Memory

[Ron B Manderson]

I left in 1971 and some nights I wake up and think " Nickers the engines stopped. Now that is old age. lol
Ron
the batcave

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

I often wish that I had kept some kind of journal during my 9 years at sea, also a decent camera. But how many of us ever thought about these things in our late teens and early twenties. The reason I keep turning to this website is that a certain post or even a word by someone sparks off a memory, and starts a train of thought going. The trouble is that I can see all the faces, but can I remember the names ?
When you are living alone you have more time to sit and think, nostalgia is the only thing that keeps you sane. Although my sea time took up only about 20% of my working life it is that part which I treasure the most.
Cheers
Pete

[Ivan Cloherty]

I often wish that I had kept some kind of journal during my 9 years at sea, also a decent camera. But how many of us ever thought about these things in our late teens and early twenties. The reason I keep turning to this website is that a certain post or even a word by someone sparks off a memory, and starts a train of thought going. The trouble is that I can see all the faces, but can I remember the names ?
When you are living alone you have more time to sit and think, nostalgia is the only thing that keeps you sane. Although my sea time took up only about 20% of my working life it is that part which I treasure the most.
Cheers
Pete

Hell Pete

A lot of us will agree with your above sentiments, I kept a lot of records whilst at sea, but after coming ashore I was at times in my life stationed abroad and a lot of stuff went into storage with that well known company P-------ds, on returning to UK to collect our furniture etc, guess which box they had lost, yep the one with the photos and journals. But like you the posts on this and elswhere always jog the memory, bring back the smiles and make me wonder how we got away with some of the things we did. Sailed with some mad buggers in the 50's and 60's no one thought about elf n safety then thank god. Guess nobody keeps a journal now, as they have enough forms to fill in, thank god we sailed in the era's we did

All the best
Ivan

[Captain Kong]

I still have my overtime book from 1955 to 1962 so I know the times, dates, ports and positions we were at and the jobs on deck we did at that time, with a few mentions of any important happenings such as when someone died etc. So there is a lot of memories in that little overtime book.

[Mike Hall]

please do not forget.
you can still obtain the voyage record cards
of each voyage,to help jog the memory.
at,www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
e-mail,search.guildhall@corpoflondon.gov.uk

all the best
mike

[Gulliver]

please do not forget.

you can still obtain the voyage record cards
of each voyage,to help jog the memory.
at,www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
e-mail,search.guildhall@corpoflondon.gov.uk

all the best
mike

Thanks Mike,and just to clarify it for others reading in,this link will take you to the Guildhall Library just to show what is held there:-
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Libraries/City_of_London_libraries/guildhall_lib.htm

Then this link will tell you about Voyage Record Cards:-
http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/01E92390-EC2F-4C52-855D-810D7E491B4A/0/M6VoyageRecordCardsDTBMar2010.pdf

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

Here's one to get the old juices rising. Who remembers The Texas Bar and The Arizona Bar in Lisbon back in the 50's, or could it be a memory too far.
Cheers
Pete

[Captain Kong]

Here is a memory of the old FRANCONIA, of Cunard, I sailed on her as QM and then Look Out in the summer of 1956.
Here she is............

FRANCONIA

The Franconia built for Cunard in the early 1923. She was similar to the Scythia and Samaria, , she was meant for the Liverpool-New York trade, and also designed for cruising in the winter months. She was designed by Leslie Peskett, Cunard’s naval architect, built by John Brown & Co on the Clyde and launched on 21 October 1922 by Lady Royden, the wife of Sir Thomas Royden, chairman of Cunard. Her accommodation was regarded as being particularly fine: the first class smoking room being a reproduction of an English inn, complete with oak panelling and a brick inglenook fireplace.

