Creature Comforts

[j.sabourn]

Should have said gift horse in the mouth, and not in face, must be getting the craft disease, cant rememember a effing thing. John Sabourn

[happy daze john in oz]

This posting got me into a bit of an embarasing situation last night. Went out for dinner with her indoors, my brother and a few friends. We were in a Thai resaturant and I was looking at the special sboard not sure what to have. The waiter then suggested that I might like the CRABS. I cracked up, normaly they say laughter can be infectious, not this time and it took a while before I could explain my mirth.

[leratty]

Samlander loved to see that old saying, "filled in" crikey have not heard that for more than forty years, too much!
Most of the ships I served on early 60's through to late 60's were well found & comfortable with a couple of early trip exceptions. Most single berth, a/c'd, good food, well fitted rec rooms (best was a Shell chemical tanker, crap trip being a tanker but boy the accommodations, food etc way above the rest. But then needed to be as they used to suck blood from us regularly. Of course we were just so naive then.) CPR & the trampers with again one or two exceptions were good. The trampers crews & voyages made up for any poor areas in comforts. Blue Star, at least the Brasil Star was the worst by far, aggressive crew who in the main had never been on many if any other ships, deck officers who thought their collective droppings had zero aroma (Where are they now, eking out a life on their bloody miserable pensions, huh!) & believed they were in heaven, dumb schmucks! Food uneatable, mattresses were some sort of straw or crap kapok paliase (sic) filthy too as was the crew accommodation, bathrooms etc! Again though being on the B.A. flyer run you over looked these things due to the delightful extracurricular things available (:

[leratty]

John was it not the wages & conditions that sent the Aus MN to the wall? I can not imagine you walking off a ship, not that I know you, except via your posts. It truly must have been an exceptional set of reasons-conditions-circumstances to have made you do that? Ships in poor state seem to be the norm now days. ( I say this with no real knowledge) I wonder how many founder without anyone knowing (or caring) apparently not infrequently off the W.A. coasts too? We see when boating in Hong Kong some shockers & are told of them too by acquaintances in the industry, particularly Cambodian, Vietnamese, even a Laotian one recently? Apropos your salary loss-forgone, surprised you were not sending an allotment each month, that way you would only have lost a small amount + of course Sat-Sundays at sea etc, no? I always sent a large allotment to my bank a/c then spent the rest + what I made on the side, never was short either. Richard

[j.sabourn]

Le ref. your post. Walking off a foreign vessel in 1972 was no big thing. According to the BSF I shouldnt of even been there. As regards Australian shipping it went to the wall not through high wages and good conditions they are still there and implemented whatever flag is working on the coast manned by Australian seamen even today. They went to the wall as probably followed the example of the British Shipowner who I imagine is still paying low wages. I have worked with British Seismic crews who were allowed on this coast through special dispensation through the maritime unions here, on the understanding they received their own salary structure apart from mostly a moaning bunch of wallys it brought back to mind of the time served on British ships where wages were always a drawback. I am pleased that the Australian Maritime Unions saved the jobs of seafarers for Australian mariners and still enforce the wages structure and the jobs of Australian seamen, pity the British seamans union couldnt have done likewise.
The Australian management companys are still making a profit otherwise they wouldnt be there, dont blame everything on wages and conditions. The Australian Maritime Unions should be proud of what they achieved and are still achieving for their members, dont believe what you read in the press. Regards John Sabourn.

[j.sabourn]

Richard just a rider to the previous post in case you were unaware of the maritime working conditions in Australia. No foreign crew were allowed on the coast indefinetly they were allowed so much time on the coast. I served on a British ship (tanker) on the N.Z. coast years ago and at that time were allowed a maxinum of 3 months on the coast at any one time. No foreign nationals employed unless an Australian citizen could not be found to do the job. I believe this still applies today in other work such as mining and is what all the hullabaloo is about. Australians have the first choice of employment at Australian wages and conditions. No Australian to my mind should be out of work through lack of employment and mostly the work is there if undesirable to some. As regards the maritime side these rules were strictly enforced. As I retired in 2002 as far as I am aware they are still there. Can you imagine the uk enforcing such rules, they would probably have been in a better situation today if anyone had had the guts to do so. The U.S. Rigs I went on the OIM and the barge masters were only allowed 6 month working visas, and had to get renewed every time they returned. This system to me has worked in Australia apart from whatever anyone else thinks. The people of the Country come first and foremost, the UK would have done well to have taken a leave out of their book. Now there is no chance as believe you would have to get the permission of Brussels. Regards once more John Sabourn.

[Tony Frost]

Sailed on one of Blue Star Lines "Bees Knees"(at the time) SOUTHLAND STAR first British Ship to go UMS.You did not after leave the ECR for anything accept to cool down.Because Vesty did not what his engineers to get too soft,so they had the Hall Thermotank system put in the ECR?With 4 large fridge comps out-side and just behine the bulk head cargo at -10(which did not appreciate it cos they were Dead!) Oh and she did not have a purpose fitted pool.Around the same time Blue Port was formed and Port Line were having the 'C's built,Vesty tried to have their pools removed (but were to far completed).

[Tony Morcom]

UMS ECR C's

[Gulliver]

QUOTE Tony MorcomTony Morcom

UMS ECR C's



Looks like we're back to the abbreviations again Tony. While you and I could probably work them out,some of the older crowd,or visitors here might well be puzzled.

UMS = Unmanned Machinery Space
ECR=Engine Control Room
C's= presumably the Blue Star vessels ,class names beginning with 'C'. California/Columbia ?

[Captain Kong]

I am `older crowd` and I knew what the initials were.
We had all the ESSO VLCCs converted to UMS with CCTV in the ECR in the in the 70s.
Brian.