MV Orita

[Wagga]

This was my second ship c1970. Our trip commenced at Liverpool bound for the West coast of South America via the Panama Canal.
Lashed to the deck was a fairly large hovercraft which threatened to make the whole ship top heavy and cluttered up the starboard side until it was unloaded in South America.

Our cargo on the return trip was to be melons. At first these were a novelty at mealtimes but by the time we reached the UK I never wanted to see another melon ever again.

My cabin mate bought a South American parrot which at first was extremely shy but by the time we were half way home it was all over us like a rash. It would sit on our shoulders while we would make all the usual pirate sounds. My cabin mate built a cage for it out of orange boxes. It was a brilliant job and reminded me of "Birdman from Alcatraz". The last I saw of this parrot was at the railway station in Liverpool.

The python came into the picture in the port of Lima in Peru if I remember rightly, It was slithering around an AB's cabin. In the next port it ended up in the sea. The authorities raided our ship but could not be sure from which ship it had slithered so the guy got off with it. We threatened him with ending up in the sea with it! Oh the adventures of the old days.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Wagga.
Great tale; I like to read about these sort of things that happened to other blokes, brings back memories of my own.
Cheers Des
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[Kenneth Kenny]

My Dad,brought Monkey home from sea in the late Forties,we lived in Bootle then,my Mam was not very pleased it was climbing up the curtains and pulling them down,all the family and myself where chaseing it round the house,my Dad even brougt a big bunch of banana's home,put them in the bath to Rippen all the kids In our street came around the our house for free Banana,never seen one before,never you what happend to the Monkey,mam always made a nice pan of scouse.Ken.R634898.