2 consecutive trips on same ship

[Robert George Young]

To hide a DR?

Common practise ?

[J Gowers]

Robert. You will need to explain this I went to sea in 1974 have no idea what a DR is and also did consecutive trips on the same ship not common though only did it a few times.
Oh also never worked off the pool applied to a shipping company and got a permanent position with the three different companies I sailed with as an engineer.
I have heard a lot of things on this forum of life at sea in the 50s and 60s and realise I went to sea as the British Merchant Navy was coming to an end, did 14 years in it though and enjoyed every minute (no thats a lie there was some bad times (ships) although I try to forget those)
It did give me the experience and qualifications to go on drilling rigs where I spent the following 27 years.

[Stan Carter]

DR= Decline to report, usually given for being a bad boy during the trip. By doing a consecutive trip, maybe hoping to be a good boy and get back into the captains good books and get his VG stamp in your discharge book....

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Stan.
If you got a DR from a ship I doubt the skipper; even a new one would sign you on again, unless he couldn't get a crew. I never had a DR but knew a few who did.
Des, Cheers Mate

[j.sabourn]

The same as a previous post sometime ago. On the ore carriers where there were crew changes frequently , the ore carriers I was on as mate always had the prospects or those looking for Jobs sent to the mate from the BSF with their books , those with DRs often put money inside their books thinking that would pave the way. I used to give them their money back and still accept them. One reason for this was that I knew they would behave themself as getting another second DR was too close to the other one. And any choice of future jobs would be further restricted . JS

[Doc Vernon]

With the Union Castle Ships most of the time one did Consecative trips on the same Ship, this was on mainly the Mail Run, as it was only a 6 Week Round Trip, Southampton to South Africa as far as Durban, and then return.

You then got two Weeks paid leave while waiting for the Ship to be Cleaned, Checked through and re Loaded etc. Then you Rejoined and did the same trip again.

I did a few like that but got bored and did the Round Africa Run, much more exciting and more Ports of call. On the older Round Africa, it was mostly an 8 to 9 Week trip, but with some older Ships there were longer trips due to Breakdowns etc!
Cheers

Started at London KG5 Dock, either down the East Coast or West Coast depending, then on to South Africa via the various Ports along the way! Then back to London KG5! Great Trips

[j.sabourn]

Before the 6 months running agreements came in those sort of short trips would of been considered schoolboy. Hours , and even on the BISCO Charters where the longest trip was 6 weeks and ideal for a married man , there was always a feeling of something lacking , maybe it was the monotony of doing the same thing over and over again , and the attitude of been there done that, so what’s new ? JS

[Doc Vernon]

Indeed that is true in a way JS
However with the Round Africa Runs, although also not too long, i myself never tired of those, as there seemed to always be something new in the various Ports along the way. There were some really inteesting Ports too!

UCL rUN.jpg

UCL Mail and Round Africa Runs.jpg

[cappy]

Before the 6 months running agreements came in those sort of short trips would of been considered schoolboy. Hours , and even on the BISCO Charters where the longest trip was 6 weeks and ideal for a married man , there was always a feeling of something lacking , maybe it was the monotony of doing the same thing over and over again , and the attitude of been there done that, so what’s new ? JS

Agree fully on that john but the accom and feeding was a big bonus plus sooging overtime for catering staff was one biggy.....best food best accom best wages short trips but still never valhalla lol cappy R683532

[john walker]

I am not proud of having a double DR in my first book (Which I refused and was given a a double endorsement not required in its place) This was on the orcades in 1970, I was then offered a job on the same ship if I wished to sign back on for the following trip. As I detested the ship I payed off and took my chances with the pool. who gave me a light *olliking and I signed on a great little ship called the Cicero for a six week jolly around the Med. #2 in the new discharge books where it says signature of master or authorised person in the old books that had two columns one read for ability and the other for conduct. When you payed off these were stamped with a VG which meant Very Good or G which meant Good (Which actually meant bad) or DR which meant Decline to Report (This meant you had been a very naughty boy) If you were about to receive a bad discharge in your book you were allowed to ask for an Endorsement Not Required. Which meant that you had to appear before a diciplinary panel at your pool. This panel then decided what punishment you would receive in my case my pool pay was stopped until I got another ship which I did that afternoon . There were other discharges that were stamped like VNC for Voyage Not Completed , DBS for Distressed British Seaman (Which was usually given to men who had either jumped ship or payed off sick and had joined another British ship to work there passage back to the UK. My double endorsement not required was never mentioned when signing on/off ships and never stopped me from future employment on 7 other ships which are stamped in that Discharge book until We were all issued with new books which did away with the hated reports on ability and conduct in 1972.