Suicides at sea

[j.sabourn]

Brians account quite believable. There must be cases that we have never heard of , of missing people at sea, foul play suspected but never proved. My time with Indian crews, I had a to me a pretty poor Serang who tried to harangue the crew all the time. One of them told me they would do to him what had been done to his brother if he didnt ease up. When I asked what had happened to his brother he said they had sewn him in a sack and thrown over the side. The Serang was reminded of this and believe he managed to leave the ship alive. This is what most believe are docile Lascar crews. Dont be fooled by appearances, life is very cheap in these countrys also. John Sabourn.

[Les Woodard]

John there are still cases like that happening today as we just had a ship a few months ago where it was suspected that one member of crew disappeared while on route to Oz and another that died on board while of the coast under suspicious circumstances and in all I think there where three ended up that way but can not recall the third one. The second one was put down to a heart attack after falling down a ladder I think that was the final verdict. It has come to the stage where welfare groups are having to go aboard these ships to try and feed them. If they impound the ship the shipping company does stuff all and it ends up that the authority's here turn a blind eye when the ship slips out of port one night. This has happened twice just from my poor recollection. That is Newcastle NSW so would be happening elsewhere in Oz. Makes one wonder how the heck they get the crew in the first place or is it a case of the cosh on a dark night over there. So much for letting private enterprise take over as is often sprouted around the world.

[j.sabourn]

Les, I can give you one instant of such not so long back in the 80"s. I dont like harping on too much about the North Sea and some of the ethics of owners and managers of some of our so called compatriots. To get crews for these stand by boats at times was very hard as were not the best of jobs, to me was a fill in until something better came along. Come sailing time 2200 at night we were one man short. The managers runner went out around the pubs and found who he thought would be a likely candidate and literally threw him onboard and I was told to sail as was behind in the schedule. Next morning our new shipmate showed his face and had no idea where he was, and why, to crown it all he had the DTs. Even though it was against the law I used to carry a bottle of spirits which I carried for emergencies, it took me a week to wean him off, the poor bugger must have had the rudest awakening of his life when thrown into a FRC in a force 6 for exercises. the night after sitting in a pub minding his own business. He was an ex fisherman fortuanetly, but was certainly sober for the next 4 weeks. People always assume the seaman is at fault, the ethics of some of the owners was much worse in a lot of cases. I have no idea of the situation at present in the North Sea as regards such vessels, but I know there are very many fine seamen through circumstances are or were forced to take such jobs to survive monetaryarily.
Cheers John Sabourn.

[leratty]

Suicide at any time is appaling, we would never know the angst that a person has gone through to do it. I still say they are braver than me Gunga Din anyway knowing me I would stuff it up. I saw two at sea, one was an apprentice shan't name the ship or Co, suffice to say it was hazing I feel that caused it as he was a gentle soul very young for his age who could not hack the piss being taken (his 1st trip) but above deck did not support him. He would come down to us EDH's for a chat & company as were not much older but were much so in experience +life. He tied a heaving line around his neck & jumped overboard from the bloody boat deck in the Red Sea! Was not found for 1.5 days & then only as someone on that deck happened to look down to see this what he thought was some sort of fish surfacing along side, sadly it was the boy. Ferkin gruesome bringing him aboard we were all affected by it.
Second was a hey John S, a 'Chieif Steward'-Purser who hung himself on the Hazelmoor by his tie from cabin door hook we were told, it was channel night? Grisly biz that is for sure.
Oh there was a third but it was an attempted he was as we called them then Fruit''on Christmas day I have written about this in another post.

