My generation

[j.sabourn]

Louis I can just visualize you sitting on the focsle head strumming your guitar to the refrain of these little things... Fill in the blanks A pair of K.....rs by an old F....h l...er a dose of G..s that simply wont get better, these little things remind me of you. Other verses cant remember. No doubt some will Cheers John Sabourn.PS whats wrong with oysters. JS Ref #20

[John Arton]

My time was 67 to 08 and if it had not been for medical reasons I would still be at it to this day.
Yes seafaring has changed and the halcyon days of weeks in ports, exotic women and bars have virtually all disappeared but on the other hand if you embrace what it still has to offer you its still the best life you can get without winning the lottery and despite all the rules and regulations that abound today I would still recommend to anyone.
The last 17 years was spent on the U.K. and continental coasts with occasional runs up the Baltic and down to the Medi. and N. Africa and even though it was on small chemi. tankers we all managed to get some great runs ashore. Ireland with the humour and Guinness, Workington (the land that time forgot) where I saw the most lavish live sex show I ever witnessed anywhere in the world, Some great French Ports (Rouen, Bayonne etc.), Norway, Sweden and Denmark, even the N. African ports were certainly an eye opener. So even for todays seafarers there are still great opportunities and great satisfaction to be gained, such as when you are Master, doing your own pilotage and berthing, as Mate loading, stowing and carrying unusual cargoes and making Shure the ship was properly maintained, looking spic and span when you handed it over to your relief.
Just my thoughts
Rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

#22.. Agree with John to a certain extent. The most important element missing is however the lack of freedom and choice one had in earlier years. The threat of losing your position and knowing if you did you would probably finish up on the scrap heap, was always hanging over your head, this also brought out in those so inclined the back stabbers and they do exist although fortuanetly in smaller numbers than ashore probably. I saw this in the oil industry where previously all hands and the cook were ashore in the pub celebrating a successful rig shift, in the late 80"s this did not exist and you saw crews not even going ashore, afraid of being reported as seen in a pub. Not for me Hosea. When an Industry like shipping has to be run on fear of someone seeing you have a pint, that's the end. In most on this sites time jobs were plentiful and many walked off one ship and on to another the next day. Myself I would rather have my freedom and work on a foreign vessel where there is not so much of this panic of peoples personal habits. Cheers John Sabourn

[Captain Kong]

I enjoyed it all, except towards the end, the job had changed so much it was becoming unbearable.
I started in 1952 and retired in 1995 at 60. glad to get out. it wasnt the same game anymore, all the fun had gone, all the characters had gone. all the good times had gone, all the good runs ashore had gone.
Shore people who had not a clue were running the game and if you didnt like it there were others waiting for your position.
In the 50s we had it all, any ship, any run, any coast you wanted was there on a plate.
You are never broke with a tarporlin muster.
Life was good, sure there were bad ships and hardships but we were young enough and humourous enough to beat the system.
I did everything I always wanted to do, went everywhere I ever wanted to go to, made love to every woman I always wanted to, drank all the grog that was going, and lived a great life. and got paid for doing it all.
.
We are the last of the seafarers, the world will not see our likes again.
Cheers
Brian.

[cappy]

right there with you brian we had it all and more .... cappy

[Lou Barron]

Even during the war when i was a deck boy standing on the bridge and seeing all the ships in the convoys made me feel British

[leratty]

John p 23, the problem of someone always there to take your position was also so in the mining industry for many as it 'matured' then morphed into a huge industry. Like when I was lucky to be at sea initially you could pick & chose whatever wherever you wished & if you did not like it then move on with no concerns. When we rose up the ladder, you to command me in management at similar level you lived or died by your & the projects performance so security was in effect never there thus as you got older it can be very stressful. Apropos stress on the job I watched a stunningly scary doco on BBC this Sunday morning in regards the workforce in Amazon in UK. Now if that is what the working person is locked into today on the minimum wage then come the revolution God help Geoff Bezos the owner as it was beyond George Orwell's 1984.
Insecurity is the norm today was becoming so as we got to the end of our if you will careers hence why I decided to do it myself yes stressful but it was you not some other b...rd back in some office looking to do you in. Must say in my last job Christmas was always a bad time we called it either "the Night of the Long Knives."or "Boadicea is out & about as often you would see whole departments gone in one day. I saw a whole floor of our HO in San Francisco full of people at 11am then empty but for five or six at 2pm when I returned all laid off. What a Christmas that was for them.