Worst ship or voyage and why, ?

[Tony Wilding]

We all had good or bad ships and voyages, must be some interesting stories we have not heard, ?

[Les Woodard]

Very true Tony and while signed on it was dreadful but now with hindsight I bet we would exchange our eye teeth to be signed back on that ship. Much like having a bad holiday when recalling ships or holidays it is always the worse ones the stick in our minds do they not. Also the one's that get the most laughs. Mine was the Port Maccquarie. Shanghied onto a Manz run with a skipper that was not all that stable. I think only about five or six of the original crew made it back to the UK to sign of and that included ALL crew. No action was taken either by the pool over jumping this ship which explains what it was like and the reports that got sent back by the union.

[Tony Wilding]

Hi Les, that must have been some trip, ? amazing that no pool action taken for jumping ship, whats more amazing is how some Captains managed to keep there command, sailed with a Chief Engineer who was a complete nutter.

---------- Post added at 07:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:17 AM ----------

My worst trip by far was my third trip on MV Salinas, so much fighting, from almost the first day, got worse as the trip progressed, on the west coast of South America it got out of hand, lots jumped ship, was safer to stay in your cabin, only ship i sailed on where the skipper appeared on deck with a pistol, and fired a warning shot as we were leaving Valparaiso, so much drunkeness, as we entered the loch on liverpool homeward a lot jumped ashore there, plus she was bad for scavenge fires in the engine room, and we had a smouldering cargo of fishmeal all the way home, plus a fire outward in Peru. one i dont care to repeat.

[Jim Brady]

Tony,it just shows you how a crowd can make or break a trip to sea.I did 2 trips on the Salinas and had a great time,hence the reason I went back on her.That was my first time down the WC South America.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Neville Roberts]

I also did 2 trips on her and had a great time ,as it was my first down that coast , I was saloon stwd and remember that the silver got realy tarnished in Callao. I think it was a sulfer factory close too our tie up Jan 59to may 59.

[Captain Kong]

I wrote of a couple of bad trips in Seafaring Stories thread,
SS BEECHFIELD and the NICHOLAS K . on Posts #1 and #10
Bad at the time, but didnt do me any harm.
Cheers Brian.

[Tony Wilding]

Hi Jim, i did 2 trips, liked it so much did the third, but a bad crew ruined it, was allways the crew that makes or breaks a ship.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Tony,it just shows you how a crowd can make or break a trip to sea.I did 2 trips on the Salinas and had a great time,hence the reason I went back on her.That was my first time down the WC South America.
Regards.
Jim.B.

Served on "Salinas" 1954/56/57 always a happy ship

Also did four short trips on same run on one of Ropners ("Levenpool") basically all same crew, first three trips were great, old but happy ship, on fourth trip we had a change of master, it was like being in a different company his petty rules (petty when I look back on them) changed the ship completely. Every crew member except chief engineer signed off when we got back to Burnt Island.

The same is true of airlines, in one job I used to do a lot of longhaul flights to Far East, Australia, a change of crew in Dubai or Singapore meant you were flying a different airline without changing planes, it all stemmed from the top

[Captain Kong]

I was sent to Cornhill to sign on the Salinas, my first trip, in June 1952 but they had too many men to sign on,
[Just in case some never turned up], and I was sent back to the Pool and given a London Greek, Commodore Grant instead. she was diabolical. Nearly jumped over the wall in the Indian Ocean, a few times.
.
Ivan,
I was with the Leven Pool in Antwerp in December 1956, met a mate of mine, they had found a dead body in the water tanks, and had all broken out in scabs and bad guts. They were all trying to get paid off, she was on the Continent to South America run for two years. I guess there was always someone else worse off.
Cheers, Brian

[Ivan Cloherty]

[QUOTE=Captain Kong;84682]I was sent to Cornhill to sign on the Salinas, my first trip, in June 1952 but they had too many men to sign on,
[Just in case some never turned up], and I was sent back to the Pool and given a London Greek, Commodore Grant instead. she was diabolical. Nearly jumped over the wall in the Indian Ocean, a few times.
.
Ivan,
I was with the Leven Pool in Antwerp in December 1956, met a mate of mine, they had found a dead body in the water tanks, and had all broken out in scabs and bad guts. They were all trying to get paid off, she was on the Continent to South America run for two years. I guess there was always someone else worse off.
Cheers, Brian[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately it happens, remember when I used to survey tanks and double bottoms (now now lads not that type) it was always prudent to have someone with you, but not always possible, these were always moments of apprehension, especially doing DB's afloat, as if some silly bugger ran into you, you had no chance. I am small in stature and sometimes you had to reverse all the way back to the manhole through the lightening holes. How the big guys managed I do not know because even for me on the smaller ships it was difficult. Surveying double bottoms in the Waalhaven in December and January was not my favourite scenario, it was bluddy cold! It is easy to be forgotten when you are down there and once they've put the manhole cover in place, even without bolting, your days are numbered. I used to tow a heaving line behind me, but some clever barsteward would invariably haul it out in case it fouled the suction pipes, it was very difficult to win, but I'm still here

What I want to know is why did they always send a deaf seaman to shout "anybody inside"