Number under ability and conduct

[Robert George Young]

In dad’s first discharge book
There were numbers under the very good

Just wondered what they were ?

Thank you

[j.sabourn]

Maybe ref. To logbook entries , e.g. ref. O.L.B. Pg.48. JS

[Johnny Kieran]

Strange one that, I've never noticed those numbers before. Some of the numbers are the same from different ships and companies, yet some are different numbers from previous trips on the same ships?
Now I'm going to have to sit and worry about this one

[j.sabourn]

The straight numbers like 280 and such are in the old books and,are the numbers of the designated shipping office or the crew for that office that paid off the ship on board the ship. Think this would of been dismantled in the late 1970s or thereabouts . JS

Nothing to worry about but if you can get a list of shipping office numbers may come in handy at sometime for those who can’t remember where they paid off. Maybe loss of memory may be, starting celebrating too early. . Cheers JS.

[j.sabourn]

Some of the numbers in my l book are 80. Which is Liverpool
“. “. “. “. “ 161 “ “
47. Leith
107. Newcastle
218. Glasgow
99. Newport
93. Cardiff.
Just a few of these numbers,
could also just be the shipping masters designated number ? JS

Some ports have different numbers for the same ships at different times . E.G. Rosewood 6.6.72 Cardiff 223, and Cardiff again 5.7.72 191. JS

[Doc Vernon]

This lists Port Numbers, which may be associated with those Numbers, however i am not sure on this either! Could well be something else!??
Cheers

Abbreviations in Merchant Navy records - The National Archives

[j.sabourn]

These numbers are on the actual stamp. Don’t believe it is the ships stamp . It used to be a formal Occassion paying off a ship on a ship itself. Today is all done by the ships master. In any case there are no discharges in seamen’s books to argue over, so all the retinue that used to accompany a shipping master who was in fact a glorified clerk weren’t necessary, Where the term Shipping master came from would be a better subject to discuss , would be interesting how it came about . Further interest to me would be how much redundancy payments they got on the death of the Merchant Navy ? I have asked in the past but with no takers I’m afraid . Cheers JS
PS all this official residue of hangars on was necessary apparently for the case of people paying off under protest , so they had a further opportunity of any claims against the ship. Cheers JS

[Doc Vernon]

Somehow i do recall that JS, when paying off you were in a Queu waiting your turn , to pay off wages etc, and the Person who was doing all this plus the Paymaster, would then stamp your Booh for that trip, so possibly just the end of Trip Stamp ??
Cheers

[Graham Shaw]

This prompted me to unearth my seagoing documents,a bit musty smelling despite being 'entombed' in my tightly sealed attache case for nearly thirty years. I wonder if entombed bodies smell the same? ... or worse...Breaking out of my reverie I am reminded of bearing 2 such Dis.books,only the pre-72 having MM office stamps for General Conduct and Ability. All our replacement books issued in 1972 didn't have those spaces.
My first book then happened to contain just my cadet voyages,and for what it's worth here are those MMO numbers. I don't know whether the number referred to a particular MM Officer ,or if a port had two establishments and that's why the number was different.I think Liverpool did,Cornhill being the usual one in my time.

So,Liverpool 228 and 80
Glasgow 61
Southampton 29.then bizarrely when we paid off in Kuwait -number 349 with a British Vice Consul stamp taking up a good space on the page ! Don't we Brits love our bureaucracy - not!
Anyway, my Dis.books are going back in the case in the cupboard again.... and I'll say goodbye to them and break into that favourite Vera Lynn chanson-" ♫ We'll meet again-don't know where,don't know when... ♫"

[j.sabourn]

Well you will put the attaché case under the bed next to the chamber pot Graham. I used to have a name stamp with my signature on when I was mate so as to stamp all the hundreds of boatnotes and prevent writers cramp , found it the other day and the signature then bears no resemblance of the refined and dignified signature of today , which is only used when signing cheque’s . Pushing a number on a machine is Magic and being given money by another machine is as well, the only problem is finding one as today the banks want to do away with them , and sell to Others who charge you for getting your own money back. JS ...