What motivated you all to join the Merchant Navy.

[Barry Davidson]

My fascination with the sea started as a young 15 year old pupil on a B&I School Cruise to the Greek Islands, aboard the 'Devonia', a converted troop carrier. This was followed by an application to join the MN, and an in person interview, somewhere close to Tower Bridge, if my memory serves me correctly.

Nobody tells a now 16 year od how to properly conduct a job interview, and I failed that portion miserably....mainly by telling the truth! (Q) Why do you want to join the MN?....... (A) to see the World? (Q) How long do you want to join for?....
(A) a couple of years will do!

I went home totally dejected but the Ocean Gods were on my side. My Mother worked two jobs, including cleaning houses. One of her customers worked for Royal Mail, and apparently, he was able to pull some strings on my behalf. About two
weeks after the interview I received a call at home, instructing me to get down to Tilbury ASAP, as there was a vessel there needing staff. I reported to the local office, collected my paperwork and was told to report to the RMS Durango, which was due to sail the following evening for Australia.

So there I was, clutching my new Seamans Book, with no training or experience reporting to my first vessel. I told the Chief Steward that I had been hired as a Lift Boy. When the laughter died away, he explained that the Durango was a cargo vessel, and not a passenger liner, therefore no lifts! Instead, I was assigned as Pantry Boy and spent the next four months in charge of the Pantry sailing from the UK to Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns and Bowen. Unfortunately, my seagoing days were not meant to last long. After the Durango i did two trips on the RMS 'Eden' and then a further trip with Port Line 'Port Lincoln'. At the end of that trip we returned to Liverpool in the midst of a general strike, I signed off and then could not get a placement after the strike ended. Still, it was a great experience, and one that I will never forget.
Regards to all.

[Des Jenkins]

Hi Jaime
You would have been on the Southern Cross when I emigrated to NZ, I did just under ten years at sea then went on the NZ coast spent nearly7 years on the coast. Met my future wife on the Southern Cross. We lived in Manurewa and then Titarangi where we had built a new house, left NZ fo Aus after 17 years there.
Cheers Des

[Tony Robinson]

I think it would be very interesting to find out some of the reasons that made our members decide to want to go to sea.
My story is very simple; when I was about 14 years old I met a local guy who would have been around 16 or 17 he was in denim, cowboy boots and very unusual for Inverness a suntan !! he said that he was in the Merchant Navy and that he had just returned from a 4 month trip to various countries. I just listened and looked at him and thought ,: That's for me !! Following that and talking to some of my friends we all became fascinated with this idea and discovered a number other local guys who were also at sea and they all looked so confident and cool with a certain swagger that really sold the deal to us in the end there was 5 of us who applied when we were old enough and we all subsequently tripped off to Gravesend or the Vindi then off to sea.

My journey started , far from salt water, near Toronto, Canada in 1962. I was a dismal student and my mother (born and raised in Manchester) thought some British education would be just what I needed. The outcome was being sent off for pre-sea training at Reardon Smith Nautical College in Cardiff and subsequently joining my first ship (Manchester Merchant of Manchester Liners) in September of 1963. I'll never forget walking up the gangway feeling pretty spiffy in my cadet uniform - until I hit the main deck. There I met the bosun who greeted me with "what the f--- are you" to which I replied "I'm Robinson the new apprentice". His response "a f______ Yank are you" . I corrected him with "no I'm Canadian" . That led to "you know what they do with cadets on this ship, Robinson?". The obvious answer was "no". "They give them to me and I find jobs that humans aren't allowed to do but cadets are" That was my introduction to the best 7 years of my life! The bosun and I became good mates and I learned a huge amount from him - he was an excellent seaman.