Mighty Ships

[j.sabourn]

Sailing out of Cardiff in those days Keith were also a lot of Estonians and Latvians. JS

[j.sabourn]

#19. Asti Asti and Jildi Jildi although Hindi words are now more international. And most seamen know their meaning.JS.

[Keith Tindell]

The Poles on the Baltic trader that I was on, was on the Medi run, most of the United Baltic shipping Co were on the run up to the Baltic, and i am pretty sure that the Poles had an agreement with the Master that they would pay off at the Kiel Canal if we had orders to go back up in the Baltic, they had a great fear of returning. This was in 1960, kt

[j.sabourn]

Very possible Keith , we had a polish 2 engineer and on runs up to Murmansk had to drop him off in Norway and pick him up on the way back. In earlier years with the Estonians and Latvians , they used to disappear off the deck if there was a Russian ship in the vicinity. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

The average man in the street wasn't aware of these things that went on with our seagoing personnel, and it wasn't just restricted to the Baltic States, if Russian ships were in port down the WCSA the Baltic boys wouldn't go ashore. There were also other things, I had to take a Panamanian flag vessel to drydock in India in the 70's, only one problem she had a Pakistani crew, everything bordered on the ridiculous, they were not allowed ashore to use the dockside toilets, they were not allowed to use the shipboard toilets because we were in drydock, ended up at Ministerial level trying to convince all and sundry that they were but seamen and not spies, common sense prevailed in the end.(this during the time of the Beggars strike in Bombay!!)

On another occasion was taking an old steamship to the breakers in mainland China, the owners decided that they could load another cargo prior disposal, so off we go to Borneo to load logs up river at some small port near Pontianak, again in the 70's, we had only bunkered and FW'd for a short trip to China. The logs were destined for Taiwan!! alarm bells started, as any vessel which had traded with Taiwan could not enter a Chinese port, (how many remember being shadowed by Chinese Naval vessels when transiting the Formosa straits) we couldn't get bunkers or FW in Borneo and ended up burning anything wooden on the ship for bunkers. We got enough bunkers and FW in Taiwan to take us to HK and then China. Upon arrival in HK, that's when the sh*t hit the fan, the Chinese refused to accept the vessel because of the Taiwan aspect, I spent 10 days+ in mainland China Embassy being insulted and given geography lessons as if the diversion had been my idea, all the time I knew that they would take the vessel, but wanted d a price reduction, but they wanted to make a point, I told the owners (Swiss) that they should just bloody give their crappy ship away, as it wasn't really worth the scrap price. In the end I was refused an entry visa into China (and that was going to bite me in the ass 20 years later) and some else took her into China, cannot say I was disappointed.

We experienced some odd situations.

[j.sabourn]

I rather think we were the first British ship into Shanghai after a lapse of a few years so were a bit of a novelty to their officials. Have already put in a previous post as a remark from a crew member saw me in front of the political commisar and his sidekick ashore getting severely reprimanded for treating the crowd too harshly. I just sat there grinning like an idiot and they thought I had lost enough face, and the whiskey bottle came out. They would have suffered the loss of face when they woke up and realized I had out drank them in their camsighing or whatever Cheers was in Chinese. JS

[Tony Taylor]

The average man in the street wasn't aware of these things that went on with our seagoing personnel, and it wasn't just restricted to the Baltic States, if Russian ships were in port down the WCSA the Baltic boys wouldn't go ashore. There were also other things, I had to take a Panamanian flag vessel to drydock in India in the 70's, only one problem she had a Pakistani crew, everything bordered on the ridiculous, they were not allowed ashore to use the dockside toilets, they were not allowed to use the shipboard toilets because we were in drydock, ended up at Ministerial level trying to convince all and sundry that they were but seamen and not spies, common sense prevailed in the end.(this during the time of the Beggars strike in Bombay!!)

On another occasion was taking an old steamship to the breakers in mainland China, the owners decided that they could load another cargo prior disposal, so off we go to Borneo to load logs up river at some small port near Pontianak, again in the 70's, we had only bunkered and FW'd for a short trip to China. The logs were destined for Taiwan!! alarm bells started, as any vessel which had traded with Taiwan could not enter a Chinese port, (how many remember being shadowed by Chinese Naval vessels when transiting the Formosa straits) we couldn't get bunkers or FW in Borneo and ended up burning anything wooden on the ship for bunkers. We got enough bunkers and FW in Taiwan to take us to HK and then China. Upon arrival in HK, that's when the sh*t hit the fan, the Chinese refused to accept the vessel because of the Taiwan aspect, I spent 10 days+ in mainland China Embassy being insulted and given geography lessons as if the diversion had been my idea, all the time I knew that they would take the vessel, but wanted d a price reduction, but they wanted to make a point, I told the owners (Swiss) that they should just bloody give their crappy ship away, as it wasn't really worth the scrap price. In the end I was refused an entry visa into China (and that was going to bite me in the ass 20 years later) and some else took her into China, cannot say I was disappointed.

We experienced some odd situations.

Ivan, you should see the details required now for an Indian visa, very comprehensive multiple page, even want to know your grandfathers details and occupation. All to ensure there is no Pakistani background in your family. All due to the Bombay terrorist attack engineered by Pakistanis with USA passports.

[j.sabourn]

#25.. Ivan I was on over 80 vessels of various descriptions , how many people know how to position on a well head a jack up rig. The unofficial way and more than likely illegal way to do , was as you were approaching the site you had the four legs wound down to a few feet off the sea bed , but the leg that was going down to land first was that much closer to the bottom and you used this as a brake and to position the rig on the correct heading by adjusting your head on the required heading . After much shuffling around using the tugs you put the other 2or 3 legs down , and it took about at least 6 hours to settle on the seabed . I would imagine the insurance company’s would of had kittens if they saw the way the job had to be done . Mooring a semi submersible was totally different. As involved laying at least 8 anchors and required a total different approach to life. No matter how many years you do at sea , no one knows it all and is a continuous learning curve , which only old age puts an end to. Cheers JS.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Luckily Tony I am too old to even consider going back to India, to savour the flavour of the sewers of Bombay and the dead body carts of Calcutta, or whatever they are called these days. I've also surveyed a lot of small ports/creeks on the WC and EC India for various projects, done the 16 hour video bus trips (no other transport) enjoyed (you must be joking) the 12 hour overnight train trips, I ain't in no hurry to get back

John, when people tell me they are expert seamen, I advise them they are experienced seamen and in our business the learning curve never reaches full circle. You can be an expert ship handler, you can be an expert engineer, expert cook etc, but mother nature hasn't used up all her lessons or tricks yet and in the wide ocean she's got plenty of room to test herself.

[thomas michael]

#25.. Ivan I was on over 80 vessels of various descriptions , how many people know how to position on a well head a jack up rig. The unofficial way and more than likely illegal way to do , was as you were approaching the site you had the four legs wound down to a few feet off the sea bed , but the leg that was going down to land first was that much closer to the bottom and you used this as a brake and to position the rig on the correct heading by adjusting your head on the required heading . After much shuffling around using the tugs you put the other 2or 3 legs down , and it took about at least 6 hours to settle on the seabed . I would imagine the insurance company’s would of had kittens if they saw the way the job had to be done . Mooring a semi submersible was totally different. As involved laying at least 8 anchors and required a total different approach to life. No matter how many years you do at sea , no one knows it all and is a continuous learning curve , which only old age puts an end to. Cheers JS.

hi john sabourne

what was the scanning for the topography. dont tell me it was a fish finder scanner.
tom