Foreign nationals on British ships

[Capt Bill Davies]

Hi shipmates, the only one I came across was a black engineer officer 2nd from some part of Africa on an all white /european ship, he was not allowed to use they mess, and had to eat with the crew, he was a real gentleman, and well educated ,he could speak a few languages but that did not help him mix with his fellow officers on that ship? they did not want a non white officer in the engine room? or the ship? he payed off first port he could, dont know what happen to him?but he took it well and never lost his temper. hope he had a good life.

An interesting point Louis, and one that says more about the British officer class than the African gentleman you refer to.

A small aside. During the time I was studying for my Second Mates(FG) 59/60 I found that the Officers in the China very distant and most unhelpful. The usual ‘send ups’ from the crowd were to be expected and accepted. After all, you were changing sides!!!!

During my time at college things did not change and you were certainly not included in any ex curricula activities of fellow students. Clubs, pubs etc. This was particularly hurtful to me as in my Second Mates class there were two China Midshipmen who attended the same secondary school as me , St. Anselm’s College, in Birkenhead but they had gone through the Conway route.

Later on things only improved marginally even though when up for First Mate (FG) I had actually sailed as Second Mates in General Cargo Tramps. Our China Middy’s had sailed as Fourth Mate and other premier Companies cadets had sailed as Third Mate.

So Louis, I have an understanding for the situation.

There is, like most things, a flip side to this coin. It gave me tremendous drive to succeed and I never forgot what that legendary Blue Funnel Bosun told me on my last trip as AB in 1960. ‘Never forget where you started son’

Brgds

Bill

[robpage]

Clan line carried East African Railways and Harbour Board engineering and deck apprentices to enable them to get a full set of British certificates before returning to the lakes , they were almost to a man great guys to work with , but one had a problem grasping anything , his father was a tribal chief and he did not believe that he should actually work . It was a nightmare on Zulu crewed ships , they regarded the Kikuyu as inferior to the Zulu and would not take instructions/ orders from the EAR&H guys at all . I sailed with one Iraqui with Gukf Oil who was something to do with training from ARAMCO , He was used to dealing with servants as he told the Liverpudlian Second steward and assistant steward , I could never understand why he always got frothy soup , mine was always flat . He was totally useless on deck , could not do simple navigation , and the mate believed that the Department of Trade would sort him out at teh examination stage . If we had the bottles we could have sold the arrogance in bulk

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Hi Captain Bill Davies , My posting here was not the only one I witness on another ship a B.P, tanker a young aprentice who was a very good lookly likey for a very young prince phillip he was from south africa , he was ashore with a few of us, in south sheilds ,and saw a young black man walking hand in hand with a white girl ,on the pavement, he attack the black guy in a fit of rage and swearing in foreign, and we had to pull him off before he done some very serious damage to him, I at that time did not understand the reason why this happen? but he told me a few days later this was not allowed in his country and why. he was brought up that way my time at sea I came across and worked with all types of people with never any probelms' . They were the only times .

[happy daze john in oz]

Speaking of foreign crew as we are brings me to an incident that I experienced today.
In Melbourne to have my Land Rover serviced so with some time on my hands went into the Seamans Mission in Flinders street.
Had a coffee which is free and began to read the daily paper, also free. As I sat there in came five crew members from a newly docked ship, the mission bus brings them in. From their conversation it became clear they had little English.
On a table in the main room there was ten loaves of bread and about fourty or so bread rolls. The local baker brings in bread he cannot sell a couple of times a week. There is a notice which says 'Free Bread'.
This bread was a mixture of stale, very stale and floatable. One of the crew saw the sign and must have had enough understanding of English to know what the sign said. He spoke to the steward behind the bar who then produced a large black plastic garbage bag, put all the bread and rolls into it then gave it to the crew.
Not sure what they intend to do with it all, make toast bread pudding or poison the seagulls?

But it did entertain me for a few minutes.

[Peter Trodden]

In June '93 we sailed from South Bank to Norway in the Northern Explorer. The job was to plough and backfill sections of sub-sea pipelines in the Norwegian sector.It was going to be a longish job with no leave (Job and Finish) The Bosun and Deck crew,2ndCook and Catering were all East Malaysian (Sabah,Sarawak) from an agency. We used the Aker Yard in Stord as our base, and would sail to the Draugan Field,plough in a section of pipe then return to Base and change out the Gear for Backfilling then sail back to the Field. These round trips were about 10--14 days and there was quite a few months work to be done. About our 3rd return visit one of the shoreside workers came on board with the local News paper and showed us the Front page, a BIG photo of our ship under BIG headlines (He translated) English slave ship working in Norwegian waters. It went on to say we had men from our former Colonies working long hours on very poor pay and only 1months leave per year while the UK men were on a huge wage and regular leave. We sailed back up to the Job,but on our return we had on the quay the ITF Inspector from Stavanger and a crowd from the local Norsk Sjomannsforbund (Seamens Union) who threatened to Black the ship,no stores,no bunkers untill the company paid our Asian brothers UK rates. We sailed yet again and left the bickering to the suits to sort out. On our return 10 days later,there on the quay was a full crowd of UK Deck and Catering and a Bus for the Malays.
ttfn Peter.