Crew Interface

[Tony Wilding]

Think i had that honour for the same reason Lou, on quite a few occasions, Lisbon and Kingston seemed to be my downfall, plus many narrow escapes,

[Colin McClelland]

BILL

After a 5 year engineering apprenticeship with one day and two nights a week attending south shields marine school
you were interviewed by the BOT head examiner in Newcastle to be graded for seagoing service.
We were not asked if we were born with a silver spoon in our mouths.

And tea does taste better from a dirty mug.

Colin

[John Pruden]

bill the PERSEUS BF with the deck crowd having our own bar {casbar after the chippy Dennis cassidy} once weekly we had a darts match against other crowds on board the captain captain mcdonald or mackintosh his name slips the mind anyway a very good and hard taskmaster i remember he called everybody mister even the galley boy peggy's and all the crew a very well liked and respect skipper. playing darts with the officers my turn on the ockey 2 treble 20s he was sitting at the bar all quiet Mr pruden he said another in there and the nights drinks are on me!!! the only ever time i have scored 180 in my life but i got a rye smile next morning of him then back to the chipping hammer and wire brush back to reality?jp

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates I was the only taffy on a ship once the rest of the crew were from Grenock so could not understand them for the most part? but after a couple of weeks I could, The Officers on deck not engine room never mixed with the crew only on watch, The Captain {The oldman} you never seen unless you did something wrong on most ships? Most of the crews were british all types officers and men !!! only remember donkeymen/greasers' were arabs e.t.c down engine room on some ships but we never had any trouble with them. The only time the officers were wanted was from passengers {social} every one did they jobs with very little probelms, day to day No bully boys or pig headed officers on any ship I was on but I was very lucky?

[Capt Bill Davies]

bill the PERSEUS BF with the deck crowd having our own bar ...........

McDonald/Mackintosh does not ring any bells, they may have been ex EDs. I sailed with Capt McDavid, known as 'Black Mac' or to the Middies expense 'Cocoa'. I best PM you on that one.

Brgds

Bill

[robpage]

Bill as no engineer seems to have taken up you query, I'll give an impromto answer ....................

There is a is a thread here in "Engineering Department " regarding shaft size , Quite correctly every potential ships engineer was graded by the BoT , DoT , DoTI , they all had five years or four and a half apprenticeship , so they had quite a collection of Engineering skills . The fitter and turners who worked on shaft sizes of less than 6" diameter were unclassified , and had a harder task to get a job than the ex dockyard or " heavy engineering " engineers . I sailed with a few from Singer Sewing machines in Glasgow , and they had some heavy press brakes so even Singer's was a heavy engineering company . I have sailed with ex cadets from a Nautical college who knew which knife and fork to use , but were the worst engineers I had the displeasure of . I don't mind the odd steak and kidney pie , like a drop of red wine in the gravy though . I would agree with John though , sitting in the first class dining salon , there were a few misfits , and some were overwhelmed by the silverware , regardless of which department they belonged to , remembering that the R.O.s were fresh out of college sometimes . Some treated the winger like their personal butler and their rudeness was classically embarrassing , I think the wingers were helpful and guided the lost , but were difficult with the Officers who needed the enemas , so I did not bother to answer the thread initially . I never went through oil and water arguments as I regarded them as a last bastion of people with insecurity problems . In Clan Line and to a lesser extent UCL background was determined more by whether you were a Celtic or Rangers supporter than your ability to tie a bow tie !. Now where is my best chipped mug , I need another slurp of the chilled Chilean Merlot , before the 2003 is undrinkable and I need to put a dash of lemonade in it .

[Captain Kong]

Hi Rob,
I had an Engineering apprenticeship, when I left school. I was sacked because the Managers Secretary lived in our street and she had seen me in a Sea Cadets Uniform and told the Manager that I wanted to join the Merchant Navy.
He called me into his office, and said, Do you want to join the Merchant Navy?
Me being a bit dumb said, Yes, So he says, Well you can join tomorrow, your fired. We train men here to work for us for life, not to leave us when we have trained them, so get your coat on and you can go home now.
I went home and that was the end of my Engineering career. The nearest I got to it was on the old Beechfield when I was a coal burning Fireman.
Cheers
Brian.

[Capt Bill Davies]

There is a is a thread here in "Engineering Department " regarding shaft size..............

Good response Rob! How do I follow that? ............Chilean Merlot? Disappointed and you were doing so well.

Brgds

Bill

[robpage]

It was a 2007 chateau bottled burgundy , and the glass was an old Webb Corbett , from the Tutbury works , but don't tell anyone , I don't want to get a reputation as being an ex passenger boat engineer ,

[Capt Bill Davies]

It was a 2007 chateau bottled burgundy , and the glass was an old Webb Corbett , from the Tutbury works , but don't tell anyone , I don't want to get a reputation as being an ex passenger boat engineer ,

All is forgiven!