Bond and slop chest

[Lou Barron]

I remember the Slop chest on the Gloucester Castle very well a week before we got sunk i said to my mate Chummy Weir that we should buy one of the Union Castle jerseys (any of you guys who sailed in that Company would have one ???).Well we did get one i think i only got to wear mine once now i suppose Davey Jones will be wearing it .Both my mate and i had hopes to wear them in Capetown . At least i did not have to pay for the jersey and other goods i bought

[j.sabourn]

Louis a stiff price to pay for a jersey. Ref. recent disasters discussed I passed 2 cartons of cigarettes ( Owners Bond) to survivors. On receiving pay later these had been deducted from my wages. It was beneath my dignity to challenge such meanness. Cheers John Sabourn

[John Arton]

When we had to abandon the C.P. Ambassador on Good Friday,71, even though she was towed into St. Johns later, the chief steward (Tommy Cooper, anyone remember him a legend in his own time) managed? to loose all the bond and slop chest accounts so we all got off scot free from having to pay for anything brought that trip...which was nice as when we eventually got back to the U.K. and were met by a company official we were told that we could have an advance on wages to get back home with!!!!!!!
rgds
JA

[cappy]

like john ses shipowners no time for ....perhaps there was some good ones

[robpage]

I was on a King boat , the " King Arthur " it had quite small fresh water tanks and no distillation facilities , the time that we got into trouble with water usage was solely due to leaving Durban for home , Elephants and water buffalo on deck as Deck cargo , and limitations on fresh water as they drank gallons of the stuff every day , they could not be rationed but seafarers could be . We could have called in somewhere for water but as the Bunkers would get the ship to London then back to Las Palmas Southbound the cost too fill up with water was excessive so we sailed past everywhere having salt water showers and limited drinking water . The crew were off every pool known to the British Shipping Federation all serving off a DR or a VNC or two , so the alternative of drinking beer was cut to two cans a day ( opened ) and the Chief Steward doled it out at five o'clock , until an AB decked the Chief Steward as he could get pissed on his two cans and teh AB could not , so the Chief Steward must have bigger cans in his allowance , Such a happy ship .

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Many years ago I met an old timer who was at sea , in the very hard days 20/30s as posted before... he thought I was taking the mick when i told him about my time at sea, we had it very easy !!! to him fresh food was only for officers and owners, the crew lived on brown soup, and salt horse, stew and hard tack, you made your own cloths/gear out of what was around? water and drink ? were in short ration and every thing else. not a good life for any one at sea, you were away for years.

[j.sabourn]

Anyone have a copy of the old food scales that used to be pinned up in the messrooms on British tramps. Many would nowadays get a surprise at the allowances in the 50"s even. Even the fresh water was stipulated as to amount that a seafarer could be reduced to. If remember correctly 2 eggs a week was one. Lime juice was a compulsory item that had to be carried to replace fresh vegetables which soon ran out. When you read nowadays of the political correctness of female crew members which the owners are quick to advertise for Brownie points you will notice that these ships were custom built to suit such of the fair sex, or if not were and are adapted to suit. There are very few women that I know who would have adapted to the life as it was then, however there are always exceptions to the rules. Myself personally I never liked to see women at sea and still don't, if this makes me a male chauvinist so be it, however I prefer my women friends to have more of the female hormones in their system. Myself personally have no wish to sail on these so called modern ships with all the reduced manning and so called gizmos which when and if go down are again back to basics, and would have no wish to put myself in the hands of the present day trained mariners. Everyone to their own ideas on this much advertised political subject which even now is being argued in Australian politics. Cheers John Sabourn

[happy daze john in oz]

By Gum
Some of you had it good reading of your Bonds and Slop Chests.
....................

G'day Brian good to see you back and OK.
Funny reading that, I never realised your neighbor was at sea as well selling goats and cooking them.

[John Arton]

Louis and Brian
Regarding groceries on board.
Just been re-reading a journal I have written by a girl of 16 who sailed round Cape Horn on her fathers sailing ship. The voyage from S. Wales to Frisco and back seems to have taken almost a year as her father fell ill in Frisco.
They had no stops on the way out or back so when provisions started falling short they would eat anything they could catch. All manner of fish obviously and it appears that sharks were considered to be a bit of a delicacy. What did surprise me, given the old sea lore regarding these birds, was that they regularly caught and ate Albatross. I was always led to
Think you had it hard m'lad, I tell you, I tell you, in them days we dreamt of hard tack, only had memories to feed on
rgds
JA

[robpage]

On a Gulf tanker we once spent several days steaming very slowly around the Gulf of mexico as there was a variance in the tax on imported crude oil that altered the value of the cargo quite a lot , due , several days ahead . We fished for what we called Dolphin fish , a brightly multicoloured large quite meaty fish , landed , gutted filleted and straight onto the galley stove , the best tasting fish you could get . We had a few Sharks , but I never recall anyone eating shark meat . With BAngladeshi crew they fished at anchor and in port , and when sharks were caught , they stripped the flesh into long thin strips about an inch wide and dried them in the base of the funnel by the uptakes , that absolutely reeked .