'You Dirty Rat'

[Roger Dyer]

Hi shipmates,

Not a pleasant subject I know, but one which some members might relate to.

In 1958, Port Line's 'Port Huon' was making her way from Auckland, N.Z. to Newark, New Jersey, when she stopped briefly at La Guaria ( just east of Caracas, Venezuela) to discharge cargo. The small port was situated at the base of a very steep, very high hill. The hillside was a mass of corrugated tin huts which, apparently, was home to the poorer members of society and exuded an air of poverty and squalor I had seldom witnessed before. There must have been thousands living there. The shacks were in serried rows, one above the other and it seemed that should those at the very top ever collapse they would send a landslide of humanity tumbling into the ocean. It was a sorry sight, frightful to behold.

Along the coast we could see a small cluster of sky-scrapers, evidence of the burgeoning, modern city of Caracas. It was in stark contrast to the abject poverty we saw before us. Thankfully our stay their was brief, we would be there for one night only. No crew-members went ashore, there was nothing to see or do, it was that sort of place.

It was towards the end of the day and coming on for dark. We had finished our evening meal and were sitting on the foredeck smoking and yarning, as sailors do, when we became aware of an army of rats climbing up the mooring ropes. They were, without doubt, the largest rats I had ever seen before (or since). They were simply huge. On reaching the rat-guards they started to bunch-up and for a moment it seemed that even the rat-guards would not stop them. Not having anything to hand we could throw at them, we went onto the forecastle and tried to shake the ropes in order to discourage them. Initially we had some success, forcing them to return ashore and even causing a few to fall into the water, not that that would have worried them. They scurried around on the wharf for while, but it was not too long before their courage returned and we would go through the same whole routine again. It was the same down aft. We even raised the gangway a bit, we had to, we were at war!. Eventually, growing tired of the sport we surrendered and drifted off to find something else to amuse us. If they got on, they got on, too bl--dy bad, was the general view.

Of course, the following morning there was no sign of them at all. I've often wondered just how many of them finally made it on board that night, later to become illegal immigrants in the good old U.S.A. No going through Ellis Island for them!

There may well be other members who have encountered rats as big and as persistent as my lot, if so where and when?. What was/is the 'rat capital of the world I wonder? I'm sure our mate, Capt.Kong, may have seen one or two in his time - how about it Brian?.


.............regards, Roger.

[Neville Roberts]

My encounter with large rats were in Liverpool were my brother and I used too go down too Davie Jones bonded warehouse on the dock road when we were kids ,My Dad worked there all his life and had too do fire watch one sunday a month my brother and I used too take our pellet guns and try and shoot the rats off the pipes as they ran ,when we put the lights on , scousers may remember golden stream tea ,that was packed in that company, my Mum met my Dad there as she was a tea packer , the rats were huge Please no jokes about liverpool rats

[Dennis McGuckin]

Hi Roger.
I remember that area very well.
We used to sit on deck in the evening and it looked like the hill with all the shacks on was moving.
So many rats that it gave that impression.
It was also too hot to sleep in our bunks, so we kipped on deck. Never slept too well though as always worried about having an unwanted bed mate Uck.
Den,

[ian cossey]

My first encounter with thye big furry b......s was when we moved onto the bed deck on the Vindi. Lights out and settle down and thump as they ran along the ledge on the bulwark jumped onto your chest and across the deck,fair put the s...s up me i can tell you. If it happened to anyone else I would call it character forming.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Roger,
The biggest ones I ever saw ever was in Saudi. I was on Sea Island in the Gulf, I had just completed loading the Esso Dalriada, 260,000 tons, the guages for the drafts in the control room had gone on the blink. so I climbed onto the Island, just a steel platform that could load eight VLCCs, with my torch, it was around midnight. I went forard and then aft to read the draft figures. on the way back in the darkness and shadows my left leg went inbetween the dolphin and the platform and was crushed, the left tibia or shin bone was splintered and the flesh ripped up. So I climbed aboard and called the Captain and the Chief Steward and they were a bit shocked when they saw it. A boat was called for to take me ashore, The leg was wrapped up in all kinds of lint and bandages to stem the blood.
I was helped down into the boat and taken ashore, the boat man disapeared, to get transport for me, I sat there for more than an hour in the darkness alongside a quay. I saw my ship sailing past, outward bound for Singapore and felt alone. Then I saw them, huge big black furry rats, sniffing alongside the boat, more and more came, they could smell the blood that was oozing out of my leg.
I found a broom in the boat and for 10 to 15 minutes I was fighting for survival against these beasts.swinging the broom like a Dervish, battering them. I thought if they got at me there would be nothing left but a few bones.
Then the car arrived and his headligfhts of the car lit up the scene and these RATS disapeared.
I eventually made it to hospital in Al Khobar, took several hours to get there, That too had a few rats galloping around in the grounds near to the door, inside I also saw some cockroaches.
The whole story is quite a long one.

