Jumping ship

[j.sabourn]

#10... Nearly went in Auckland myself in 1955 Des , courtesy of Gaynor and her troupe of girls supposedly from the Port Line offices , which if correct would have been late for work the next day, and another 3 would of had to take their annual leave. The thought of my old man having to find 30 quid to pay my surety on my bond put me off for starters. My mate the cabin boy almost had me convinced, however he didn’t go either. JS..

[Doc Vernon]

I know that South Africa was also a good Port for Jumping Ship, Cape Town especially. Think at that time the Government was looking for Migrants from the UK and did not take too harshly to those who wanted to stay, so sort of turned a blind eye. Good way of entering , and by memory those that did jump Ship there were only given Max of 3Months inside and then allowed to stay on a permanant basis ,as long as they worked.
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

Oz and Kiwi were very popular for jumping, good weather, good booze and some great looking shelia's.
A couple of us in Melbourne were offered the chance to jump and go to work for BHP, should we have, not sure it was way out in the bush and maybe we were not ready for such.

But came back in 1980, no worries at all.

[cappy]

jumped in wallaroo oz in 59 got picked up .... sleeping in an old copper mine entrance.....locked in local nick in wallaroo attached to police station come officers house .....his wife treated me very kindly as an 18 year old ...the food was top class the local magistrate stated australia is needing young strong men i jumped a sailing vessel in 1926 ......and am now a man of standing ....and a magistrate to boot ....but you cannot just run around after deserting your vessel .....so i am sentencing you to 28 days hard labour in her majestys gaol adelaide ......if you keep your nose clean for 6 months come back to wallaroo and i will get australian citizenship papers for you and good luck ....adelaide prison in 59 was not a good place ...if you went there you would not want to go again.......the only other time i was seriously cons idering skinning out was in fiji ...where a yacht of some 45 ft or so was cruising round fiji with a aussie crew of 3 and this consisted of a couple and a great girl who wanted me to go with them .....jeez i was tempted by this beuty .....but as my discharge book already had deserted in by a ist trip old man .....i didnt need more hassle ...that could have been life changing ......such is life .....worked up in barmera and on the river murray before getting a job on JWS s old heartbreaker the biggest rust ridden old banger in the british mn at that time the MV AVONMOOR .....but to me eventually the chariot home ,,,,great adventures to look back on ....but adelade no thanks boss R683532

[john walker]

It seems to me and looking at the previous posts, jumping ship was a rare occurrence. I only ever saw two other guys jump ship one jumped in Antwerp, it was the second time He had been caught stealing from a ship mate and new that He was in for a bloody good hiding .He just left all his gear and legged it ashore , I often wonder what happened to Him afterwards. The other was a good 2nd. Cook who jumped in Banda Shahpur in Iran in the mid 70's .At the time I did not know why and thought He must have been desperately unhappy to jump ship in such a desperate place. A few years later I met him in one of the seaman's pubs around Dock Street in London and He told me He had jumped because the bullying Homosexual Ch. Cook on the ship had been trying to intimidate him into having sex He said He was scared of the cook and was less scared of the consequences of jumping in such a forlorn place. As it turned out He was very lucky and found work and obtained the legal means to stay in the country by working on a drilling rig for one of the overseas drilling companies that were desperate for expat workers to feed their expat crews. He eventually worked his way up through the catering and facilities department of the company and became the camp boss for the rig and then an area manager for the company.
I have read stories of men that have jumped ship on the liner trades to Oz and N.Z. and decided it was not for them and eventually been taken as a stowaway on the ship that they had originally worked on a few months earlier by old shipmates. Any one on site remember this happening ??

[Graham Robertson]

In the sixties and early seventies many towns in N.Z had communities of jumped British seamen. In those days if you kept your nose clean and held down a job for a decent amount of time you could stay, after going to court most of the time you were hit with a fine but allowed to stay. Most of the people who i saw going home dbs wanted to go.

[j.sabourn]

As regards Australia I can remember as 3 and 2 mate being sent to the Custom House to see what they had in seamen needing a passage back to the uk. They kept a list of such being deported as DBS , So what a ship lost on the roundabouts they gained on the swings. Looking at it in a more mercenary light , the winner was the shipowner on not having to pay any wages to such. JS

[Colin Wood]

In Prince Line round the world service, it was well known that the Chinese crew would get changed in New York without any change in names on the crew list. Officers would wakeupone morning and find a new face delivering the morning tea, feel under pillow and there would be an envelope. Crew change complete.No fuss. No shipping Master.

[happy daze john in oz]

WE had a member some years back here in Melbourne, met him a few times. Now crossed the bar.
He jumped back in the early 60's.
Got a job within a couple of days as a paint sprayer in motor manufacturing plant.
Told me before that he had never ever held one.
Things were different then.

[john walker]

I was told years ago of a young EDH who jumped a British flagged reefer ship that was on a long term charter for one of the large U.S.A. banana companies in the mid 70's. Apparently the ship was on a regular run between a few ports on the east coast of Central America loading mainly bananas for discharge in the southern U.S.A and then returning south to do the same. He had become infatuated with a girl in one of the many bars visited by seamen in a port in I think Nicaragua . The romance was greeted with great mirth from his ship mates who had tried to explain to him that bar girls are not for marrying. Nobody expected him to jump ship but the fool did. He then made his 2nd. mistake by actually going through a legal marriage ceremony. Love in this case certainly did not run smoothly as he found out at a later date when he was conscripted into the Nicaraguan army. By marrying a local he was now a citizen of the country and as a citizen he had legal obligations the same as others of a certain age. One of those was a 2 year obligatory stint in the military forces of his new home.