My Dad was a Carpenter and Joiner working on the Southern Cross during final fitting out, he mainly worked in the cabins on the furniture and bulkheads..
He told me a funny story whilst doing various jobs on Her one day, when he thought he did enough ( he was quite a fast worker and by no means a shirker) he used too walk around mid afternoon with a piece a wood and his tool bag looking busy but, in actual fact he was talking to the rest of his trade mates and staying one step ahead of the forman!! So when my Dad was on the deck above the forman was behind him on the deck below, he only did this as a bit of a joke to see how long he could do it for! So when the forman used ask wheres Paddy or Dave to some other the chippys they used to reply "he's on the deck above somewhere" so by the time the forman got there my Dad was on the deck below in front of him.. If there pathes ever crossed my Dad used to say "he was ashore getting something from the stores or you just walked right passed me"!! True story..
During my time with shell tankers uk, i saw her in Singapore eastern anchorage, by then she was a sheep carrier going to gulf states.. We were based in Singapore and on one occasion whilst we were waiting for cargo orders and still at anchor it was observed that smoke was pouring out of the Southern Cross, Engine room fire, one Engineer and one Greaser died in the fire. Sad day!!