Deck Boy - Galley Boy...........

[Don Rafferty]

This should be easy, but if the deck department had Deck boys, catering had Galley Boys, what did the engine room have?

Thanks

[Doc Vernon]

As far as i know it was just that namely "Engineroom Boy"

From a list of old casualties!
SHIPLEY, Engineroom Boy, JAMES
HILL, Galley Boy, WILLIAM,
SWEETMAN, Deck Boy

Lest we forget!

Cheers

[Lou Barron]

hi don i think the name for engine room boy a trimmer on the old coal burners on the oil burners oil men maybe they might have a different name

[Captain Kong]

Thats right Lou,
On the coal burners a lad started as a Trimmer, shovelling coal into a barrow in the bunkers and then running through to the fires and dumping it on the plates where the Fireman wanted it ready to throw a pitch on.after a few months or a couple of years, depending on his age, he would be promoted to Fireman.
There was a training school in Liverpool where the lads would shovel a load of gravel through some tires hanging off the deck head, to simulate the furnace opening, to learn how to spread the `coal` across the fires. Then they went to the other side and shovelled it back again.

On the oil burners they were known as `Wipers`.

I did notice that most of the junior stokehold gang started at sea when they were around 18 years old, on Deck and Catering they usually started from 14, then 15 to 16 years old.

[EIFION]

engine room boy and on ships where the engineers ate seperately an engineers boy who acted much the same as a steward

[Phil Crawley]

TJ Harrisons carried a catering boy who signed on Engs boy, he did the juniors cabins the engineers table in the saloon and the duty mess, on the first morning out on my first trip to sea I was told to take a big brown teapot and six rounds of toast to the platform, what a struggle that was, I only did it once, being told that once the second saw you were willing he would send a fireman to the pantry for it, there were windows in the engineers alleyway to look into the engine room and cleaning the engine room side of them was my only job in the engine room itself, I always had a good word for engineers after that first trip as I was so stupid and they were all easy going men, met some not so nice ones later, but by that time I could look after myself.
Phil Crawley.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Yep! I signed on the MV Lowlander (Port Line) in January 1947 as Engineers Boy. got their grub, washed up,cleaned their pantry and alleyways. Later in the voyage moved up to the dizzy heights to the saloon pantry as Saloon Boy - apart from the officers we carried 24 war brides to New York from Newcastle, Australia.

On my next ship, the SS&A coal fired cargo ship SS Raranga later in 1947 we had trimmers, stokers and firemen if my memory serves me right. Trimmers feeding the plate, stokers using long steel 'slices' to aerate the fire and firemen to regulate the quantity of coal in the fire. I was Galley Boy; peeled the spuds, scrubbed the pots and pans and lugged the coal to the galley stove.

those were the days when all engine room and galley crew got a daily tot of rum going through the tropics from the chief steward who dished it out into your enamel mug over the half door of the storeroom. I downed the first one in one gulp and it just about blew my head off - next ones I took a little slower!!

Richard Q

[Gary Worton]

This should be easy, but if the deck department had Deck boys, catering had Galley Boys, what did the engine room have?

Thanks

From my recollection, there was no such rating as 'engine room boy' because you had to be at least 18 years old to work in the engine room. Common sense really.
Then, they were either 'oilers', 'greasers', 'donkeymen' or just plain 'stokers'. Just fancy names for 'labourers' or 'gofers'.
'Motormen' came along after. but they were still unskilled wannabees.

[Tony Wilding]

never heard of an engine room boy, lowest rating was a cleaner, wiper on american and canadian ships, all were adult rates, i started as a cleaner, motorman came later, replaced all the old rating names on motor ships, covered a multitude of jobs, used to be engineers stewards, i can only speak of the companies i worked for. But i think 18 was minimum age to work in the engine room.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Gary, I was the lad that cleaned up the engineers pantry and scrubbed the deck and alleyways using two buckets - one to scrub with and the other to puke into. It was my first trip and I was picked up to replace the one that skinned out in Australia.

Cambridge, Ontario. Coded into Binary many an automobile endorsement for your area during the nearly three years that I worked at Western Assurance Company in Scott Street, Toronto.

Have a great summer,
Richard