Flying tab nab

[happy daze john in oz]

At some time all of us who went to sea availed ourselves of the Flying Angel/Mission to Seamen some where around the globe.

Over time the number of these establishments has gone into decline, the demand due to the massive change in shipping movements has brought much of this about.

Here in Australia there are still 14 missions at various ports around the coast, and most have frequent visitors.
The Melbourne one, like Geraldton one is heritage listed, is currently undergoing a refurbishment which will see the outside cleaned and some new facilities added inside.

The main port where the container and other ships dock is about 2 to 3 kilometers from the Mission so they run a regular bus service back and forth. Some container ships are at times in port for a day or so.

For the crew of cruise ships it is not so good. Most are in port for only around 10 hours or so unless an overnight stop which is not very often.
The crew get little shore time and when they do the berth is often far from town.

But here in Melbourne something new is occurring.

The Melbourne Mission to Seafarers has long sought to provide for the crews of cruise ships berthing at Station Pier from October to May, this year 130 will berth there.
Passengers are taken away on buses for tours to the various places of interest, but no such luck for the crew, they are on their own on this one.
One crew member is reported to have hired one of the bikes here for hire and cycled the 4 Kilometers to the Mission and done by the Police for not wearing helmet, compulsory here in Victoria if you ride a bike.

Sydney in a similar situation has made some progress in sourcing assistance for such crew members with an 'outsource' center.

In early June this year the Melbourne Mission in association with Port Victoria came to an agreement. Seeing the well being of cruise crew members being paramount they set out to find a way to assist them when in port.

Just outside the gate, a distance of about 200 meters from the ships gangway, there area number of small buildings.
One used for a café some years ago has laid empty since they moved on. This has been given to the Mission to use.

Here they have developed a 'Crew Club'.
This consists of the building being split into two parts.
In one, also available to the public, an information and heritage center. The other is the 'Crew Club'
In here cruise ship crew may avail them selves of Wi Fi, coffee or soft drinks, access to public transport tickets and arrange of other services.

Since the first cruise ship of the season in early October 2019 they have assisted over 200 crew members.

It was only On Sunday we found this even though we were there on an number of occasions since October.
We have been there afternoons and normally they only open from 0600 hours to about 1300 hours. The Queen Elizabeth was in port yesterday and not sailing until late evening so they were open a bit later. In November when some stay overnight, usually four ships, for the running of the Melbourne cup they will stay open longer.

Speaking with the two staff, all volunteers, they see this as something that will spring up in other ports around the globe in conjuction with the local Mission.

The problem for me going to Port Melbourne when a cruise ship is in I get the urge again, it is like a disease, the need to travel, the bug has struck again and, the need to be on the ocean is overwhelming.
So I went home and booked another cruise

[Leonard Nicol]

Hi John, I fully agree that the various Flying Angel/Mission to Seamen places around the world were wonderful to attend. I enjoyed visiting many in the Far East, particularly in Singapore and in Penang. I was only young, 16 to 18 back then between 1956 and 1958 and it was great to be able to write and send letters home, to swim, play snooker or billiards and just relax with one's mates. I also had a great time in places like Rotterdam with dances and very friendly people. I know how you feel about the sea. I'm coming up 81 and I still miss going to sea. I live in Wellington, New Zealand and I hope one day to make another trip to Singapore, a place I haven't been to in over 62 years. All the best. Len Nicol

[Leonard Nicol]

Having completed my training in 1955 at the T.S. Vindicatrix I went home early in December, and had a break before joining my first ship as deck boy on December 21st in Invergordon, not far from my home town of Inverness. The ship was a coaster called the Dunnet Head which carried loads of stones and cement. We sailed the following day and ran into a Force 12, something I never again saw in all my years at sea. It was like being on top of a mountain and looking down into a valley, and the next minute being down in the valley and looking up a mountain. The ship handled it but I was frozen as I was never properly outfitted for such cold, even though I came from north of Scotland. I worked four hours on and four hours off and whether on duty or off duty was always seasick.

However, we ended up in Ipswich on Christmas Day and I headed for the Flying Angel/ Mission to Seamen just to get off the ship for a few hours. I had never seen television before and as I walked through an empty room in the club a TV was playing. I just looked at it in amazement, unable to credit where the picture on the screen was coming from. I was so used to the movies I just couldn’t figure it out. A couple of years later I bought a TV set for my parents.
After a month of continual seasickness a young engineer advised me to try for a bigger ship as it would not be as bad and I would sail with others closer to my own age. I thought I had made a terrible mistake going to sea but I took his advice and ended up very happy indeed. I left the sea finally aged 55 but not before I had seen much of the world and had some great experiences. Regards Len Nicol

[Anthony Bird]

I am so glad to hear that the flying angel still works, I owe a lot to them because as a boy rating in the fifties they were my saviours.

