Why Where when& How did you leave the sea?

[happy daze john in oz]

We maybe could have an auction for them! What would we do with the money then? Well there might just be enough for one round!

[j hardy]

after spending nearly 2 years at sea, making a valiant attempt to drink everthing vaguely alcoholic, i realised that the booze would kill me (but what a way to go! ) that and doing 28 ports in 19 days on everards rock dodger Agility, went contracting, moved to OZ, ended up in the mines, making money (almost) as fast as the wife can spend it. would go back in a heartbeat, lot older, perhaps a little wiser.

[Doc Vernon]

Well John P
To answer your question,i would give my life if i could be reborn and have another crack at the wonderfull Sea Life!
We live and learn by our errors! I sure as hell have!

For Louis
Thanks for the comment Louis,and yes i guess there are many that have had brushes with the Law!
Not really ashamed as much as dissapointed in myself,for not being a bit more sensible at that time,but then when we were young,how many silly things did we get up to ! haaha!

For Jacyn
Yes i am sure all the stories on site from so many would indeed make some fine Books,and me for one would be the first to read them!
All my life experiences alone would make some stirring reading!
Cheers

[Jacyn Wade]

Vernon, if I ever find my father - or put the search to rest - I may just turn my attention to putting pen to paper and I'd love to hear more stories. From what I've discovered poking around the site, it looks like many books have been written, although you can never have too many books.

And, believe it or not, even though I'm female, I too had a brush with the law when I was a teenager. It was probably the scariest time in my life and I vowed never to let it happen again. Nothing to be ashamed of though; I'd only be ashamed if I hadn't learned from my mistake.

Cheers!

[Tommy the T]

I left the sea due to being made redundant by P&O in 1987, tho we were offered to "sign off" & to "sign on" straight away without leaving the ship but under a new contract, This was whilst serving onboard "Royal Princess" cruise ship in San Francisco, I had my wife also working on the same ship at the time ( we had met whilst both working as crew on Canberra in 84, married 85),
The new contract was pitiful compared to our original contract, so as they were offering redundancy payments & as there was 2 of us ( wife & I ) we decided to take it & run.

Tho, i must say....If I got the chance I would go back to sea sailing on Deep Sea Cargo ships in an instant, & being perfectly honest, if I was now single & didn,t have my current home life...wife, kids & 8 dogs....I think I would try & find a way to go back to sea.

The thought of sitting on the aft deck watching the sunset over a calm sea is indeed a great memory that I would give almost anything to experience again

My wife & I & our kids did the final cruise on the Canberra 1997, to say farewell to the ship that brought us together, sadly the scrapping of the ship seemed to bring the same effect to our marriage, we divorced in 1998, quite ironic it seemed at the time .

Cheers
Tommy the T

[Mick Spear]

Good post Andy. Pity you've lost your sea legs. That must make me the only one still going to sea from our class?
mick S

[John Griffiths]

John P, would do it all again? I would.

If it were possible to sell my soul then that would be the price I'd give to go back!

John

[Stuart Henderson]

I am afraid its all a pipe dream lads reading the many varied entries above, I was at sea 1947 to 1977 and left because life at sea was changing fast even then. No more weeks loading in OZ,days jn port with evenings ashore,pubs to visit,ladies to find, No containers & tankers and cruise ships these days lucky to get ashore except payoff day. Sure you see the lovely sunsets,experience calm blue seas, rough seas too naturally but hardly anyone to socialise with because of the minimum manning scales and foreign crews too. It just wouldnt be the same to return to sea these days.
Mind you I never settled for a 9 to 5 job either, oil rigs North sea then Saudi and Libya till retiring at 65 but enjoyed some of it and have great menories,trouble is no one wants to listen anf am sure some times dont believe you.
Stuart H

[Ivan Cloherty]

Stuart

Look on the bright side, we believe you, because we've been there, for some landlubbers it's an adventure in catching the 7.30 train instead of the 8.00 train, think of all those new faces they will see and how they will be able to regail their families that evening with their brave venture into a new world. It surely must be a world where dreams are made, and all we did was go to sea nothing as exciting as an earlier train, oh God what have we missed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul Steel]

I am afraid its all a pipe dream lads reading the many varied entries above, I was at sea 1947 to 1977 and left because life at sea was changing fast even then. No more weeks loading in OZ,days jn port with evenings ashore,pubs to visit,ladies to find, No containers & tankers and cruise ships these days lucky to get ashore except payoff day. Sure you see the lovely sunsets,experience calm blue seas, rough seas too naturally but hardly anyone to socialise with because of the minimum manning scales and foreign crews too. It just wouldnt be the same to return to sea these days.
Mind you I never settled for a 9 to 5 job either, oil rigs North sea then Saudi and Libya till retiring at 65 but enjoyed some of it and have great menories,trouble is no one wants to listen anf am sure some times dont believe you.
Stuart H

Stuart,

That is what you know and remember, but I went to sea in 1973 and my first ship was a cargo ship, but that did not stay in port for too long. I heard all the stories of ports in Australia and girls following the crew from port to port around Australia, etc, etc.

The thing is I and people of my year (I joined in 1971) never knew any different. I served most of my time on LPG Gas Carriers and a few trips on container ships, and to me that was the way it was.

I remember a Purser joining once with about 6 pairs of shoes (he had come off a lifetime of cargo ships), and I asked him 'what are all these for'?
He replied 'For going ashore. I don't want to wear the same pair of shoes each night'.
I responded 'This is a gas ship, if you manage to get ashore, it will be for a few hours and only one night, one pair of shoes is plenty'