Those daft questions passengers asked us

[j.sabourn]

#40 The reason I ask is because the vessel I was on was in collision years before I joined her with a Harrison vessel and you may or not have been aware of, as would have been in the years you were trading with Trinidad maybe ? JS

[vic mcclymont]

Sailing from Las Pamas on the SA Vaal, the commodore log was streamed out from Promenade Deck. A passenger spotted the cable streaming out and asked an Engineer what it was for. Response ships power, The passenger looked baffled, response from Engineer, how do you think we get our electricity.
Passenger, was more than pleased with this response.
Vic

[j.sabourn]

Re the commodore log , apart from streaming from right aft, some vessels streamed from the wing of the bridge from a swing out boom this enabled the watch keeper to read at anytime rather than the wheelman to read and bring up the figure every 4 hours at the change of watch. Recovery of the rotator for any purpose had then to be done with a small grapnel hand thrown over the log line. JS
PS The log line was plaited rope and was also a substitute for ships clothes lines . JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
If my mind is still working properly, I think all Union Co ships had that swing arm from the bridge, as we used to keep the lookout on the wing of the bridge.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Do the crew sleep onboard, was one such question asked by a lady.
No madam, we bring them back each morning by helicopter.

She looked at him a bit odd before saying is that the noise I hear each morning?

The noise was most likely chipping hammers.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John
Or the baker playing bowls on deck with his buns.
Des

[Gerald Farr]

Hi John, The only port in Trinidad we went to was Point a Pierre, Regent Oil's loading jetty capable of accommodating two maybe three 18000 ton tankers, it's a long time ago now to remember all the details, some are clearer than others. I do know that when Regent sold out to Texaco, Texaco put in an offshore buoy berth for their bigger 30000ton tankers. The only time that the Regent Springbok went to Port of Spain was in early 1953 when she carried the Princess Royal, Princess Mary, out to Trinidad for her visit to the Caribbean. She was supposed to take her back but the visit was suddenly cut short. (Maybe she didn't like travelling on a tanker). Princess Royal was supposed to travel out there on Regent Oil's new ship Regent Royal but apparently the passenger accommodation wasn't up to royal standard so Bowrings Springbok was requisitioned instead and with one or two minor alterations to her passenger accommodation was completely acceptable. Mind you most of the passengers we carried were company employees who had the choice of travelling (passage paid by Regent Oil) on either passenger ship or tanker and they nearly all preferred the tankers, they reckoned the cabins were better and the service and food equally as good if not better. Hope all this makes sense but if you have any queries just ask. Cheers from another migrant Pom. G.F.

[happy daze john in oz]

Gerald, so there you are up on Mount Macedon, and is down here in Sunbury.
But you will do well over the next few days with temps in the high 30's.

[Gerald Farr]

Hi John, Unfortunately it sounds good but for thirty odd years we lived in Macedon and then the Shire changed the boundaries. So we still live in the same place but now with higher rates, higher insurance because we are now in a "more fire prone area", all because some silly ..... wanted to have Mount on their address. Anyway I won't bother you with my whingeing about that. Maybe we could have a chat one day. Cheers, G.F. ps That photo really is in my local cemetery.

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes found it one day on a visit to a guy we knew who is buried there.
Caught my eye as something different.
You are the first to notice.
Love to catch up if we can, chew the fat about the 'good old days'.