Bisco

[j.sabourn]

There are many on this site who sailed on BISCO charters and most will say the conditions were good. Mention the same word Nationalization and most are up in arms saying it doesn’t work. Those who sailed on the ore carriers all their goodies came from working for a nationalised industry and not the shipowner as some may believe. In fact those who were only on 3 hours overtime a day compared with those on 6 , were probably being fiddled by their employer. British Iron and Steel Corporation was a nationalised Industry , but there were all sorts of losses and bad tales told by media and others it would be hard to know what was the truth , but at least it was good for the seamen. What is sometimes good for the goose is bad news for the gander . JS

Most of the BISCO ships were on 15 year bareboat charters . A bareboat charter for those who don’t know are when the ship and all its running costs are paid by the charterer , in this case BISCO . To give some idea of what these daily rates may be , a much smaller vessel taken over by the Admiralty was on 10,000 pounds a day. I was there 4 years . 4 X 365 = 1460 days x 10,000 = 14,600,000 pounds . Most of that as regards tax purposes would have been written off as depreciation on the hull and machinery , when she came back to the owners 4 years later when that profit had been doubled to approx. 29 million pounds . JS

[happy daze john in oz]

I must go to Spec savers, thought you said BISTO wondered what you would be doing cooking with a name like that.

[j.sabourn]

Did you envisage the 2 bisto kids dressed as sailors , sniffing at a couple of chunks of iron ore and saying Ahhhhh Bisco !! John
JS

[Graham Shaw]

I must go to Spec savers, thought you said BISTO wondered what you would be doing cooking with a name like that.

No,no,no John !Spanker.gifYou're confusing Bisto Boats with Gravy Boats-as they were sometimes called,amongst other names--those little ships carrying the copious effluent of Londoners bowels from the sewage pumping stations out to sea,well,the start of the Thames estuary-only for it to be washed back in onto the beaches of Herne Bay and Southend-on Sea..What goes around comes around.
Don't read this if you're having your tea.

[J Gowers]

In the West of Scotland they were called Banana Boats for obvious reasons.

[j.sabourn]

Must have been a bit nauseous for the submarine crews coming in and out of the Clyde , must have taken turns going outside and clearing the periscope lens.. JS

[j.sabourn]

#4 Think John in Oz Graham, with his back ground and experience of the Castle or is it Cattle Line , is thinking of Bum Boats , Graham,
Which brings back memories of the mystic East , George Robie and Jock MacGregor among many others , including cockroaches and spiders and creepie crawly things. JS

[Colin Wood]

I always thought they were called 'Bovril' boats. I believe they were dumping cargo in Black Deep, well named, which over the many years of use as a dump was found to be deeper after a hundred or more years.
There was also the "Mancunian" on the Manchester Ship Canal and Mersey. London and Liverpool deck crew would always ask Manchester pool crew if they had been sacked from her for stealing cargo?

[happy daze john in oz]

Interesting program the other night about the Thames and how before Victorian times it was just a sewer outlet.
Cleaned up now top the point fish live in it.
But the oddest thing, there are scientists who dig deep into the past and with residue from then are able to convert what is there into a mist sprayer giving the smells of the times available to any one who wants to have a sniff.

[Graham Shaw]

I always thought they were called 'Bovril' boats.s.
?

Yes they were indeed,but you know ,none of our brains/memory sticks/power of recall are exactly alike.
So I got my beverages mixed up.When I'm in the pub my friends know I really mean whisky and not a lager when I.m asked what I'm having...