When I was at sea & indeed now, it was sacrilege to spill a drink any time, even if you fell over, took years of practice to master the trick but I think I"ve got it now cheers Ivan.
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When I was at sea & indeed now, it was sacrilege to spill a drink any time, even if you fell over, took years of practice to master the trick but I think I"ve got it now cheers Ivan.
A source of amusement to me was the Western Films where the Barman filled a whiskey glass up and zoomed it down to the client at the far end of the Bar, i guess everyone else must have shot each other on the Whitemans Firewater
If I recall there were many of us who drank more than their fair share of grog. On the Cape Caost a bottle of brandy a day was not uncommon. But we did eat and we did work so I guess we worked a lot of it off. Some of the ones Brian speaks of most likely just sit around all day waiting for the next bottle.
Remember a ch. eng telling me that when he went for his interview, they asked him if he drank, he said I dont mind if I do I'll have a gin and tonic, no ice. Think he misunderstood what they meant. However he got the job, was before this witch hunt on seafarers who liked a drink, as usual got beyond a laughing matter. I see nothing wrong with taking a drink, at 76 I still imbibe and even the last few years at sea refused to adhere to a bunch of wa s ashore, who had the impression they were the military police. Never could and never will understand the sanctimonious shore b....s, probably most of whom spend their evenings every night in the pub. P.S. The C/E who didnt want ice in his drink was saying he was in Malta during the war, and the ice was made with contaminated water, and a lot of them finished up with bad stomachs and never ever took ice after that. Cheers John Sabourn
john wasin a shell tanker out of shields first time i saw hooch brewed at seathe main brewer a fireman who thought it good fun to thro his crabs into the deck boys bunkQuote:
Originally Posted by j.sabourn
the booze was made in a galvanised bucket and after afew days brewing the r sole drunk it and couldnt turn to for about 4 days nobody grassed him up but the deck boy and an os saw that anything he drank was sorted out with suitable liquid at every chance he was not well when he joined but a lot worse when he paid off proper justice
regards cappy from shields:rolleyes:
My son was not saying on that TV Interview, Dont drink,
He was saying drink wisely. not pallatic every day, bombed out of the skull, day after day after day on cheap Cider and Vodka, He has to try and save the lives of those plonkies.. The Liver does not stand a chance, it has to have time to recover. He says have around three days a week alcohol free if you are a heavy drinker.
A bottle of Vodka has 24 units of alcohol, a 3 litre bottle of Cider has 22 units of alcohol , price £3, Vodka around £12 So the plonkies are on the cider and more than one litre of Cheapo cider a day. their guts are rotten, they cannot have Liver transplants because the rest of thei internals have been destroyed. He has the unpleasant job of telling them they are going to die.
Of course we all drank a lot at sea, But did we? in port Yes but on watch at sea we didnt and the Liver had time to recover in between, so we survived.
Try drinking 22units of alcoholic Cider Every Day like the Plonkies in Portsmouth do and then see how long you will survive. Not too long.
The lad enjoys a pint and a bottle of wine with dinner at the week end, But he doesnt get legless every day, would you like to have a Surgeon staggering into the theatre with his scalpel trying to cut into you. NO , but they do drink wisely. That is the message he is trying to get across.
Cheers
Brian.l
Know what you mean Brian. The real plonkers or alkies were no use on a ship and were got rid of in various ways, Cappys was one way of doing it. I think I mentioned in a post a couple of years ago that I received a letter for your eyes only wanting me to report on all the members of the crew on their drinking habits, how much they consumed etc. I dont consider this the masters job to be the company spy. If there was any problems the first line of defense is on the ship, not the ship being run by the office boy. The means of giving a man notice was available by the ship not the office. I posted this letter on the ships notice board to make everyone aware of what was going on, the other masters in the company did their own thing. However I was pretty high up on the redundancy list a couple of years later, so upset some w.....r. If you saw what appears to be a crew of choir boys now, frightened to go ashore for a pint in case someone reports them, guards on dock gates with breath testers, it makes one feel like a leper. Shipping nowadays has gone over the limits as regards the scare tactics that have been employed for a number of years now. Regards John Sabourn
Hi John.
ESSO started after the EXXON VALDES disaster. All bars closed on ships, The bottle of wine per table at Sunday Dinner was stopped. Completely Dry ships. then the Master was Issued with a breathalizer kit.
After a night ashore the Captain could Breathelise anyone to see if they still had alcohol in them at the Breakfast table, if so Instant dismissal from the Company with the loss of the non contributary pension.
On a long voyage of five months around the Cape to the Gulf and back, life was pretty misderable.
Cheers
Brian.
i have recently had a full M.O.T. blood urine everything i drink most days some times just a couple of pints other times 4 times that anyway i passed with flying coulours brian this weekend dale is coming to mine i feel a drink coming on
:):D;)
I was on a tanker the electrician liked his plonk and was a hazzard to the ship.He was sitting on deck pizzzd and smoking the tank lids were open.I threw a bucket of cold water over him,he screamed he would report me to the captain I told him I would only be too pleased to accompany him upto the captains cabin.I threatened him in Three Rivers that if he came back to the ship I would throw him over the side,he was adrift fo a few days.The comical part about it the captain stopped his tap so he was without a drink for a few weeks.Christmas day the captain invited officers and engineers to his cabin for a drink,being Christmas he could'nt leave the electrician out.Would you beleive it the electrician set the captains settee on fire!!!
Regards.
Jim.B.