Different lines

#19 Louis no seaman should have any qualms when asked how he saw sea life in retrospect of what it is today.tomorrow it may alter again in all its aspects and for those who worked on ships and the way they saw life , shouldn’t. Be afraid of how they saw it , that is how better conditions come about , if they ever do.It makes me laugh today when you hear certain members of the community decrying Admiral Nelson and defacing his statues because he was a slave trader , what’s the difference between the slave trade and the stock market ? People have been talked into investing in shares which invest their money in exactly the same process of employing slave labour in third world countries to make money for them. Nelson was only doing what many did and joined the stock market of the day. In the same aspect of the marine side of life today those in business go for cheap labour, another more modern name for slave wages . I agree with free enterprise but also agree with a proper wage for a proper job. JS

#20 you could as well if you were on the. Altmark JS

Typo on 17, paid off with 600£, a small cottage in our village was £800, should have bought it if i was sensible, but no enjoyment to being sensible.

Louis if you mean the two differents were officers and crew ......i found very few asses amongst officers as i also found in ratings....i dont believe there was a difference ....we were all doing a job .....ie from galley boy which you seem to delight in calling .....to master ..there was good and not so good .....but i never felt it was a problem.....R683532

#23 we are all wise after the event Keith. JS

#19 Louis you are perfectly correct in what you say about supply vessels and you were probably in that job longer than me . I had the disadvantage of having to learn the job from the top down and not the other way down. So I’ll be honest as I always try to be honest unless it’s costing me money , I relied on people like yourself the same as I did 26 years previously deep sea .Thats how we all learn.The North Sea was like the difference between chalk and cheese to a professional seaman and their were a lot of drop outs so you are to be congratulated on seeing it out. I found however even in the middle of changing jobs in mid life , I still found it comfortable to return to deep sea jobs without missing a pace and did so. However if one had started the other way round I don’t think it would have been That easy . Or possible as the case may be. Most on this site are not aware of the jobs offshore but you and I and a few more are , so we could say we are double barreled, sounds good anyway ... Cheers JS

# JS I was never on supply vessels apart from a few times during crew changes for drilling rigs in West Africa, but I was on floating rigs, semis and drill ships, for over 26 years previously merchant ships for 14 years. On the rigs the marine manning and basically the job was the same, almost , to being on a merchant vessel, there were no officers, people in the engineering department on drillships being called 1st, 2nd, 3rd engineer but not engineer officer it was similar in the mates department Captain, 1st mate, 2nd mate etc, everyone ate in the same place and the cabins thoughout were virtually the same for everyone, on most there were two bunks in every cabin and the way the shifts were worked out usually the cabin was shared by a day worker and a night worker so you really had the cabin to yourself. All the cabins had ensuites with most having Sat TVs.

It was a bit of a culture shock after coming from deep sea but I soon got used to it and it worked very well, in a way it was a bit like being on a ship but you had another department , the drilling department, which included a lot of personel that the Engineers and Mates supported. Everyone got on well together, most of the time, and did their two or four weeks on and two or four weeks off. There were only two shifts night and day and everyone did a 12 hour shift. There was no 'them and us' as we were all 'them and us'.

In my last ship with BP with British crew in 1987 the company wanted to get the officers and crew to work more together so lunch was self service in the officers saloon for everyone but evening meal was back to to different saloons. I had no problem with this as I had done a year on drilling rigs before going with BP but some of the 'Old' BP guys did not like it that is officers and crew. It was the British Trent and I must admit we did have some pretty good parties in the officers and the crew bar.

I will say that on some rigs they had two different galleys and mess rooms this was in Nigeria so the local guys could get their local food but anywhere else it was one galley and one messroom.

