Drugs at sea

Dennis, when i said i had not tried it I ment on a women,
I think at our age all any of us need is a little blue pill to complete our world.
when i was with the airlines, the band DEEP PURPLE leased our aircraft for 6 weeks, i was fortunate to be both the loadmaster, caterer and finnancial chap on their tour (for the airline that is ) the smell of weed from the 30 person road crew was tremendous on every leg of the flifght, so at one time i thought i would try it, what a disapointment, although i was told it was the best weed you could get, It didn`t do anything for me, never tried it again. as you say we didn`t need drugs to have a good time.
keith moody
R635978

Hi Jim, I'm with you on the Appleton Estate.
Not my style to buy anything that you have to stick any ware. Ha ha.
Seriously Jim. Never came across that either.
Then again. I spent a sheltered life at sea. Stayed aboard, while all hands went ashore.
By the way. I have a bridge for sale, if you are interested??

With Chinese crews in the 60"s, the older members were to my belief using opium. On sunday inspections could always smell even though they tried to cover by burning joss sticks. On doing the Shipmasters Medical Course on drugs in the 60"s in Liverpool this was unofficially conceded that a lot of leeway was given to the older Chinese that had used all their life, after all Britain had a big part to play on their addiction to same. Cant remember when the morphine was taken out of liferafts and lifeboats but will not find at sea nowadays. Obviously taken out because of people breaking into. Morphine was carried in a very limited amount usually enough for a couple of shots by the master and kept in the ships safe and had to be produced on the demand of Customs etc. also had a use by date and had to be sighted and replaced by a chemist and signed for at the required intervals. I have seen or suspected certain individuals on the light drugs at sea, but if caused no problems the same as drink, was up to them as regards their own health. In the North sea offshore was quite often searched for drugs as supposedly a lot of offshore workers were suspected of using. A favourite place for concealment apparently was inside the old video cassettes as these always seemed to be checked. Drugs to me seem to be used by people who have no respect for themselves or others, most seamen could do enough damage with drink without resorting to drugs. The only explanation unless medically approved that those who use are lacking something in their individual makeup. Like to stay blotto to what is going on around them. Similar to alcoholics which I have sailed with at least 3 that I know of. The worse one however is the reformed alcoholic, there is none so pure as the purified as is their wont to tell everyone, someone with the DTs is not what one wants to see every day of the week. Cheers JS

Hi Den.
Like the rest of the guys on here I never ever saw drugs while at sea. I was on a BTC tanker when a cabin boy bought some Spanish Fly in Port Said [At least that was what I think it was] he took some, and was comatose for two days, good lesson for a youngster. Jim I think it was Benzedrine that was in those inhalers, I used Benzedrine once while on the NZ coast, kept me awake to party, but the headache after soon put a stop to that.
Cheers Des

Attachment 18509

Des I suppose booze could come under the same category as drugs in some cases, so am not straying too far from the Drugs at sea Title. Was in Sweden backed up to the quay pulling rig chain onto the deck by means of the tugger winch, length by length was a long and laborious job. One of the ABs was on the tugger winch as was a bit hung over and kept him out of the way in case the chain ran. All of a sudden he disappeared behind the tugger winch and on dragging out clear was frothing at the mouth, shaking and vibrating like a man does shortly before death, he had also swallowed his tongue, I managed to get his tongue back by using a table spoon down his throat and kept pressure on same to stop swallowing again, until an ambulance came and whisked him ashore. If had happened at sea reckon he would have been a goner. I always made a point of carrying a bottle usually whiskey after that as master, regardless of whether it was a sackable offence or not, and had at least one occasion to use to wean someone else who was on the verge of the DTs. Its no good oooohing and aaaahing about the rights and wrongs of the case a persons life is more important than the breaking of regulations. The same thing could of happened in any shore establishment factory or otherwise, at sea was a different proposition. A lot of people seamen and otherwise smoked the weed I am lead to believe, maybe the few cases I came across was only the tip of the iceberg. However never saw any bad effects from doing so. Maybe just lucky. Cheers JS

On the Cape run knew a few who smoked some weed but mainly ashore in Cape Town or Durban. Never heard of heroin or any other drugs being used.

Morphine, Diazepam, amyl nitrate or their derivatives are still part of the WHO medical scales for ships but they have to be kept either in the masters safe or in a separate securely locked poison cabinet. They have to be listed on a separate customs declaration form for every port and boarding officers sometimes check the quantities actually on board against those listed in the medical scales. Any difference in quantities should have been recorded in the ships medical log book.
Regarding drugs, in the 70's we were finishing off a Caribbean charter run in Nassau. The gay 2nd steward had got picked up by a very camp but rich American who used to pick him up from the ship every night in his pink Cadillac (true) and the pair of them would spend the nights gambling in the fancy casinos there.
When this guy found that our next port was Baltimore he offered all the lads $50 per bag to carry weed up to Baltimore and I am pretty sure some of the crowd took him up on his offer, especially so when they were having runs ashore but not drawing any subs.
In the late 80's whilst working on the west coast of mexico, running petrol and diesel up from Salina Cruz up to various ports as far up to the just below the USA border, where we would discharge at an offshore pipeline, I found that the Indian crew had a nice side line running cocaine up there for the Mexican mooring master who was importing it into the States. I found a couple of 1kg bags of the stuff disguised as sugar in the deck stores on night (which goes to show how naïve the Indian crew were, sugar in the deck stores amongst rope, paint, shackles, tank cleaning gear etc?).
I was mate at the time and when I told the captain what I had discovered I was ordered to toss it over the side as he could not be bothered with all the hassle that would be involved in reporting the smuggling. I followed orders, we kept stum about it but there was a very angry Mexican next time we were up there plus a few distraught looking Indian crew when they found there little money earner had been discovered.
rgds
JA

A wise choice Jim.

John.

jim if I loaded my medicine in my sea bag I would not get up the gangway??:p jp

#19... John if everyone taking pills for different things on site were to have a tarpaulin muster, would probably fill a few seabags. When I complained to my doctor about having to take pills, his reply was its what keeping you alive. I only take 6 pills and there must be others taking more. Had a heart attack about 8 years ago which I still refuse to believe as had experienced the same symptoms 40 years ago had all the tests and nothing wrong, the last time drove to the doctors for a gastric disorder and told was having a heart attack so finished up in hospital for a week and 6 pills a day since. Must say the 6 pills do not only adhere to the heart side but to other complaints as well. Keep on hoping to see a blue pill sometime, so can go out with a smile on face. Cheers JS