Time used at sea.

[cappy]

aw thanks marion just better left now ...you are a goodn ....cappy

[j.sabourn]

#39.. Our generation Cappy as regards seafaring was totally different than it is today.Seamen were more self contained made their own decisions in life and death situations or any other situation as it arose. Today you live under the eyes of the owners feet away on the other end of a computer always available with a touch of the button , which over a very short period of time has changed a Seamans outlook on life from decision making to shrugging of the shoulders and “ I”ll ask the office” .with that laziness and passing the problem as they think has come the people today who can’t think for themselves and only too willing to pass the problems ( as they think elsewhere) if they only knew , one does still not pass the buck you still carry it, but it has given the office boy a false feeling of his own importance. And at the same time removed a portion of the backbone of those at sea. JS..
A. Very good example of today’s product was that master of the passenger ship , who was receiving instructions on how to handle a desperate situation , unable to cope so decided to fall into a lifeboat, believe he is out of gaol now. There must be many like him , some who use advice from others as a crutch. JS

[Lewis McColl]

One of the reasons to ask the office these days is to cover your **** and get it in black and white. How many times have you seen the ships master and others being hung out to dry in recent times. It happens more often than you think. I always kept copies of ships spares requests presented to C/Engs if they did or did not order it and the merde hit the fan due to the lack of spares, it was my first line of defence. BP were full of Superintendents who did one trip as Master or C/Engs it did not take them long to become bean counters and cut back on the budget.

[j.sabourn]

Sometimes Lewis your worse enemies ashore are members of your own cloth, I have witnessed this myself , some turn out ok but others join the main body of using the ships staff as a pawn in their own devious chess game. What little I could do was only to put the ships staff first and foremost , but there was never enough voices with the same morals. I have lost more jobs myself by backing the wrong faction in the office politics of the few companies I was with , but won’t say who. The truth always hurts , a conscience does also , that is if you have any blood in your veins. I can still sleep at nights only literally , but there again so do the bloodless ones who are financially much better off in all probability. JS

[j.sabourn]

#44 on first reading of #44 it looked to me like “ to cover your **** and get it black and blue “ , so had to read it again in larger print. Thought we were back on the post of weirdos at sea. Have had the misfortune in the past and blame the IPad of replying to posts in the wrong subject matter. Buts all’s well that ends well. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Life at sea in our times taught us so many skills we would never have learned ashore.
Being resourcefull and independent were maybe the two most important.
But each department had a different need, a different style but together as one kept the ship running.
And when in the tourist dinning salon running was a much needed skill.

I often sit and look at some of the various ships photos I have around the house and think back on some bloody good times.

Cappy as to the seasons of life.
Do not consider winter, just a rather long autumn, bit warmer that way you may not need so much kindling.

[Ivan Cloherty]

# 44 and 45 : I would like to think that during my tenures as a supt, I never became a bean counter in any company. However I did take a lot of sh*t from both sides of the fence each of whom thought I was favouring the other, but first and foremost I never forgot I had been a seafarer myself. I got the job at a young age,(probably because I was cheap) but it was the engineering Supt who put my name forward, who saw something in me I didn't know I had. I thought I was being called to head office in London for a bollocking and met the owner who offered me the job and said I had five minutes on my own to think about it, no mobiles in those days and not allowed a phone call. Naturally I said yes, but it was conditional, as I was getting married two months after the offer and if it interfered with my marriage plans I didn't want it; well his face turned purple but said take the ship up to Newcastle and be in the office on Monday, this was on a Wednesday, I lived in Hull, my bride to be in Bristol and I had to find accommodation in London before Monday, I was busy. The older Masters welcomed me when I had to board their vessels and said about time new blood was injected, the younger ones thought they should have had my job, alas they didn't.

As for stores and spares I had many fights with the owner himself and the bean counters about the red pencil in the stores and spares lists, but the top four individuals of the vessel's hierachy didn't help either by submitting the same unaltered requests every time, only a couple out of the 22 vessels had the sense to alter them on submission, so I had to walk on eggshells discussing this with shipboard personnel who thought that they could never be wrong.

If any one thinks that being a supt was a job full of cake and cream then they are living in cloud cuckoo land, it was having an ability to soak up bullets from both sides and trying to keep both sides happy. Incidentally Lewis I was a Supt four years before you went to sea, doesn't make me any better than you or anyone else, but does give me a certain amount of experience on the job to know what I'm talking about (I hope)

Anyway I sleep at night knowing I did the best I could within my limitations for my fellow seafarers. Believe me Swiss and UAE shipowners who I worked for as a supt were a lot more parsimonious than the British and I had bigger fights. Just as well I liked a challenge. Happy days (or perhaps not!)

[Ivan Cloherty]

One of the reasons to ask the office these days is to cover your **** and get it in black and white. How many times have you seen the ships master and others being hung out to dry in recent times.

The Master of the 'MSC Opera' the Cruise ship which hit a moored river cruiser in Venice is to be jailed.

The vessel suffered an engine failure whilst approaching the berth.

The Master is to be jailed for five months, the Ch Engineer and ch Electrician each receive two months and two other crew members 10 days each. Records show that the C/E and Leckie ignored red warning lights and sirens and failed to start emergency procedures. Hmmmmmmm so the Master gets the five months for something beyond his control, in modern culture that seems about right

The two Italian tug masters and Italian pilot were exonerated of any blame

[Lewis McColl]

I wonder do they still to the standard drills when going on standby these days. Any ship I was ever on the engines were always tested astern before entering port. I have been on Doxfords and doing that meant one thing only, it went astern that time but no guarantees it would go astern the next time Doxfords were always a bit fickle especially the LB version. Maybe the speed of approach of the MSC Opera had a bearing on the master getting jailed if not seems harsh. But MSC has not got a great safety record has it. Maybe it is the size of there fleet compared to others but???

[j.sabourn]

Sydney harbour in Australia was the only port that I worked out of in the Australian Offshore Industry that insisted that we did the drills before entering the heads. If we as a small vessel had to do assume larger ships did also. JS.