Was anyone a Cunard Yank??

[Jim Brady]

Brian,some good stories and great pictures on that site,did you read the poem on the card game under tall tales very funny.
Regards.
Jim>B.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Jim not got around to that one yet, but a very entertaining site..
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Cunard Yanks
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A lot of names on there are very familiar, I sailed with a lot of those men.

On Tall Tales, 5. there was a piece about some of the lads trying to get tickets for the Opening ceremony of the New Cruise Terminal, when the QE2 came in.
I got a ticket for Anne and me. I told them that I was a reporter for the `Vindi News` and they sent me two tickets , no probs. We were stood next to the Duke of Kent and chatting to Mike McCartney, then went on board for lunch afterwards a coach to the Anglican Cathedral, a big show on there, we met up with Jimmy Saville who we knew from previous voyages on QE2. A good day out,. Unfortunately the old guys who should have been there were excluded. men who were Cunard and the Veterans all excluded. Most of the guests had never sailed on a Cunard ship or indeed any ship.
Brian.

[John Dunn]

Ivernia December 1966 June 1967 Deck boy to OS, Cunard cowboys was what I found out some of the older guys were called in Liverpool. I did not become one as I was of a different generation, started drinking in the Market Diner 52 street then me and the two apprentices would go down to Greenwich village. Hung out at a club called the Cafe go go James Cotton Blues band and Jimmy Hendricks, great times though I was a little cautious when I first joined her in Liverpool right out of Gravesend Peanut factory, asked where the crew was and was told to go over the road to a pub, full of sailors and dockers, introduced myself to the crew and they proceeded to get me drunk, in came one of the apprentices to tell us to return as we were sailing they got him drunk too then came the second mate so off we all went drunk to get the ship out of the harbour into the River , next morning i was hauled up in front of the captain and given a talk on being influenced by the crew and how he did not want to see me before him again. Sea sick for 3 days until Christmas morning then the bosuns mate Tansy came into my cabin and gave me a shot of booze which straightened me out and was able to eat Christmas dinner. Some of the roughest weather crossing that Atlantic, icebergs etc , chipping icicles from the rigging with snow on deck and the Captain taking pictures of his wife while we were hanging in the rigging, I think I was in a bosuns chair doing the fore stay. Good fun for a young lad from Yorkshire , of course I got two nicknames Yorky and Lofty due to being a 6 footer among the 5 foot Liverpudlians, this served me well one stormy night when all hands were called out to re-rig a container on deck which had bust the chains, rigging up a derrick and a windless we worked hard to get the container back on the tracks and chained down again, heaved too some one would shout hold on as a wave broke over the bow and instantly flooded the deck, holding on for your life the water rose very fast swirling around our feet then in an instant up to my neck then in another instant gone, of course the short Liverpool guys were all under water as even I had to go up on my tip toes to avoid being submerged myself. I always figured they were called Cunard Cowboys because we all had jeans [ US2.25 a pair]and jean jackets [ Us3.25] but some of the older guys wore cowboy boots too when going ashore. one guy Merv the perv was always going to the porn shows on 42 street. one Ab I remember was called Bobby, Those were the days all right , stayed in the merch until 71 then in 72 came to BC Canada and became a fisherman owning two boats over the past 40 years , one still with me though now on blocks at the farm 41 foot Halibut Schooner style boat with the cabin on the stern, had two deckhands, long lined Halibut , Cod, Shark and did Prawn fishing until I retired. Those were the days foot loose and fancy free, American girls were aplenty, a little blarney and away you went. Jack Dempsey bar, Market Diner and too many adventures to write here good memories.

[gray_marian]

#33, 'many adventures' John, The more the merrier New stories appreciated. Welcome to the site.

[Keith Moody]

Stuart, #29 I too have spent a consierable time in "your fathers" good atmosphere but you left out the fact that they showed silent films thoughout, also something not usualy allowed was the saw dust on the floor, and the girls were not bad to look at either.
keith moody
R635978

[happy daze john in oz]

Never a Cunard Yank myself but remember the numbers of them that drank in Skullards Bar in Southampton. For some reason many of them would stuff a one pound note behind their watch band, bloody odd lot!

[John Pruden]

my next door neighbour Eddie DEAN and a friend albert WILD both cunard yanks and still are even in their 70s just to name a few? jp

[Ron B Manderson]

I still have song book we used in New Orleans " fathers "
Seems a long time ago.
Ron the batcave

[j.sabourn]

For those who worked in the North Sea oil and exploration in earlier years well may remember some of the oil rig workers ashore in Aberdeen. The going gear for some was the obligatory Red Wing working boots, chequered shirt and jeans. Some went so far as to try and emulate an American accent, until they had one too many and broke into their normal accents be it scouse, Scottish, Geordie or whatever. Don't know who they thought they were fooling, certainly not the local girls. However I suppose many played out their fantacys. Suppose they would also be embarrassed now Brian, although suppose also made it to carry on in later life. Maybe it worked for some and they did manage to fool some of their employers. JS

[Leonard Hotchkiss]

i was on cunard from 1960 till 69 from the Maure - Mary -Lizzie - franc - corona asst butcher, company contract so jumped about quite a bit ,m.navy8 001.jpg altho not exactly in catering thought of myself a cunard yank on the left in the pic