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As far as i know willie he married his Japonese wife in Japan when he was technical advisor for 2 yrs whilst they built 2 shps i think the matoura and the manipoura then moved her to the kent coast nr Herne Bay they had one child adam and as far as i know still is there good man was Dick and he liked a beer or two
i was a utility steward when i started on the toto 1959- and we did all the hard work like on hands and knees scrubbing the deck by a gunport door after the new bloods had boarded in the albert dock.old jock mcpherson was 2nd steward and don bagley was his enforcer or hit man.we had to put up the big christmas tree for the bloods and i nicked a large branch of it to make a tree in our cabin on e deck square. we also worked in the saloon,small bar upstairs,on stores and anything else jock could think off for us to do. i was also shown the golden rivet on my first trip but luckily the broom handle didnt take my virginity. that went in happy valley, curacao. lots more memories to come when i have time.cheers, taff
talking of the NZSCo, anybody out there that was on the " Ruahine " late 1955 early 1956? we sailed on my first trip christmas eve 1955 into a storm that the old man said he had never seen the likes of in 40 years at sea, lasted until we were way out in the atlantic, everyone sick on board. as a bellboy they put myself and 3 other guys in the childrens resturaunt to look after 8 screeming little brats, most never came down during that first week, so we were assigned after dinner to help the A/S`s in the dining room, called at 5.30 every morning to clean ship, wash down the burma way outside the engin room, serve breakfast, clean brass door sills at passenger deck door ways, serve lunch, help out in resturaunt, serve kids teas, help out in resturaunt, end of day, all that every day for a monthly salery of eleven pounds, seven & sixpence. overtime was 76 hours at 1/6 per hour. worked on the coast and still ended up having to take a sub off the next trip to get home!! whilst in panama we took a taxi into Panama city, one of the boys with me thought he would like to try one of the "fair maidens" we met on the street, he went upstairs with her and we 3 others just waited on the sidewalk for him, whilst there, a man came up to us and asked who we were, of course we got a bit shirty with him until he pulls out a police badge, so we told him what were were doing and he said he would wait with us to ensure no-one attacked us, once we were all together it was into the taxi and back to the Ruahine. quite the experiance for four 15 year olds.
good accomodation on that ship, a 4 berth cabin with all wood fixtures, a good crew although some of the guys from Liverpool got into some trouble in NZ, and also on board.
my cabin mates were Dennis Holtumm, Peter Blanchet, Brian Smith, the chief stewards name was Green, I had a good laugh one night in the resturaunt when the Capt`s. Tiger took of his tuxedo jacket, his nice white dickie and coller that looked so smart was actualy made out of cardboard and his chest hair was flowing out the side of it, that with cumber band and bow tie just didn`t seem to fit in with the smart winger i had seen a few minutes before.
as i said a good ship so we did 2 trips then we were asked to leave, no loggings on this one, so paid off with a VG in the book.
RMS RUAHINE 1955-1956
keith moody
R635978
Hi iwas with nzco 1960-1964 sailed on Ranitane as 5th -4th eng 1963-4. Got my pension in 2005
From P&O Pensions Administration MNPA Leatherhead House Station Road Leathead Surry KT22 7ET
E Mail P&O 175 - The Official Collection of P&O's History TEL 01372 200371 Hope is helps.
Regards Alan McDougle
I remember well being anchored off Southend pier. Thick fog and dozens of ships on the radar but none could be seen from the bridge. On the monkey island you could see the ship's masts.
We had called into Southampton two days earlier and the customs had closed the bond so all docking bottles were drunk at anchor
A very warm welcome to the site both Alan and Brook. Apologies for not greeting before but have been away from site a lot of late due to illness. I would sincerely hope that you both enjoy the content here and have a long and happy stay with us.
Brian, I have great memories of the Rangitoto from a passenger perspective. I was on a NZ to UK sailing in 1967. Not sure of the month but I remember the ship had to sail from Auckland instead of Wellington as originally planned because of some engineering issues. I was 11 at the time and had just about the best 6 weeks of my life on that trip, it was magic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Probetts (Site Admin)
Also remember befriending a steward who's name I have since forgotten, but he used to regularly operate the lift, and taught me how to work it, and once tone my great pride at the time, this was called into service for some minor emergency when he got me to take the lift to get something or someone, whilst he dealt with it.
Would love to catch up with him again if he remembers a cheeky little lad who did that. :)
Anyway it was a fabulous ship with a fabulous crew and I feel genuinely privileged to have been able to travel halfway around the World like that. I feel sorry for the folks today who's only option is to get jammed like sardines into flying tin cans.
All the best.
Paul.
"Ruahine" 1965, I was Deck Crew, This was the worst ship for food ( pig swill for want of a better description ) I have ever been on, the poor "peggie" got the blame for the cold food, but we could not blame him for the 2 bouts of food poisoning we had during the voyage. Disgusting Food, even worse a Disgusting cook, he even dished up a boiled potato with a copper staple sticking out of it . URGHH.
I was 3rd leckie on voyage 84 Rangitiki homeward bound Wellington to UK march 1961 via Peru about 8/9 days out of Wellington to Peru we put a bottom piston through the scavenge port.This happened whilst the diesel engine was doing 100 RPM thus comming to an immediate stop of that engine. The cause being the bottom skirt separated from the bottom piston head (wham bam thankyou mam) Thats the end of that engine thank god for a twin screw Doxford engine ship. We limped into Peru on one engine at about 8 knots/hour then spent approximatley one week with Perivian shore side engineers who stripped out the damaged unit top & bottom pistons etc welded plates to give continuity to the scavenge port area. We then sailed home to the RA Dock London 9th may 1961 @ about 14 knots on one 6 legged engine & one 5 legged engine Job Done. I left the ship in London as it was now time to start my UK working holiday. A very nice guy from the catering department called Tony Norbury took me to a place called Morecambe where I took a job for the summer season as an electrician on Morecambes Illuminations scheme. My working holiday in the UK lasted 8 years but 5 of these years were with Shaw Savill Lines. I was lucky to be in the UK for most of the Sixties What an Era with all that music and 2/- (2 shillings to the young folks) Pints of Double Diamond. Regards Noel Martin now 75 years old. and still doing 20 hours work a week
Graham, that was part of a staple diet. Have been looking at some old footage care of Snobow films of some of the ships on the NZ run. there is a comment that the food on these ships was so good and the galley crew so professional. Remembering that some were cargo only and some had passengers