Then and Now

[John Pruden]

I wonder if h+s will stand by the captain of the costa for doing the right thing so called inspecting/organising the departure of his ship from a safe distance? we all know he just piss.d of from his ship leaving his crew and passengers to save his own hide?jp

[Lou Barron]

I learnt rope and wire splicing and boxing the compass also other general seamanship when i was a ordinary seaman on of my last couple of ships i was amazed at some of the seaman ship shown by some of the senior seamen .Not that we steered by compas mostly it was by gyro

[j.sabourn]

John you are of course referring to British flagged and owned vessels which are very few and far between nowadays. The majority of vessels are now Foreign owned and flagged and if you think the culture on these vessels is going to change overnight and they are going to follow other dictates, then perhaps I am being cynical. I have noticed on certain programmes put to air, it is always the well structured vessel with an English speaking crew which receives the visits by a so called ship inspector and very minor faults pointed out, it does not show the other 98 per cent of the vessels in the same port receiving no inspections and probably breaking quite a few rules. The excuse being I suppose the lack of inspectors or maybe the masters on such vessels chased them. If the excuse is lack of inspectors, maybe the fault can be traced back to the lack of seamen with the required experience, a self inflicted injury of times past. The world cannot come together as regards chemical weapons and harmony amongst people, I am certainly cynical of it coming together as regards shipping especially when money is involved. Best Regards John Sabourn

[j.sabourn]

#12 That same Gyro Louis would of have to been stripped down after every sea passage and the mercury rings cleaned out with carbon techtrachloride (now banned) and fresh mercury inserted, plus other maintainance on same. This is now longer necessary as the new types of gyro are sealed units and have to go ashore. This is another excuse for reduced manning I suppose, as this was always the 2nd. Mates job before the advent I suppose of Electricians. Saying that there are still plenty of vessels with the old type of Gyro, out of approx. 12 vessels I was on in the 80"s 6 had no gyro and used the magnetic compass, nothing is ever said about these type of vessels when talking about reduced manning, they are tucked away conveniently out of sight. Regards John Sabourn

[happy daze john in oz]

Thanks for that John,
I am So glad I retired 16 years ago.
Cheers
Brian

Did you retire or made to walk the plank??

[happy daze john in oz]

I can still do west country whipping which I learned from my dad when I was nine


What do you do Alf, whip the locals into shape??

[happy daze john in oz]

What you have written about John is the changing face of just about all industries. Modern systems do not allow for person to think outside the square or even for theselves. It is all done for them, just join the dots ans all will be well. All very good until a situation arises which is not in the manual, or not covered by modern technology, for as we all know computers and the like can fail, what happens then? Many in todays industries are taught just to follow official procedure, do so and hope it never fails.

[Red Lead Ted]

Spot on John, I once asked a chef at sea where he started when preparing a feast fit for a king, At the beginning lad were else would I start he was smiling Terry.

[leratty]

John P, yes it is "just a job now" sad but a reality. Worse they get zero time in port mostly in & out within max 24 hours so not really a life I would like to be leading. We were so lucky to be doing something we loved & most of us had wanted to do since very young, I am so grateful I had my time at sea even if at the twilight of the BMN. Must say now days in the mining oil & gas biz it has gone the same way what with 'fly in fly out' so you never really got to know your work mates as rarely any socialising & so many rules on management, particularly as to strict adherence to budgets no matter what + to cost cutting all way through a project.

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, who climbs up the mast to change the light bulb, at sea in a force 8 gale?{no safety harness}