Bad

[j.sabourn]

#9. Brett your cognoscenti problems may or may not cause you problems with other terms of reference , one that often crops up is tonnages which a lot of ships tonnages do not refer to weight. E.G. Deadweight ( Ddwt) is a measure of the weight of the cargo and stores a ship can carry. Displacement either light or loaded is the weight of the ship and everything on board which is the same as the weight of water it displaces. Gross (GRT) and Net (NRT) is a measure of cubic of the internal parts of a ships certain areas based on 100 cubic feet to the ton .This Is one of the tonnages on which your harbour and light dues are paid. There are certain other tonnages which various authorities decide on such as suez panama etc.etc.but always bear in mind tonnages do not always refer to weight. Their abbreviations for the common ones would be ddwt. Disp.grt nrt. You starting off in the RN will be used to referring to naval vessels as to their displacement tonnage. It is a different ball game in merchant vessels in lots of ways. Cheers JS.

[cappy]

Got a DESERTED in my book from a ist trip old man who lost half his crowd in various ports ....i know one other also got deserted in his book dont know what he put in the others who skinned out .......i would have been happy with VNC ........or even effed off .....but then i suppose im happy i wasnt on the BOUNTY lol ....R683532

[j.sabourn]

#12 Think I said once before Cappy , I maybe wrong but I think the master was jumping the gun , your correct discharge should have been VNC, unless of course you left him a farewell note , see you later Alligator , signed Cappy. When the reports on Conduct and Ability were removed from the discharge books was real progress for modern history. It was passed its use by date in my opinion and had served its purpose . In legal terms a person is innocent until proved guilty , it had served its purpose , it had Occassion to be abused and misused sometimes . I hope you said your 3 Hail Marys in retribution . Try and keep off the Bounty bars they’re fattening . JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Cappy.
He may have been angry with you taking all the Tab Nabs to feed yourself while hiding out from that big copper.
Des

[cappy]

Hi Cappy.
He may have been angry with you taking all the Tab Nabs to feed yourself while hiding out from that big copper.
Des

Des on that hungry vessel ......a tabnab was a loaf without weevils or cooked maggots plus a lump of greengage jam..................oh happy day.... in fact i never saw a tabnab on any vessel till the ore carriers...then steak at least twice a week now that was something...R683532

[J Gowers]

#13 JS Although Ability, Conduct and Sobriety were removed from the discharge book it was still on the Engineer's Certificate of Service and presumably also on the Mates Certificate of Service, (these certs were required by the Ministry of Transport later the Department of Transport when sitting your tickets in 70s/80s) every one I had was VG but I think everyone got that. I never really understood what the VG for Sobriety meant did it mean I was good at being sober or did it mean I was good at hiding the fact I had been drinking With the price of booze on ships 10P a pint and 5P a 1/4 gill (1975), a few ships I was on the cans of beer were cheaper than cans of coke, everyone drank but not usually to excess, I do not remember every sailing with anyone that was teatotal.

[j.sabourn]

Never saw Sobriety in a discharge book ? There wasn’t any beer on ships when I went to sea in the very early 50s . If you were over 18 you got a tot of rum on a Saturday night if you were lucky . Any bond on the ship was carried for the likes of pay offs for Venezullean Customs and Immigration officers. Think it was only the sixties that bars came onto ships. Previous to that it was strictly monitored and was sometimes a masters bond and sometimes a company bond . Passenger ships had different morals re drink. Booze on a ship was to try and keep crew on board , now it is all or was when I left back to what it was when I started …Dry ships. JS

[Tony Taylor]

#13 JS Although Ability, Conduct and Sobriety were removed from the discharge book it was still on the Engineer's Certificate of Service and presumably also on the Mates Certificate of Service, (these certs were required by the Ministry of Transport later the Department of Transport when sitting your tickets in 70s/80s) every one I had was VG but I think everyone got that. I never really understood what the VG for Sobriety meant did it mean I was good at being sober or did it mean I was good at hiding the fact I had been drinking With the price of booze on ships 10P a pint and 5P a 1/4 gill (1975), a few ships I was on the cans of beer were cheaper than cans of coke, everyone drank but not usually to excess, I do not remember every sailing with anyone that was teatotal.

I did, a Welsh methodist C/E.
I never drank to excess, I was on 12-4 and was always crashed by 20,00hrs. One afternoon, straight after watch I was working on a fault in the lift shaft, hot, sweaty no ventilation, Missed my chow and finally sorted bt 19.30, choking for a drink I stuck my head in the bar door and asked for a pint, down in one (not my usual style) followed by another, only to hear him exclaim, "my god. Ive never seen that before". That was it though, I was off to get get showered and head down; barsteward only put "moderate consumption of alcohol" on my watch keeping cert. when he paid off.

[j.sabourn]

#18 There may of been a mention of sobriety on a watch keeping cert. for seatime. But my query was there was no column for such in any Discharge book I ever saw and I have 3 full ones . A little bit outside of sea staff I was mate on a ship using riggers coming out of a dry dock on the Clyde . One of the riggers on the forecastle lost a digit on his hand , was taken to hospital . His boss came to see me wanting me to say he was intoxicated . Obviously to get rid of insurance claims. Whether he was or not I was not going to say he was . I said to his boss what did the doctor say ? He is the one to say if he was drunk or not. The doctor won’t say he replied . And you want me to say he was drunk beggar off I said no way !! JS

[j.sabourn]

The 2 columns in the old British Discharge Book were under the heading of Copy of Report of Character. And were for Ability and the. Second column .. For General Conduct Cheers JS
When you are in a position of being able to violate and destroy a persons ability to work and support himself and family one who has that ability should be well advised to proceed with extreme caution , that’s why I say I was pleased when that small extra measure he had was taken away, it’s still not perfect but better than what it was. As regards drink I have seen whole crews sitting on board ship in Aberdeen at night rather than go ashore in case they were reported to the office of frequenting a pub. However there was always one on such ships who took the attitude report away, and go regardless , and that was me. The breathalyser was no deterrent to me. It was a true case of the Sublime against the Ridiculous . JS