Any fantastic books on life on a merchant seaman

[Robert George Young]

In the 50’s and 60’s?

Thank you

[j.sabourn]

Just June 14th. 1957 the official expiry of my indentures. The day officially entered the real world, and the wonders of shore life for 12 weeks, until the dole stopped . JS

[Graham Shaw]

In the 50’s and 60’s?

Thank you

R.G.There might be a few in our Recommended Books Forum.
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Sadly,a lot of our books on life as a merchant seaman will remain in our heads,but from time to time little stories emerge on site....

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[j.sabourn]

The likes of one passage in 1954 BA to Japan took 90 odd days at sea without going ashore , the 3 days in Japan one lived the 3 days as trying to get the previous 3 months lived in those 3 days to make up for time lost. Most seaman’s experiences were in his mind of excursions ashore , but never mention of the hardship suffered getting there. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy , and Jack didn’t want to be a dull boy. After his 3 days of high living it was back to long ocean passages sometimes with a lot of regrets , until his next spree ashore . The life one learns to live with until one knows no better. Shipboard duties never stopped any playtime came in outside duty time , so some of the regrets will have been on the fines and forfeitures which some thought were worth the cost, the other regrets were probably romantic ones gone sour. Cheers JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

Are you the same Robert George Young who was on site some years ago asking about life in the MN in the 1930's for a novel you were writing about the time. I don't go through past posts, so am relying on my disappearing faculties, but your name rings a bell

[Robert George Young]

Are you the same Robert George Young who was on site some years ago asking about life in the MN in the 1930's for a novel you were writing about the time. I don't go through past posts, so am relying on my disappearing faculties, but your name rings a bell

Yeah, I’m the same person.

The writer has not really used much of the merchant navy stuff I sent her.
I was just thinking that was a big part of dads life and I might revisit that 27 years period

Thank you

[Ivan Cloherty]

Yeah, I’m the same person.

The writer has not really used much of the merchant navy stuff I sent her.
I was just thinking that was a big part of dads life and I might revisit that 27 years period

Thank you

Thanks for your reply, perhaps if you're thinking of writing another book, the title may be more appropriate as 'The life of a mental seaman' plenty of material on here without researching any outside reading.

[j.sabourn]

As Ivan says you can’t imagine a seaman’s life you have to live it. Your father may have appeared to a non seafarer as a boorish and rough typecast individual , but to another seaman he wasn’t judged on the niceties of a softer living type of existence. He was judged on his capabilities and his loyalty to his fellows. This of course will also depend on the vessel types he sailed on. I was on over 80 vessels of various types during my time at sea , and there was always that feeling of expectation on joining anyone of them for the first time , every ship was a challenge , there were more successes than failures is the only thing I can say, as some were real bangers and past redemption. Success means different things to different people , success to me was reaching job satisfaction and
Surviving until the next one. JS

[Robert George Young]

As Ivan says you can’t imagine a seaman’s life you have to live it. Success means different things to different people , success to me was reaching job satisfaction and
Surviving until the next one. JS

Brilliant thank you Bob

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi RG.
There are plenty of good true sea stories on this site, click on search at the top and type in sea stories. Also there were quite a few books written by ex Vindi boys, try their site .
Cheers Des