The urge to go to sea

[j.sabourn]

Thought it might have been Mary herself after her sex change, as you said she always put her underpants on backwards. JS

[cappy]

morning john ...must admit the engine room is not a place i could or would work in .....good for drying jeans on the tops cappy

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, I dont have that type of urge any more? I was press ganged in bute street cardiff as a boy ,and put on a B.P tanker before I knew what happen. I was in the gulf on a jetty putting on a oil pipe, with a big spanner? but that was only a dream !!!! last night ? The sea is in my blood in as my family were all seaman /fisherman/ farmers/ for many hundred of years , To me as a young man it was part of my life growing up.

[cappy]

##many family were seagoing .....one granda on the colliers always bought tins of jam home ...always had like a small attache case he never wore uniform none of them wore uniform....7 or 8 all at sea including fathers and son ...also a norwegian married in to our family ...was torpedoed on a sailing vessel in ww11.....ist whent to sea myself at 10 years to stay with auntie in sussex she would pick me up in london ...then go back on the ship when needed....helped the cook ...perhaps were i learned my galley skillls but also loved been at the wheel it was an old time collier and the trips never lasted long enough.....played on the tyne in donnelys boats in early teens collecting fish from the crans that dropped fish into the water between trawler and north shields quay ..nicked of from school and sold the fish to the dockies at night when they came out the docks.... just expected to go to sea every body else did ......got a letter from an older mate telling me about his ist deep sea trip and how a woman gave him all that he dreamt of for a carton of ciggies ....dont know if she gave him a present or not......it was the making of me but sadly the money would not support a family also ships were not as plentiful on the tyne as they had been......all in all a great life for a single man ...but i think a bit sad for a married man and his children at home with a mother only to look after them but such is life ....cappy

[j.sabourn]

Louis I cant imagine very many on this site accepting the idea today of being breathalysed on coming back from the shore both on the ship and at the Dock gates if manned by a security guard. Ive seen seamen sitting on board the ship in Aberdeen not going ashore thinking they would be reported to the office for going into a pub and worried about keeping their job. The guts has been knocked out of the sea life as most knew it. Alright for those who don't know any better, it is the next generation who have to live with present day methods of working and I wish them well. But for the likes of self who has a different attitude to life where I believe ships should be run from ships and not some office worker ashore making decisions that should be made on the ship, they can have it. I would rather live with memories trying to maintain the good ones only. I was even on one ship where I had a letter from the owners in confidence to report on the Chief Engineers drinking habits and also any of the crew. I showed the Chief and posted the other on the ships Notice Board. Maybe why I received Redundancy earlier than others. You would be surprised at the number of ears who ran to the office carrying tales, trying to keep their jobs by getting Brownie points, I don't think any job is worth that. Cheers if you have your own morals in life stick with them you are no ones spy or lackey Cheers JWS

[Keith Tindell]

Only when I read the likes of that John, I realise more than ever what a fantastic life we had, the one thing no one can take from us the memories. Unless you are talking to another seaman from that era, no one believes you anyway. Wish I had kept a diary, bit like Kong, people will read in the future , and then file it under fiction, but we know it wasn't, kt

[Dennis McGuckin]

Hi Keith, Agree 100%. That's why this is such a great site.
We can tell our yarns, and know that others understand.
I started to keep a diary on my first trip, but never continued.
Maybe a lot of stuff shouldn't be written!

[Brian Charles Williams]

Star chutes ??????

[Doc Vernon]

When I was much Younger it was actually the Armed Forces that I was interested in,as my Family background was just that! From my Great Great Grandfather to my late Father,all served in one or more of the Armed Forces!
However in later Years as I grew up,i was introduced to the Sea in the form of going on the Deep Sea Fishing Trawlers in and around Cape Town,which then was something really different and exciting to me!
As time went by,i worked alongside the Dockyards as a Junior Tally Clerk,becoming a Senior with time.
This of course got me really into the swing of seeing all those lovely Ships that came and went day by day and also able to actually go aboard and see all that went on which was an Eye Opener,
another exciting time for one as young as I was then!
Also seeing all the Crew Members going ashore ,they always looked so happy,and carefree and that is when I actually decided that the life aboard a Large Liner was the ting I wanted most in my life at that stage!
So with luck and a wee bit of a helping hand (by my late Dad who then worked for the UCL Shipping Company offices in Cape Town) I was given that opportunity that I so wished for.
The chance to get to Sea and long distance travel,see a lot of what was out there and earn some good Bucks (as it was then LOL) and all this for free too! That was just so great!
That then was my love for the Sea,and I so enjoyed the time I had ,be it but quite a short while,the reason I have already given on site!
Cheers

As I have previously said my one big regret in life is that I could not have done many more Years at Sea!
But that's life at times! Take the good with the bad!

[j.sabourn]

#37... Thats the reason why it should be written Denis, if we had written the truth whilst working we would in a lot of cases be unemployable at that time, when one is old and retired one can speak out without being defamed or sued. This is where the true history of past times comes out as different individuals have seen it and is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth as those who went to sea through choice and not being coerced into the sea life. Shore people will give you a different history of our times all written through lack of real knowledge, whats on this site should be for posterity and for people looking for facts and not a made up story for a gullible public which no doubt will in the final analysis differ to that of the professional historian. Already the demise of the British Shipping industry is written into the minds of some as being the fault of the Unions, I would maybe have a little more credence to this statement if it was added , with the connivance of the Government. Cheers JWS