Different lines

[Keith Tindell]

i think the first 5 years i was at sea 57-62 ish was mainly two in a cabin, and a couple of oldies, the St Merriel and the Treworlas were 4 in a cabin. that was a nightmare when you had to call the 12-4 watch on your first night at sea, trying to remember which cabin and bunk they were in, waking the wrong guy did not go down well. The last couple of years was single berth cabins, even air conditioning !!!, and midship accom as well, before that was all aft, and if you drew the cabin next to the steering flat, in rough weather was a rough sleep.In the early days at sea all on deck worked 5 and a half days, watching carried on over the weekend of course, but Saturday afternoon and Sunday were stand down time. Then we got a reduction in hours, cannot remember what year, but from then on watches turned too at weekends, dayworkers would be on overtime if working weekends. So weekend in the tropics was bronzy on he hatch, dhoti time etc. I al§ways felt sorry for the catering staff in port on a long stay, deck crew were ashore after 12 o'clock Saturday, and if you got lucky ashore did not come back onboard until early Monday morning, ah nostalgia !!.

[Doc Vernon]

For Bob
Here is Pic for you Bob!
Cheers

MV Palmores.JPG

[Robert George Young]

thank you Vernon

[John Arton]

I only worked for two companies when at sea.
Canadian Pacific as cadet to mate
Then stolt tankers as mate then master.
Both excellent outfits, paid well, decent runs and good crews.
After being made redundant when Canadian Pacific folded I went straight into a port captains job with Ceres shipping for two years but when that ended the very next day I joined stolt tankers, at that time based in haugesund.
Rgds
J.A.

[j.sabourn]

Thinking back I only worked for two British Companys also , Runcimans and Dalgliesh, the others although some may have thought they were British they were Foreign owned , the likes of Whitco Marine was owned by Salens the Danish ferries who also had shares in Cathay Pacific the Hong Kong airlines. JS
Sorry 3 John I. Jacobs , also who were a bit above the other two when it came to the goodies . JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John 38#
I have a neighbour who was on the Iron boats in the 60s 70s, rough looking ships but he says great money, food, and accommodation. To much pressure from the Conference Lines on the Government, that is why they were scrubbed, not because of any union activity.
Des

[David mullins]

Bowaters paper boats were considered to be the best ships in the NW for conditions, ie accommodation, food and wages. ML and Prince boats (Furness withy) were always looked upon as good ships.
On the lower sector, any ship with Baron in the name was to be avoided.
Other unpopular companies would be Harrison’s ( 2 fat, 1 lean) and hungry Hogarths.
Obviously there were many more, good and bad but the above are those in the forefront of my memory.

[Terry Foskett]

Best companies I worked for Canadian Pacific and Cunard.

[Francis Ralph]

Well, Bob, you certainly posted the most contentious question since Cleopatra asked Mark Anthony, " Does my bum look big in this " ? . Of Course , there is only one correct answer, as anyone who was taken on by Capt Parkin, and dispersed to a vessel by "Batch", would attest to. Houlder Bros was run on fair, and good natured terms, always looking out for the seafarer, never to make the last red cent out of any voyage. I saw many a guy go "wrong" yet always personnel would bend over backwards to see them right. Anyone who was lucky enough to be picked whilst on leave to attend one of John Houlder's famous lunches, will agree that even after the jollity of the booze laden meal, John ( I hope he will forgive the familiarity) would ply us seafaring section , with questions re the better operation of his ships, which was a 'good idea' and which wasn't. Of course , he always got genuine replies from us, and he appreciated it. I never met a ship owner so forthcoming and open about the running of the company. and of course , no one had a bad word for him. I loved every minute I worked for Houlders, and felt the warmth throughout the company. I was on the ore carriers , and gas tankers, not the glamourous KGV dock to BA run with the inevitable run ashore to beat any anywhere. I was lucky enough to sail with Charlie Wilcox (Ch/Off on the Hardwick Grange for centuries master's never retired from there,) who changed allegiance to to our Gas jobs so he could get a master's job which he had richly deserved. Hope you are still around Charlie ! Just a small example of how the personnel dept tried to look after everyone.
After that Superlative company, you have your Fyffes, BP tankers ( in the old days), and all the others that our worthy shipmates will vote for.

At the other end of the scale
As a radio officer, I got around, and saw some pretty poor companies, too numerous to mention, But as an example of sheer parsimony...even cheeseparing, ..it would be hard to beat my Swiss/greek employers paying niggardly wages, who paid an officer ( me, one trip) $15 a month to do the Chief Stewards job ! and one Capt even took that tiny perk away for himself. Yep, it takes all sorts doesn't it.
Looking forward to reading other accounts on this mouthwatering subject

Flashman R692715

[Roger Dandy]

Mine started in August 1958 as a fiver with BP. In 1960 I graduated to Blue star as 3rd eng, next trip snr 3rd engr. After time in Southamton tech went to London Overseas Freighters, as 2nd engr. a London Greek Company and the best; you had the gear needed and a first class workshop, though sometimes you had to wait for M.E. spares to catch up with you, finally stood by a pair of new build cargo ships in Udevalla, Sweden, and they were the best, had to leave one in London, a ship being in London was very rare. Broke a leg, hospital, home to Cornwall, and joined another of these fine ships in Gela, 1965, she ended up on States Marine charter, US east coast to Aussie and Japan, round trips, Eventually did steam time with my final ship being the "Overseas Courier" paid off in Flushing, De Schelde Drydock, where she went to the Creek side and I came ashore. January 1969 and I think that I was extremely fortuneate to enjoy the last of the best days in the MN.
I feel that I can say that as in January 1970 I went to Monrovia, Liberia as manager of a floating drydock with a warehouse and small machine shop, carpenters and excellent welders.
There were also two coastal vessels in the rubber latex trade, two in regular break cargo and one petro;eum tanker. I came back to the UK in mid 1975 to discover that our MN had gone. Rather like our shipyards and large engine builders.
The decline carrying on during the rest of my working life as Consultant Engineer and Surveyor though I then worked in Canada and the USA.