Ex Cunard Apprentice, 1957 onwards

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

Served my time, 1957, with Cunard, "Brescia" & "Arabia", at £9 per month, mainly bilge-diving, tank cleaning and weekend unpaid nightwatch! In between, managed a bit of navigation and watchkeeping, but did most mornings washing down and cleaning brass. Went on deck, earned good money with Benline etc, then took my tickets and gained my first command in 1974, "Liberty Moon", North Sea supply boat from Great Yarmouth. Sailed freelance, worldwide and retired in 1995 at 65. Now do voluntary Coastwatch, to be recommended to all of you! It is the nearest you will ever be again to the bridge of a ship. You will be most welcome and given full training.
Regards, good to be on board, Captain Gordon Whittaker, (Ambassador for The Merchant Navy Training Board, Chamber of Shipping, London).

[Glenn Baker]

Good on you Gordon , Your love of the sea has shone out and even in retirement you have found a way yo satisfy that tie all over again, my vey bestto you Glenn in Australia, . Deck also Second Mates ticket (FG)

[Gulliver]

Hi Cap'n,Good to have you aboard,Sir!.Enjoyed a few of your stories already.
You know,memories of former shipmates or ports of call may fade, but evocative smells...like bilge-water never will!
I too was lucky to learn skills like wire-splicing from Liverpudlian crews on the Bibby ships at the beginning of the 70's.i.e usually the PO/QM's on the 'white-crew' ships at that time.Don't get me wrong though,because I also learnt a lot of 'dodges' from our Chinese crews later on in life! But the best 'teacher I knew was a retired Anchor Line Chief Officer (John Henderson who was an ex-John Browns Shipyard rigger(He later sailed again and made it to Master at 60.....how's that for dedication.
As regards Coastguard.....don't suppose there's a vacancy here on the R iver Severn?
Very busy...16 swans per hour and an upturned canoe once every three weeks?
We're a great mixture of ranks,ratings and seafaring spouses and relatives here -a great 'ship 'indeed -bet you often wished you could have sailed with such a 'crowd' I know I do!

Welcome Aboard

[Jim Brady]

"Still Stiirring It".I dont stir anything,only anything that looks dodgy!!!
I had a PM from a guy on this site after I pulled Capt Kong about his unbelievable stories that he posted on this site.The guy sent me a copy of an e.mail that he sent to Kong that if he did not stop writing this rubbish he was going to expose him.The guy had already banned him from two other sites because of his lies.This guy sailed with Kong and said Brian was a great guy but unfortunatly a "Pathological Liar"
What I cannot believe is that you people reading Kongs escapades were so naive to believe them,you have been all around the World and looked after yourself from a young age and yet you believed this drivvel and asked for more.
The main point was I said why was Gordon Whittaker using the title Captain,I pointed out that this was a mainly a crew site.I spent some time in the plate house should I come on and say"Plate man James Brady " "Donkey Greaser Tom Smith" Glory Hole Steward John Brown" "Pisspot Jerker Tom Jones".
I dont think the Captain would've used any title had he not reached the rank of Captain.
Kind Regards
B

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Jim.
If you read Gordon's post again you will see he also states that he went on deck, so he was an alround seaman. He then went on to get his tickets for that he earns my respect. I was given the oportunity on my first ship of studying for my ticket, to my regret I didn't take it up. As Gulliver says this is a site for finding old shipmates so his title is I think appropriate.As for Cap't Kong well I like a good yarn, and as we get older a little bit of bull always comes in.
Cheers Des

[alf corbyn]

i think we have a few "tongue in cheek" lads on this site who stretch the truth a little!."so what".
i enjoy reading some of the exploits, and i also like writing about my own.i try not to embellish them but the memory does let you down sometimes. i do remember that we all used to boast of our conquests, experiences etc. but tried to stay within reason. it would have been a very dull life if we hadn't.
so good luck to all storytellers. i remain ADMIRAL ALF haha

[Jim Brady]

Thanks for your comments boy's I'm half "Gassed" at the moment, tomorrow I will read them again and give you a reply.It'sto late to wish you guys in Australia "Merry Christmas" but anyway have a "Good Prosperas New Year" Especialy you Gulliver.
Kind Regards
JB

[happy daze john in oz]

Jim lad thanks for the timely best wishes. Kaptain Kong, or any other ex M.N. person has tales to tell, some the dead setb truth, some embelished. Sadly from experience I knw that even some of the true ones are looked upon by non seamen as a bit 'sus'. we were the lucky ones mate who lived, ade I say a 'charmed life' in more ways than one. I realised that much of what Kong said was embelished, but what the heck it was good for a laugh. As Gulliver tells it we are here for a good time not a long time. Enjoy what is written, pass comment if you wish, delete wat offends you. That way we will all be happy. Remember 'Free speech' a corner stone of our democray, just ask Rear Amiral alf.