She sailed on her maiden Voyage on 23 June 1923 from Liverpool to New York and she continued on this route during the summer months until the outbreak of war , Her maiden voyage was between Liverpool and New York on 23 June 1923 and she continued on this route during the summer months until the outbreak of war Her winters were spent on 133 day world cruises.
On 10 April 1926 she was involved in a collision leaving Shainghai harbour. While leaving her wharf she ran aground, her stern swinging around and hitting a Japanese cargo vessel and an Italian gunboat, the Libia. A buoy then became tangled in the Franconia’s propellers, sinking a lighter in the process and killing four members of its crew. I saw a phot of that event with the drowning men in the water alongside the Franconia.
In September 1939 she was requisitioned as a troopship and refitted at Liverpool. Her first convoy was to transport troops to Malta, but while travelling in convoy with the Alcantara and Empress of Australia the Franconia was involved in a collision with the Alcantara, As a result of this accident the Franconia had to undergo major repairs at Malta. Later, during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France, she was damaged by air raids while carrying 8,000 troops. For the rest of the war she continued as a trooper, travelling to India and the Middle East via Cape Town and taking part in the invasions of Madagascar, North Africa and Italy. A friend , who is no longer with us, was on the Franconia approaching Sycily for the invasion with troops, she was attacked by German bombers, A stick of six bombs exploded underneath her and he said the ship was lifted completely out of the water by the blasts. This damaged the engines and shafts, but she was able to carry on. In 1944 she carried American troops from New York to the Mediterranean. During her period of Government service she covered 319,784 miles and carried 189,239 troops.
The Franconia’s moment of wartime glory came in January 1945. The ‘Big Three’ - Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin - were to meet at Yalta on the Black Sea to discuss the shape of post-war Europe. The Franconia acted as the base for the British delegation, returning to Liverpool in March 1945.

After the end of the war, the Franconia, like many of the requisitioned vessels, continued in government service repatriating troops and prisoners of war. She returned to Cunard’s control in June 1948 and was sent to the Clyde for a nine-month reconditioning. On 2 June 1949 she resumed a passenger service, this time sailing from Liverpool to Quebec, and later Montreal, In 1956 she did the Liverpool New York run.
The Franconia’s withdrawal from service was announced in October 1956. He last sailing was on 3 November between Liverpool and New York and back again. The return voyage she broke down with mechanical faults and she was four days late when she reached Liverpool. She had been meant to carry troops to Suez, but the unreliability of her engines meant that she was withdrawn from this duty. She was sold to the British Steel & Iron Corporation and left Liverpool on 14 December 1956 to be scrapped at Inverkeithing.

NUMBER 6A
I was on the Franconia in the summer of 1956, The Master was Captain Donald Murdo Maclean, DSO, RNR. later to become Master of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as Commodore of Cunard. The Bosun was Nelson and Bosuns Mate was Charlie Chin.
The Franconia was a good job , plenty of money, with the overtime, and a good run to New York. A week across, a week in New York , a week across and a week in Liverpool.
I remember when a first class waiter dropped dead whilst serving passengers, us watch on deck had to go into the saloon and carry him out, the first class passengers rather disturbed at having their evening dinner disrupted.
We took him to the Medical Centre and the Doctor certified him dead then told us to take him to the cool room down below. We took the lift to the working alleyway then we had to use the stores lift which was four feet high and about four feet wide, so we folded him up in it and sent it down. Their were no fridges on the Franconia, the Chill room was full of blocks of ice and the meat was stowed on top of this also the vedge. He was naked and we laid him on top of the ice.
The following day the Doctor wanted him up in the Medical Centre to do a post mortem, so we had to go down to get him. He was frozen solid when we got there. We did nt like to touch him, he was icy cold like a marble statue. The Bosuns Mate said dont be so soft and then slid him off the ice and stood him up. So we had to get a hold of him, a bit gruesome. we got him to the stores lift and he was stiff so we had to struggle to get hin in, he was put diagonaly from the bottom corner to the opposite top corner we had to get Tommy Miller to get inside with him to get him position. Then the Bosuns Mate slammed the lift door on Tommy, and pressed the button for it to go up, then he pressed it again when it was between decks and stopped it. Tommy was screaming , he couldnt get out. The Bosuns Mate shouted Smoko and so we all went forard for a ciggy and a brew. Meanwhile in the lift which was against the engine room bulkhead was getting warm, it was dark in there and then the stiff started to move as it melted, Tommy was screaming in fear as this corpse started to move against him in the dark, he was demented.
When we returned the screams were terrible, The button was pressed and the lift arrived in the working alleyway and Tommy was there with the corpse lying on top of him. I have never seen so much fear in a mans eyes as then. we Lifted the corpse of him and put him on a trolley and Tommy was told to go and have a smoko. Tommy went straight into the Pig and got himself bevied and 55 years later Tommy is still bevied.
The dead Steward was carried ashore at the Landing Stage in Liverpool and into an Undertakers van.
On the next trip homeward bound again a very large American female passenger died, she must have weighed about twenty stones. The night before we arrived in Liverpool, Paddy Dirkin and I had to take the coffin forard to the crew gangway shell doors ready for taking ashore when we docked. Paddy and I had had a few drinks before we did this and she was so heavy we couldnt carry her so we were dragging the coffin, which was only a rough box lined with cotton wool, with a rope. we stopped half way along and sat down on the coffin for a ciggy. Paddy told me that I had fallen asleep on top of the coffin. he had to wake me so we could carry on forard. Next day alongside the Stage, Paddy, Johnny Golbourne and I dragged the heavy coffin down the crew gangway and with the Undertaker lifted it into his van.
We were tied up in Huskisson Dock when we had to shift ship astern, we were on the fore deck heaving on the back spring , this came in through a lead across the deck then round the `old man`, an iron column with a cast iron roller lead on top, about four feet high, the rope then went to the drum end on the winch. George Waldren, one of Cunards shore gang was stood by the rails when the `Old man` snapped off at the deck, he was in the line of what was a great catapult, the `old man` flew across the deck and hit George full on and smashed him against the rails crushing him. It took six of us to lift the `old man ` off him, He was in an extremely bad way. He was taken to hospital and died six weeks later. Very sad. He was 46 years old and had four children.

