The Pool

I wonder where the authority lies, who has the most say in what you do.

I was on the British Hawthorn maiden voyage up to Sweden and other places. Loading ships stores in Sunderland I managed to get myself a hernia. The skipper told me thta while we were on this run I could stay. We got back to Isle of Grain mid December and recieved orers to go deep sea to NZ. Skipper said he could not take me as the risk of the herina strangulating at sea was too great.
Had the op in Lewisham hospital mid January, could hasve gone to Greenwich but defered that one.
Returned to the pool later to be told the skipper had no authority to put me off without first contacting the pool. Told him I thought the skipper had total control of his ship, he just looked at me!!!!

John he had every right to put you off and would most certainly not have required permission from a bunch of shore based office workers. Your pay off would of been legal and the appropriate paperwork would have been done on the necessary shipping forms, which they obviously had not looked at. Even if the master had not filled in these forms to assist these menials in their book keeping activities he might have got a bollicking from the owners but certainly not the pool. Cheers JS

When there was still plenty of ships and jobs to choose from in the late 60's and 70's I think we had to report to the pool on a daily basis by 11 o'clock. There were 3 large boards behind the counter 1 each for deck, engine and catering ratings. These had written on them the name of the ship, type of voyage eg. foreign going, home trade etc. The men required A/B Cook etc. and the port to join in. As my pool was Prescott street this could be any where from the West India dock to literally the West Indies. At that particular pool there were two entrances one marked established seamen and one marked unestablished seamen which changed in the early 70's when we all become established. I think also that any officers who were looking for work went up to the first floor where there was a different department for them.

As ate as 08 when I used to go to the MCA in Liverpool for a new set of Articles all the forms were listed as NFD {non federated}.
These were the crew list for seamen employed on the ship {ALC1 NFD}
List of crew not required to sign ALC 2 NFD {This was for the Master only}
Then there was another form whose number I forget but this was the one posted in a prominent position for all to see, that listed the latitudes the vessel was allowed to sail between {75 N/S} and any special conditions, this usually consisted of a pasted on notice stating that all on board were employed on approved company contracts. If you go to the MCA website there is a MCA publication, A Masters Guide to the UK Flag which explains all

This link should take you there
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/292372/mca_masters_guide_surv_46_short_rev4.pdf
rgds
JA

Hello John,

Not much wrong with your memory, mate, your description of the Pool at Prescot Street is pretty much as I remember it. Also on the first floor, in a rather nondescript office, there dwelt a middle-aged troll masquerading as a Medical Officer. His world-weary manner suggested an awareness that all hope of a consultancy in Harley Street had long since passed him by and he had reached his 'personal best' within the medical profession. On the few occasions he was required to medically examine me I always got the feeling he shared my desire to be somewhere else. It used to go something like this...."Stick out your tongue...say Aaagh.....good.... now look at the eye-chart on the wall and see if you can read the second line?...........no! from the bottom" (this last would be said in a slightly raised voice heavily laden with exasperation, accompanied by a sigh of resignation and a quizzical look beneath a beetled brow) " Right, now take down your trousers and bend over for me ( don't ask me why, but I always felt vulnerable when we reached this point in the proceedings......never did find out what he was looking for)..."Mmmm......Now, Cough!"(this was said as he, with surprisingly light touch, cradled the 'family jewels'). As I dressed, he scribbled furiously on a slip of paper, handing it to me with instruction to return to the counter downstairs. The abject surrender in his voice was unmistakeable as I left the room "Neeext!" Perhaps he would have been happier sorting chocolates at Cadbury's, poor man.

Having had a few beers, nostalgia has set in for the night....feeling as I do at the moment I'd go back tomorrow...I'd even take a Q.M.'s job on a slow boat to China ( and that from someone who loved short-sea traders).


................Roger

If my memory is not completely addled, my first couple of ships were at the dock st pool, prior to Prescott st, a very dingy, dark, almost intimidating building. I think i posted before,my identity card was in a bad way, and somewhere close to Prescott St, i was sent to a another building for my new ID photograph. When the guy put my discharge book number into the frame, which i held in front of me for the photo, he had transposed the wrong number, instead of R689823, i became R686823, and for the next 5 years or so sailed with that ID card , under an alias i suppose could be said KT

Hi Roger, I had forgotten about the indignities that the medical practitioner imposed on us before we were allowed to join a ship, It has just occurred to me that you also had to visit the Union guy who had a small counter in the corner of the pool who was totally ostracised by most of the shipping federation employees . In the mid 70's this was a guy called Bob Rayner who's girlfriend worked for the federation.

If was the same medical practitioner at Dock Street who passed the crowd who were sent out to join the Rosewood in Rotterdam sometime in the early 70"s it might clear up a few points. We had a big clear out as the master had been stabbed in Dakar by one of the Ceylonese seaman from the Cardiff pool. First night on board got a call out that someone was lying in the alleyway more or less foaming at the mouth. Managed to get him into his bunk, he then showed me scars on the wrists where he had made previous attempts on his own life, he suffered apparently from quite a few various maladys so of course sent him off home. Two trips later there was a murder and two more attempted murders on board, there are other posts on here by others referring to this "my worse Christmas at sea" or something similar. He again was an immigrant to the UK, however hoped he was not in the same contingent from Dock Street as was the one unwell man who was sent home. This one turned out had 3rd degree syphilis. Some of these pool doctors must have had little regard for the situation they put some ships in. Again I wonder how much redundancy they got on the closure of the Federations. JS

Hi John.
I don't think the Dr's cared very much either way. I was on the British Guardian, where an AB tried to throw a bloke down the fiddly, he used to sunbath on the boat deck up the Persian Gulf was complete toast, it was only the captain coming around to see us after a fight ashore in Dunkirk that he saw him polishing the insurance wire with a rag that he believed us. The point is he had been banned from going to sea before but the Dr had said he was OK, but then he didn't have to sail with him.
Cheers Des

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Have seen a few with physical deformities but still capable of doing the job. The sea was no place for physcopaths or nut cases as were called. We were all nut cases at times for being there, but mental stability and a persons mental condition to be able to withstand sometimes long periods of isolation was imperative. As said in a previous post did a weeks seminar with all sorts being present including costing as previous said about British Registry. One other subject brought up was mental attitudes and how to help by various colour schemes of cabins etc etc. At the end of the conference at the final dinner I was asked to stand up and start a series of replies on what I thought of the seminar. I stood up and had a bit of false bravado as had a few jars by this time, and said I had learnt nothing new as what experienced nearly every day of my life, but had enjoyed the extra leave and the good living conditions supplied to self and wife, the film they showed about a mate and an engineer arguing in the ships bar about water consumption, this was under the heading of management, was a frequent occurrence. etc. etc. The next one up was a Chief Engineer who said ref. your discussion where the chief engineers cabin should be, is as far as I am concerned as far away from the Engine Room door as possible, and would like it painted pink thank you, By this time everyone was getting in on the act, the ships personnel that is, I don't think the shipowner was too pleased. If he thought he had invited a lot of yes men he got slightly disillusioned. The man from the DTI just sat there with a wooden face. I was consuming as much free booze as I could in the short time remaining. Cheers JS