[Captain Kong]

After reading the comments made by Mr Brady and his mentor, a Mr Dwyer, I feel it is now time to defend my character from these childish accusations. I thought this was a site for mature Seamen not silly schoolgirls.
In some of my yarns they are the 100% truth, some are faction, some are 90% truth and 10% embellishment, they are just that, YARNS, read the dictionary version of YARNS. I leave it to the reader to decide. I was only being entertaining and if some reader does not like it, Tough, They should get a life. Maybe Mr Brady didn’t have many adventures in his Plate House.
I do not ever remember swearing on oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. so help me God."
By the way, the Royal Norfolk Regiment has a very good site, their motto is,"Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn". If it is good enough for these Veterans then it is good enough for me.
Do you call Josef Conrad a liar because he wrote `LORD JIM`? because it never happened.
Mr Brady`s mentor, Mr Dwyer, who is an internet stalker and lives a very sad life, is also not averse to a few Porkys.
Sometimes he does not know who he is, He calls himself Tony Berger of Newcastle NSW, then he calls himself Ed Symo, of Perth, when writing to the Vindicatrix web site. According to Mr Brady, Mr Dwyer claims to have had me banned from two web sites. Untrue. Another porky. Mr Dwyer had an argument with me over the `sailorshome.net`, when I was the Moderator, he then closed the site down. A couple of months or so later he started it up again, `sailorshome.org` I was invited to rejoin, I declined. I still have all the emails sent between us. Then Mr Dwyer came on this site after a lot of internet stalking, calling me a liar.
I had to ask the Administrator to stop him. Mr Dwyer continued with his malicious accusations. I DELETED ALL MY POSTINGS AND STOPPED POSTING, I LIKE TO LEAVE A TIDY SHIP.
Mr Dwyer then told all his cronies that I had been banned from this Merchant Navy site and the Administrator had deleted all my postings. Another porky by Mr Dwyer, this can be verified by our Administrator.
Mr Dwyer continues to harrass me at my home address the last mail around two weeks ago. This man is now 75 years old and has nothing better to do than be an internet stalker. He should get a life, at this age we do not have long to go before we leave this planet, I have known him for 53 years and four months and he was a good mate until he took ill around twenty months ago and then his whole personality suddenly changed. Maybe it is his medication that is doing it. This is the first time I have ever commented on his behaviour, I have always been loyal to him and have never critisized him , but it is now the time to stop all this childishness.
Abe Lincoln once said, “A day without laughter is a day of your life lost”. Let us not lose any more of our days, we don’t have many left at this age.
Also Mr Brady seems to have some kind of hang up about men who aspire to a higher level than his own dizzy heights of a Plate House person. Where a man goes in his chosen career is his own decision. There is nothing wrong with being a Plate House Person, some of my best ftriends have worked in the Plate House also as Kitchen Porters. In 1956 on the old Franconia, I was AB, I applied to the Chef to be a KP, I was turned down.
His unwarranted attack on Captain Gordon Whittaker was unjustified, I was enjoying reading his story, no doubt his comments have killed that, I would not blame the Captain if he never wrote on here again after being insulted by a man who cannot contribute any thing but abuse of his fellow members. Maybe Mr Brady and Mr Dwyer should read the Rules of this site,

You will not make any statements that could be construed as defamatory of an individual, group or business
Respect for your fellow member.

As for my own “title” of `Captain Kong`, this name was given to me by my grandchildren. I was using a new server and wanted a new name, We had just watched the old film of King Kong, they suggested I use kingkong@msn.com.
I requested it and was told someone else was using it, so my 8 year old grand daughter suggested Captainkong, and so that is the name I used.

I started life at the Vindicatrix, on deck, I sailed as a Peggy then JOS, then EDH and AB. And a good one as Mr Dwyer would testify, we made a good team on deck and the scourge of all Bosun`s and Mates, we knew our job and could break out jumbos, splice wires and any other sailorizing job a Mate could throw at us.
After 23 years on deck, including two and a half years off when I got married and had a couple of shore jobs from Steel erecting to a salesman, before going back to sea.
I then, with my company`s encouragement and pay and expences, went to Fleetwood Nautical College and gained a 2nd Mates Cert, then a three years later returned for Mates and by 1980 I gained my Masters.
I did this because "Officers" got shorter voyages and more leave, better conditions and pay, I did this first, because it was better for my family and also I thought I could do better than some of the "Officers" that I had sailed with. I stayed at sea until I retired.
Due to the attitude of Mr Brady then I should not be writing on this Merchant Navy site.
Lighten up men, we are not long for this world.
Adious and Sayonara
Captain Kong, aka Brian.

[Neville Roberts]

Glad too hear you owned up too stretching the truth in your exploits, as some of the stories were laughable at best . but a good read any way. as you say we are in our later years and should not take ourselves too seriosly. a laugh a day keeps the reaper away.