[Chris Allman]

I went to some great dances at the Flying Angel in BA. The staff and Clergy were great people, remembered you and used to give you a great welcome when you returned. Almost a family reunion. Went to many others with very kind staff but have to admit the one in BA was my favourite.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Great memories. My first trip started in Wickham, Newcastle, New South Wales on 23rd January 1947 as pantry boy on the MV Lowlander. I often wonder if the bloke who jumped ship stayed in Oz. The Flying Angels and other seafarer missions, especially on 'turn around', in every ones home base except this 'Aussie' were very special comfort zones. They even took care of us at sea where I would have a big box of books sent to my ship for the crew and collected and replaced.
I was still fifteen and the last time I was ever seasick when this photo was taken.
Richard

[Ken Trehearne]

The various Missions mean more to some seamen than to others, with myself being one of the 'more' as I met my future wife at the Mission in East London SA in 1951 while on the City of Canterbury, continuing to date her later while on the Edinburgh Castle and the City of Pretoria. We married in UK in 1954, moved to NZ in 1964, had a son born in UK in 1957 who died at the age of 25 while in NZ. After 65 years of marriage my dear Dorothy died on 10 December last. Following is an extract from the eulogy I wrote to be read by my brother at her funeral which shows why my Mission visits mean greatly more to me even after all the many years which have passed.

"Within East London there was a branch of the Mission to Seamen (also known as The Flying Angel) and also a branch of the Apostleship of the Sea (also known as Stella Maris). These world-wide organisations could be a 'base' for visiting seamen during a brief stay in port. Each was managed by a padre who, with volunteer supporters, arranged dances, possibly a non-alcoholic canteen and possibly local sightseeing.
Evening entertainment for young women in South Africa during Dorothy's teens and early-twenties was scarce and, where it existed, sometimes dangerous. Both Stella Maris and The Flying Angel offered safety and a level of entertainment which led a large number of East London's young women to volunteer attendance at meetings. Dancing to music from a 78 record, a movie shown from a 16mm projector, or a week-end day hired bus to a local beach or suitable park with picnic hampers accompanying. The padre would arrange for all volunteers to be returned to their homes safely at the end of each venture.
During 1951 Ken was serving as Quartermaster on a British passenger liner which had a regular run between England and South Africa and which at an early hour on a particular Sunday tied up at East London. Shortly, a Padre boarded to spread the word that there was to be a bus trip and picnic at a park, which appealed to Ken and at least one other of the ship's crew. A joint decision was made that both seamen would go on the picnic. Both were at the Flying Angel building at departure time.
Dorothy's best female friend at the time, and for many years later, was one Patricia, generally known as 'Patsy'. Patsy had very attractive thick jet black hair, cut to a severe fringe front, back and sides. On boarding the bus the Padre had laid a strict rule that no two of 'his girls' would sit together and that all of 'his girls' boarded firstly. It happened that Ken and his crew friend were the very last two seamen to board the bus – to find that there were just two empty seats remaining – one next to Patsy and the other next to Dorothy. Spontaneous thoughts by both Ken and friend was that each would sit with Patsy but Ken's fortune failed as his friend beat Ken to the seat which left Ken to sit with Dorothy. That was how Dorothy first met Ken.
Dorothy and Ken met by arrangement on later of Ken's voyages to East London but this ceased when, in 1952, Dorothy and Patsy both sailed to England on their big OE with Patsy to marry a British Royal Navy man she had become engaged to after meeting at the Mission. Neither Dorothy nor Patsy returned from their OE which became larger and longer than either had imagined" (Ends)

I can name Patsy as both she and her ex-RN husband are demised.

Elsewhere on this site is a record of a seaman drowning while on a beach picnic arranged by the East London Mission. Readers may recall that sad event which, I believe, occurred in the 1950's. No connection between these two events, though who would possibly think there could be?
Ken T
R412277

[happy daze john in oz]

The Mission here in Melbourne has a small chapel within and regular Sunday services are held there with many locals attending each week.

They still hold weekly dances on Friday and again many locals attend.
There are regular exhibitions of memorabilia from ships lanterns to paintings of the sea and a good attendance every time.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

When I used to attend the Vindi reunion dinners in Sydney there was a mix of Vindi UK and Aus seamen of around 150, we always had a service conducted by a well known Nun from the seaman's mission in Sydney, I don't know if the dinners are still going.
Des

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Great memories. My first trip started in Wickham, Newcastle, New South Wales on 23rd January 1947 as pantry boy on the MV Lowlander. I often wonder if the bloke who jumped ship stayed in Oz. The Flying Angels and other seafarer missions, especially on 'turn around', in every ones home base except this 'Aussie' were very special comfort zones. They even took care of us at sea where I would have a big box of books sent to my ship for the crew and collected and replaced.
I was still fifteen and the last time I was ever seasick when this photo was taken.
Richard

Hi Richard.
Jeez man you have hardly changed,
Des

[Keith Tindell]

The flying tab nab in Calcutta was a great place, after 2 months on the Indian coast, and where the beer was on licence in most ports, i seem to remember a maxi 5? or was it 7 ? beers a week in the early 60s, in Calcutta at the mission there was no limit, and on that coast having a few beers was brilliant. The 5 or 7 beers could not be taken in one night, i think it was over 3 different sessions, happy days, but not on the Indian coast in those days, kt