Famous Myths About Merchant Seaman By Ordinary Joe Public.

[vic mcclymont]

When I was at sea the number of people that I spoke to, believed that whilst the ship was in port, we swanned off. No work to do spent our time ashore.
Vic

[Tony Taylor]

When I was at sea the number of people that I spoke to, believed that whilst the ship was in port, we swanned off. No work to do spent our time ashore.
Vic

Along with the often quoted, "well if there's nothing else to do you may as well work"

[j.sabourn]

#12.. Vic when I sailed with Indian officers a lot to of them carried their wives. They thought the same . They soon got told they were not paying passengers on a cruise ship. Not, the flavour of the month but who cared. They soon got the message. JS

[j.sabourn]

PS to #14 is why I was never a big fan of wives at sea , as in a lot of cases caused more problems than they solved. Was even on one ship where the 4th engineers wife left with the 3rd engineer come pay off day. Marital problems were for the marital home not on a ship. As for Indian officers wives I asked one why they wore the red spot on their forehead , she gave me a long rigmarole but what I gathered it was because she was happy. When I told her her, her husband could not go ashore with her during working hours, she still went ashore with the red spot on, it was her husband who was unhappy. JS.....

[happy daze john in oz]

Wives at sea with UCL always posed problems.
Many wanted to take control of so much of every day life.
Officers stewards were there to look after the officers not their wives.

'Does he always drink this much' when brining a beer from the bar for chief officer, such were some of the problems.

[Lewis McColl]

I was sailing as 3rd Eng on a UASC ship the Ibn Rushd there were 5 wives onboard. Being a watch keeping ship I was on the 12/4 Having been recently divorced from my first wife I tended to give the social side of things onboard a miss. But the number of times when coming off watch and entering my cabin to find I had company started to get beyond a joke. We got a female R/O joined which finally solved the problem. For a few trips we managed to wangle it that we sailed together.

[cappy]

I was sailing as 3rd Eng on a UASC ship the Ibn Rushd there were 5 wives onboard. Being a watch keeping ship I was on the 12/4 Having been recently divorced from my first wife I tended to give the social side of things onboard a miss. But the number of times when coming off watch and entering my cabin to find I had company started to get beyond a joke. We got a female R/O joined which finally solved the problem. For a few trips we managed to wangle it that we sailed together.

reminds me of the time the old mans wife saved my bacon ...after i put a large bowl of ice cream overe a very ignorant chief engineers head fo screaming at a young cabin boy for not seeing to him immedietely in the saloon ...the old man shouted get out of here... while the old mans wife screeched ....he deserved it a disgusting old man lol

[Lewis McColl]

I did sail with quite a few wives and to be fair most of them were no real bother . But we had one , again on a UASC ship , Captain Murdoch and her husband as they were referred as. He was a pizz head as was she. She used to make the 3rd mates life hell. She was forever going on the bridge and playing with the radar.
8/12 one evening the 3rd mate arrived in the bar pulled himself up a stool and ordered a coke. Oldman looked at him , who the feck is on watch? yer wife !!! Never seen the old bugger move so fast in my life. We did not see her again for nearly a week.
Some times though you can watch couples on ship and you can tell if they are likely to be still a couple in a year or so. We had a Lecky who treated his wife badly. She turned up one morning for breakfast with a bruised / black eye. she went to the oldman and asked to get off at the next port. Harry the Lecky thought he was a hard case, he did not fair to well when the C Eng had a word.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

When I used to go home on leave my mates always asked how many tattoos I had, when I told them none they were surprised, they thought all seamen were covered in them. Now when I was at sea I can't remember all that many seamen who had a tattoo, but almost every footballer and even girls you see today has them dripping off their bodies .
What's everyone's take on this.
Des

[Lionel Tebbutt]

its not true that sailors have wife or girl friend on every port/--- only the ones they have been to!!,