[Duke Drennan]

Now Captain, is that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you !!!! No porkies allowed on the site, you know. LOL
Duke.

[Chris Allman]

Amongst the many tasks that Cadets in L + H and I should imagine other shipping companies, had to carry out during their education was bilge cleaning.

When the holds were empty following the discharge of any cargo and prior to re-loading, it was the cadet’s job to examine all the bilges, clean them if necessary and check and clean the strum boxes.

Now the bilges in the cargo holds as we all know, unfortunately become the container of any liquid, material or otherwise, that, both man and the elements elected to put in them. They were invariably used as a loo, dustbin, and doss hole by the dockers, so it was a complete lottery what one discovered whilst performing bilge cleaning. Unfortunately they were also home to the ships rats and also the ships cockroaches or jaspers as they were known.

On this occasion, my two colleagues and I descended to the lower hold of No 3 hatch, the largest on the ship and to my knowledge the one with the biggest population of rats, as we had recently carried grain in sacks in it. Don’t get me wrong, we were not overrun with rats, but we had seen a couple in the hatch whilst it was being unloaded.

We removed a couple of limber boards as loudly as possible to scare them off and inspected each compartment in turn. To inspect a compartment, one had to hang head down into it whilst being held by the belt and legs by your companions. You then removed any debris into a bucket and were pulled back out again. We took it in turn so as each had his fair share of bilge diving.

We had done about six compartments when it was my turn again. We hauled off the boards with loud banging, stamping of feet and shouting and I was then suspended into the compartment. Looking around I saw a rats nest, empty except for one of the biggest potato crisps I had ever seen, I kid you not, it must have been nearly the size of a crisp packet itself. I was amazed and reached for it to enable me to put it in my bucket.

As I did so, a rat jumped from nowhere onto my shoulders and back of my neck, using me as an escape route. I let out one almighty shout, brought my head up sharply and practically knocked myself out on the limber board above me.

My two mates nearly let go of me as the rat ran up my back and out into the hold and away. They fortunately held on and dragged me from the bilge, a shivering half comatose heap and dumped me on the limber boards.

When the stars has stopped spinning around my head and I had recovered enough to tell them what happened, they did not believe me about the crisp. One of them looked in and said, “ there is no crisp there now “, I struggled up and managed to look into the bilge. He was right, the empty nest was empty, no crisp. Well bloody h-ll, a fellow rat must have rescued it, whilst the other one caused a diversion.

We had a good look around that bilge compartment but there was no crisp to be seen. We were not going to reopen up all the compartments again, so that was that. My mates thought the bang on the head must have puddled my senses, but I know what I saw and it was the biggest potato crisp I have ever seen, even up to today, I have never seen a bigger one.

Dam clever rats, dam clever.

Chris.

[Captain Kong]

That is the Truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me.
I have the scars to prove it.
There may be a member on this site who was with me at the time.
Cheers
Brian.

[Captain Kong]

[QUOTE=Duke Drennan;58131]Now Captain, is that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you !!!! No porkies allowed on the site, you know. LOL
Duke.[/QUOTE]


Captain Kong
Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Bolton UK
Posts: 534
Thanks: 84
Thanked 165 Times in 73 Posts

Reply to Mark Williams, post #8 ESSO.



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Hi Mark, yes we did sail together with ESSO,
Here are the ships,

Esso Ulidia, Third Mate, 19 January 1977 joined at Milford to Fawley then round the Cape to the Gulf.
Paid off in Slagen on 14 April 1977.
I remember an Engineer called Brian Wooton with his wife, they came from the Isle of Wight. Happy ship, Good Captain.

Esso Dalriada, Third Mate. Joined 2 October 1978 in Dubai and paid off 1st February 1979 after having my leg crushed on Sea Island off Rastanurah, the ship was outward bound for Singapore. The Arabs in Al Khobar hospital tried to amputate the leg, "No problem we take it off and fix you for good. " I got out of there fast with a brush as a crutch. I still have the leg.
How time flies, only seems like yesterday when we on those VLCCs.

Been retired for a while now the only sailing I do now is the world cruises every year with Cunard mostly,
Hope your keeping OK.

Cheers and all the best,
Brian.

[alf corbyn]

hev neville. no jokes about larpool rats, but i wouldn't like to drink that tea. probably full of rat s88t. alf