Those daft questions passengers asked us

[j.sabourn]

#30 1. That’s why any ice carvings should be made with a mixture of ice and whiskey and should be drank when melted .
2. Long trousers after 1800 hrs . Is self explaining , unless you have legs like miss Universe, who wants to sit and look at hairy ones .
When I first went to sea wearing long pants was expected of you going ashore in the heat of
Summer in the West Indies until some Professor of clothing design brought out his idea of Bermuda Shorts . Here’s to hairy legs being concealed after 1800 hrs. Cheers the ice carving has melted at last. JS

I see we are talking at cross purposes here John , I’m referring to some artist into carving statues and things out of an ice block , and you are talking about a berg calfing ??
Which will eventuate in it becoming bergy bits then further into ice floes. So the artist or carver of statues had better jump into his kayak with his ice pick ready to choose his bit of ice. A small bergy bit if he wants to carve the Eiffel Tower say , JS

[Francis Ralph]

As to him speaking English, maybe he didn’t want to show his preference for Oxford or Cambridge, on the other hand may have attended Newcastle university there being a big Arab community in South Shields. So knew with his accent no one would understand him in any case ?. JS

Did my Radar cert in Sth Shields in '62. The Arabs were gathering even then ! What a change from the desert sands. Wonder why they bothered
R692715

[j.sabourn]

#32 ditto but in 1957. All relative bearings in those days. Plotting was mandatory , no good putting the range ring on a target and waiting for an alarm to go off. There was no such thing. Just had to take one target at a time and work out its nearest approach . Likes of the approaches to Singapore where could have a hundred targets on the 48 mile range was daunting , I found it best to work off the 12 mile range and just deal with them as they appeared on the screen. What you couldn’t see didn’t cause distress. Cheers JS

[Tony Taylor]

Did my Radar cert in Sth Shields in '62. The Arabs were gathering even then ! What a change from the desert sands. Wonder why they bothered
R692715

The Arab communiy in S. Shields was mainly Yemeni, but still nicknamed Saudi Shields by some.

[j.sabourn]

A lot were firemen and E.R. Staff. Gave no trouble I was aware of . Only complaint I ever heard was “ how come they get steak and egg for breakfast and we get bacon and egg mate “. JS
Or the later generation was their saying was “ my Daddy was a Geordie he come to South Shiely for further education”. JS.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John
One thing about those Arab seamen who went through the war in the MN' and who settled after it, they appreciated the value of living in Britain, where not the bludgers like those coming in now..
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Des, they are not Bludgers, rather skilled persons educated in the manner to claim benefits to which they have not contributed or are entitled to.

That is not my speak, rather that of a "woke' entity who said he thought they were badly misunderstood.

Pity the did not just understood the passing bus.

[DLambert]

Both Australia and the UK are 230/240 vAC at 50 Hz so should be no problem with appliances....unless being down under the motors etc go backwards!

[Gerald Farr]

When sailing as Apprentice on the Regent Tankers we carried up to twelve passengers between UK and Trinidad. The dining Saloon was laid out with three tables, The main headed by the Captain, Chief Engineer and First Mate, the other two by the Second Engineer and Second Mate respectively. Passenger seating was apparently allocated according to their Employee Seniority, if they had children with them likely to be a nuisance at the table or, if they had travelled before at their own request. The Hoi Poloi were usually placed at the Second Engineer's or Second Mate's table whilst the upper crust sat at the Captain's table. On this particular trip one lady also asked the Second Mate about lights as she had been told we didn't have them. The Second Mate jokingly told her we didn't need them as we would be mooring for the night, around about 1900hrs she caught him in the bar as he had his drink before retiring and asked why we hadn't stopped and his reply was that we hadn't reached the buoy yet. Mind you he did get a mild rebuke from the Old Man so she must have complained.

[j.sabourn]

#39 what ports in Trinidad were you using Gerald.? I was doing similar with the 12 passengers but on a dry cargo ship 1966/67 and in Port of Spain every 6 weeks. Our home port was however Montreal. Ships name was the Sunprincess , not the passenger liner of a similar name. I was Ch. officer there and had a similar eating arrangement . I managed to make the excuse most times I couldn’t make it due to Star sights , at the dinner at night. Used to get the stewardess to leave in cabin. Cheers JS.