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3 of my uncles were AB's in the 50s/60s. The all worked on NZ shipping vessels and two of them settled in NZ. The youngest was a "rebel". I have his discharge book somewhere, he had 3 DDRs on the same page. He eventually jumped ship in Wellington and got caught as an illegal immigrant and was deported. He never went back to sea, his elder brother wouldn't even allow him on his fishing boat.
In 1974 i walked of a ship in France, i didn't have much money so i hitch hiked to Paris to catch the boat train,( i can't speak French,) Captain marked in my Discharge book , Walked off in RED ink i went to the office when i got back to uk and the gave me another ship straight off ,
Unfortunately DRs are in the gift of the captain. In other words if you had a cranky old man you could get them by simply falling out with (presumably he would have a reasonable reason, e.g. late on watch, or ashore without leave etc.) I knew of one deck officer who fell out with his captain this way, and after discharge found that the old man had left the (2) boxes blank. So he got someone else to fill in 2 VGs so he could honestly say he hadn't done it himself.
Are they not used any more?
And have the reference numbers changed from the old R****** to ones which appear to be staring with UK******
Thinking back to the days of the old discharge books and shipmasters business which is a long time ago , so may not be 100% correct , but the master by law on a federated ship was required to give a discharge , jump a few years then there had to be at least two log book warnings of misdemeanours which could lead to a bad discharge. Those who have been logged will remember they would of been asked when the OLB entry was made was when he was asked “ have you anything to say ?” . This was your Q to get any reference or excuse you may of had entered and asked for a copy. Of both entries. At the subsequent enquiry at the BSF your union if you had one would have represented you and your request for cancellation of the discharge and this would be decided amongst those representing you and the master , who would have to be present also. Any master who enjoyed his time off would have second thoughts about giving a bad discharge , those who had nothing to do when at home maybe looked forward to the action to fill their time in. JS
My father went to sea in 1927, doing consecutive trips in the same ship for the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbours Company. He repeated the pattern when he went deep sea with Evan Thomas, Ratcliffe, but went from ship to ship with various owners once he got his 2nd Mate's ticket. After getting his 1st Mate's ticket, he joined Esso as 2/O in 1942, becoming Master in 1947. He usually had a number of consecutive voyages in the same ship from then on.
Don’t know what they did in 1927 but if had been 1957 he would probably have been on contract and classed as a company servant. The company would then decide which vessel he sailed on . JS
It is a common misconception that DBS stands for Distressed British Seaman.
Nope!
DBS refers to a Distressed British SUBJECT.
Any UK citizen in distress abroad without means could be repatriated DBS on board suitable ships.
True, it was mainly seafarers who availed of the service.
It is news to me that a Discharge Book would be stamped DBS as most sailors who deserted wouldn't have their book with them.
I only knew DR & VG and of course my Discharge Book has only the latter!
Fortunately or unfortunately with the shortage of seafarers getting another ship wasn’t too hard!Quote:
Originally Posted by Des Taff Jenkins
Unfortuanetley it is now a shortage of ships . JS
Yep indeed in those days, there was no shortage of Ships and Jobs at Sea, one could walk off one Ship and on to another without any probs. Going to the Pool those days was easy peasy!
Cheers