Mersey memories

[Captain Kong]

I have just found this in a box in my garage, from a Liverpool Newspaper, it is what I wrote to give a speech at St Nicks Church in Liverpool on MN DAY a few years ago
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MERSEY MEMORIES.
What a wonderful River the Mersey is, a conveyor to the seas and oceans of the world.
As a first trip Deck Boy, the Mersey took me out to sail amongst the Flying Fish, the Dolphins,
Whales and the odd Sea serpent.
Let us not forget those brave men and women who sailed down the Mersey into U-Boat alley
in WW2, losing 40,000 Seafarers, some leaving their bones on the bottom of the ocean,
others buried in some far off land.
Many sailed down the Mersey and jumped ship to become Waiters in New York, Lumberjacks in Canada,
Wharfies in Australia and Sheepherders in New Zealand.
From the River Mersey we sailed to those other great rivers, the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the
Mississippi, the Amazon, Congo, Yangtze, Hooghly and Shatt Creek.
Sailing down the Mersey on an old Cunard Liner, the FRANCONIA or BRITANNIC, gave me a chance to
meet many Celebs. Including Bob Hope and Burt Lancaster. The Mersey took me out to Jamaica on a
Fyffes banana boat and a meeting with Errol Flynn where we got drunk together on his yacht ZACCA.
In 1959 I met Fidel Castro and when I asked him to buy me a drink he told me to “Vamoose” or something like that.
We sailed down the Mersey on the big white Empresses to Montreal and drank in the House of Scouse
and saw Joe Finnegan win the singing contest on the Bulova Watch Radio Show,
On the EMPRESS of FRANCE we hit the Ice Berg and lost 40 feet of bilge keel.
The Mersey took us out to go on the worlds biggest pub crawl. From Joe Beefs in Montreal, the Diner in New York,
the Scandi Bar in Valparaiso, to the First and Last in Punta Arenas in the Magellen Straits,May Sullivans in
Buenos Aires, Tombo Marys in Lagos, Mary Bashems in Sydney and Ma Gleasons in Auckland.
It was the Mersey that took us out to see all our girl friends around the world. To Rosita, Paquita and Maria in
South America., to my little Wahine under the swaying palms in Tahiti, to Mimi in Hong Kong, Dedeh in Java,
to Sheila in Melbourne, to Maggie in New Zealand and so on.
After 20 years as an Able Seaman it was on the banks of the Mersey on Derby Square where I sat for my Mates
and Masters Certificates, giving me that wonderful feeling when Navigating a 300,000 ton tanker across the oceans of the world.
Now that I have retired after 45 years of Seafaring, I stand on the Pier Head on my visits to Liverpool and looking out onto
the dark waters of the River, I can see the ghosts of the old ships sailing out to a world that no longer exists. The REINA del PACIFICO
to Valparaiso, the GEORGIC taking £10 Emigrants to Australia, the FRANCONIA and EMPRESS of SCOTLAND to New York and Montreal,
The Blue Funnel Line off to Java, and China, Elder Dempsters, Harrisons, Ellermans and many others, have all sailed off the face
of the earth never to return. Then I think of the Mersey, it gave me all this and much more.
Thank you River Mersey.
Brian Aspinall . aka Captain Kong.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Brian.
Such poignant but great memories of the ships and men who went down to the sea in ships to sail the world that is no longer there for todays youngsters.
Cheers Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Des, from what I have seen of many young persons today a life at sea would be far beyond them.
You have to work, and work hard with no time to check on Fakebook every two minutes.

[j.sabourn]

From 1953 to 1966 I respected my life at sea on British ships , from 1966 mostly the same on Foreign flag vessels with a few eyeopeners . From 72 onwards unless you were a slow learner the writing was on the wall. A break in the ever present vision of redundancy in offshore work until 1991 and then a breath of fresh air in Australia until 2002 which was a life saver . If could do it again would call it quits about 1972 , and then pick up again in 1991 in Australia .However in the past 20 years Australia so I have heard has followed the path of losing the job satisfaction part of the job.Any young person today thinking of replicating some of the stories on here , would be best to just read about them .JS

[Brenda Shackleton]

Thank you Brian. That was a very good and interesting read.
As a Schoolgirl in Liverpool the Bus stop to home was outside Notre Dame, Mount Pleasant. However, I preferred the walk to the Pier Head almost every evening to look at the ships and breathe IN. Oh, the smell of the River and the Ships. Salt+ Diesel !
Thanks again
Brenda

[James Curry]

Des, from what I have seen of many young persons today a life at sea would be far beyond them.
You have to work, and work hard with no time to check on Fakebook every two minutes.

John , I think young(western) people today have more sense than to put up with a job at sea today. Little or no time ashore,fast turn rounds. Absolutely no job security, at the mercy of some bean counter always trying to get some one to work cheaper.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

James
Equate that with what we did, job security but with no money, I was on two ships with Forecastle accommodation seas pounding against the bow, no wages to speak of, no time estimation of how long you would be away, were we stupid, no, our sense of adventure kept us there.
Unfortunately todays teenagers are brought up to expect everything laid on free, they're only sense of adventure is catching a plane to some place were we went for free and trying the local drug scene. I think for all the hard times ours was the better life.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Or as has been proven the case, some young here out of work will not work ads for many the take home pay will only be about $30 more than the Dole and all the benefits they get with it.

[j.sabourn]

#8 How do you think the same offshore stand by boats were manned in the UK John. Money wise in some cases they were manned on a par with the dole. They were manned by mainly proud people who considered the dole a paint bush to paint them as failures. The conditions were abysmal the money even worse , but they walked with their head up and shoulders back.The breed is unknown practically today. When I was on supply vessels and anchor handlers where conditions were much better , I took the general opinion that it was not the place to be.
However due to circumstances it was either that or the dole myself and I chose that. The people who manned those vessels were not by any means bums and stiffs and some of their pedigrees would put a lot of us to shame. As for their seamanship skills if they were a bit short on , they soon made up on by repetition time and time again , most of them it was a privilege to sail with , even though we were all on the bones of our ass. Cheers JS

[James Curry]

James
Equate that with what we did, job security but with no money, I was on two ships with Forecastle accommodation seas pounding against the bow, no wages to speak of, no time estimation of how long you would be away, were we stupid, no, our sense of adventure kept us there.
Unfortunately todays teenagers are brought up to expect everything laid on free, they're only sense of adventure is catching a plane to some place were we went for free and trying the local drug scene. I think for all the hard times ours was the better life.
Des

No disrespect Des, In those days I suspect no one had any money. I am probably one of the younger members on here ,74 in a few weeks. I do remember my Dad treading the streets looking for work and thankfully finding it. He worked in Ogden's in Liverpool .My Granda lived with us he was a docker and as dockers did in those days he did his best to make sure we did not go short.

Shame really that a lot of the older generation have a downer on todays youth. There are more decent kids out there than there are assholes.

Frequently on the news we are hearing about are bent coppers/ rapists and murderers and that is just the London Metropolitan police.