Crew Interface

[robpage]

In the First Class dining saloon a snobbish pillock of a punter clicked his fingers at a passing winger , who started to look under the table cloth like he had lost something , The oaf asked him if he had lost something , the winger said no sir I thought you had lost your dog so I was helping you look for it , you was clicking your fingers to attract its attention . He was never seen in First Class again , and I hope it was worth it , because I certainly thought it funny . As an aside he was from the Mersey and had taken an awful lot of nonsense from the punter , so I had a lot of sympathy .

[John Pruden]

what is the point of I'm better than you at sea i was at the bottom of the pile in my working life yes you guest it i was running a building firm a lot of insurance work among the workers i was boss over was a retired army warrant officer and a tanker captain i thought it was a bit ironic the way life turns from one thing to another but we always had fun in the boozer with the warrant officer Ben small fella you could imagine him on the parade ground screaming at soldiers another lad Sammy smith was a squaddie around the table in the pub Ben the wo fell for it every time i used to say i bet you were one little bastard when you were in the army that used to kick Sammy of no i was not Ben would say then Sammy would rip into him only in a nice way then i would leave them to it i found out last year that Colin {the captain passed away} he was a very nice fella? if any member wants Collins second name it would be best in a pm to me thanks boys .jp

[leratty]

Bill ,

Interesting comments for me as I went the other way & have to say never had a bad experience from those on deck or bridge, in fact on most ships had a No of deck officers even 'ginger beers' speak with me regularly on trips, always starting with, "why I had gone on deck & not stayed as an app yadda, yadda?" I would always be frank & tell them I was not staying at sea rather going on to uni in ex time. Not at all surprised at the BF app's attitude,they were as up themselves as Port Line & Fed Steam apps, the majority without any cause background wise which always amused me. I was forewarned about BF as to the attitudes held etc on those ships, certainly as to a one triper party rather holding theirs of " I will never leave this Co it is so good, we are better than the rest."

Capt. Kong am seriously surprised at your comment re tramps, "They all seem aloof, on a tramp." Hope I am not quoting out of context? Was that just that trip, or as far as all tramps in general? I found of course without your sea time that the trampers were the happiest ships from bridge to engine room. The unhappy ones from my experience were the 'Line Ships', particularly due to the unseen wall self built between both departments & sectors there of. Best not to mention my view of a couple of them, particularly the deck officers as all hell will break loose. Suffice to say they not only thought they were better-brighter (wry smile) than anyone else but also that their droppings had no aroma. Most were above their station, i.e. based on their background now being served by stewards, having their bunks made etc which made them believe they really were the 'upstairs' of 'upstairs downstairs' now oh how wrong they were.

John as I recall 'The Peggy' was the deck boy, or one of them if there were more than one as they took it in turns, not a steward from my recollection?

The only crew member who seemed to be on his own for his own reasons was the radio officer. Never quite knew why they just seemed to like to be? It sure would have been, certainly on freighters-tankers a mind numbing job.
Richard

[j.sabourn]

The head workers and sea lawyers were soon sighted within the early parts of a trip. As these were always expected it usually worked out they found their own level amongst everyone on the ship. As in an earlier post I said I always used to take the DR men who came down to the ship from the Federation with their papers to sign. Others thought I was stupid for taking. However I knew they would be the least problem on board as they needed clean discharges. They usually turned out to be the best seamen. I remember one specific trip as mate when we had 3 young seamen who I suspected had been planted as there had been a lot of unofficial union problems just prior to the 67 strike. They did everything they could to be obstructing. As it was a 6 month running agreement and we returned after 3 they were hoping for the sack. When they came to sign for their overtime I asked them back for the next trip. This amazed them as they wanted the sack so their fares were paid home. Being the bastard I was I refused them this privilige due to the problems they had caused. They finally came to me and handed in their notice. They even asked if I would lend them the money for their train fares. I will not give you my reply. Cheers John Sabourn

[Capt Bill Davies]

John,

The first thing that comes into my mind when thinking about 'headworkers' is the inside guy man. In practice, when topping and lowering derricks this guy is more or less redundant. I was always suspicious of those who went for this position on first topping the derricks in Penang outbound.

