What was the worst cargo you ever carried?

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Bones all types from bombay as it was call then... you never forget that cargo...

[Keith Moody]

MV England of the Currie line, picked up China Clay from Fowey in cornwall, after 3 days of loading the fine clay was everywhere, started cleaning before we left port and still cleaning a week afterwards, unloaded in Italy and dust everywhere again, the chief steward on that trip was a real lazy bugger and never lifted a hand to help. otherwise a great crew and trip.
keith moody
R635978

[William Gardner]

nutty slack crushed coal full cagoe on ageneral cargo boat galverston usa to japan unloaded then washed every hatch tween deck every nick and cranny next port oz for bulk sugar doked inspected sent back out wash all again every hatch back in back out again it wass still in the holds coal dust 3rd time they said ok full load of sugar and colal dust for liver pool baron bellhaven 1960

[robpage]

Urea or carbamide is an organic compound Urea serves an important role in the metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds by animals and is the main nitrogen-containing substance in the urine of mammals. . Urea is widely used in fertilizers as a convenient source of nitrogen. Urea is also an important raw material for the chemical industry. You make Ammonia fromn it , very imporetant source in the Chemical Industry

Worst Cargo , well Fish Meal is smellier than passengers but less troublesome

[John Gill]

MV England of the Currie line, picked up China Clay from Fowey in cornwall, after 3 days of loading the fine clay was everywhere, started cleaning before we left port and still cleaning a week afterwards, unloaded in Italy and dust everywhere again, the chief steward on that trip was a real lazy bugger and never lifted a hand to help. otherwise a great crew and trip.
keith moody
R635978

I was on the England- joined her March '56 and remember the China clay quarried in Fowey, I remember going ashore with a few of the lads to see a relation of one of them who was an old lady sporting a full beard! Weird. I was galley boy on her, but i'd always wanted to be on deck like my Father and brothers ( bosun and ab's) but my eyesight wasn't quite up to it. To compensate, i was allowed to do regular tricks on the wheel during my afternoon breaks while in open sea, Made a bit on the side as well. used to charge 2 packs of cigarettes an hour. Although the officer of the watch always kept a weather eye on my navigation.

[Keith Moody]

John, first you have a d/book number very close to mine then find we sailed on same ship, although at different times, i was on her in nov/dec 1960. i cannot remember the chiefs srewards name but he run the ship like it was a passenger liner, you know you never saw him except in the morning when he gave out the orders for the day.
keith moody
R635978

[John Callon]

I guess it would be the 5000 live sheep we carried from Fremantle to Jurong in Malaysia all herded into pens on the foredeck. There were six drovers put aboard to look after them. The smell got everywhere on the 6 day passage. A close second would be the circus we carried from Buenaventura to Callao. Down below was stowed the Big Top, seats and all of the props used in the circus. On the after deck by hatches 4 & 5 were the animals.
Obviously they were all caged - lions, tigers, chimps, goriila, horses etc. All except the elephants which were shackled to the steel deck. A certain member of the ships company decided to feed the beasts after he was duly imbibed and started giving them bread rolls. The elephant was having none of this and picked him up with its trunk and was just about to throw him over the wall into the Pacific. Fortuantly the trainers managed to calm things down.
Regarding passengers, well I had a lifetime experience with them. On one passenger liner we would decide what sort of morning we would have. We were manning the Tourist class Bureau, and the queues outside would be winding down the staircase to C deck. It would be decided we would have a silent day. On the bureau front there were 4 service points. The passengers would literally be pushing and shoving to jump the line.
Every complaint under the sun would be thrown at you from the mattress on my bed is too hard to there is a man masterbating every day down on E deck. On top of this they wanted to book tours in the next port, change money, wanted access to the baggage room aand so it went on. We would stand behind the glass partition and literally mouth the words to them. They would complain they could not hear us and so we would lip sink again.
One could only keep this up for so long and we would have to deal with them in end. But at least there was some light relief in dealing with the bloods in what was a trying 4 months around the world voyage. On top of all this we had to deal with the crew wage accounts and all the documentation that went with it in order that a trouble free payoff would take place upon return to the UK. Happy Days - wish somebody would ask me to do it all over again.
Regards
John

[Chris Allman]

Without doubt pickled hides from the Argentine bound for the British Leather Works in Birkenhead. The smell through out the ship was vile and the flies horrendous. It was not till we hit the northern latitudes of the Bay of Biscay that the flies died off and the smell lessened. The quantity was not very big but they were stowed in the focsle, so the smell and flies were constantly blown aft into the accommodation.

[Lou Barron]

The worst cargo that I had was Phosphate ,Coal, Iron Ore, Wheat and Italian and Germen prisoners of war

[Lou Barron]

But the best was a big number of Wrens boy oh boy