Lifeboat Efficiency Certificate

Those of us in catering at the Vindi also had to do some basic lifer boat training.
The a small exam at the end of it all.
I was accused of cheating as i got all the answers correct.
Told the officer I did not cheat and challenged him to ask me questions.
When I got the first three right he told me to bugger off, he realized I just recalled all the answers.

On cruise ships now crew do regular life boat drills when in some ports.
The full lot including the alarm signals with a message. 'for exercise, for exercise' so as to not scare the bloods.
The life rafts are I was informed changed every six months.

Not necessarily changed John examined and pressure tested , thought it was every 12 months ? Hardest thing about them was getting into from the water. Might be wrong about the dates , but always had in the back of mind the De- Ratification cert was the only 6 months expiry cert. however this was seldom adhered to on trampships one got exceptions until a suitable port turned up. JS

Used to take anything up to 3 weeks especially in the rainy season to load 10,000tons of sugar in Cairns Des ,now it takes 3 hours. Every bag had to be split open and emptied down the hold by hand. Used to go up to Korunda at the weekends as pubs were closed on Sunday , but the dance at the hotel in the hills wasn’t. Went to Cairns 20+ years ago for a holiday and to show the wife my old haunts , different place now asked at the harbour masters office if they kept records of the ships , oh! Yes of course said the girl what year ?, 1953 I said , oh we don’t go back that far ! Went along the quay and found where I had painted the ships name on the quay wall.they now have aerial rail up to Korunda we had to go up on the old steam train . Cheers JS

Hi John
Doubt whether they would allow one to paint th ships name on the side of the wharf these days. I painted the name of the Trevose in Wallaroo in 1950, be a bit worn now LoL.
Des