A game of two halves

[Louis the fly]

My time at sea was like a football match , a game of two halves.
The first half was the best time of my life. I could walk into the Pool and there would be three or four ships to choose from. I chose the ships from the run they were on , always somewhere sunny and if possible to ports I had not been to before or to ports I had enjoyed myself in the past. It did not bother me to miss Christmas and New Year at home , avoiding the cold snow and ice of winter months and coming back in spring was far better. A crew of like minded people who worked hard at sea and took a pride in their work , going ashore together having a great time. It was not always good there were bad times too , but when we met up for a drink after a trip the bad times were forgotten and we laughed at the things that happened on the trip.

The second half I did not see coming , it all seemed to happen so fast. Shipping companies with long histories vanished , flags of convenience , unheard of ports of registry and foreign crews. The Pools closed and maritime agencies sprung up , the crews you had sailed with also vanished. The laughs were gone our way of life had gone , it became every man for himself. This is the time I should have left but I clung on as long as possible sailing on tugs and any other jobs I could find. I once had a call from an agency in Guernsey asking if I wanted to join a British survey ship. When I arrived in Yarmouth I found the British survey ship was actually a salvage tug registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands.

[Red Lead Ted]

I can relate to all of that Loui, It was amazing how one minute there was all these companies sailing and getting there crew from Liverpool, And within months it was all gone once the pool closed that was it, Phoning companies yourself for a job. Shame to say the least. Terry.

[Keith Tindell]

I signed off my last ship In March 1964, which, on reflection was just about the last of the good times, i cannot say that was good planning or forethought , but plain luck, and i had met the women who was to become, and still is my wife. So sheer luck really, but the memories are always there, kt

[Chris Allman]

To be suddenly told that three or four ships were being sold and there were too many officers for too few ships came as a shock. Trips off on half pay - working by in port with no fixed hours, coasting at very short notice - not conducive to raising a family - had to leave in the end.

[Tony Taylor]

I can relate to all of that Loui, It was amazing how one minute there was all these companies sailing and getting there crew from Liverpool, And within months it was all gone once the pool closed that was it, Phoning companies yourself for a job. Shame to say the least. Terry.

In 81, it seemed like all companies were baling out and redundancies were rife, BP sold of virtually all their fleet to Iranians. I was on a welding course in Leith and one of the guys had come direct from the office and was pounced on for the latest news, he said they had broached the subject while in the office and were told firmly that there were to be no redundancies in Shell.
Couple of days after getting back home, I got a letter inviting me to consider taking redundancy. 15 minutes later I got a phone call asking me to fly out next morning for an emergency relief. Got on board to find everyone had had a letter the previous day.

[john walker]

Like most of the post above I left the U.K. flag in late 81 for a job in Saudi, I then had various good and bad jobs on various F.O.C. ships or jobs in Africa/West Asia for about another 13 years. I swallowed the anchor as the jobs were getting worse and worse. It would be interesting to hear if any of the posters received much in the way of redundancy payments especially pool men who had never signed a company contract.

[John Arton]

Same here, before joining my last ship in C.P. (a chemical tanker), I was told things were looking up, $37 million profit the previous year, talk of new builds for the tanker and container fleets. Off I went, loaded caustic for Aus, then back loaded veg. Oils for discharge in Rotterdam. Two days before arrival at Suez we get the message the whole fleet, apart from the container ships had been sold to the Greeks, including all the contracts and we were all to be made redundant within 2 months. Discharged in Rotterdam and personnel officer came to see us all. I was offered to stay on if I went to the container ships but had already been offered a job as port captain with the new Greek owner. Loaded avgas after tañk cleaning, took it to New York and after discharge handed the ship over to the Greeks. After renaming and storing sailed with it and the new Greek crew down to the gulf of Mexico to load chemicals for the far East. My job was to teach the Greeks about loading, carriage and discharge of chemicals as although they had been on product tankers, none of them had ever sailed with chemicals. To say that there attitude to safety and the way they worked together was an eye opener would be to put it mildly. Spent two years with them working around the far East, south America and Europe getting more and more frustrated with their on board working attitude before reorganization meant emigration to either Houston or Singapore. With a young family didn't fancy that so took redundancy on last day of march and joined Stolt on 1st April, staying there for 17 years before having to give up for medical reasons. All in all 41 years at sea and like everyone else, given the choice would jump at it again, not only for the runs but also for the chance to have met, sailed with and made friends of, some truly remarkable people from a number of nationalities.
Rgds
J.A.

[cappy]

####i think the writing was on the wall in the early 60s or even late 50s....the starting of tankers 4 and 5 times bigger and even less hands aboard ...i remember the british queen coming into mina al ahmadi ....the old man saying to the pilot we are the biggest of the BP fleet were will you put us now ....whereby the pilot stated no problem we will berth you were the george champion was a few days ago the biggest tanker in the world at that time ...i think without googling she was about 84000 tons .....the ist time i believe bikes were used on deck .......and yet a few years later tankers 3 times and more her size were common..........ships were getting bigger less hands required .....old style vessels now defunct .....also on cargo vessels containers coming in the expenditure on these vessels unless subsidised by government would not return a profit for a long long time ......i do recall all of a sudden russian merchantmen every where ....african countries ie nigeria using the own fleets ......plus of course investments in many other fields giving better returns......but then did anyone on the site think of job security when the ist went to sea or even what the wages where .....i think most if not all went for a exciting type of lifestile fuelled in some cases by family members tales .....i look back to the forties and fifties and no one in my family from captain to ab were living high off the hog .....including a norwegian in our family who also managed to i guess just make a living....which always makes me think of the regular cryfrom the left take it off the big earners and give it to the less well off ......would have been nice if the captains shared there incomes and put it all in one pot to be shared equally with the cabin boys galley boys and peggies ......lol cappy

[Keith Tindell]

I know some years after i tied up ashore for good, being on the ferry from the Island to Southampton, and there was a large ship laid up there, now i think its name was Bramah Endeavour, but i am unable to find it on the net, but later was told she was towed out into the Atlantic and sunk. But as said, cannot find anything on this, she was tied up in Southampton for months. I remember thinking then how lucky i was to have left when i did, kt

[cappy]

I know some years after i tied up ashore for good, being on the ferry from the Island to Southampton, and there was a large ship laid up there, now i think its name was Bramah Endeavour, but i am unable to find it on the net, but later was told she was towed out into the Atlantic and sunk. But as said, cannot find anything on this, she was tied up in Southampton for months. I remember thinking then how lucky i was to have left when i did, kt

####british endeavour sure rings a bell keith....regards cappy

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###british endeavour built hawthorn leslie tyneside sea trials 1949 ..regards cappy