Most if not all of the rigs I was on out here in Oz , didnt have marine engineers as they had no engines, If they had thrusters originally they were taken off so didnt have to have. The only time a marine crew were on board was when shifting, they were put on when the last anchor was coming up and left after the first anchor down. The barge master was like the bosun on a ship and the OIM was the man in charge. when it came to positioning a jack up I used to cringe as the barge master used to take over and stop any head way the rig had by dropping one of the legs on the bottom. As regards anchor handling tugs a person could not walk in straight from deep sea and do a rig shift, unless of course he was JC. Even crew wise on deck you needed people who had done the job before. One of the companys I worked for had their own team of seamen who used to join a ship
if they were all new to the job , they were 3 experienced seamen, thats all you wanted on deck, it was a very dangeruous place. Am not comparing dining facilities with old deep sea, that is a different life altogether , the offshore were working ships and time was big money for the oil companys and the ship owner. Thats where the safety at sea clashed and is no good anyone saying any different when you had rigs on 100,000 pounds a day charter rate and ships on 8000 pounds a day the oil companys wanted the job done last week. when you go down the pit further to the realms of the stand by safety vessels you are talking the pits you got a shower just prior to sailing when the fresh water hose was on board and got the next one 5 weeks later when crew changing. The only thing most of them were any good for was the FRC. There are huge comparisons between offshore work and deepsea . The same again comparison wise with seismic work. JS
#27 You are referring to purpose built vessels they are manned to marine standards masters mates engineers and crew manning to international standards , rigs aren"t , only when underway. JS

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Originally Posted by cappy

john i think anyone going to oz in the 50s with a bit of nous could get a good standard of life ...jobs galore .....i recall i think it was adelaide .....estate agents coming aboard selling land for under 10 bob an acre just outside of adelaide itself.......in berry and barmera i was stopped regularly by folk wanting workers of all sort .....offered jobs labouring good money at broken hill miles away by an agent ...iwould think to get a property as a starter was not too hard.....but was too young to go down that path anyway ....got bored very quickly and joined the old avonmoor ...... eventually back to shields.......the accom around the steering flat caused much banter as you could tell who was on the wheel while you were in your pit...bang bang bang bang after a few days you didnt hear it....a great learning curve .....cappy

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Hi Cappy
Just as well you didn't walk to Broken Hill you would still be walking. My son worked in a bank there, we went to visit 2 hours flying from Sydney, surrounded by desert. Huge mistake in a British film when John Thor as Inspector Morse drove from Sydney to Broken Hill for breakfast, he would have been in time for supper.
Cheers Des

I agree with cappy and most of above.Joined Furness Prince a an apprentice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Was treated well and only office staff I encountered where superintendents. I was definitely not popular with the assistant super. Fellout as senior cadet but then as 3rd. mate was duty officer on signing on day when some shipscalers appeared, knocked abit of paint off, slappedon some red lead and asked to have there sheet with work sheets signed. Just wrote on them, poor work, not completed. When the new mate arrived back from signing on, I told him and he looked at it and agreed. Turned out it was assistant MS perks.
Then the old deck personnel officer retired and a new one arrived. A very different kettle of fish. MY mate had just got 2nd Mates and I had just got my mate. We went into the office and were told we would relieving for at least 12 months. we asked about the new ore carriers and tankers being built and were told, we were not good for them as we had no experience. We asked how we could get it if we were not allowed to work on them. He was not happy. We asked for references and were told if anyone wanted one, they should contact him. WE went out to Leadenhall and Fenchurh street and visited many shipping offices, including P &O.Port Ellermans and others, and were both offered positions at each. We got a knockback at Trader line of Bermuda which made us laugh, and thought we were lucky.
Dave ended up with TurnbullScotts, and I ended up at Mollers of London and Honk Kong. Both very happy.
It has been mentioned above about the BISCO ore trade. When I joined Mollers we had 2 ships in the trade mainly running out of Fords works at Dagenham. WE were always manned having Chineses crews,the others often had dificulty getting to get enough crew to take the vessel off of the wharf. As anyone running to that facility in late 50's, would know, the berth really ran at almost 100 per cent occupancy. WE had to go off at low tied, and our place would be taken by two coasters. We would replace them as they completed.