Ocl

[Jim Brady]

I was having a couple of pints yesterday with an ex-bosun.It must have been in the time of people signing on as GP's,anyway he was saying he was bosun on a OCL ship and the chf/engineer was in charge of the deck crowd and the deck workings.The chf/eng.told him (bosun) that it was his job to dhobi the engineers boiler suits,after lots of argument the bosun had to put one of his day workers scrubbing these boiler suits all day.The chf/eng had the deck crowd (signed GP's) working down the engine room,whilst the engine room was in pristine condition the deck was left to rust.Anybody on here ever signed on GP.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

When my brother and I were ABs in 1975, we both joined the ESSO Caledonia, 256,000 dwt. [ I was later 3rd Mate on the same ship the following year.] She only carried six ABs
The Mate told me and `ar kid to go and with the others to go down the Engine Room and soogie the bulkheads and clean up.
We both Refused. That is Not an ABs job. our job is on deck and its associated jobs. not engine rooms. I didn't get an ABs Cert to be an engineers labourer. If engineers dirty their engine room then they should clean it themselves.
The Mate was going Mad. He told us we were GPs, we said NO we signed on as AB.
I will stop your overtime , says he.
We still refused.
So we just did our watch keeping, we told him it was great , no Ovies, we were in the swimming pool everyday and bronzying. , then one day we saw the Mate on the fore deck trying to paint a 1,000 foot long deck on his own. So we used to stand and watch him.
In the end he threw down the roller and said `OK you can start your overtime again`. So we painted the fore deck. The rest of the ABs were down below for a few weeks and not happy.
I never did like the GP position, I was an ABLE SEAMAN not a Labourer, and never ever did a GP job.
Cheers
Brian