Drinking Advice, Help needed.

[Capt Bill Davies]

Well we have discussed the perils of 'smoking', why not the perils of drinking.

Most of us who stayed at sea throughout our career will have experienced a big change in the 'drinking culture' found aboard ships following ISM etc,etc. Prior to that I am sure some of us will have overdone it. The good news is that the Liver is the one organ that rejuvenates itself. Now I just have one a day. A bottle of Rioja with my evening meal.

Bill

[David Williams]

Well we have discussed the perils of 'smoking', why not the perils of drinking.

Most of us who stayed at sea throughout our career will have experienced a big change in the 'drinking culture' found aboard ships following ISM etc,etc. Prior to that I am sure some of us will have overdone it. The good news is that the Liver is the one organ that rejuvenates itself. Now I just have one a day. A bottle of Rioja with my evening meal.

Bill

Hi Bill.
I have no problem....I drink,get drunk,fall down
no problem.

Dave Williams(R583900)
Llanelli

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

In my time at sea in the 50's I used to wonder what harm the quantity of drink I was consuming was doing me. For about 5 years I was a BR, which gave myself and my mates access to all the passenger bars and we were literally drinking as soon as the bars opened. At least one of us would have an empty cabin ( an office) where we could drink our g&t's and have a fag. Although we were drinking we were never drunk, we were responsible enough to realize that we had work to do. There was always the story going round about a lady passenger saying to the Chief Steward " the atmosphere on this ship is amazing, all the cabin stewards are so happy and helpful" to which the Boss answered " so would you be if you were half p....ed all day"
I sailed with quite a few alcoholics though. At that time there were a few ex services personnel coming away to sea and a lot of them were there for the cheap booze that they couldn't afford ashore One or two of them were ex officers doing menial jobs just for the booze. I also saw one or two of my contemporaries get sucked into it, hence my concern, but it didn't stop me.
Since coming ashore I have remained a moderate drinker, with one or two exceptions, which I wont talk about. If I have two pints of bitter a week now that is the most I want. So at the end of the day I did not succumb to the evil. Apart from anything else I think the price is off putting, plus the cost of fags, I don't know how people afford it. I now have a great sympathy for alcoholics, because it is an illness, and how were they to know it would hit them in that way. I am convinced that the reason is genetic.

Pete

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates hi Captain Bill Davies, Drinking at sea in my time drink was controled for the crew on many british ships, you were only allowed a few cans a week and a tot of rum at sea if you were lucky? The officers were able to drink as much as they liked? but not the cadets {skint} !!! , I remember taking a few crates of gin to the 1 st mate on one ship I was on I never saw him? one a week he seem to live in his cabin 24x7 I was told to leave it outside cabin and knock door? strange one? But on most ships we all had a few drinks and a good time in port before the days of the pig then we had lager on tap and we were treated like normal people ashore with a docking bottle but many who were at sea in my time had a serious social drinking probelm and The fear of an empty glass, but we had some fun times

[John Pruden]

been dry now for 15 years don't miss the drink at all now. the only thing is i am the taxi for all the party animals in the family

[happy daze john in oz]

Saw a medical report which said you should only hvae two standard drinks at a sitting. I assume from that it is then OK to continue drinking, when you fall flat on your fcae you know you are full.
Never had a problem with the drink, often got drunk no problem. Had my first drink at age 8 some 60 years ago and have never looked back. just a couple each night now apart from Saturday when we drink concentrated wine. That is we concentrate most of our wine drinking into Saturday night. Best time at sea was as officers steward, we had to go to the bar to get their grog and most of the good ones, mainly engineers, would allow us to have one on them. Have seen many a new guy get into real trouble, Cape Smoke was the downfall of many. As for drinking being hereditary, well my father was general manager of the Guiness brewery in Park Royal for years.

[Nigel Smith]

What the booze can do to lives was brought home to me when I was on leave, I passed a group of vagrants in the centre of Southampton, the stench was bad! I recognised one of the group as an AB I'd sailed with a couple of years previously, this guy was a hard working proffessional Able Seaman and family man. I tried to engage him in conversation but one thing led to another, things started to turn nasty and I left. I'm certain this scenario occured in many ports as more British Seamen were replaced by foreigners in the mid to late seventies

During the first 10 years or so of my sea service, I did drink more than I should have. I suppose it was part of the 'culture' of being at sea, which then extended to leave periods by which time the 'demon drink' started to dominate day to day life. At that point I gave up drinking completely. I still go into pubs 3 or 4 times a year for a meal, but definately no alcohol

Nigel.

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

Reminds me of one of my Chief Engineers. I never knew he drank until I caught him sober one day!

[Captain Kong]

The Liver does have capacity for regeneration after tissue damage or surgical resection , but that capacity can certainly be restricted or reversed wth excessive alcohol abuse.
Cronic ingestion of alcohol can cause fatty Liver, alcoholic Hepatitus and Cirrhiosis. .
An intake of more than 160g of ethanol, [alcohol] for men and 80g women per day for a ten year period is likely to lead to Cirrhiosis.
Guide lines are 21 units of alcohol per week for men and 14 units for women. recently it has been recommended the limits should be increased to 28 an 21 units per week.
As Bruno said some cases are genetic to alcoholism. The sons of Alcoholics are more prone to alcoholism than those who are not.
While popularly associated to Liver Cirrhosis, alcohol excess can be poisonous to every cell in the body, there is no organ that cannot be affected in some way by acute or chronic alcohol ingestion.
Alcohol consumption is not completely without benefit. Studies have confirmed that moderate drinking is associated with a lower mortality rate than complete abstinence, while beyond the accepted limits is undoubtedly harmfull to the Liver.
.I have copied this information in laymens terms from my sons Book on Liver Diseases, it is a big subject and full of big words. He is a Hepatologist and an expert on the Liver He is the Liver Consultant in a large hospital in the South of England and Lectures other Doctors both here and in the USA on Liver Diseases.

When he has a drink I have noticed that he always has a glass of water with every glass of wine .
Cheers,
Brian.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Well we have discussed the perils of 'smoking', why not the perils of drinking.


Bill

Not much to add to the others except don't drink and drive...you might spill some