Old Pictures Ships On The Mersey.

Thanks for the pictures Jim, really brought back some memories. Three of my old ships there, Caronia, Mauretania and Sylvania. The old Manx boats look really dated compared with todays fast ferries and seacats.
Regards
John

I saw the Caronia with the bow and fore deck high and dry on top of the breakwater at the entrance of Agana in Guam
the rest of the ship was in two oarts at the bottom of the entrance, The US Navy was blowing it up and draging it out to clear the entrance. She did not want to go to the breakers.
Cheers
Brian

The last time I saw the Caronia was in Balboa, she was almost a burned out hulk. It was quite sad to see her as I spent quite a while sailing on her, Her world cruises were legendry. The ship was actually chartered by American Express and we sailed from Southampton to New York where the charter commenced. From there we commenced the world cruise, and because she was only 34,000 tons the ship could access virtually any port in the world. I was lucky enough to do 2 world cruises on her before being transferred to the Mauretania.
Regards
John

Wonderful pictres of a by gone era, one the world will never see the likes of again, sadly. A time when Great Britain was just that, Great. The younger generation should be shown photos such as thses with the appropriate explanation, then they may come to understand what it is all about. Far moe fun than an I phone.

Re Pilotage fees... I was told in 1989 the fees were 100 pounds for going into Lerwick. The ships I was on at the time were under the tonnage for compulsory pilotage, so used to do myself and claim the 50 pounds half pilotage fee. Which used to usually go behind the bar in the nearest pub for ships use. I assume the owners were being honest when they said 50 pounds was half the fee, but who knows. In Australia you were expected to do your own pilotage most ports in Oz all except Sydney I found where beleive it was compulsory, received no gratuities for this, also did own pilotage Singapore and most other ports outside of Oz. Going back to Lerwick, the owners said they were going to put the 50 pounds on my wages for tax purposes, I said if you do that I am going to use a pilot, which would have cost them more with delays waiting for etc. etc. So they changed their line of thinking and put the 50 pounds in hand each time, which was soon taken and used by mine host. JS PS as regards not using a pilot meant in most cases you did not get linesmen, so had to put ship alongside and put at least one man ashore. It was a team effort and the pay off was in the pub. Which nowadays would imagine would be unimaginable. JS

John S
Same here, used to do my own pilotage in a number of places, especially around the Antwerp docks, the entrance to Rotterdam in bad weather, Swansea Docks, Barry plus a few other places. Used to get 50% of the pilotage and used to put nearly all of it into the ships welfare fund that the Company used to contribute £75 p/month to.
rgds
JA