Female Deck Officers

[dave moore]

I attended the MN Day in during which I met a lady who had been 2nd Mate on a Mobil tanker ,I posed the question what was the male deckhand re action Her answer was they were all Indians and called me sir.Anybody have experience of female deck officers ?

[Lewis McColl]

Yes I have sailed with plenty over the last 20 years , some very good some bloody awful. I have also sailed with female engineers likewise. To balance things out the same can be said with a lot of lads I sailed with as well.
A few caused trouble in the bar and on BP once a 3/off complained that the magazines that the company sent out to the ships were sexist. Magazines such as Top Gear, FHM , Men Total Health so she was asked to submit a list of publications she thought would be suitable. She did and the company just said no more magazines.
So the company stopped sending out any magazines. I suppose this will sound sexist but to be honest the sooner they settled the flighty ones landed a bunk the better. Oh and before I start getting grief no not all of the girls were like that.
On one Bibby ship a female 3/off was hot bedding that much the top ended up with a sexually transmitted disease. To be honest it was quite funny, she obviously did not put out for other ranks.

[Doc Vernon]

Not MN but I have seen many Females in the RAN here,went aboard with my Adopted Granddaughter and Wow! More Females than Males on that Ship,and so many with Gold all over! Good on them!
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

The only female officers of any note I ever encountered were in the Pursers office, and one regularly in the senior second engineers bed.
Murphy had a great time with her.

[Keith Tindell]

Not MN, but my wife is a pretty tough old bird, she's put up with me for 52 years . They are capable of most jobs, you only have to look at the women during the 2nd WW, and what jobs they did, kt

[j.sabourn]

Beleive there is someone on Site from Kingston on Thames , maybe they remember the factory behind the Regal cinema on Richmond High Street . Believe was called the Hawker Hunter factory. Used to make spare parts for spitfires and hurricanes. My mother was trained to fill in as a fitter and turner. She was Good on the lathe. Worked there nearly 5 years. JWS

[robpage]

I have met good and bad of both sexes in engineering shore-side , but the women have all had to struggle for the better jobs , at sea only , nursing sister , purserettes , chilly ho , and one sparkyl

[Lewis McColl]

Not relevant really but in a lot of in the ship yards in China the crane drivers are female. There thinking is that a female has a better feel for when lifting or lowering ship sections into place(the gentle touch). If it had not been for women during the war years in the munitions factories we would all be speaking a different language today.

Just remembered first female c/eng was a Victoria Drummond.

Victoria Drummond - Britain's first female marine engineer - The Scotsman

[Bengy Roberts]

same thing T34 drivers Lewis

[j.sabourn]

I must say here and now that I am not a person who raves about women at sea in any capacity ! Whether it be ships staff, wives of staff, or passengers. This is not because I am a male chauvinist but because the ships I were on were a minefield of potential disasters for women and children. I have only once sailed with a female second mate, who was there because her boyfriend was mate and the company took him off and that's how I was put there as mate. She was competent enough apart from being unable to do heavy manual work. To me that is not the point, people when they talk about the modern world and about equality of the sexes I agree, but we don't live in a world of competition like some like to make it. I have old values and was on tenterhooks every time my own family were on board. The hypocrisy of the shipowner of going along with public sentiment of the day and employing women on his ships, when just previous to this all women had to be off the vessel at sunset just shows how keen he was to show he was a likeable bloke. He went to all sorts of trouble to arrange toilet and accomodation re-arrangements where previous to this with all male crews he couldn't give a toss. It was a PR job. In general. Myself as said didn't like and still wouldn't like women on ships. They were a distraction , often caused trouble especially amongst crews wife's. And in the case of an emergency would have to be looked after first taking ones mind off the job in hand. Myself I like women to enhance their sexuality and not try and put it in competition with the big hairy male ones. The male and females sex are different in lots of ways, this should not be a source of comparison in work matters. I"ll take my females in a more domestic and peaceful surroundings in rural settings. Leave those who find it comfortable having females always around to those who work on passenger vessels. Who have the personnel to cater to such. Cheers JWS...