Bye.bye, Red Ensign on the Queens.

[j.sabourn]

Nothing that the British Shipowner does would surprise me. In the 60"s and 70"s at various times I served on Foreign Flag vessels due mostly for the better conditions and availability of work. This had to be kept out of the Discharge Book as was blacklisted by the BSF otherwise and had to appear before a board etc. In 1986 I took redundancy from the BSF as they could not offer work. For 33 years service I received the grand sum of 1167 pounds and 67 pence as a redundancy payment. The Miners at the time were receiving between 20 and thirty thousand pounds for 20 years in the pits, which I do not begrudge them in the slightest. However it does point out how British Seafarers stood in the pecking order, I have very little regard for the British Shipowner as he has always misused British Seafarers, and would still be doing so if he had his way. regards John Sabourn.

[Evan Lewis]

Should one be surprised ?
The most famous Linre that ever crossed an Ocean .The QUEEN MARY. now languishes as tourist attraction .in the U.S.A. Thank Christ! at least,the Citizens and, City of Long Beach, had enough initiative to recognise tt's worth.
How could the U.k. govt. of the day allow such a treasure to leave Our Shores ?
The rest is history ,as tt were. The Queen and Prince Philip ,have just visited this once ,"More British than Britain "Country.And basically ,trying to maintain a decent acceptable cordialiity. WHEN CONFRONTED BY people like THE
BITCH FROM Barry.and the Qld Premier .waving to the Crowds ,who"d "Come to see THE ROYALS.
Bit of an admixture in this Post, I must admiit.Though hopefully the sentiment expressed are recognised.
In finality . Surely an Empire like the British , Could have kept and mantained the operation of the Yacht BRITANNIA?

[Captain Kong]

Tony BLIAR cancelled the Britannia because he did not have one.

That Yacht was used as a floating exhibition to sell British goods. On her final trip to Portugal she sold over 600,000,000 pounds of British manufactured goods.
ALL THAT IS NOW GONE.
That thicko Bliar could not see the advantage of that, only the envy of HMQ. He always said that bitch he was married to was the first lady of Britain. not HMQ.

[Captain Kong]

Here is the news item from CUNARD regarding weddings at sea on their ships. no mention of flagging out.
YET.
I am writing to,..... Eric Flounders, Public Relations Manager: 0207 940 5390 eric.flounders@cunard.co.uk
to get a confirmation.
Cheers
Brian.


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CUNARD SAYS ‘I DO’ TO WEDDINGS AT SEA AFTER 171 YEARS

Cunard Line, one of the oldest names in shipping but with the youngest fleet at sea, is to offer its guests the opportunity to be married on board for the first time in its 171-year history.

Peter Shanks, Cunard President and Managing Director, explains:

“Most of our competitors have been developing increasingly popular and lucrative ‘Weddings at Sea’ programmes, and these are now very big business in the cruise industry. We receive a lot of enquiries about the possibility of being married on one of our ships – particularly about weddings in mid-Atlantic on board Queen Mary 2, which no other company can offer”.

Cunard’s ‘Weddings at Sea’ programme will begin after the World Voyages have been completed in Spring next year and will offer a number of packages on all three ships. A brochure detailing the programme will be issued in November, and the programme will go on sale in December 2011.

For Further PRESS Information

Eric Flounders, Public Relations Manager: 0207 940 5390 eric.flounders@cunard.co.uk

Michael Gallagher, Public Relations Executive: 0207 940 5391 michael.gallagher@cunard.co.uk


Date Posted: 21 Oct 2011

[Capt Bill Davies]

Hi Lads and Ladies. have. take care..... Terry.

Terry,
There seems to be duplication in many posts/threads as I recall explaining this FOC myth recently. The Red Ensign is in itself is a Flag of Convenience nothing more. The documentation required by an owner is almost a duplicate of that required to register a ship under Liberian flag. What I find distasteful is that the FOC ships I was in command of for 36 years were exactly that and made no pretense in being anything else. The owners of Queens are not British and with full connivance of the MCA ( the British Government) the Red Ensign is now flown by owners and crew who have never seen the skies over the UK. To give this topic full treatment we need to discuss Tonnage Tax, STCW qualifications, and other peripheral elements which have reduced the Red Ensign to the bottom of the heap.

Bill

[Willie Saunders]

Change the law to allow weddings on board ships flying the Red Ensign, or would that be too difficult ? And of course only vessels having a certificate allowing them to do so, such as cruise ships and excluding cross channel ferries, tankers, box boats, etc.

[Captain Kong]

Not so long ago a famous British Master married his Daughter and Fiance on board a British Liner in Boston. All the documentaion etc, had to done for the State of Massachusetts.


Cheers
Brian.

[Gulliver]

Not so long ago

Cheers
Brian.

I am deeply horrified to hear that Brian-how terribly incestuous and depraved is that !

[Captain Kong]

What I really meant was he conducted the Marriage Service for the wedding of his daughter to her fiance`on board the liner in Boston Harbour. The very first time it has happened on a British Ship.

[j.sabourn]

Brian, was the master a licensed J.P. or a minister of the cloth. Unlike Errol Flynn and others on the movies, unless he was, the ceremony would have been illegal. The O.L.B. where this fallacy comes from has a couple of pages for Births Deaths and Marriages and acts as the Registrar. This does not give the Master the right to marry anyone unless properly qualified. Maybe the couple he thought he had married have been living in sin all these years and didnt know it. Regards John Sabourn