Modern facilities

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

I must say that when I first went to sea in the 50's most ships had all the facilities for hygiene and keeping oneself clean. However I remember one cargo ship I was on we had an old greaser who did not agree with all this new technology, and insisted on taking a bucket of water on to a hatch cover, stripping off and having his ablutions the old way. This was accepted by all until before he tipped the oily contents of the bucket down the scupper, he would take out his dentures and swish them around in the water.

[Captain Kong]

He sounds OK to me at least he swished his false teeth in some kind of water that he had washed his a*se in. before using them again.
In the old Pool in Liverpool, in the early 50s when you had to have teeth to pass the medical, . I saw many an old seaman / fireman going in for a Medical saying "Eh Lah, give us a go at yer teeth". The man would take out his teeth, not even a wipe, and the other fella sticking them in, the same teeth would go around the fellows who were waiting for the Doc. some looked as though they were green with slime.
I dont think it did them any harm.

[Don Rafferty]

One of the first things I used to do when joining a ship, sometimes even before finding my cabin, was to check the showers, a good flow of nicely controlled hot water was a fairly sure sign that the rest of the ship was 'up to scratch'