First trip - an amazing adventure

[David Okell]

Thank you for remembering me!

I’m 80 years old today but will always treasure the memories of my days at sea !

And yes that includes Susy no pants in Tahiti! That encounter is fondly remembered. (see below)

I was just 18, working as a deck hand on the Thor 1 . A Norwegian ship that took me on an amazing adventure in the South Pacific.

I worked on several other ships as well , including a first voyage to Japan at age 17, then to the South Pacific aboard the Thor 1,
and eventually on a tramp steamer with an often drunk Mexican captain, Peruvian & Bolivian crew , two Australians & a canary islander with his dog.

I had my 21st birthday mid pacific on that ship. The Cecelia Valenero . An old banana boat from equator.
Radar didn’t work, engine failed three times crossing the pacific to New Zealand.

The captain would regale me with stories of his travels in South America.

He’d sit in his captains chair in the wheelhouse, hair slicked back Elvis style, while picking his teeth with a switchblade.
Black Leather jacket collar turned up .. he was a character!

Kind regards
David Okell

Quinns S.jpg

I could elaborate about my visit to Japan.

Including a night with a young woman that ended in failure much to my embarrassment. I was too inexperienced to spend the night with her.

Then I was arrested for smuggling cigarettes ashore planning to sell them in waterfront bars. I bought them duty free on the ship.

On the return from Japan to Vancouver, we encountered the remnants of a category 5 typhoon.
The ship was rolling 40% and was swept off course by 300 miles. That was quite the experience!

And then there’s my voyage in the South Pacific where I was offered to join a copra schooner in Pago Pago , by a captain who was an old Scot & his teenage son . Regrettably I didn’t take the offer .

The tramp steamer ? I was drunk at the wheel of that ship after consuming copious amounts of beer on my 21st birthday. The case of beer was a present from the captain .

And of course the memories of the notorious bar Quinns! Including the the poor excuse for a toilet, lol.

I remember having Hinano beer at the counter in Quinn’s with a tropical downpour leaking through the roof.

I had to shield my glass of beer from flakes of paint falling from the ceiling along with the rain ! And yes my virginity was lost with Susy 😊 no regrets about that !

Except I got the clap as a souvenir.
There’s a price to pay for everything isn’t there?

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi David
You wont see to many of those to the pound these days in the islands, Western food has put quite a bit of weight on them these days.
Cheers Des

[j.sabourn]

#1 congratulations David for attaining the title of Octonarian , thing is now not to get mixed up when seeing the seniors doctor for him checking you for memory loss and don’t get mixed up with octopus and go reminiscing buying new pants for Susy and saying now that you have 8 arms it will be easy to get them on her or off as the case may be. All the best of you becoming of age , if it can’t be 21 then the next best one is 80 as long as you have all your marbles and 8 hands of course. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

#1 your second part of your early days and the typhoon plus the tropical disease you incurred David also the Southern Hemisphere you were in have a lot in common. Penicillin being the wonder drug of the day before that particular tropical disease became immune to it was….. that in a tropical cyclone in the Southern hemisphere the safe quadrant to try and get into is the upper right hand quadrant , this also applies to the right buttock of a home for the penicillin shot. This I learned at an early medical age during my education whilst listening to the excuse they must have caught it off the toilet seat in Quinn’s. However when I lost my job as medical administrator through promotion to further steps up the ladder , penicillin was past its use by date and streptomycin was taking the leading roll. What it is today wouldn’t have a clue , do you ? If you do have this confidential information hope you’re not going to keep to yourself , there is no shame in visiting Susy again , true love will always have its way. Cheers all the best once again. JS

[Joseph Caruana]

you had quite a life mate.

[happy daze john in oz]

Like many of us quite a story.
But for most of us attempting to explain to shore siders can be very hard, they have no concept of what it was like back then.
But given the chance we would all do it all over again and enjoy it even more.