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15th November 2022, 06:10 AM
#51
Re: Blue flu and memories
My physical experience with both Blue Flu and Ben Line if remember correctly ,they were good to exchange the Waldport Films with, theirs was always better than ours. JS
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15th November 2022, 10:12 AM
#52
Re: Blue flu and memories
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
#44 Tony did you do a. Pre sea course at South Shields ? if so did Bill Sabourn not give. Any advice on such. Although he served his time in the Ship Yard he went to sea with the RFA where he got all his certificates. I have often wondered how they recruited their men , does anyone know. E.g. did they carry apprentices ,cadets , midshipmen or whatever ? JS
John, yes Bill Sabourn was a highly respected member of staff, he lectured me on heat / thermodynamics etc. Also machine shop, workshop practice and practical shops where we were stripping and rebuilding equipment, shown how to do boiler inspections etc. He was also one of the team who supervised the build of the Doxford J type prototype engine, completed in my last year there. Many of the apprentices in my group were from RFA, along with guys from B & C, Shaw Saville, Texaco/Caltex, Mobil, Ropners, Stag Line, BI, Ellermans.
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15th November 2022, 10:38 AM
#53
Re: Blue flu and memories
Blue Flu were a forward looking company, the only shipping company I know of who provided mortgages for their regular crews.
This was win/win for both company and crew. The company kept hold of their highly trained experienced seamen and the seamen had a secure future for as long as they wanted.
No one at the time could forsee the eventual collapse of the UK shipping industry.
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15th November 2022, 10:50 AM
#54
Re: Blue flu and memories
#53.
John I Jacobs did as well Louis , I changed mine from a building Society to them in the 70s the BS Was 8.5% and JIJ was about 3% . unfortuanetley it was the time of collapse after 3 years or so. But they did give me 12 months to retrieve which meant going Back to the building Society at 8.5%. JS
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15th November 2022, 09:00 PM
#55
Re: Blue flu and memories
#52 When I was up for masters in 1963 there was an engineering knowledge paper. I completely forgot to swot up on this subject and two nights before the exam on such I went round to see Bill. I explained the situation , he handed me a 6 inch pile of fullscap typewritten notes which were his lecture notes and said have you got a couple of years to spare. The only advice I can give to you is take one subject and swotting up on that and hope for the best , I would suggest. Boiler mountings the easiest for you. I did so and will forever remember the salinometer cock and a few more , and they came up in the exam and saved my bacon . Also the one with a long formula and burnout and fuel consumption tied up with working out the slip which I did know a bit about, so literally scraped through by the skin of my teeth. Think being a layman the pass mark for that paper was only 50%. Just as well . Cheers JS
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16th November 2022, 06:38 AM
#56
Re: Blue flu and memories
There is a real old timer In the village here called John Taylor who considers himself a Geordie , no relation to you I suppose. Think his father was but think he was born out here originally , he’s in his 90s now. However from what I gather he was picked up in Australia and came to the Uk about 1953, was it City Line used to run out to Australia ?
I can’t remember who he said , but he thought the sun shone out their bottom. They put him through all of his tickets at South Shields and he stayed with them all his life. He finished up Chief Engineer with them . His father was a Geordie I believe , he brought out a new building from the Wallsend slipway but forget the name and year . If see him again will ask but seldom see him maybe he’s too busy tickling his wife’s feet , she’s about the same age .
Cheers JS
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