El dorado of the seas mystery lingers on

[Bill Morrison]

#30 Bill I sailed with a Captain MacCoughlin when I was an apprentice, he was mate and had been master previously with the owners of the Southern Harvester and Venturer, he wrote a book think he called it the Deep South , in longhand and got me to proof read it for him a terrible job as his writing in pen and ink was not of the best. Anyhow if you had read his first book courtesy of my proof reading it would of either put you off permanently or made you more keen to be a whaler. Cheers JS

John, the NLS film archives have some footage of the whaling industry, most have to be viewed in Edinburgh but some on the internet. If this down loads it's of the "Southern Venture". Bill

https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/3537

[Doc Vernon]

Get a few Snakes around here, especially after the cold stops and the Sun begins to shine, they of course as known come out looking for Warmth.
But they do not stress me or Rene , as we are used to Snakes coming from South Africa.

There we got many kinds and a lot quite deadly too.
The Black Mamba being one of the worst with high Venom volume of some nearly 300 mg, which is far above what is needed with one bite to kill any Human, all that is needed to kill is aroung 15 to 20mg.

Alwyays recall my dear Mum,(On our Farm) a very loud Screeching coming from the Bathroom, with a Black Mamba on the Bath Ledge lucky my Dad was there and ran to get his .22 Rifle, and only with one Shot he nailed that critter! Boy was Mum a mess! God Rest her Soul!

Cheers

[j.sabourn]

#41 The film itself won’t run Bill probably because of copyright . when those factory ships used to pay off in Middle Dock South Shields They had upwards sometimes of a thousand men on board coming back from the Antarctic some with 2 years pay to pick up. The harlots in every seaport in the UK used to make a beeline for Cappys home town.It had to be stopped in the 50s and their money was deposited in their banks if they had one. This I can remember from my proof reading. A large proportion of their crews were also Norwegian. What about the laws of safety then ? As regards POB ? Nothing is ever said about legal obligations when big money is involved.The Tamito a safety boat I worked on in the North Sea was an ex whale catcher and she had a certificate for 300 survivors , would have hated to see her plimsolls if she ever had to carry. Yet you bring back more than a couple of people back into port off a rig on a supply vessel with ample accomodation and the ship was fined . There is safety and there is safety. Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Not just snakes Vernon, we still have the Sydney Funnel Web Spider, Blue Octopus, salt and fresh water crocs, stone fish, stingers, all deadly.
then we have the land sharks, used car salesmen, bank officials.

When one thinks about it one understands how lucky we are to still be alive.

[j.sabourn]

Don’t forget those monkeys who have the pox. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Rampant in Melbourne I believe, among the lovely people. Glad John isn't lovely. LoL
Des

[j.sabourn]

I reckon Cappys old monkey shipmate of years ago is still sailing the seven seas , so he should be held responsible for his friends health , and not taking him to the quack all those years ago. His excuse will be if approached he thought Dr. Quack was a duck. JS