Working aloft

[John Arton]

A ship's captain has been found guilty of allowing crew members to work aloft without the use of correct safety equipment by a court in new Zealand.
Rgds
J.A.
https://gcaptain.com/new-zealand-cha...eid=3b737aa316

[Captain Kong]

Amazing, were was Safety in the 1950s?
I took a dive of the mast table when rigging the Jumbo on the TARKWA, EDs, in 1953,
Only broke two legs and my right arm, and a few cuts , in Port Harcourt,
When I complained with the Union, I was told, it was own fault for letting go, on the principle of , One hand for yourself and one hand for the job.
I saw another lad killed when painting the top mast, he slipped out of his chair, just another hazard of seafaring.
Fellows injured falling off stages, etc. no one cared. Just part of the job.
So these Safety Laws are right, to protect men doing a hazardous job.

[Chris Allman]

I must admit that what we were required to do certainly lacked any safety measures and was not for the faint hearted. It was all we knew though and was accepted as the norm by all. I have certainly spent some hairy moments whilst ascending or descending and working aloft with no safety equipment other than my hands. One such moment springs to mind as Third Mate, having to go aloft one Christmas Eve in Djbouti to break out the Jumbo as most of the crowd were drunk and there was I and a fairly sober DHU (ex RN ) struggling to get its topping lift rigged and it un-housed and lowered to the deck for the rest to be rigged. We achieved it in the end but I still shiver when I think of it.

[John Arton]

Scariest moment I had working aloft was on the Beaverfir in London docks. I was 2nd trip cadet and given the job of renewing the blown masthead steaming light bulb. The fitting was atop of the jumbo mast. The jumbo was rigged rigged ready for use so before going up the mast I warned the stevedores not to use any cargo year until I had completed the job and was back on deck.
The steaming light was on top of a spindly mast attached to the Jumbo mast table. Climbing up to the mast table I saw that big cracks had appeared where the table met the mast. I was perched right at the top having replaced the bulb when the stevedores decided to resume cargo work using ships gear. Next thing I was clinging on for dear life as the mast whipped back and forth. Eventually managed to scramble down shaking like a leaf. No safety harness but also there was also nowhere to attach one too.
Rgds
J.A.

[Kenneth Kenny]

Sailed on the Kantara Moss Huchinson company,chartered by Harrison's Shipping Company.Anyway we were anchored out in Barbados.Some of the Crew were working over the side of the ship painting,they had their Stages rig up, I was leaning over the side watching out for any Fish( Sharks) next minute one of the rigged stages carried away one of the Seaman fell into the sea I got one of the Lifebelt's and throw it to him shouting man overboard there were lots of help with in seconds,Jacobladder was thrown over the side of the ship and made safe,he was pulled out within minutes,lots of Sharks came has we all got him safe on the Ship.He was laughing for awhile saying it had happened once before many years ago.He was from Dublin Ireland,you know What they say he had it.Thank me and all the great crew.Cups of tea for all.Was in 1960.Ken R 634898

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I Loved working aloft; would always volunteer to go up to paint the top mast, was mad as hell when my brother got a job on the Pamir.
When the tall ships where in Sydney I wanted to climb to the top mast of one of them but it wasn't permitted, when I was on the Bounty I could have gone aloft but had to wear the safety harness so didn't, I thought it would be more of a hindrance than helpful. I worked on the old South Steyne Sydney ferry until I was 70 went over the side on a stage painting many times no safety harness, I was told later i was lucky as there was a fine for doing so.
Cheers Des

[happy daze john in oz]

A problem easy to see.

NZ , Oz and no doubt some other nations have very stringent OHS regulations.

However some of the other nations do not, life is not as sacred to them and they see no danger in working in such a manner.
No matter how tough international regulations may be there will always be those who will ignore them.
Good on NZ for doing the right thing.

[Captain Kong]

When I sailed on the Leeuwin, a sailing ship out of Fremantle, I had to wear a harness for going aloft to furl sail, It got in the way when climbing over the futtock shrouds,.
On the Dunedin Star and the Good Hope Castle in the black and white photos no harness, that is me on the top mast and my late school mate Ted on the table.

[Captain Kong]

Here is an excerpt from my story of a Voyage on the Adelaide Star in 1957.


