The old steel bucket

[William Burt]

I was told to prewash your wranglers that it would do it if you ropped them over the aft on a rope threaded through the leg and leave them in for a few hours ,I forgot them and went the next day . not much left of the jeans ,just tatters . cost me $5 too .

The Lampie on The Iberic in 1975 made shirts shorts and shoes after trailing a bit of duck canvass over the stern for a couple of days ........ the deck crowd all wore stuff he designed

[happy daze john in oz]

Burials at sea on UCL were conducted from the Second Steward flat via a gun port door at 1700 hours.
In the main galley there were two gash chutes and on days of burials had to be locked until after the service.

It was the task of the galley porter to ensure they were duly emptied and washed clean each day, normally this was done when he turned to for the evening meal.
On this day for some reason the head chef had not secured the chute.

As they say in comedy timing is everything, it certainly was this day.

The galley porter opened the chute as normal, a second or so just before the body was going over the side, the two collided in mid air.
The row that resulted in that fiasco was we were told something to behold. The chef, Meadows, hid away for a couple of days after that not keen to hear comments from the cooks or the galley porter who was excused from any blame..

[RogerEmmins]

I never did actually see it happen but many times I was sent down aft to the taffrail to read the log. More than once the rotator had disappeared. The Mate reckoned it was down to sharks or big fish!! Is this one of the fisherman's tales?

[Chris Allman]

I remember nearly being dragged overboard by the log line. I was sent aft as a raw Cadet to retrieve the log as we were coming into coastal waters. I retrieved it OK but as usual the log line coiled itself up in all kinds of bights and knots. I had been told if that happened I was to keep hold of the Fish / Rotator and chuck the rest of the log line overboard where it would straighten out in the wake and could then be retrieved and coiled down neatly. Right, over the side went the log line with, the rotator end firmly round my arm and wrist, I have to say as the line streamed out in the wake and got to its full length the force on my arm was a shock and was pulling me towards the bulwark. I managed to get a turn around one of the small fairleads and eased the strain. Then when I had stopped shaking, I slowly pulled the log line in and coiled it down. Big Lesson learnt - always make fast the log line before streaming it in the wake to straighten it.

[Tony Taylor]

Going into B.A. one time on the old Cortona. The pilot boat came alongside and the pilot was halfway up the pilot-ladder and level with the sewage outlet. You got it !!! A half pissed A.B. had been for the first one of the morning, flushed the toilet and the pilot copped most of it. The pilot boat was also the recipient of a brown mess, decorated with bits of white paper. The screams were unmerciful and cost the old man a couple of cases of scotch to calm them all down. The A.B. in question had to go down and help clean the deck of the pilot boat before the pilot would come aboard. I dunno who cleaned him but I reckon he didn't smell of roses for a while !!

HA HA very good, similar thing while on my first trip, Shell H boat, in locks at Brunsbuttel, very neat and freshly painted fishing boat squeezed in beside us at stern.
Suddenly a storm valve opened and similar mess dumped on fishing boat, much to the amusement of the crew, "whose just been to the bog and which one was it?" was the cry, next thing there was a queue with further discharges on to the deck of the fishing boat. The german skipper was apoplectic, which just encouraged more laughter.

[robpage]

North Shields Smiths Dock , Early Winter , engineers putting a tee shirt under the boilersuits when in the dock , the 1st mate is not going to freeze to death , in those pre compulsory hard hat , so blue uniform and white topped cap cover on steaming bonnet standing outside of starboard prop looking at the rope guard , fireman's and greasers accommodation above , some naughty Ag-Wahlla didn't go ashore , flushed , coated the mate ,honest , we didn't laugh , but the old chiefy said , welcome to engineering , we are always getting pooed on from a great height

[Keith at Tregenna]

Best thing to do with an
old steel bucket.

Is to do all pos, to avoid -
KICKING IT.

K.

[j.sabourn]

#36... one nearly as bad , was the mate getting up groggy in the same Smith’s Dry Dock, forgetting where he was , but remembering that he had the ashes of someone in the office to bury at sea. Staggers out and does so. Learned that things have sometimes a way of coming back on you, as someone down the dock Botton got ash in his eye and he spent the rest of the morning trying to get his eye cleaned . Never told him he had a dead body in his eye though. Think it was a Chapman’s ship. Hope no one gave their loved ones ashes to someone they they thought was a responsible person. That jungle had a lot to answer for. JS. PS now if the ashes had belonged to a female would have been a good example of that saying —- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That is of course she wasn’t the shore Bosun. JS.

[robpage]

only ever done ashes over the wall once at sea , ex company electrician wanted to lie on the Equator , must have liked the Clan Boat he was being launched from most of him blew across No 3 hatch

[j.sabourn]

Must have been an engineer Rob to launch them on the weather side . Trying again to get a favourable current to match the engine speed again. Have you wondered whats opposite to slip, must be slop , that’s where that advert comes from for sunscreen , slip slop , however would have been worse if was a body as everyone would scatter then. JS. Didn’t notice in earlier posts on this subject about buckets , didn’t they all have a hole in them, they even made a song about it, There’s a hole in my bucket dear Liza Dear Liza , think it was Liza , wonder if she’s still around JS