Dominion Monarch

[Keith Tindell]

When i read on this site of the hard times to find seagoing jobs, makes me realise what a fantastic period i was at sea (58-64). I can remember well turning ships down, on the grounds of accomodation, cargo, run etc, what a life, and did not realise it at the time. Going up to the pool in Prescott st, calling in for a pint on the way, and told the Dominion monarch was in, stuff that, she was the scourge of Prescott St. When you tell people what it was like for shipping, they look at you as a barefaced liar. Where did it all go wrong?, and whats more where did all my bloody money go?, hang on i think i know the answer to that one, ah well, keep dreaming KT

[Tony Wilding]

what amazes me is the speed it all disappeared, and where did the Ships go, ? in the late 50,s Ships anchored off Southend from the Pier as far as you could see down river, waiting for a Berth, does not seem possible,

[Captain Kong]

The Dominium Maniac had a reputation on the Ozzy coast almost as bad as the dear old GEORGIC.
Brian.

[alf corbyn]

I did a trip on the dominion monarch. one of my better trips. outbound in the pantry doing the breakfast toast. usual row with the second steward(he who knows best). three toasters, two racks of eight slices in each .total 48. I had it down to a T keeping1 rack out whilst cutting toasted slices in half and checking that none of the other racks were burning. he insisted that I use all racks. .result pandemonium! burnt toast all over the deck secomd steward trying to hide many jeers from galley staff who came in to listen to the row, 2nd banned from pantry by chief steward. when we reached wellington the pantryman asked me to swap with his mate who was in the platehouse and gave me £50.00 my share of tips. rest of the trip was great and I enjoyed my time aboard.a very good scouse crowd.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Those Halcyon days!! One of my favourites is grilled fresh herrings which sadly are a rare sight these days due to overfishing. Fortunately they were not everybody's favourite so on the Gothic when they were on the menu I used to get the all clear from Pants after the saloon was empty to attack the large tray of herrings ready for the rosie. Absolute heaven!! When I couldn't eat any more I would pluck the soft and hard roes for later. Maybe that fish oil has kept me around longer than expected.

Alf, A shipmate I am still in contact with since we sailed on the Port saint John in 1949-1950 and later on the Gothic waxes lyrically about the DM and would most likely have been a ship's cook on her in in the mid to late 50s. Colin Duke is his name.

Fat kippers, smelly bloaters, even scraping the barrel for a matjes herring gets me drooling.

Richard

[leratty]

Tony, you are so right I used to have a book I carried around with me still have it some where which listed all the details of the ships with photo on the board at Prescott ( Dock) street I would check it out before seeking a trip. I was only interested in ships with less than 18 derricks, preferably 14 as had done my time on the 20 + too hard also the trip destination was important i was not into cold weather. Single berth in the end was almost guaranteed thank God.

Yes the decline after 60-67 was turbo charged. I wonder for instance with NZSC-FSNC-Port Line-Shaw Sav et all was their downfall to any great degree due to the joining of the common market by UK? I wonder if there is a book out there detailing the end to all those great historic British shipping Co's the BI's, Blue Flu, Ben boats they could not have been affected by the joining of the common market I feel? What about those great little shipping Co's with the maybe 1-3 or 4 ships like Boltons, Dalgliesh, Haines, they were the back bone of the British MN I suggest? Crikey how many ships did Bank Line have it must have been quite a few same same BSL with its subsidiary Co's. What did they do with the ships, were they all scrapped or sold off to other flagged Co's set up for the purpose? I wonder what was the date of the last British ship of those times built for a British Co was it in the 60's or later or maybe before that?

[Captain Kong]

Here is a Bank Line list from the 60s. Richard. 51 ships.
Enlarge it and it shows the names , date where from and destination.

Cheers
Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

The Dominium Maniac had a reputation on the Ozzy coast almost as bad as the dear old GEORGIC.
Brian.

And that was before you ever met ****, maybe he is a better bet!

[happy daze john in oz]

[
Fat kippers, smelly bloaters, even scraping the barrel for a matjes herring gets me drooling.

Richard

Gee mate if that is all it takes to get you going things must be bad. You could say scraping the bottom of the barrel[/QUOTE]

Reminds me of the blind man walking past the fish shop and saying 'goodnight ladies'.

[happy daze john in oz]

But one must consider the size of ships then, to us a 10,000 ton cargo ship may have been large, or even a 500 passenger liner. Compared with the ships of today they were mere lifeboats, but thta is progress, or so they tell us.

I do not recall seeing the DM in the flesh so as to speak, great model of here in Aukland museum, but was she as bad as we heard, som eterrible stories if I recall.