REGRETS? I've had a few.

[Les Woodard]

Reading the post by John I take it that he was in single berth and nearly everyone that I signed on was at least two berth and what with the overtime and partying it is a wonder we got any sleep let alone time to ponder what we where missing back ashore. That time at sea on deck did change me for the better. Do not remember as much as others but then I liked the party bit to much. Who recalls having a cabin mate who wanted to get his head down while you had a few mates in drinking and another time it was yourself that wanted to get your head down only for your cabin mate to have a few mates in. Can not ever remember any animosity towards one another over it either. I was lucky in the aspect I ended up working as a rigger out in the bush and doing steel erection when living in built up areas until getting hitched. Regrets I do not have a single one even getting out of the Merch was right for me as it was the first and last ship that I signed on that had single berth. Then came multi tasking and could not have taken that on.

[Lou Barron]

yes going a way to sea is a very different life working ashore my only regret was that i missed all my mates after the war i found that going back to sea made me a lot more settled but when i did come ashore i had about five different jobs in a couple of weeks in new zealand at that jobs were plentiful but i went back to sea for a couple of trips then getting married i gave up the sea life and back to work ashore but i was lucky that i struck a job that was to stay for thirty five years but having a very good married and family life help me but when i look back at my sea life it gave me the training to give it a go brains does help a lot but pure common sense is a very big help the firm i worked for was a very big help to me and my family so now both my wife and i enjoy our retired life with the help of my sons daughters and grand children call me lucky lou

[happy daze john in oz]

I came ashore for love and do not regret that. But given different circumstances I would still be at sea. I found it very hard to settle and found peole ashore a bit odd to say the least. So now I spend as much time as I can down in Port Melbourne and take a cruise whenever i can. I know it is not the same but just to have the sea under my feet helps.

[Ron B Manderson]

We had a Quartermaster on the Mahseer who once said"
" I love being at home on a dark night sitting by a huge fire, with the wind about blowing the windows in , After a while mum goes out and throws a bucket of water on the windows, Now thats living"
It was always your last trip when you returned to Britain, But the sea pulled you backj for another last trip.
Ron the batcave

[happy daze john in oz]

REGRETS I'VE HAD A FEW

And now the bottles dry, and so I face an empty glass
My friends I'll say it clear, I always drank what came to pass
I drank a lot of Gin.and may I say not in a sad way
Oh no, much more than this I got pissed my way
With Scotch I had a spew, but then again too few to mention
I much prefer the Gin and drank it all without exemption
I drank the bottle dry, in many bars along the byway
But more, much more than this I got pissed my way
But there were times I guess you knew, when I just had to have a spew
But through it when there was doubt, I drank it up and spit it out
The white phones know diced carrots grow, I drank them my way.

With apologies to Frank, old Blue eyes

[j.sabourn]

Re. Finding people ashore a bit odd. I think that sums it up a lot to my mind. Having been retired 8 years now I still find it hard to aquaint to the mentality of people who have worked ashore all their lives. There seems to be a lack of awareness, an innocence of what happens in other parts of the world, and a total lack of understanding about things in general. I think it would have driven me mad to have to work ashore with some I have met. I find it hard to converse with some,on the other hand anyone with a bit of seagoing experience I find is just the opposite. I think this is probably due to the way we were brought up to be more self reliant and share work loads and be able to adjust to different situations, there being only ourselves to do the job. Who knows but there is that big gap there. Regards John Sabourn

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

Thank goodness it is not just me then! I also find the conversations so trivial among the landlubbers, who have been nowhere and done nothing but the 9 till 5 drudgery, all their lives. We did have to put up with some exploitation at sea, but the challenges and experiences surely more than compensated. It was always fascinating to come across new culture and customs, and a sense of adventure in trying new foods. We went world-wide and were paid for it! How wonderful is that? Different ships, different longsplices ! How I feel sorry for today's generation, who will NEVER have our chances. Jobs and ships were there for the choosing. What a sad demise of a great Merchant Fleet. For me, then, NO REGRETS