Brgds

Bill

[Captain Kong]

.Capt. Kong am seriously surprised at your comment re tramps, "They all seem aloof, on a tramp." Hope I am not quoting out of context? Was that just that trip, or as far as all tramps in general? I found of course without your sea time that the trampers were the happiest ships from bridge to engine room.
.
Hi Leratty,
That London Greek Tramp I first sailed on really was a very unhappy ship, No one appeared to speak to one another, the Engineers had a seperate mess room from the Deck Officers. and the atmosphere on board was not good,
The deck crowd were a bunch of Sadists Bullies, I was the Peggy, I got battered every day just so they could have a laugh. my life was miserable. I would actually climb over the rails at night holding on the one hand and count. When I got to ten I was going to let go and fall into the Indian Ocean. I would get as far as nine and hesitate and then climb back inboard. Then do it again another night.This lasted several months, then one day I had had enough, one bastard from Southampton, we called Mush, started to thump me as we were approaching the buoys at Aden, I had nothing to lose, so I turned on him and battered him, he was so surprised he stood there as I beat him around his face then I heaved him over the wall, He was clinging to the rail screaming over the prop. I got the chain stopper and started to lash him with it, I just wanted to kill him.
The 2nd Mate and another AB dragged me away and pulled him back inboard. He went to his bunk. They treated me with respect after that. The whole attitude of the deck crowd changed . I was OK. I was never ever beaten again at sea.
Another Tramp I was on , the Nicholas K, London Greek, was also a miserable ship. we were near starved to death on that one.
Not all Tramps were happy ships.
Cheers
Brian.

[j.sabourn]

Brian, understand what you are talking about. Went after a bloke with a piece of 4x4 just after 0300 in the morning as knew he was turned in and was going to smash his head in, was too big for a 17 year old in a fair fight, the farmer stopped me fortuanetly, but same bloke never came near me for rest of trip. Another time had a bullying 3rd. Mate caught him ashore and belted him one, he reported me to the old man and were going to cancel indentures. They talk about bullying nowadays and make a big issue of it, its always been there and probably always will. Regards John Sabourn

[john sutton]

Cap kong
I had similar experience on the specialist(harrisons).One particular AB took it on himself to be my personal bully.I was just 17 and a JOS but he was a big guy and made my life a misery all the way out to the west indies.It all culminated when I got drunk in Port of Spain and passed out and he gave me a good kicking.2 days later I got him and he had to go to hospital to get his nose fixed.The rest of the trip I slept with my door locked and a chipping hammer under my pillow but apart from threats from him and his minder(who we called Garth after the strip cartoon character)he left me alone.
A similar situation exsisted on the Heathmore whe re I shared a watch and cabin with a well known Manchester bully call Joe Durkin(long dead).He was always late relieving the wheel or lookout and "worked his head" with great diligenceNew years eve in Pireaus we had a cabin party with the other member of the watch.quite a bit of beer was consumed and I could feel the tension building between joe and the jock so I went off to drink ashore.Fortunately a greek "lady" took it into her head that I needed a bed for the night and when I got back aboard joe was in my bunk covered in blood.
Apparently he decided to take the jock out on deck to sort him out.He finished up with his head being banged on the deck and when he was unconsious being dragged to the rail for a salt water bath.
A couple of hands stopped the fracas and saved his life.we left him in hospital at deaths door and he never really recovered his full facilities.
Meanwhile whien I got back to the UK I had to sort out the present the greek lady gave me
john sutton

[j.sabourn]

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Was it you that wrote that
John sabourn

[Captain Kong]

On my same first trip as Peggy, I was always getting thumped by a big fat ugly Cardiff Cook.
I had to go amidships every meal time and carry the meals down aft in kits, to the Saiilors Mess room.
In heavy weather I was sometimes swept along the deck with a big sea losing the meal for the Sailors, The Cook would thump me when I went back for more, and refused, saying you have had it once ,not cooking again.
I go down aft tell the crowd there is no dinner. and I got beat up again.
The Cook had a Trumpet, he used to play it in the Galley, it was awful, one day he was turned in, in the afternoon and his trumpet was in the galley, so I got the chip fat, it was lard, and poured it down into the trumpet and turned it round and round so it was everywhere inside. cleaned it up and put it back. The lard set. That night he was going demented. blowing into it without a note, the valves didnt work. and his air would not pass through.
He was going to kill someone with a cleaver.
I denied all knowledge of his trumpet, and got away with it.
Cheers
Brian.