Skippers

[Keith Tindell]

Thinking back to our times at sea, and now at 73 years of age, and thankfully, bought up two boys and seen them through the *silly* years, what a responsibility the skippers had, a ship full of 16=25 years old testosteron filled, flying down the gangway in a state of arousal , and all the troubles we got into. Looking back iy seems the skipper was always bailing us out ashore, logging us for various things etc etc. With the advantage of age i take my hat off to them. KT

[j.sabourn]

Wished I had known that excuse when one old beggar threatened to cancel my indentures, it wasn't me sir, it was me testosterone. Would have probably called me a little randy sod. In later life the worse part was having to give some sort of comfort and understanding to at times, problems that others had at home, was and could be very confidential, when a man is thousands of miles away from his family and has no one really to go to. Should in most cases have been seeing a trick cyclist. Cheers JS

[Doc Vernon]

Like you Keith T
Also now at 73 and raised my kids all now we'll out of home lol Thank the lord but still love them all dearly
But as you say those Skippers sure had a load on their hands, and a job well done by them all.
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Wish I could say I brought up my children, but the truth is I didn't. A seamans life and a family life were not very conducive in our days. I made the best effort I could when going into shipping closer to home, but by this time the kids were well into their teens, at least saw them every 6 weeks or so. By that time I think I was still a partial stranger to them. However my wife did a splendid job by her self in their bringing up. Sometimes in my cups when reminiscing and feeling maudlin I have asked the wife about this, her reply is usually I know what I was marrying, tending on her tone of voice and manner of saying, this could be taken both ways. So try and leave well enough alone. Cheers JS

[Louis the fly]

In every walk of life were one person holds ultimate power over others there will be good and bad.

Had my share of both.

[John Arton]

K.T. and all
I never knew my father as he was on long trips with Blue Star Line and died at sea leaving Durban when I was 9 years old. I can only recall seeing him on three occasions before his death so my mother was left having to go back to work and bring up 4 children on her own. Blue Star never informed my mother of fathers death, she only found out through an aunt who had seen his death reported in the Daily Mail.
It was only when I myself attained command that I realised the burden put on Masters, especially in this day and age of modern communications where news is almost instantaneous. Apart from ensuring the safety of the ship, its crew and cargo and protecting the environment the Master is also a father-like figure to his crew and often the bearer of bad tidings.
On a number of occasions I have had to break the impossibly sad news to one of my crew members that one of their loved ones has passed away, sometimes unexpectantly, and then having to organise flights home from Europe to various parts of the world such as the Philippine's, Ukraine, Latvia etc. whilst at the same time getting permission to sail short handed until a relief can arrive. Along with being the bearer of sad news you also needed to be a trick cyclist as you never knew how grief was going to affect the person, would they go bonkers, smash the place up, commit suicide ? all of those thoughts had to be taken into consideration. Along with this you also had to be the news reporter enabling your crew members to attempt to contact home if a natural disaster had struck their home town or country.
The two worst cases I had was once I had to inform an A.B. from the Philippines that his whole family (wife, children and his parents) had been killed in one of the many typhoons that strike the Philippines. The other was when my Latvian mate who was celebrating the birth of his first child and I had to inform him that both his wife and child had been killed in a road accident.
Even though by this time I was on 2/2 month trips I used to get home not only physically drained from running the ship but also mentally drained from having to support the crew member and his compatriots during their time of grief.
fortunately I have the most marvellous wife who not only brought up our two children of whom I am immensely proud of and who both have very good jobs with one of them having to had to overcome brain surgery when she was a child but also understood the mental pressures of the job, especially so when I had to tell her that I had been the bearer of sad news to a crew member. My wife (and children) were able to visit me on board on a number of occasions whilst we were in the U.K. ports and got to know many of my regular crew members which helped them understand the stress that is put on the Master when he has this unfortunate duty to perform.
rgds
JA

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Hi J Sabourn, Thank you your very honest post, 4 is the reason I gave up going to sea, and took a lower paid job ashore did not want too ,but I felt it was too much to bring up our 3 children for my wife, Plenty of times I could have gone back to sea,But you are not alone many jobs then and today,Demand you travel away to earn money, men have to leave home in peace and war this is still the same today...

[happy daze john in oz]

WE had a neighbour way back in the late 50's, her son was at sea. The story goes he was seen on deck just prior to sailing from Hong Kong on standby duties. Four hours out of port no sign of him. He was assumed to have fallen overboard, but many years later a guy who knew him went to see the mother saying he was convinced he had jumped ship as he had a lady waiting for him in Hong Kong.

[happy daze john in oz]

If it was testosterone that got us going back then, why was it when in front of the skipper for a logging he never took that into consideration. He must have been a young man at some time!!

[Ivan Cloherty]

If it was testosterone that got us going back then, why was it when in front of the skipper for a logging he never took that into consideration. He must have been a young man at some time!!

Can't be too lax John, people take advantage of laxity, the same people think politeness is softness, he had a ship to run even cargo ships had crews of 50 - 100 men in those days, some sort of discipline and authority was vital with crews that size (or any size), he may well have sympathised but he had a job to do as well. I doubt any Master enjoyed logging, some may think different, and perhaps they did take testosterone into account, who knows, perhaps the loggings may have been more severe if they hadn't