1966 and all that.

[j.sabourn]

The seaman’s strike of 1966 will mean different things to different people . To me I was on the Ravensworth and laid up in Port Talbot . All the ships engineers and mates were kept on the ship presumably for a quick getaway on the strike finishing. The ship was home from home to us presumably a bit different from those on strike with mainly shortages of money etc. to feed whoever they were responsible for. Those still on board had their wife’s and families down including me with wife and two near enough babes in arms , the wife’s did all the galley work , and it was playtime for the kids. The bosun before leaving the ship plus another couple of older ABs came to see me and said if the strike lasted more than a couple of days they wouldn’t be coming back and didn’t . They went ashore permanently as believe a lot more did also . The carpenter as we still had then, towards the end was on the bones of his backside all his money and lodgings gone , I met him ashore and he was smuggled back on board passed the union guards on the gate and reused his old cabin and kept his head down until the strike ended the following day. We were the second ship out through the locks .In all probability and bad faith we were told no weekend overtime was to be worked , it was the end of 3 on a watch , and the most overtime for the weekend overtime was probably If back on the iron mike the 3 watchkeepers as regards the deck manning. The first uk port of call was Cardiff after leaving Port Talbot, and we had a surveyor down measuring the ship up for the number of men required for berthing and the physical work involved in such. All this in a couple of weeks of the strike ending, it was an orchestrated piece of work and was the start of the downfall of the British M.N. As such and was well planned beforehand to my eyes , from what I saw it was the end of British Shipping and I resigned and spent the next 5 years on foreign flagged ships. Others must have had similar experiences and could smell it in the air at least ,or do I have a very much advanced smell like a dog maybe ? Cheers bow wow. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

For me it was my first summer ashore, went to Jersey to work for the season.
Then the strike, no ferries, no travellers so back to main land.

[John Gill]

'66- I was in my home city of Liverpool, a hotbed of militancy during the dispute. I did my share of picketing (reluctantly) and attended meetings at the Pier Head, while elsewhere, like some, to put food on the table, found employment shoreside to supplement the non existent strike pay. I got a job window cleaning which didn't last long, couldn't quite get the hang of those square windows after years of doing portholes.Not long after the strike ended I read a novel written by Nicholas Monsarrat, a Scouser, titled A Fair Days Work, about the dispute set in a fictionalised Northern City, obviously Liverpool. The book was part of a quartet named Signs of the Times. Maybe some aboard here may have read it. Worth a read.
Gilly

[j.sabourn]

#3 Do you really think it was all worth the effort John . What do you consider were the gains ? As mate i did all the overtime for the deck , and this was mainly what seamen relied on. When some shipowners cut back on that , I failed to see what advantages they had gained , when you consider cutting back on labour was soon to follow. I think loss of sleep was one of the gains , not much use on Ocean Passages . Harold Wilson was the PM at the time and I think,there were other things in the pipeline attached to the strike which were planned for the future . Few people saw the repercussions of such , and the strike was used as an excuse wherever possible . To a slightly lesser degree it divided the industry the same as the miners strike which even divided families . JS
When you think back 1966 and 1066 had one thing in common. Harold the English King got shot in the eye as well as most seamen 900 years later. The Harold then however bore no resemblance to Harry Wilson. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

Wasn't it Harold Wilson who instituted the Kenyan/Nairobi Agreement in 1966 where-in British shipowners were advised to sell those ships they intended scrapping to sell them at scrap prices to developing countries such as Kenya/Nigeria/Ethiopia to help them with developing their own Merchant Navies. Once developed these countries introduced a limited cabotage where-in all imports had to be carried on their own flag vessels, thus increasing their foreign currency earnings. Exports could be carried on foreign flag vessels as port dues etc were paid in foreign currencies. Our own Govt screwed us

[happy daze john in oz]

But there were winners, just like two jags who did very well after all of that.
Even a place in parliament with a big pension to come, who could ask for better?

[John Arton]

Ivan
Regards #5
I met Harold Wilson once at a social gathering, slimiest politician you could ever hope to meet. On being introduced to him by my brother in law upon being told I was a merchant seaman he immediately blanked me. I'm Shure I read somewhere that he was once quoted as saying he would rather sit down to eat with a Tory than a merchant seaman, nice man....not
Rgds
J.A.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ivan
Regards #5
I met Harold Wilson once at a social gathering, slimiest politician you could ever hope to meet. On being introduced to him by my brother in law upon being told I was a merchant seaman he immediately blanked me. I'm Shure I read somewhere that he was once quoted as saying he would rather sit down to eat with a Tory than a merchant seaman, nice man....not
Rgds
J.A.

John, he must have had some bad experiences on the 'Scillonian' when going to and from his holiday home in the Scilly isles, or was that his love nest, probably blamed the seamen for the bad weather, or perhaps his love interest had a dalliance with a crew member and liked hs pipe better

[Tony Taylor]

Wasn't it Harold Wilson who instituted the Kenyan/Nairobi Agreement in 1966 where-in British shipowners were advised to sell those ships they intended scrapping to sell them at scrap prices to developing countries such as Kenya/Nigeria/Ethiopia to help them with developing their own Merchant Navies. Once developed these countries introduced a limited cabotage where-in all imports had to be carried on their own flag vessels, thus increasing their foreign currency earnings. Exports could be carried on foreign flag vessels as port dues etc were paid in foreign currencies. Our own Govt screwed us

France had a similar policy at one time where 33% (or thereabouts) of all goods imported had to be in French registered vessels.

[Graham Shaw]

There are always ways and means...

Just another snippet about foreign trade policy.

A colleague of mine worked for Zim Lines,the Israel national carrier at the beginning of the 1960's. Trade between the U.S. and other countries was always good,but the Americans must have realised that the export of their grain from the Great Lakes ports,e,g Duluth was extremely lucrative for other nationals ships,and that their own fleets were missing out ! So they stipulated that 25 % of the total of any new grain contract between the U.S. and another country must be carried in a U.S.flagged vessel. So what did those shrewd Israeli businessmen do? Zim already had four bulk carriers in that trade,four brand new vessels built in Germany as German war reparations for the Jewish holocaust,so they 'sold' one of them to no doubt Jewish, American owners in New York and reflagged and registered it there in the States and changed the name.So now they could fulfil the contract terms fully as before the new rules, because 3 of their vessels on the contract were Israeli,and one of course was now.American. That vessel was the m.v.EN GEDI (Isr) which became the m.v.TAMARA GUILDEN (Am.) A year later the name of En Gedi was perpetuated by an even larger bulker built in Italy,so the name was ever present and not lost.