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29th April 2020, 02:12 PM
#11
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
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29th April 2020, 02:37 PM
#12
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
I was on the Newcastle star and we docked at K G 5 about half way into the strike.The word was that the skipper had a right not to pay us off if the ship could leave port again in a certain time.Most of the crew including me .I was a j o s went to the local union office and moaned to 2 union officials.Anyway that worked.A few months later one of the officials was named in parliment as a communist and it was a big thing on the front pages of the press.I think I remember his name was Gordon Norris I think?????Can anyone remember this?
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29th April 2020, 04:05 PM
#13
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
I was on the Accra which was in Brocklebank dock along with the Aureol ( both Elder Demster Lines) during the strike. Occasionally got up to the Bootle Arms or the Elm House.
Last edited by Chris Allman; 29th April 2020 at 06:45 PM.
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29th April 2020, 06:45 PM
#14
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29th April 2020, 07:21 PM
#15
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
About the same period as the seamans strike(s), novelist Nicholas Monsarrat published a novel A Fair Day's Work, part of a quartet of novels titled Signs of The Times. It's a story i've read a few times over the years, and written by one of the famous sons of Liverpool, it's worth a read if it's still about.
Gilly
R635733
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29th April 2020, 11:28 PM
#16
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
That strike had a mixed response. And without going into politics for the record it was a Harold Wilson government at the time. JS
I was one of the few lucky ones who wasn't impacted by the strike. I was SOS on the Benlawers. We left West India Docks one week before the strike started for the Far East and were in the Bay of Biscay, almost home, when we heard the strike was over. By the time my leave was over there were plenty of jobs available. I went down to London to the Port Line office at KG5 and signed on to the Port Wellington bound for New Zealand. When we got to Port Said we learned our orders were changed and we were to unload and reload in Australia. By December 13th 1966 I had jumped ship in Melbourne, went to Brisbane, got married and have been in Australia ever since - 53 years later. Never got to New Zealand until a few year back, as a tourist. Best Regards Jim
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 29th April 2020 at 11:49 PM.
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30th April 2020, 01:32 AM
#17
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
I was already on the NZ coasters when the Strike was on. But I remember that Harold Wilson posing as a Labour leader, agreed with the UN that Britain should distribute British shipping among the poorer countries of the world; to the detriment of Britain and the British Merchant seamen. The beginning of the end. I'm glad that I was part of the good! part.
Des
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30th April 2020, 02:02 AM
#18
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
That’s just what I think Des. It was a long term ploy to rid Britain’s dominance in shipping and went too far getting out of hand. It was a bad mistake, and will never be redeemable to its former self. A small but significant step has been made recently which appeals to some but not to others. 1966 will always be the time of the long knives for me and was the beginning of the end. JS
2020 was when a glimmer of commonsense was observed. JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 30th April 2020 at 03:38 AM.
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30th April 2020, 06:45 AM
#19
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
Jim #16, you were like so many who took the chance to jump ship here in Oz.
Most did very well as at that time there were plenty of jobs going.
Boom time back then and so many did so well from it.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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30th April 2020, 08:23 AM
#20
Re: 1966 Seaman's Strike
When Harold Wilson signed the Lima Agreement that was the end of the British Merchant Navy , from 52% of all the worlds shipping to Nothing, also British Industry, coal, textiles , engineering, ship building etc etc.
Good socialist was harold.
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