.................Whilst we were alongside at New Farm Wharf on the Brisbane River loading dairy produce for Europe all hands were over the side painting on stages. There were six stages around the bow, each with two men on painting the white and black on the ship’s side and in the water two more sailors were in the punt painting the boot topping red.
After a liquid lunch in the alehouse outside the dock gate we climbed over the side again and slid down the gantlines onto the stages to the abuse of big Mac the Bosun, who was a bastard at the best of times
The crowd were laughing, singing and hurling abuse back at the Bosun.
After about an hour of swinging around and clowning about on the stages Paddy Duggan fell off his stage, he fell about 5 metres head first into the punt and then bounced into the river, sank and then disappeared.
The laughter suddenly stopped when we realised what had happened, I dived off the stage into the river followed by Tom then the other ten sailors jumped off their stages into the water.
There was nothing but mayhem then, two of the sailors could not swim and they were splashing about shouting for help. The water was covered with red, black and white paint and so was everyone in the water
I dived below the surface and could just see a dark shape fading away as Paddy was slowly sinking and moving away with the current. I grabbed his arm and got to the surface and with Tom’s help we towed him back to the punt. By this time all hands were clinging to the side of the punt, all of them were covered with red, black and white paint. This would have been hilarious if situation hadn’t been so serious.
With a lot of difficulty we dragged Paddy into the punt, there was a big gash on the side of his head and he was unconscious. The sailor who was standby man on deck lowered a rope ladder down to us and the sailors climbed up on deck, they had soon sobered up by now.
They swung the derrick over the side and lowered down the cargo runner to the punt, we shackled on the sling and heaved away, lifting the punt with Paddy in it and then landed it on deck.
By this time the Mate came running up the fore deck to see what the commotion was about.
When he saw Paddy lying unconscious on the deck he just said “ It serves you right you bastards for going ashore on the ale, now take Paddy down to the ship’s hospital” This was only a spare cabin on the starboard side amidships. Tom, Jerry, Fleetwood and I carried Paddy aft and laid him on the mattress in the spare cabin.
The Mate said, “Now get back over the wall and carry on painting, I’ll sort Paddy out.”

We carried on painting over the side until 5pm without any more mishaps, then we dashed down aft to the poop to wash ourselves down with paraffin to remove the paint, then shaved, showered and shampooed ready for going ashore after tea. During this time we thought that Paddy was being looked after by the Mate or Chief Steward.
At 7pm Tom and I were going ashore to the Grand Central Hotel in Brisbane and as we were walking along the starboard alleyway to the gangway I just happened to look through the porthole of the spare cabin and was horrified to see that Paddy was lying there just as we left him 5 hours before, in wet clothes and still covered in blood and paint
I shouted to Tom “Go and get that bastard Mate”. I went into the cabin to see Paddy. He was lying still and I thought he was dead. The paint had dried on him and the dried blood had matted his hair. His face was an odd colour like a greeny white and his body was cold. I shook him and he gurgled a little and was barely breathing.
The Second Mate came in with Tom, I shouted “Why has this man been left like this”, the Second Mate said “He will be alright when he sobers up, we don’t have time to look after you drunken seamen, we are busy decorating the saloon for the nurses party tonight”.
I went berserk then “ This man is dying and you are too busy organising a party” and with that I thumped him and then he fell on top of Paddy across the bunk. I never liked him anyway, and then I dived on top of him
“You bastard” I shouted while shaking him and bouncing up and down on Paddy’s body. Whilst doing this I noticed foam and bubbles coming out of Paddy’s mouth.
Next I felt a thump on the back of my head and the Mate jumped on my back with his arms around my neck trying to pull me off the Second Mate. Tom jumped on the Mate and dragged him off me. After a lot of shouting we all calmed down a bit. Tom went to telephone for a doctor and an ambulance while I got some blankets to cover Paddy to try to keep him warm.
The Second Mate went to get the Captain and when he turned up and found that Tom and I had thumped the Mates he was threatening to log us, flog us and to get the police to arrest us for assaulting his Officers.
A few minutes later the ambulance arrived with a doctor and two policemen.
When the doctor saw Paddy he was shocked, “How long has this man been in this condition without treatment”
“About six hours “ Tom replied. “ My God Captain, if this man dies you will have a lot to answer for”.
The Captain and the Mate were trying to get the police to arrest Tom and me for assault, but the police advised them to keep a low profile for if Paddy died they could possibly face more serious charges themselves.
The gangway was too high and too steep to carry Paddy`s stretcher down so Tom and I with some of the other sailors rigged the derrick and shackled on a cargo pallet.
We placed Paddy’s stretcher on the pallet and Tom, climbed on to hold him steady while we heaved them up and over the side and onto the jetty. The ambulance then sped off with a police escort and took Paddy to hospital.
We went down aft again to get cleaned up and then continued ashore to the Grand Central Hotel to enjoy another night in Brisbane before we sailed next morning to Bowen on Saturday June 20th.
Next day just before we sailed I phoned the hospital and was shocked to hear that Paddy was in the intensive care unit. He had a fractured skull with several stitches in his head, a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder and pneumonia , he was very lucky to be still alive. If he had been left any longer he would have surely died.........................
.................

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Brian.
Some shore people reading your account would think it was some sort of made up story. But i know that it's for real as similar happened on a a few ships I was on. One tanker I was on in Port Pirie in South Australia. I was painting the fore mast and my mate Alby was painting the main, we shouldn't have been up there as they were discharging petrol and the exhaust ran up the mast, the B of a mate said we would be logged if we refused.
Anyway Alby blacked out and fell, I would estimate around 40 feet onto the main discharge pipe , one of his legs was wrapped around the back of his neck, and god knows what other injuries he had, he was in hospital for 8 months, ended up with one leg shorter than the other. One Geordie bloke had the Mate halfway over the side with the police trying to get him off him, meanwhile all the paint was being tossed over the side, the Skipper promised DRs for all when we got home, but most jumped in NZ later, and the Skipper and mate got the sack when they got home.
Cheers Des