Wasted Man Hours ?

[j.sabourn]

As a lot here seem to have served on the older passenger ships. How and who did all the cleaning of Brass ports etc.? On the average cargo ship all the accomodation ports used to be taken down weekly (in good wx) and polished. Ships bells Forecastle and Bridge polished daily, the same as the steam whistle. This was like painting the Forth Bridge as was never ending especially with some masters who on weekly inspections even insisted on polishing the taps if the crews cabins had washbasins in. Have even seen a seaman logged for not doing so. This was with some, taken to excess and can never imagine the same occurring nowadays. Cheers John Sabourn.

[Les Woodard]

Not an old hand so would not know mate. Did see a few who would scrap the paint of the portholes and polish them up and they did look great but not many did it and probably would have had a quick lick of paint when the next occupant took over the cabin LOL. On watch during daylight hours would see us polishing and touching up the varnish on the bridge and such like.

[Lou Barron]

Reading theposts about polishing the brass it reminds me of the time i was a bridge boy (deck boy)that was one of the jobs that i got in the wheel house how i hated it .Another time we was at anchor in the Tail o of the Bank it was January it was very cold the Quarter Master who was on the bridge told me that i had to clean the wooden weather board around the bridge with a piece of canvas and sand stone so i got a bucket to go down to the galley to get some hot water ,thev QMlooked at me and said Hot Water get that bucket over the sideand get that water and was it bloody cold

[j.sabourn]

Used to spend days with the chippy caulking and seaming the wooden decks. We must have carried plenty of oakum in those days. You just wouldnt have the manpower today to do these type of jobs. As regards the steel main deck on the first ship I was on for 2 years, cannot ever remember being painted, scale was lifted with old sludge oil chipped where required and coated with the bosuns special brew a mixture of linseed oil and varnish. Paint must have been too expensive. However the decks were as maintained as good as by other methods. Cheers John Sabourn

[happy daze john in oz]

Not sure about others but on UCL, NZSC and Blue Star the catering crew had to do their bit. For example wingers had regular scrub outs, brass to polish to do and on the Paparoa with NZSC the catering crew had to paint the dinning saloon.

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates the wooden decks holy stones oakam and pitch ,brass work metal polish and plenty of elbow grease so you can see your face in it and vanish all the wood work on bridge, then you go to smoko? but make sure its done well job and finish today???

[Jim Brady]

My mate who was on deck on the Empress boats used to do the brasswork for the Bedroom Stewards when they were in Montreal.The BR's had the money to be able to afford to pay someone todo it for them and my mate was glad of the dollars to spend in Montreal.When I joined the King Henry the engineers accommodation was in a right mess,nobody knew what colour the alleyway deck was.When the engineers seen it coming together they all got interested and so it became like a competition who had the best brass.Their brass fans ,deadlights and portholes were taken down on watch with them,they were gleaming much to my delight as what a job it saved me.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Neil Morton]

I cannot think of a single ship in which I served that did not have this brass polishing fetish. The 2nd steward was always stingy with Brasso so I used to take a tin or two of Dura Glit with me. Much easier to use and no where near as messy. Some smart alec once suggested that coating brass with Vaseline would prolong the time frame for polishing. Getting the Vaseline off was worse than the polishing.
Most captains had little quirks when it came to the "rounds" and once you learned them it was easy to buff up their pet foible and get away with a "lick and a promise" on the rest.
I dunno about painting John, I believe most of the stewards I sailed with would have made a pig's ear of it.

[Albert Bishop]

Morning Neil, Have to disagree about stewards Painting. We always got a fair bit of overtime painting the galley and alleyways once we were homeward bound. On one tanker we even worked chipping and painting on deck during our one to three time off. That also helped the Bronzie. Cheers Albi.

[Ivan Cloherty]

As a lot here seem to have served on the older passenger ships. How and who did all the cleaning of Brass ports etc.? On the average cargo ship all the accomodation ports used to be taken down weekly (in good wx) and polished. Ships bells Forecastle and Bridge polished daily, the same as the steam whistle. This was like painting the Forth Bridge as was never ending especially with some masters who on weekly inspections even insisted on polishing the taps if the crews cabins had washbasins in. Have even seen a seaman logged for not doing so. This was with some, taken to excess and can never imagine the same occurring nowadays. Cheers John Sabourn.

I don't think they were wasted man hours really, because we all had in those days a pride (of some sort) in our current ship, there were times when we hated it, but at other times we would do it without any bidding. On transits through the Panama the brass was always gleaming and we had a certain pride in that when observing other ships with green brass and a generally run down appearance. It was a kind of self discipline that made us do it and in those days it was the way we were brought up. Old flags were the best applicator they had a sandpaper quality without scratching and the rag-bag a source of soft polishing cloths, and it did help pass the time away on those long bad weather passages. We used to take the foc'le head bell down and keep it in the forepeak, took two of us to carry it, but a good bronzy job on number one hatch whilst approaching Panama, Wish I was there now. They don't have the crews these days to perform such tasks.

When I was on distant trawlers we used to cover the brass not in vaseline but heavy brown engine room tar like grease on all outside brass as it was going to be virtually submerged for most of the voyage, it came off quite easily with turps with all hands polishing the brass 24 hours away from the Humber when homeward bound.