I was mainly on the colonial run and it was a experience that could never be replicated ashore. Money did not mean a thing as when first arriving would throw into tarpualin musters and like everyone else end up broke about one third around the coast but still would go ashore and others would top up the tarpualin muster of ships that had just arrived. No one seemed to care who's money it was as it was all about friendships and mates. Try to explain that to shore side workers. It was vertually like being a memeber of a very close family. Well it was with the crowds I sailed with and on top of all this it did not even matter what shipping line you where with. I do not know if other departments where like this but the deck crew's where notorious for it. Maybe that is why I do not recall many names because there where do bloody many and our brain cellls where otherwise engaged between our legs what was left of them.
I know I get into strife on site for being outspoken but you can blame it on my formulating years on Aussie/Kiwi coast. We would BS one another but would not take it of anyone else because they always seemed to believe their own BS.
To sum up where else could you end up half way around the world with not a cracker in your pocket yet end up legless and a bird on your arm at the end of the night. Only a seaman could.
That's the way the mop flops.
My thanks to Brian for this site.