john noon shaftsbury

[john noon]

hello all
did a trip on the shaftsbury in the catering dept1964 usual trip to montevideo and BA we had to go down to bahia blanca to pick up a cargo of grain and got marooned there for two weeks because of a strike talk about a one horse town the whole crew were going nuts great ship though great cabins good food sailed from liverpool the chief steward used to teach the crew judo had all the gear mats etc one of the steward had a nick name think it was garth great big fella-- happy days

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
Welcome to the site, one of the best there is for the MN. Hope you get to meet some old shipmates while perusing the site. Some great tales and small talk.
Cheers Des

[john noon]

thanks for that des nice to talk to you in nz I have been in auckland in february this year my daughter lives there now also have a son there was married to a kiwi for a while many years ago great country nz really nice people its like england was many years ago people actually talk to each other in a civilised manner love the place

[alf corbyn]

hi john welcome to the site. i was on the kingsbury (houlder bros) i think it was the same as your shaftbury. terrible ship great crew i will probably send the story of it to the gravesend school newsletter. cheers alf

[john noon]

hi Alf
Well all ships are different the shaftsbury was a cracking ship had a cabin to myself big deal for a wet behind the ears galley boy as I said good crew had a fine old time in BA remember going to the flying angel and getting a few down my neck rum and cokes and the great steak sandwichs you could buy for buttons on the street corners in BA bit of a shock though seeing the dock police marineroes with their guns not out of place now

[David Williams]

Hi John.
Just a few lines to welcome you aboard,find yourself
a comfortable berth and settle in.You will be suprised
at the amount of people out here that will know all about
your ships,and maybe know you.

Dave Williams(R583900)

[john noon]

hi david
thanks for the welcome yes as you say you never know who is out there seen one or two lads who I sailed with here in liverpool met one guy at the match who I had not seen since the 1960s every time that I go past the building that used to be the pool you always remember old times you could knock back ships that were going away for to long a trip come back in half an hour and be offered an other berth --- those days well gone

[corrientes]

The Shaftesbury was a fine ship and at that time fairly new. The Kingsbury was an old war built Sam boat - the Samlamu - so there would have been huge differences.

[corrientes]

Bahia Blanca wasn't any great shakes but once you got to know it, there were some deviations to be found!!!

[alf corbyn]

hot stuff corientes?. there was nothing wrong with the kingsbury itself just a bad chief steward who was lining his pocket we ran out of food after leaving BA and lived on whatever we could scrounge. as a/s i was ok but suprized he wasn't made to swim home. cheers. alf