The urge to go to sea

[John F Collier]

I've often wondered why I felt such a strong urge to go to sea as a young boy, it's not as if I came from an
unhappy home life or anything like that, I was born and bred in North London away from the world of ships
the only time I saw the sea (the Thames Estuary ) was on the occasional family day trip to Southend, so
no known reason for the strong feeling that came from within. when I left school I was happy at my first job
but the call of the sea was too strong to resist and I applied for the MN as soon as I was old enough, I had
two brothers in law that served in the later part of the war, one RN the other MN but I wanted to go to sea
before I knew them. Many people over the years that lived inland had the same urge, so where does it come
from, I wonder if it is inborn in some of us?. Cheers John F

[Keith Tindell]

I came from a naval background, my grandad, was RN and MN, my dad was at sea in the Royal Marines, his brother was in the RN as well. I remember as a young kid my desire was to join the RN, but on leaving school at 15 I worked in the local shoe repair shop, and at intervals a Polish seaman would come in the shop and tell us of the places he had been on his last ship, and he was MN , and so the dream was cast, and I applied, and was off to sea school within 6 weeks,. Never to be regretted, kt

[Ivan Cloherty]

Went on my first ship when I was 5 years old and hooked it seems from that day forward, then went to the Arctic Circle on a sidewinder trawler at the age of 13, did a few more trips and joined the MN at 16, my father in the MN warned me against going to sea, but I didn't listen and never regretted it, my great grandfather was a sailing ship skipper, so maybe it's in the blood, then again maybe not as my younger brother never had the urge to go to sea. Of course it could have been Corporal Hitler's fault as his mates bombed us out three times in three different cities and made wanderlusts out of us, or it could have been the thought of Sunday dinner every day and Christmas dinner once a week that swayed me, there was rationing in place! What ever the cause I have no regrets, in the marine industry from 13 to 73 when I retired, would do it all again, but my employers probably got wise to me by now, so no hopes!!

[John F Collier]

Hi Ivan, My Great Great Grandfather was a sailing ship master he lost his ship and his life on the Goodwin Sands 1868
but I didn't know this until my later years when I had a go at Genealogy and found there was several uncles and cousins that had been in the RN, my Dad felt the same about the sea and joined HMS Warspite in 1914 but had to leave when it
was found he was colour blind, he was heartbroken, I joined the sea cadets at 13 and wanted to join the RN, it was my
MN brother in law that changed my mind with all the countries he'd seen also I wanted to go on deck but again he changed
my mind when he said how much better the conditions and food were, well after growing up with food rationing I didn't
need a lot of persuading and went into catering, when I first joined the MN I couldn't believe the amount of food thrown
over the side the people at home would have cried if they'd seen it. Cheers John F

[vic mcclymont]

I suppose my love f the sea was due to spending the summer holidays on the Clyde steamers. For some unknown reason I wanted to be an electrician. When I was about 11 years old my father who worked in the shipyards took me onboard the Shell Tanker Axina which was fitting out. I discovered that electricians could go to sea, so I could combine both wishes.
When I was fifteen, I wrote to various shipping companies, who replied, get experience. During my apprenticeship various shipping companies would ask our company if anyone wanted to sail with them - to young.
At the age of 22, joined B&C, spent four years with them, thoroughly enjoyed it, would do it again if I had the chance. Left the sea to get married.
Took the wife on her first cruise in 1997, she enjoyed it, she likes the sea.
Her biggest gripe with me is leaving the sea before she had a chance to sail.

regards
Vic

[Keith Tindell]

Post 4' Agree there John, as the Peggy for the first couple of trips, and emptying the Rosie, was amazed at what got thrown away. I was eating at sea what you could only wish for ashore, steak and chips EVERY Friday !!, full English every morning, roast most lunch times, cooked evening meal etc, or was I just dreaming??, kt

[vic mcclymont]

No you weren't dreaming it Keith, the food on Clan Line was excellent. Meals that I had never heard of, never mind pronounce.
Every Saturday was movie night, if weather was good on deck, if not, Officers bar, crew bar recreation room following night.
We had one Purser/ Chief Steward, introduced fish 'n chips for the movie night, wrapped in newspapers, where the hell he got the papers from know one if ever found out.
Fish 'n chips were delicious.
Regards
Vic

PS Should have said we had our evening meal at 18:00.

[John F Collier]

#6, I was only ever on cargo ships Keith so can only speak for them but if we saw that much waste on cargo / tankers
you have to wonder at the scale of the waste on the passenger liners. Cheers John F

[Richard Quartermaine]

My father lived within the sound of Bow Bells and joined the SS Beltana and did one trip to Oz and back before joining the Queens Royal 9th Lancers in 1914. I can't recall when he joined the SS Benala but in 1924 he signed on for 1/- a month to immigrate to Australia. He was sick bay attendant and looked after a lass who was seasick who was to become my mother. My first memories are on our 10 acre holding in the bush 30 miles South of Sydney. It was sitting in front of our big log fire in the fireplace he built listening to his tales of the sea and France that fascinated me.
At 15 I was working in a shoe factory (sole mates Keith T) in Sydney and in all the free time I had I would go down to Circular Quay to look at the ships. At Christmas 1946 we got two weeks holiday and during that time went into every shipping office in Sydney and by mid January 1947 I 'landed' a job as engineers boy on the MV Lowlander, the Italian ship 'leme' war prize operating by Port line. I was still 15 but we were in Curacao when it was discovered I was not supposed to join the MN before 16.
The time to 1953 when I immigrated from Britain to Toronto, Canada before returning to Australia gave me a firm grounding in life and communication to continue my passion of globe trotting. Everywhere I travelled in in my work and vacations was by sea as the first choice especially as a family. My son has also been to sea as a work experience from his school Indonesia in the 1970s. One more thing we learned just recently. My wife's great-grandfather was born at sea on the sailing ship 'Lady Kennaway' in the early 1840s en route to Australia where his mother and father were being brought out to join the merino sheep farmers in Southern New South Wales.
I am so grateful for the luck that steered me into the Merchant Navy.
Richard

[John F Collier]

Can identify with that part about listening to dad's stories in front of the fire Richard, when the TV came along it killed off a lot of family life such as the piano thumping away and all playing cards and monopoly and Ludo at the table. Cheers John F