The Southern Cross

As an AB of the 50-60s, i have to confess that the engine room was a mysterious place to me, where these guys covered in oil would appear through a door, from a space that a lot of noise emanated . the only time i entered an engine room was to request *water on deck* or the reverse. So to get an explanation of the things that were spoke of but not understood, is enlightening. I had heard of scavenger fires, and the likes, but had no idea what it entailed. As i have said before, the likes of cement boxes was a surprise to me, so i find the engineer information here like entering a new world. At least the modern seaman would have a knowledge of such as i believe they now work in both areas, kt

###engine room tops came in handy for drying your jeans ....that is about all my knowledge of engine rooms......apart from a very young age going into one on an old coal burner and not liking either the noise or smell......

You are no longer allowed to dry clothes over the rails at the top of the engine room HSE (still goes on ) as it is deemed a fire risk , clothing could fall onto the top of hot machinery!!! Now what you have are Tumble Dryers in the laundry rooms, these have been known to burst into flames because people forget to clean the fluff from the filters. Never had an engine room fire due to clothing falling onto hot machinery, had two serious fires due to the filters not being maintained in a fluff free condition.

I meant to add in my post 51, that tonight on BBC4 at 2100, there is a program called engineering giants, and is about the strip down of the North sea ferry Pride of Bruges, as she is brought into dry dock in Newcastle for overhaul, . It is a repeat, but could be a good watch, much better than Eastenders !!! kt

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Originally Posted by Lewis McColl

You are no longer allowed to dry clothes over the rails at the top of the engine room HSE (still goes on ) as it is deemed a fire risk , clothing could fall onto the top of hot machinery!!! Now what you have are Tumble Dryers in the laundry rooms, these have been known to burst into flames because people forget to clean the fluff from the filters. Never had an engine room fire due to clothing falling onto hot machinery, had two serious fires due to the filters not being maintained in a fluff free condition.

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###tumbledryers and laundry rooms ....progress indeed some good in the seafaring world some not so good ie hours in port........few crew members to associate with.......but i like some 3 months on and a month off or similar ...but the old tramp 3 weeks in buenos aries or a japanese port are what i went to sea for it surely wasnt the money ...not forgetting three sqare meals per day and the bronzying .......oh lord happy days

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Originally Posted by cappy

###engine room tops came in handy for drying your jeans ....that is about all my knowledge of engine rooms......apart from a very young age going into one on an old coal burner and not liking either the noise or smell......

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Clothes were OK , the old steamships the boiler room upper region was about 180 F , and had access doors on the Clan Line ships of the 1940s /1950s but the crew had been fishing at anchor of Dar e Salam , they had huge catches , it was kippered and dried stinking the whole ship out as it swung above the air heaters .

As for the choice of Vickers for the Northern Star builders I did read somewhere it was Formica and plastic rather than Harland Veneers , so maybe it was just financial

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Originally Posted by cappy

###tumbledryers and laundry rooms ....progress indeed some good in the seafaring world some not so good ie hours in port........few crew members to associate with.......but i like some 3 months on and a month off or similar ...but the old tramp 3 weeks in buenos aries or a japanese port are what i went to sea for it surely wasnt the money ...not forgetting three sqare meals per day and the bronzying .......oh lord happy days

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With you on that one cappy. My Dhobi I boiled in a bucket on the galley stove. Everything in together.
Used to stick wet hankies on the bulkhead, they peeled off like they had been ironed.Don't recall drying ever been a problem. Think in bad weather hung them in the galley.

On the only Doxford I ever sailed on there was a long wire attached to the top piston that went over a pulley down the side of the engine and had a large lump of an old piston attached to the end of it . That went into a 45 gallon drum with the top cut off you chucked your overalls in , added BP Bypròx put a steam hose in g and let it run for the length of the Watch . Boiler suits came out spotless not sure who did anything to help the life of them though

Like all passenger ships the " Northern Star " had a fully functional laundry for the washing and ironing of all the ships linen, including the officers uniforms, even the engineers boiler suits. However we had to pay for the uniforms to be laundered but our boilersuits were washed as a perk for free. However, one trip the head laundryman decided he was not going to wash the engineer's boilersuits, instead he would concentrate on washing passenger laundry as a money earning perk for himself and his staff. No amount of negotiation would make him change his mind so I needed something to make him change his mind. It was the Mate who gave me the lowdown on the laundry official hours of work and that they only worked normal 8 am to 5 pm, albeit on a six days a week routine. So, come 5pm every working day and the engine room shut off the steam to the laundry because that was the end of their working day and was fuel saving for my fuel consumption figures. This tactic soon had the head laundryman screaming, they were losing lots and lots of perk money and now they were pretty much just working normal hours and no overtime earnings !! He complained to the Captain, tried bullying the chief engineer and head purser but I stuck to my guns -- no free boilersuit washing, no steam after normal working hours !! I reckon us engineers were the smartest in the whole of the British MN. Regards Peter in NZ.

UC-L all uniforms and boiler suits were free laundry on the Mail Ships , and the service good , but the Senior Second had reputation for shutting off the steam supply on previous voyages . the laundry man had on a past trip tried to get a bottle of Scotch per man as a dropsy via the Engineers steward and fell foul of the S2E ,