Heard this morning on news that Aus radio station is to pay the family of nurse AU$500,000? Am I a cynic it just seems commercial blood money whether it is warranted is for another discussion. Richard

[Captain Kong]

I must admit that on my first trip to sea as Peggy on a London Greek, I was feeling a bit suicidal, I climbed over the rails in the night and leaned out with just one hand on the rail, counting to ten then I would let go and fall into the dark sea, , I would get to nine, start again, get to nine then climb inboard again. I was battered very day by a sick bunch of bullying bastards for months out to the East and back.
In the end , I had nothing to lose. One bastard started to thump me again on deck, I went berserk and hammered him, I got him by the rails and heaved him over, he was clinging to the bottom rail screaming hanging over the prop, , I was stamping on his fingers to make him let go, then I got a Chain Stopper and started to lash him with it.
The Second Mate and another AB pulled me away and got him inboard. He had to go to his bunk.
I was treated with respect after that, no one bothered me, and they just kept out of my way.
I was never ever bulied again.

If I hadnt done that I would have just become a forgotten statistic of 60 years ago. lost at sea.
It is in the Book, `Maiden Voyages` by Roy Derham, of the Vindicatrix Association.
Cheers
Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

I recall a couple going over the wall on UCL. But with some of the modern ships often with mixed crew I wonder if any go missing and are never reported? In some cultures killing is often considered the only way to resolve a problem, one goes over the side and the captain picks up another at the next port of call!!

[leratty]

Ferk me Capt.Kong shan't cross you me old china plate, bloody hell! I wonder if it was just me but I used to often in my early days at sea get this at times quite hard to stop urge to leap over the side, nothing to do with suicide just this amazing urge as the beautiful sea rushed past. Bet a shrink could work it out though rather not hear his verdict so I will just put it down to a bloody English boarding school (: cold showers winter & summer. Did not reach maturity until I was thirty because of that..... ): JC now I am hungry as that is the over riding memory of those dreadful days. Only good thing to come out of it was a terrific education from truly great teachers.
I was very lucky as saw virtually no fighting on any ship I was on, if there was it was flash in pan & over quick smart. Richard

[John Pruden]

only ever had any trouble with one bully at sea but as a young lad handy with my fists ashore one night an American soldier kicked of i think it was the peanuts bar it was an old picture house but under ground i lost it and threw him over the balcony and asked if anyone else would like to have a bash the ships bully was there and i thought while i was in the mood i started on him he had give me and the young ones a hard time but after that i was left alone i did stop another Peggy that was going to do the mate in he had a large pair of Stiltons and it was a dark night even though the mate did give us a hard time little did he know i saved his ar'e that night but i was not looked at as an easy target after that and left alone i never liked a bully and never dream of bullying anybody in my life funny thing even in pubs although never a scrapper lads always said you don't want to tangle with him to old now for rolling around a floor thank god with some of the young tossers that are walking the streets my dad always told me never worry about the big fella with the flat nose worry about the fella that give him it?jp

[robpage]

I recall a couple going over the wall on UCL. But with some of the modern ships often with mixed crew I wonder if any go missingl!!

Those I remember going missing from UCL were all same sex , and I think more than one was a lover's tiff ,

[Jim Brady]

As a galley boy you could get a hard time from the cook but I dont recall anything physical.I always thought it was a cardinal sin to hit a boy rating and anyone doing so would feel the full weight of the rest of the crew coming down on them.Yes I always thought that boy ratings should be protected from bullying,being hit or sexual activity towards them.I remember when I was on the Britain sitting in the mess having my meal within earshot of the bellboys,from what i could gather some b*****d was interfering with one of them.That night when we came out of the pig a gang of us walking down the working alleyway I told the lads what I had heard the bellboys talking about.We headed into their cabin and there was this deck steward know as chocolate d**k,I told all the lads to wait outside,I eventuallly got the kid to own up to what was happening.I threw chocolate out into the working alleyway to all hands he was kicked and punched as he tried to run the gauntlet,he was never seen again for the rest of the trip I imagine he must've slept up on the promenade deck in the deckchair cover locker and his queer mates taking food up to him.An MA was doing his rounds when this was going on he found out what it was about and reported it.The next day the bellboys were in front of the captain but they denied it but what came out of it a proper official notice was put on the bellboys cabin door Out Of Bounds To Ratings.When I walked into the pig that night I got a standing ovation a real good rally off all hands.
Regards.
Jim.B.