in Australia. I have always had the feeling there would have been more survivors from the Piper Alpha if there had been more with a seafaring background on board her, as it was there were some don't know how many that we got did have a seafaring knowledge that others didn't. If more had been wiser they would have made for the water also. When they had to put a marine crew on board to move a rig here, that made my day, and all these ex hire and fire merchants had to stand there with egg on their face. Cheers JS

[Captain Kong]

I am a non drinker or smoker I am getting a grumpy man where smoking or drinking is concerned?? I must be going mad....jp

Don't worry about it John
I am a none smoker now and haven't had a proper drink for two and a half years now since my Big Operation in Honolulu on my Liver and Pancreas. $88,000.
and I feel a hell of a lot better for it.
I just have a glass of wine with dinner on a Saturday and Sunday evenings. Not seen the inside of an Alehouse in all that time. I have no mates left to drink with now they have all died off in the last two years. Been to 27 funerals and I am still here.
I can now go to Parties and drive home instead of getting a Taxi. Going to a big family party on Saturday.
The money I save pays for my vacations.
Cheers
Brian

[j.sabourn]

Is that the party for vicars and tarts that cappy is going to Brian. What size by the way was your immersion suit it must have been a one and that's how it fits you now. Would be a good fancy dress if is that sort of party, cappys going in his water wings and nothing else. Says it saves a lot of time. How bigs the sunday glass. Cheers and make hay while the sun shines. All the best John S