rank GP1-GP2

[Bill Morrison]

From a Agreement and Account of Crew. Foreign-Going Ship S.S. Aberdour 1883. I am doing research as regards this vessel and notice this part of the agreement.
And it is also agreed , That seamen and firemen shall mutually assist each other in the general duties of the ship when required by the Master or officer in charge. They even had G.P. crews back then!
Bill

[j.sabourn]

Probably stems from the sailing era when an AB or Able Bodied meant just that. The introduction of the unions and the terms of job description and the doing of such and that only, for mercenary reasons . Was maybe the slide of better or worse things to come depending on your point of view. Is hard to visualise an AB on a windjammer telling the mate , “ that’s not my job “ . Cheers JS

[Captain Kong]

My brother and I were signed on as ABs on a tanker, we were GOOD ABs. the best.
#During the voyage to the Gulf the Mate told us to go down the engine room and soogie.
We refused,ABs do not work in engine rooms,If the bulkheads are dirty get the engineers to soogie,.
The Mate said we were GPs and that means going into the engine room, No Chance.

OK, All your Overtime is stopped. he sayss,.
No problem, we used to watch the Mate all alone painting a `1000 feet long fore deck, he eventually threw down his rolller
and said OK You are back on Overtime.
The same ship had , 4 ex RN DHUs on deck who were totally useless, Brother and I on a stage painting a six deck hiigh fore part of the bridge and 4 of them stood by tending#
same as the masts samson posts and funnel
A daft system

[J Gowers]

In the 70s, when I went to sea as an engineer with Denholms, they were bringing in the GP rating on some ships. Basically as said before GP is General Purpose and all the guys I sailed with on these ships were all ex ABs and when signed on as GP they did a stint in the engine room. No idea if there was any extra payment for this also no idea of the difference between GP 1 and 2.

[j.sabourn]

They did the same offshore out here . But as it was all ex donkeymen and deck people I just said sort it out among yourself , so in the main nothing changed . Most seamen didn’t want it , it was only the new intakes that knew no different. Today they grew up with the intergrated rating and know no different. Was a faster method of demanning
for the shipowner that’s all . JS

They signed on as IR exactly the same as GP. The bosun would be LIR for leading IR. A newcomer to the Industry would be PIR provisional IR and would be on 50% of an IR s salary for 6 months . This system was brought out shortly before I retired , and as said they used to sort out week by week who was working where . Most ex engine room preferred working there so did so , and deck people the same , preferred the deck , so unless anything disasteruous happened , just carried on as normal . If under 13 of a crew they used to take turns as cook. Unless one of them preferred the galley and he took on the job voluntarily for his tour of duty. If there are any old hands still there they probably do the same. The new breed can’t say too much as don’t know and don’t particularly care , if they can’t stand up and fight for themselves by now , then the wimps who accepted the conditions have them self’s to blame. Seamen out here lost control when they turned their backs on the system of the closed shop. I am not a union follower nor am I a union derider , but just go along with what is best for all. And was just speaking to an old IR yesterday now 68 years of age and still working , he was a very union oreiented seaman when I sailed with him but is now sailing with Norwegians which would never have happened in my time, as they would not have been allowed to work on the coast, he is as happy as Larry , and when I asked him what he did , he said he was in charge of the incinerator where all the ships rubbish is burned . So there is one happy customer . So one has to look at the broader picture . To me sailing along minding my own business the GP system was already underway and being re-introduced immediately after the 1966 seaman’s strike , and was in large the big backup for both government and shipowners plans for reduced manning . JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I only sailed with one of those new ratings, ex army, nice lad, he was accepted as he had a duffle coat for lookout.
As for working down the engine room, the only time i did that was when we broke down, we gave the engineers a hand with the rigging, certainly wouldn't have painted or anything, unless maybe it was overtime.
Des

[j.sabourn]

Des I was always under the impression that the excuse for a DHU was to assist ex national servicemen the chance to pick up a seagoing career , as most were in their 20’s it was supposed to give them the incentive by missing the boy ratings wages as a lot of them were married men. It depended on the individual some were good and ok , some not so good. The bad part according to some of the more adult ABs was that they were on only coppers a month less than them. Some of the DHUs used the rule book which they soon learned was that the jobs they could refuse to do such as going over the side and going aloft they could refuse ,one tried it with me so I just used the Running Agreement rules and got rid of him next time in uk .He was using the system to his advantage. Any DHU if only they knew it were on borrowed time as they were very little use to the manning scale and think they came under a JOS and think if remember you had to carry three of them to equal an AB for such. So if thy showed no aptitude to advance themselves they were just ballast . As said some went ahead and made a decent living, some just there for the ride. Don’t even know if such a rating exists today , the nearest thing to it out here would be a PIR or in the uk whatever a learner gets PGS or whatever if it exists . I can’t remember the scale of wages but think they were on EDHs wages or thereabouts which wasn’t too far behind an ABs .. My last ship in 2002 out here was a learner or PIR was on 50 % of an an IRS for a mininum of 6 months seatime at least.
He then went and got the certificate I believe. JS

[j.sabourn]

#17 To get the certificate they had to do a length of time at the Launceston maritime College I forget how long it was , but included the basics on bridge and engine room duties. The seaman’s union upfronted the money for those courses. Don’t know if the shipowner contributed or not. So to get a job at sea you had to join the maritime union. As to all intents and purposes they were the equivilent of the Shipping federation 1991 to 2002 my time out here in the industry. Cheers JS

[Colin Doran]

Hi Keith G.P. stands for general purpose manning. Instead of engine room staff firemen greasers ect & deck hands. All G.P Crews worked on Deck & in engine rooms. I sailed on many B.P. Tankers with G.P. crews less crew members but more money. For example I served on the British Norness full compliment of officers & crew 32. the Norness was 320,000 ton VLCC (very large crude carrier) because of its size could only berth in three ports in Europe. Europort (Rotterdam) Angle Bay (Milford Haven) & Finarrt (Loch Long Clyde) For example Catering Staff were expected to help tieing up when berthing. Can you imagine the problems when a sixteen year old Galley Boy was asked to handle a 6inch back spring on his first trip to sea. Due to safety Catering Staff were taken off these duties. My personal opinion I thought G.P. Crews were dangerous as Purser/Chief Steward I treated many ex Firemen who sustained injuries on Deck. Trust this info was helpful