[Gulliver]

We certainly are a different breed.I came ashore after 20 years,and luckily forged a new and enjoyable,career for myself. I certainly had a more committed and responsible work ethic than almost everybody else-my excellent timekeeping was noticeable for a start, ! - together with good interpersonal skills-and a great sense of humour !
I think it’s fair to say that at sea we live together as a ‘family unit’ for months on end,something obviously not applicable to our shore side brethren who disappear into their private lives every evening,and so we don’t really get to know them.
I told myself that it’s better I don’t talk too much about the life at sea to these shore side colleagues,,not that they would understand much anyway,In other words I convinced myself that being ex-MN I was a bit of an oddball ! It was only when I met up occasionally with other MN guys that I felt truly comfortable.,When I found this site,after working ashore for 17 years, and retiring from work,and therefore feeling that my MN career might just as well have never happened, I thought I’d been reborn. An instant rapport, with the crew on here-they’re speaking my language ! and just like it used to be at sea..
We certainly are different…… I realised I’m no more of an ‘oddball’ than any of you MN guys here !
Gulliver

[Michael Lawrence]

Regrets? Yeah, I think most of us have some regret in life, nothing that was soul destroying for most of us. Just sometimes when we think, if I done that or if I had gone there or put my last quid on that 100 - 1 shot.
We are human and to err is human so the poet says.
I, like John in a Daze left the sea for love but six weeks after marriage was down the 'Pool' and pleading I would be a good boy and take any ship they could give me and any berth available. Fortunately they were short of crews and there was a vessel outward bound from Newport to Sth America that evening if I could get my gear together. God, when I think of what I put the W.R. thru for the next coupla of years trying to get the salt out of my veins and walk on an even keel!!!!!.
Anyway the Post Office came up and I settled down always saying it's temporary and you never know there might be that ship over the horizon. Then your read in shipping papers about bigger ships smaller crews. Blokes started arriving in the P.O. putting a tenative foot ashore with always the same complaint, life at sea was changing and not nessecary for the better.
As Gulliver says you got noticed in your shore job for not swanning off, being reliable always on time for your (watch). In some ways the P.O. was like the M.N. there was good chat at the messroom table and you could rely on your oppo, oh yeah and you got the occasional idiot and bigot, plus the pay wasn't fantastic.

So No Lads I have no real regrets, if I hadn't gone to sea I wouldn't of met the wife in Cardiff (Jennies broke down on our way to Newport) I met mostly decent reliable blokes at sea and I 've come across you cracking chaps on this site. Mind you I wonder what the skiing would be like in Kiwi or Oz or Chili for that matter. Keep safe mateys' and enjoy your memories.

[Capt Bill Davies]

All,
These are all valid sentiments and I too miss many of my old shipmates most no longer with us. However, to put another dimension to this from 1969 onwards I was in FOC vessels and it would be fair to say that my interface with Europeans was greatly reduced with only the top four European and even that was not always the case. The ‘shipmate’ relationship’ was not there. Sure, professionals to the end but, there was something missing. Highly unlikely you were going to sail with each other again. From the mid 80s to retirement the vast majority of the time I was the only ‘round eye’ on board which again did nothing to foster the camaraderie that most of you experienced. Did I stay too long? I’m sure I did. Recently I heard of the passing of a dear old friend from the BF. He was from Nevin, N.Wales. We were ABs together on the ‘Antenor’ and ‘Cyclops’ in the 59/60. The last time I saw him was in 67 when I was Ch.Mate of an Iron Ore carriers discharging at the Bidston Dock. He had walked up from the Vittoria dock where he too was sailing (FG) on the ‘Maron’. Knocked on the door and said ‘I always knew you would do it’. That of course was reference to him always pulling my leg about studying when the rest of the crowd were enjoying themselves. We had a beer or two and he went back to his ship. Both locked in together around midnight that night, needless too say they were first out into the river. A Blue Funnel ship was not going to be following a slow, old iron ore carrier to the bar.

Bill