Joining my first ship

[David Williams]

Joined my first ship the British Pioneer in Swansea
as cabin boy,on sailing day I was told to get dressed
as we were going to Barry,which I did all ready for my
first port of call.Barry is just a few miles up the coast
from Swansea,but about a week later we arrived in Bari
in southern Italy.Boy did I feel stupid,took a while to get
over it.
Dave Williams

[j.sabourn]

My first ship David there were 4 deck boys all ex Borstal , who all turned out good. The chippy was just out of Durham Gaol. The Bosun was an ex Prize Fighter and was punch drunk. Among the deck crowd I can only remember 3 Estonians And 1 Latvian. The others were from the Bristol Channel area. Trip was Avonmouth, Belfast, Cuba, Japan, Queensland, Purfleet on the Thames. Some things we never forget. Today I can't remember the ships that aren't in my discharge books, that is the names, can still visualise the ships, remember the seamens faces but difficulty with the names. Cheers JWS
,

[joseph connor]

My first ship BLUE fLU MENALAUS ( coastal ) , one day was taken by one of the Welsh ABs to the rec room which had all the dead lights down and inside was a flapping terified pidgeon there was white crap and feathers everywhere , and was told to get it cleaned up before the capt saw it ,i remember he had a big grin on his face , as i stood there shocked a voice in the alleyway behind me said " clean it up your ****ing self its nothing to do with him , you put the bird there you clean it up !!" it was an E D H named Stan , he looked t me and said , " if you do it you will have me to answer to " the A Bs face went red with rage but said nothing , he just glarred at me . Stan and i became good mates over a couple of trips .

[Des Taff Jenkins]

##jeez tom we could all be related on here lol cappy

Hi Uncle.
Cheers Des

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi ll.
Joined my first ship the Trevose in Cardiff straight out of the Vindi, uniform still on, but not for long as some of the Ab's were calling out ,"Who's the sailor then", I still remember the smell of oily water from the dock and if I close my eyes I can still see all the flotsam that was floating around in the water. I felt badly let down moving through the lock gates looking out of the mess-room porthole as I washed bloody dishes, I lost the cut of the cards too the other deck boy, I was Peggy until Galveston.
Cheers Des