todays vessels

[cappy]

i just wonder is there anyone on this venerable site who would find any joy whatsoever going to sea as a 16 year old boy on any of todays vessels after seeing that bloody monstrosity of a junk heap that has been in the news over the last few days ....we had it all proper looking vessels loading cargo in cargo nets ....enough hands to have a community and comradeship ....two and three weeks in ports .....cities with there own personalities .......all looking different .......going were few had gone before where today you can fly anywhere in the world the same day ....well if that is called moving forward you can stuff it for me ......it must be like a prison sentence on those bloody monstrosities....progress my ass .......give me a 5 hatch dry cargo rusty and worn ...but at least ....1 it looked like a ship and 2it had some character ......but then i guess nothing is new ...and the old sailing ship seamen must have thought the same when they crossed the world under there own sails....and the ist steamers came .......i can only say if i was a young fiesty youth today ...there would be no sense of adventure looking at those heaps of metal......cappy

[Ivan Cloherty]

.......i can only say if i was a young fiesty youth today ...there would be no sense of adventure looking at those heaps of metal......cappy

Whilst I agree with your sentiments Cappy, if you were a 16 year old today, you probably would think it was an adventure, because you wouldn't know any different. When we were young we read such books as captain Hornblower, but it didn't make us want to sail on sailing ships.

We probably had the best times just post war, when the world was still recovering from trauma, we sailed into bright new worlds of colour and sunshine, different from the dark drab days of war, where most women wore black, navy blue, dark red, maroon because of clothing coupons and whatever they bought had to be 'serviceable and last' We joined ships where we got Sunday dinner every day and Christmas dinner once a week, rather than wondering who was going to have bread with butter and who wasn't and that was a reality.

Yes if I was 16 today and had the 'calling' then I probably would want to go to sea, but alas I would probably be like the majority only interested in the latest games/game consols and the strength of the wi-fi signal.

[Graham Shaw]

I think I would still get that feeling of excitement mixed with anticipation and /or dread(!) were I summoned to join a ship.For me,a bit of that excitement was taken off by not joining a vessel in a UK port like many of my predecessors did in the 'heyday'.. say 50's and early 60's.Some of my ships never returned or called into a UK port and often involved some very long flights going to and from your ship,by which time you were well and truly knackered before you set foot on the gangway and the excitement had worn off.By the way do you still think they call the gangway 'the accommodation ladder' anymore?


A delightful young lady cousin of mine used to call it the 'gangplank' and on visiting my ship at Kwai Chung Container Terminal(Hong Kong ) was amazed by all those 'tins', we carried on deck.Bless her !

[Trevor Bodiam]

I can say with total honesty that you got it spot on Cappy. These gigantic so-called ships are an eyesore to the older generation who were at sea in the 50's and 60's.

[Keith Tindell]

And mostly still at school !!!, kt

[happy daze john in oz]

Cappy, they call it progress and a way to stop grog consignments being broached before they even sail.

Young boys of 16 now only look at a screen, if there is no GPS they do not know the way so doubt they could find the pool and even if you said go there they would think you meant for a swim.

Go to the Mission in Port Melbourne on occasions.
Most of the crew I meet are from non English speaking who say only in port for a few hours.
Telling me they have seen a lot of ports but very few towns.

[Doc Vernon]

Its a completely different World out there now, the way we remember and the Fun we had , as well as the sad times are long gone, a great pity and loss to so many that recall those exciting times , never to be repeated!

Progress?? Well they can keep all that if its going to damage the way we were used to!

[Richard Lines]

Good Morning All,

Shipping has changed a great deal, particularly in the cargo world. A lot of my time has been on tankers which are, fundamentally, unchanged whereas the 'general cargo' ship would be a very rare beast.

Container ships have gotten far too large nowadays. Even Rotterdam struggles if a number arrive at the same time due to the limited number of suitable tugs to handle them and the route they need to take to get to the 'new' outer harbour container terminals.

Technology marches on - check out the Altera Wave - this is the very latest in technology in the offshore shuttle tanker market. I'm due to go on it shortly to oversee it conducting field trials for bp.

Regards

Richard (UK021068)

[j.sabourn]

#3.. Graham when I came out here to live things were a lot easier than in the UK. This I would say was totally due to the power of the unions which most people have little regard for today. If any crew member joining a ship and the journey exceeded 6 hours then they had to have 24 hours off before joining that vessel. Flying from Perth to Singapore was 6 hours plus your local distances , so you had at least 1 night in a hotel. Going the other way and taken a ship back to Singapore it was written in to the agreement that you had 3 days in a hotel before flying back to Oz. Needless to say I don’t think these agreements with the loss of union power now exist. But I got 10 years of the cream ,and only the last year it was going back to the old ways. So I can say with hand on heart I’ve seen the worse and seen the best in my time at sea. Cheers JS

[Geoff Smith]

Hi Cappy,
I suppose what you don't know you don't miss. As a kid, if you get up in the morning and before you go to school, your father kicks you in the **** on your way out every morning, well that's normal. I look at it as being lucky we had what we had (and are still alive and kicking despite that).