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only sailed in one the allurity.....small coastal tanker .....used for bunkering foriegn goers out the tyne ....down to the tees south up aberdeen north ....she was the ex empire dombie 1944 .....fully laden summer she was awash and come november was was like a submarine ....my girlfriend watched us out the tyne in november and all she could see was the accom .....left the vessel21st nov 59 and took a tanker down india for near 11 months....one too wet one too hot such is life R683532
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Harper
ss SENIORITY (1) O.N. 168945 tonnages 2,898g/4,665 dwt ,was the ex ss EMPIRE BOSWELL.
She ran aground on 7/11/50 on a ballast voyage from Ellesmere Port to Risor,Norway (Capt.I.Anderson (North Shields) and 30 crew) and wrecked 8-9/11/50.Crew rescued and landed Castlebay,Barra.
HISTORY-thanks to scottish shipwrecks.com site.
5on/5off was my favourite with a 4 hour dog watch and if the Old-Man had any mettle he would do 2 hours of the dog watch to keep good mates. Normally on the coasting it was go-on and stop-on especially on short runs with short (tidal stays) go in on one high tide and come out on the next, very few overnighters, time in port was lost revenue! There was no such thing as loss of sleep money, wish there had been, would have earned 12 to 16 hours a day! Anyway it was a great learning curve and you went to ports even Heinekin couldn't reach and made you appreciate the luxury of a lazy deep sea life (unless an apprentice of course, Blue Flue 'Midshipmen excluded naturally)Quote:
Originally Posted by j.sabourn
Ivan I worked 6 on and stop on for years in the North Sea if required and also offshore in Australia . There was no loss of sleep there then , but in 1973 if my recollections are correct it was still in force on British foreign going ships. The rules were easy to interpret but hard to employ due to the hours out of the ordinary required at sea . A seaman had to have 8 consequitive hours off in every 24 or was paid for those hours short of the 8.this applied to the seamen but not the mates and engineers who were mostly employed direct by the company . Many times the LOS was agreed to with the crew member for the convenience of both. Another rule was that a minimum of 2 hours was required in overtime payment if you called someone out. E.g. on the Bisco ore charters where the charterers or the taxpayer in this case paid the overtime there was usually no comeback . It was normally accepted on a minimum of 3 hours a day overtime. I usd to book that for the dayworkers , as from 1800 hrs to 2100 hrs . Now suppose we went to an anchorage at 0100 hrs and the chippy was called out just to drop the anchor a 30 minute job, then he was entitled to a minimum of two hours overtime and 4 hours LOS , 6 hours for the annoyance of 30 minutes work. It was easier in a lot of cases to come to an unofficial agreement with the crowd . When you got some Bolshy person who wanted it by the book , that sometimes upset the apple cart for everyone else . And hard times were back in force to keep the books straight company wise . I don’t deprive any seaman his earnings. Today they are due a 12 hour day ,7 days a week and no overtime , as mate and master I can honestly say , unless it is absolutely necessary I have never enforced the 12 hour day. Cheers JS
Further to the overtime on British ships, I believe there are some on here who worked for Whitco Marine who managed ships , they themselves when they managed the Finnish Wasa and the Temple Hall I was mate there. On the Finnish Wasa she had a West Indian crew and can’t remember the actual figure for the overtime allowance I was told not to exceed say 3000 pounds a month. Every month the 3 heads of dept. had a meeting to see if they had kept within their limits . In Charleston in the states , the deck was say 800 pounds in hand , and by the rules of the game I asked the crowd what they wanted doing with it, they said carpets for their rooms , so the chief steward and myself went shopping with the cash to buy. On the Temple Hall I told the Bosun the system and gave him the overtime book to keep, this was a federation crew. I asked him for the book back after a week to sign , and he had himself down for 8 hours a day and the crew for 1 hour a day , so I took the book back off him. If the crowd had seen there would have been hell on. Overtime depending on the Owners was the bane of a mates life as far as I was concerned . Latter years where it didn’t exist anymore was better for me , as long as everyone was happy with their own salary. But being cash wise minded I still believe British crews were better off prior to 1966. JS.
PS Guess what the masters name was on the Finnish Wasa, yet another Murdo MacCleod from Stornaway. That makes 6 of them that I can remember now. Bill Morrison.. Bill did you know a Murdo MacCleod the mate in Seaforths who was drowned in Dundee. ? JS
Hi John.
Just had a look at my payoff slip for overtime on my last British ship. 10 months and 12 days, the princely sum of 12 pounds and one shilling and 1 pence, all probably unavoidable berthing and leaving ports.
Des
Yes Des and the rest you spent on beer and smokes and no doubt wasted someon silly stuff such as food and clothing. LOL
#37 What year was that Des ? loss of sleep came in if remember correctly came in after 1966. Also the 5 day week . Immediately the shipowner knocked the week end overtime on the head .Only people who got were the watchkeepers . Even the ship I was on at the time where the shipowner wasn’t paying for it , he still knocked it on the head. He must have been anti seamen and thought they were only good enough to make money for him. I didn’t follow the politics of it if that’s what it was for the next 5 years or so. So don’t really know how things went . Going offshore was my final
Decision on going there or nearly the final , the final was coming out here , which I would have done 20 years previously if had of had the sense . JS
Hi John
That was in 56, I think with the fact that tankers were at sea much longer than cargo boats they didn't have to pay much overtime, plenty of time to paint cruising.
Des
Hungry Everards board of trade rations,not a good company for vitals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivan Cloherty