Jumping ship

[happy daze john in oz]

Certainly in the late 50's and early 60;s NZ and Oz were the most popular places to jump ship.
Made a bit more attractive by the fact both countries were in need of workers.
Plenty of jobs going and with some employers no questions asked.

[Doc Vernon]

Wont disagree with that John but funny no mention of Jumping Ships in South Africa at that era as well.
Before i went to Sea i worke in the Harbour as Tally Clerk, and heard many stories and also knew of quite a few Lads who jumped Ship in various Posts along South African Coast! Cape Town being the most Picked , along with Durbs!

When i went to Sea even at that time it was still happening a lot, as not only me but many young South African Lads landed jobs on the Ships because of Crew not returning from shore leave, there were those few of course who didnt return because of getting in High Water with the Cops , as you well know LOL

Yes South African had its fair share of Lads Jumping ship.
Cheers

[Michael Bates]

I jumped ship in Wellington N.Z. on August 1971 and have never being caught so herei remain.i am married with 5 grown up children,3 of them living overseas with families,so i travel to see them frequently,i have been self employed as a painter decorator since 1991 before that i worked in the port of Wellington in various capacities for 17 years.As for motive in jumping ship there wasnt one i was happy on the ship i was on but decided on the day that i would leave and so i walked off with only the clothes on my back and $10 in my pocket,of course that was an average days wage back then,a community of jumpees,legal ex seamen and ship girls took me in till i got on my feet,to them i am eternally greatfull.On reflecting in recent years as on does when they get old i think it was meant to be,here is my destiny i am content and have never regregretted it.But i loved going to sea and shipboard life and would have liked to have done another 5 years at sea but things wer changing fast and the life that we knew afloat was about to change foreverso maybe it was the right time to go.

[j.sabourn]

On the 16 April of the same year Michael I walked away from a ship in Kobe but I didn’t do it illegally, I gave them ample warning, I didn’t consider the vessel seaworthy. However it didn’t do me any good financially , so maybe you did it the right way . Cheers JS.

[Michael Bates]

Kobe what a great place,along with Moji my favourite jap port,many are the good times i had on that coast mostly running the U.S.west coast to there on a japan line charter.The ship you were on must have been pretty grim for you to up sticks and leave there,what was it ?are we allowed to know? Some old tramp i would think,its amazing how some ship owners let their vessels go to rack ans ruin,when i was on the Grainton she was only 12 years old and she was stuffed,they put on a British deck crowd for that last voyage to tidy her up for sale,previously there had been Somalies they still had them down below that trip.

[happy daze john in oz]

Vernon, jumping ship in Cape Town.
I was caught in an odd situation with a lady that I had spent the night with.
She was not keen to let me leave in time to clock on, so I arrived back on board just after mid day only to be told ther skipper had advised the shore authorities and the police were on the look out for me, but I got back before they caught up with me.
Cost me almost a weeks wages with the logging.

[Doc Vernon]

Think there were quite a fe Lads at that time John who got caught up in similar situations, the good Ladies of the Night! LOL

I have had quite a few near misses n those Situations i can tell you especially when the previous Night was a hard one ! (On the Plonk as well as you know what) LOL

[Fouro]

My aunt and uncle who had no children had a farm in Wisconsin. They told me if I jumped ship which was docked in Portland (Maine) at the time they would come and pick me up.
All I can say about those who jumped ship have nothing to be proud of.

Fouro.

[j.sabourn]

#65 . Many reasons , but the main one used was the stability of the ship itself was mailnly in the Loll position when loaded as used to flop side to side and was obvious she was listing from side to side under normal conditions negative stability . She was a 2 tween deck vessel with reefers in the upper tween decks which had never been used for built in use , They were after a grain charter and expected to just fill her up with grain , no shifting boards or feeders or bags , which they would never have got away with in the West. The other problems were minor compared with that , but having had no allotments paid for 3 months I wanted out after 10 months . She had Kong Kong Owners .breaking the contract never received the missing allotments neither any money only the air fare back to uk which was only paid on threatening to have the ship stopped . Would take too long to explain my reasons about the stability, but one of them was that a true sounding of tanks whether ballast or fuel were always suspect and I suspected had been tampered with under different flags.is very easy to put small amounts of cement down sounding pipes . JS

[Graham Shaw]

........,its amazing how some ship owners let their vessels go to rack and ruin,when i was on the Grainton she was only 12 years old and she was stuffed,they put on a British deck crowd for that last voyage to tidy her up for sale,previously there had been Somalis they still had them down below that trip.

GRAINTON blt.1958 O.N. 186880.jpg
Courtesy R.Cox Coll'n,Wearbuilt Ships
INFOLINK