Donkey's Breakfast.

[Jim Brady]

I wonder if we have anybody old enough on here to remember a DONKEY'S BREAKFAST or anybody that knows about it.What it was is,when you got a ship you went and purchased a big bag of straw and joined the ship this was your mattress,this was stuffed into a canvass cover and became a palliasse.
Can you imagine after a few months sleeping on this it must've gone completely flat would'nt be much comfort in that.I dont think that it was that long ago I always remember my mother telling me about men joining a ship carrying this big bag of straw.I think you could buy different sizes 6d etc.I suppose some men that were skint could'nt afford it and slept on the bare wood or whatever.Maybe they had to take their own bedding also.There were many shops in Bootle where the straw could be bought.We thought things were tough but imagine what it was like years before our time.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[John Callon]

Hi Jim

Remember my Mum telling me about a donkeys breakfast. Her Dad was a fireman in the Booth Line and he used take one with him every trip. I think she said he bought it in a shop in the Dingle. As you rightly say we thought we had some tough times (which to be fair we did) but those guys really knew how to rough it. Mind you it didn't do them any harm as I as I remember my Grandad and even in his 70's he was one hard man.

Regards
John

[Doc Vernon]

Jim
Only time i heard of a Donkeys Breakfast was the times my Mum used to come in the our Rooms after we had had a few Friends over and she used to Shout!
This place looks like a Donkeys Breakfast!
Cheers


]Yes but on the serious side it sure must have been hard in the days of Sail etc!
We as the more modern type,are fortunate to have sailed when things were at least on the easy side!
Mind you there were still times of hardships as well!
Cheers
Doc

[Lou Barron]

Yes i can remember some of the old timers i sailed with mention about the donkeys breakfast they use to tell us young guys did not know how tough it was in the old days before the war in the 1930 it was knowed for a seaman to get a pier head jump with just the clothes he had on a parcel with a few other clothes

[Doc Vernon]

Quite a few of the Legion Lads did Pier Head Jumps!
Mmmmm!!
Cheers

Jumping%20ship.jpg

[j.sabourn]

Not a Donkeys Breakfast. Something on similar lines. One well known Company in the North Sea who ran a fleet of stand by vessels. Are probably still running on the same system. You were supplied with a sleeping bag on joining, I must say they were clean and laundered ashore before receiving, this did away with bedding I assume. I never worked for this company but do know this for a fact. I never heard anyone complaining about this system so must have had something going for it. Cheers John Sabourn

[happy daze john in oz]

I once had a sleeping bag, by the heck did she look ugly in the morning!

[john sutton]

I did a trip on the Generton and the crew had straw mattresses(donkeys breakfast).Board of trade rules stated that these should be scrapped after each trip and new ones supplied.We stowed the old ones down the rope locker to trade in the cape verde island for cigarettes which we could sell when we got to BA.Unfortunately the cigarettes had been left by american troops during the war and were dried out.had to give the purchaser his money back
john sutton

[Doc Vernon]

If i may add this!
Not that it is something i want to exactly remember,but when in the Legion,that is all we had on our funny shaped narrow Beds,a Matress made of (Straw/Chior) it was hard and to say the least very uncomfortable,in the Mornings there were always quite a few of the Lads sleeping on the Floor,some because they thought it more comfortable,some to alliviate making their Beds up,and other that just simply fell of the rounded type Beds!
Bleedin awfull!!
Cheers

[Jim Brady]

Just searching the net regarding this subject and came across this.A fox's breakfast "a piss and a good look around".In Australia this is sometimes called a drover's, or a dingo's, breakfast.
Regards.
Jim.B.