New York was always a good run ashore, The beer, Wrexham Lager, in the Pig on the Franconia was an old 8 pence a pint, that was 30 pints for one pound. the Pig on the Franconia closed at 8 pm in New York, so we supped up and went down the gangway across the shed and up the gangway of the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth and carried on there in the Crew Pig, they didnt close until 10pm., then we would go ashore to the Market Diner across the road.on the corner of 52nd Street and 12th Avenue. The beer there was 10 cents a glass so we got ten glasses for a dollar. about twenty five to the pound. a pint of blood at the blood bank would get you five dollars. that was 50 glasses of beer in the Diner. Not a bad exchange. At those prices ale was cheap. Some times we go up to Broadway and do the clubs, Tommy Dorsey`s Orchestra was always on there, always full, and a good night was to be had. there. Jack Dempseys Bar on Broadway, where we would "shake the hand that shook the world" with a photo, all for one dollar. There was good shopping there, Nylon stocking for the girls back home were cheap, Dupont Nylon, 15 denier, Always had a pocket full and at home in the Locarno dance hall, throw a couple of packets around and the girls would be screaming after me. We bought our suits from the Salvation Army store on 8th Avenue and I had a beautiful pure silk midnight blue drape suit with the bullet holes in the back sewn up by my Mother. $10, the suits and shirts were got from the City morgue so they were very cheap, I looked a million dollars in that suit, with a mid Atlantic accent, We were Cunard Yanks and the girls back home couldnt get enough of us. Records were good swag in those days, In the States they came out 12 months before you could get them in England due to a musicians strike. So they were always in demand for the most popular artistes and always made a few bob out of them. They were good days, Another good thing was the washing machines and fridges from the Salvation Army store, they were about 5 to 10 dollars each, the ship was full of them all in the working alleyway lashed to the bulkhead hand rails and on B Deck Square where our accommodation was. At the Stage in Liverpool, Daley`s big van would deliver them for five shillings. A few of the Stewards on big money would buy second hand cars. Big Yankee ones with tail fins, Buicks, Dodges, Chryselers and so on. they sold them cheap in a Dock yard around 33rd Street. Cars that had been pounded by the cops for parking violations and so on were sold cheep every weekend, they still do it today, I was in New York in April last year and the yard was still there full of cars waiting to be sold.
Cunard allowed them to carry the cars home, without insurance, if we loaded and unloaded them ourselves. So the Stewards would drive to the Pier 92 and pay us a handful of dollars to rig the derricks and load them and stow them on the hatch on B Deck square lash them down and pay us again to do it at the Stage in Liverpool where they would drive them home. A lot of those Stewards were like millionaires, there were all kinds of rackets going big money could be made mostly from the dropsies from the Bloods. We could make a load of dollars from washing up and polishing glasses in the passenger bars, paid for by the cocktail bar tenders.
In the Pig there were all kinds of gaming machines, Roulette, Cock and Hen Boards, Crown and Anchor Boards, Crap games, and so on, with big time Poker schools that lasted for days, with men being paid to do the players work and also to fetch coffee and sandwiches. pots going for thousands of dollars. A lot of wealthy passengers including movie stars would come down to the Pig for the gambling. There were no casinos allowed on ships in those days it was illegal under United States Laws.
All good things have to come to an end, I was in the Pig having a pint with Joe Finnegan when I should have been on look out up the crows nest, the Masters at Arms dragged me up on the Bridge and Captain Maclean had me logged and sacked. Three months later the Franconia was taken out of service and taken to the breakers in December 1956. I just knew they couldnt do without me.