And we thought we had it hard

#8... Keith when I retired this mate of mine wanted a boat as he lived on the river side adjacent to the canals in Mandurah and adjacent to the Indian Ocean. He couldn't afford so I went halfers with him on this half cabin cruiser. Then they brought in Licences for all boat owners, with the tuition this ran to about 700 dollars. I went to see the local authority and asked them who was going to examine me, and showed all the certification such as boat tickets re FRC coxn etc. they said just give me 5 dollars for the paperwork. My mate wanted to take this small craft out to sea and I told him no way, it wasn't built for that, any sea on board and the boat would have gone, as would of been unable to clear the water before the next sea swamped. It lasted about a year and we sold the boat, he bought himself a tinny for crabbing, Ive seen enough boats for my lifetime and want to be driven around with my own private skipper who I can sack when he drinks too much. A sailing craft however would be different as the peace and solitude is unbeatable. JS Keith in my ignorance I always imagined that you had to watch a wind sock or wind direction arrow aloft. However I found steering the sail training ship no problem as there was a wind direction arrow right next to the magnetic compass, which made it an easy job for keeping the wind from coming right ahead. Do the likes of yachts and such have such aids to navigation. Changed my whole views of Douglas Fairbanks sailing the Spanish Main. Cheers JS

We had one of the tall ships here in Geelong the other weekend, from UK and some form of special one with accommodation for persons with disabilities.

I was looking at her and thinking, how the heel did they get up to those sails when it got a bit rough out there.
The loss of life in the days of sail must have been extremely high.

Muscle Blood steel and Bone ! That was em John! LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2tWwHOXMhI

I have the journal of a 16 year old Crosby girl, whose father was Captain and owner of a sailing ship and in it she recounts the voyage she undertook with him sailing from Swansea, round the Horn to San Francisco. On the way she recounts being becalmed, taking 4 goes to get round the Cape Horn, loosing a coloured boy (she uses the N word) overboard, catching and eating Sharks, Albatross etc., along with piano practise sessions and wearing canvas pantaloons made for her by her father. Its a bit disjointed in parts skipping backwards and forwards but it is a fascinating insight into her life in the 1880's. I have also some of her letters she wrote home to her parents when she and one of her sisters (she was one of 5 girls, none of whom married) did the grand tour that all respectable young ladies of substance did in those days,
rgds
JA

Brian. The Monkbarns is give four chapters in The WHEEL's KICK and the WIND'S SONG by Captain A.G.Course. she was owned by the John Stewart Line. The last British company with a fleet of merchant sailing vessels was the Marine Navigation Company of Sir William Garthwaite between 1915 to 1929. this is also covered by Captain A.G. Course in WINDJAMMERS of the HORN. It contains some great photographs of the crews
Bill

Hi Bill,
I have read those books , tho` many years ago. and about the Moshuilu , The Last of The Windjammers. Last I heard she was a floating restaurant in Philadelphia.
It was in 1959 when I was with Captain Brown and when in Curacao, I had been shanghaied on a topsail schooner in Curacao, woke up at sea, and arrived back after sailing round Venezuala and down to the Orinoco, Barbados and back to Curacao six weeks later, . Fantastic experience, That is when I arrived back on board, he sat me down in his cabin opened a bottle and had to tell him all about it, He then told me his story of the Monkbarns where he served his time.
Some time ago his son got in contact with me and we had a good chat about him, He had passed away by then. a nice fellow.
Cheers
Brian

Hi Bill.
My brother sailed on the Pamir on her last trip under the NZ flag, in a race with the Passat which the Passat won
Port Victoria to Ushant. There is a book written by an American who was on board as an ordinary seaman, it's called "The Last Time Around Cape Horn".By William F Stark. A funny thing is I never talked to my brother about it when we got together in NZ I had done a couple of trips on a scow and we sort of talked about the difference but other than that I read more about the trip in the book. I did steer the Bounty up Sydney Harbour a few years ago, but I would like to have been on that trip on the Pamir.
Cheers Des
My Brother fifth from left wearing the white slacks.
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Hi Des. Thanks for your photos. As I stated previously I was never lucky enough to sail on a real ship. This is as near as I came . Myself and the Shore Bosun on the Cutty Sark pre. the fire.
Regards Bill.




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Bill while talking about ships, when you were with Seaforth Maritime, did you ever come across any of the TNT ships. Saw them for a couple of years then seemed to disappear from the scene. A mate of mine was second engineer on one and I went onboard in Great Yarmouth. They seemed OK to me, but the story went around that they were too flimsy for the North Sea. Maybe just propaganda to get rid of the competition. That was in the eighties, what all these ladies are marching for I don't know, the leading hand on this TNT boat was a Female, mind she was built like an Amazon. Cheers JS

Hi John. I am sure there were TNT vessels operating in the North Sea but I can't find any reference to them. I seem to think they were under one of the larger companies but not sure.
Regards Bill.