Port Auckland 1950

[Ivan Cloherty]

#20 G.A.S. 16.6 knots, not impossible as I was on 1943 ships that service speed of 15 knots with a little bit in reserve.

#19 Work never stops on a ship whether in port or at sea. In port there are numerous derricks working cargo, anything twixt 10 and 24 per vessel, average Port Line vessel 16 - 20, these need constant attention shifting luff and position to stevedores requirements, cargo runners to change when stevedores deliberately got them jambed and kinked because they wanted a smoko or finish early and still get paid. Moorings and gangway to constantly monitor, slack or tighten, raise or lower. Dunnage down hatches to collect stack and secure, derrick guys and preventers to monitor slack or tighten, hatches to open/close, cargo tents to rig/unrigg, hatch boards to take on and off or macgregors to open and close, chipping and painting away from where stevedores are working, don't want to give them an excuse to stop working because of noise, lifeboats to turn out, turn in and secure, stages and bosuns chairs to rig, painting overside on floats or stages or on quay, tweendecks and holds to clean, broken mooring ropes to resplice, new splices in back springs, we haven't scratched the surface yet,

Alas as most people think, we do not spend all day in the bunk or sunbathing or sightseeing when in port, only Radio Officers have that privilege!

[j.sabourn]

Ivan flat out that will give a days run of say at the most of 400. n.m. Which is 57 days + Panama Canal time .he could barely get there and back never mind any port time. That’s why I thought I had made a mistake in reading the post. Maybe a 20 knot ship might manage an overnight stay in Auckland it’s easy enough for anyone to work out, Ma Gleason would have to have the beers on the counter waiting. Sailing from Liverpool would knock a couple of hundred miles off the round trip but that’s splitting hairs , maybe half a day shorter. . JS.

[cappy]

mv riseley ....left tyne may 10 .......49 days to auckland ......less 3 days falmouth ...one day la romana ...oneday canal ....six days......roughly43 days to auckland 1961

[Robert George Young]

Liverpool, Curacao, Panama Canal, Wellington, Lyttelton, Dunedin, Bluff, Auckland (for 2 months), Panama Canal, Curacao, Avonmouth

[j.sabourn]

And do you confirm that the signing on and off dates was a total of 57 days ? From end of January to the end of March a total of 57 days ? JS.

[cappy]

And do you confirm that the signing on and off dates was a total of 57 days ? From end of January to the end of March a total of 57 days ? JS.

surely that cant be right.....the riseley was a new built all accom aft and no greyhound but no sluggard iether

[Robert George Young]

yeah JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ivan flat out that will give a days run of say at the most of 400. n.m. Which is 57 days + Panama Canal time .he could barely get there and back never mind any port time. . JS.

My apologies, mis-read the information, thought it was just times on passage.............old age strikes again!

[j.sabourn]

#26... Thank goodness others can now see the questionable statement that the poster has produced . It further eats up the time by the visits of the ship in question by the visits to all the other ports . 57 days and the distances to steam brings some doubt to the question of the dates which the poster has. However he can sit down with a pencil and paper and work that out himself now it has been pointed out. I don’t know where he gets the dates from if it is his discharge book it has probably been doctored to suit. Easy enough to do. I asked in a previous post about a friend of Danny la Rue who was chief steward with me years ago, his discharge book he had altered his D.O.B.by knocking 10 years off his age ,think this was pure vanity however. The Kaii ties in Singapore had nothing on him. Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

We left Hull in early May on way to Oz.
Into Red sea and an engine failure, two days to fix it, funny but she had a refit prior to this voyage.
The with a very cloudy sky the skipper asked the chief where are we,
No bloody idea came the reply, not seen the sun for two days.
We arrived in Melbourne the day the Beatles arrived in Adelaide. June 11th 1964.