The jobs we did before and after our Sea life .

[Doc Vernon]

Yes Keith T
Its amazing what we did in various jobs,and like you I too was at one time in the Fire Department (just another one of my many many jobs)
I was searching for my Thread about the various jobs we did,but cannot locate it!

Anyway I too had quite an experience (also one of many) when in the Fire Dept!
It was in Durban,and all of the Firemen had to also do Ambulance Duties at some stage!

To not make this too long,i was called out on an Ambo Emergency,so with all Sirens going full blast off to the scene!

Well when arriving there,i was rather shocked at what me and my sidekick found!
There were a few steps going down to the Public Toilets near the Town Hall, and they had been locked for the night!

I then heard first of all this very weird groaning,so rushed down the steps,to see that there was a Guy pinned on the Steel Door on one of the Spikes!
The Spike was right through his Groin,and he was stark naked!

I had to get a huge wad of cotton wool,hold it against his groin and then lifted him up and off the spike!
This was very very unpleasant ,as when I started to shove upwards,as one can imagine the Blood just started to rush out and all over me too!
It also made a squishy sound,made my Heart pound I must say!

Apparently this poor Guy was dead drunk (lucky in a way for him as that I am sure eased the pain) he had fallen asleep in the Toilet,and they never checked when locking up!
On awakening he then took his cloths off to try and get through the gap at the top of the steel door,and slipped.
Through all this operation he never actually cried out in pain,just a moan,and asking for Water,something unfortunately at that stage we couldn't give him!

Anyway rushed him to Addington Hospital,with me sitting at the back of the Ambo holding this great big wad of cotton wool,with as much pressure as I could muster!
Got him there and later found out that he made a full recovery!
Lucky Guy!

True Story Lads!
Cheers

[Lou Barron]

One of the jobs I did when I was going to leave the sea was a galley boy in the Dunedin Prison kitchen non paying

[Doc Vernon]

Bugger that for a laugh Lou!
Sure there were better things to do!
Cheers

[Lou Barron]

No way Vernon it was better than some of the other jobs given to the prisoners and I got better food

[robpage]

Was that for jumping ship Lou ?

[Captain Kong]

I left school at 15, was apprentice engineer at De Havillands, got sacked because a woman told the Manager I wanted to join the MN , So he told I could join Now.
So went down the Coal Mine, Dark when I went down , dark while down there, and dark when I surfaced, never saw the sun, did 6 months, left and went into a cotton mill shoving raw cotton through a machine. full of Cotton Dust which can give you lung cancer, Bysinosis.
Then went to the Vindicatrix and away to sea.
Did ten years, then went ashore when I got married, became a Steel Erector, building Motorway bridges over the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, building factories etc. laid off for the winter so became a silk screen printer, got sacked cos I was on nights, 10 to 6 am, a mate clocked on for me, one night as I was at a party. So worked on a building site. got sacked. I filled in the big Irish Foreman when after digging a hole 7 feet deep for the sewers and stopped for a chat and a ciggie, He said , "If your shovel can work as fast as your mouth you would make a good Navvy." So we climbed out of the hole , threw him in it and threw the soil on top of him, Never got paid that weeks wages.
Then got a job in a plastic coated fabrics factory inspecting rolls of coated fabric, stuck behind a machine. was going potty so I packed in. I was going to Night School, at the college learning salesmanship. wanted a job as a Sales Rep so I could have a new car and work in a white shirt and tie and a suit. There is no future working with your back and hands, always in and out of jobs.
I became good at it, big money and traveling around. I sold Gas fires and Cookers etc for a while then Burtons Biscuits and Ryvita, then Dulux paints and wallpaper to the trade. Excellent job,
Sometimes never left home, did a lot of the business on the phone, phoned my secretary with the orders and then went to play golf for the rest of the day. Nice car and expence account.
Then one day my brother who worked for ESSO turned up and said he wanted to use my phone for the Office, They told him to fly to Singapore to join the ESSO Yorkshire, he then said joking , Ar kid is here anymore jobs? he put me on, Do you want to fly to Singapore , I said No, I am busy, so he said , Do you want to fly to San Francisco in four weeks to join the ship. I just said Yes, and then I was back to sea. the wife went nuts.
So 12 months later ESSO paid for me and my brother to go to College, on pay and all expenses and fees paid, for 2nd Mates, So it was the best move I ever made. meanwhile the wife did a runner. met Anne and bought her her own Flower shop as she was a professional Florist, and then when I retired at 63 I worked in the shop doing deliveries and making bouquets, became quite good at that. from a Roughy Toughy Sailor I became a Roughy Toughy Florist.
then we sold the shop and the business and made a lot of money out of it. and both retired.
So life was quite interesting.
Cheers
Brian.

[Mike Kelly]

packed up the ships 1962 took up trucking , for 43 years all over the uk and europe got to say i loved both jobs retired 9 years ago and went to live in a small village in southern spain great life

[Ivan Cloherty]

packed up the ships 1962 took up trucking , for 43 years all over the uk and europe got to say i loved both jobs retired 9 years ago and went to live in a small village in southern spain great life

Remarkable how many seafarers when they leave the sea, turn to bus driving, trucking, firemen etc, is it because we cannot settle down to a 9 - 5 occupation which would not give us the variety we are used to, but on a smaller scale. I know 9 - 5 would have driven around the bend.

[John Albert Evans]

I left the sea in 1964 and joined the Cheshire Constabulary as a PC. served at Ellesmere Port. Congleton, Crewe, Runcorn and Manchester. I served for 21 years mostly in the CID (18 years),I was one of the founder members of the Underwater Search Unit based in Cheshire. I finished my service as a Detective Sergeant In the No1 Regional Crime Squad based at Longsight, Manchester. (Long since disbanded) I then went into business with my wife in 1985. Retired in 2000.We bought a small property in 2001 in Nova Scotia. Canada, lived there for three years then our visa renewel was refused and he were given 14 days to leave the country or be arrestd and deported Not much option there, was there, so we had to leave but no regrets. Had to sell property quickly arrange for our animals to fly back and go in to quarantine for 6 months. Now we live quite content in small bungalow in the beautiful Tanat Valley, Powys.
Blimey one potted life history in eight typed lines.
John Albert Evans.

[Richard Quartermaine]

You copped the lot, John. Reminds me of when our son Rick turned 21 in Singapore and was given two weeks to get out as he was no longer our dependent For 3 months we drove across the causeway to Johore Bahru Malaysia, had a nasi goreng or whatever, drove back home and Rick got a tourist visa for two more weeks.
He was not quite 5 years of age when he first entered Singapore apart from some time in Indonesia and Britain in between. Oh yes, he went to boarding school at Welshpool in Wales whilst we were in Indonesia.

The dogs from Singapore to Britain back to Indonesia and then, plus a ferret and a rabbit to Singapore is another story.

Great post in a nutshell, John.
Richard