Far East Odyssey

[dugie mc nab]

FAR EAST ODYSSEY

She’s a lady of the sea, built by Caledon, Dundee,
An “M” class, strongly built, just off the stocks,
Our first port is Penang, then on and round Japan,
And in four months we’ll be back in Gladstone docks.

She looks dirty through the rain as we come on board again,
But the bosun soon will have her “tarted up”,
“Soogie” - that magic brew, and the efforts of the crew
Will get rid of all the city grime and muck.

Tomorrow we sign on, and next day we’ll be gone,
Down the Mersey past New Brighton to the sea,
Look out for Irish ferries as we pass North of The Skerries
And we’ll leave the coast of England on our lee.

We hope that Biscay’s kind and then we can unwind
After double watches and the recent storm,
The sun should soon peep through and the sky will turn to blue
And the breeze will then be balmy, soft and warm.

Through Port Said with all it’s bustle, and the salesmen with their hustle,
Ships in convoy passing North Bound fully laden,
We hope for cooler weather soon with a nice South West monsoon,
But first we’ll fill our tanks and shop in Aden.

It’s a dry and arid land, just barren rocks and sand,
But a busy and strategic bunker port,
The bumboats sell transistors and gifts for mums and sisters,
Cameras, binoculars and goods of every sort.

Soon we pass the fairway buoy and head for Minicoy,
The winds are brisk and raise a heavy swell,
The ship rolls with heavy motion as we cross the Indian Ocean
And we’re spraying o’er the bow and for’ard well.

It’s almost dawn of day as we’re passing Pulau Weh,
And at six “the Bos” and crew are turning to,
Topping derricks, getting ropes up (and the crew are getting hopes up!
For a run ashore to “sink a beer or two”.)

Soon we’re sending out our ropes under Penang’s green clad slopes
Watchmen, tally clerks and coolies - they’re all there.
The betel juice is spouting and Tamil voices shouting
And the poor old mate is tearing out his hair!!

In eight and forty hours, though we’ve been delayed by showers
The pilot’s off - we’re heading down the Strait,
The weather’s hot and sweaty as we tie up to the jetty
At Port Swettenham, which is Kuala Lumpur’s gate.





No chance to go ashore, then we’re off to Singapore
Where at least there is no tiring graveyard watch,
But an hour from dawn’s first light till ten o’clock at night
There are two gangs of dockers in each hatch.

We complete the full discharge alongside and by barge
In a rush to finish cargo while it’s day,
We head for Horsburgh’s light in the middle of the night
A few hours after “Full Away”.

We pass the coast of Sarawak, then through the Strait of Balabac,
Then on past Mindoro and Luzon,
We dodge a strong typhoon before we reach Lei Mun
Then we’re safely in the harbour at Hong Kong.

The next day around noon we’re alongside at Kowloon,
With derricks topped and gangs in every hatch
While junks festoon our offshore side, and sampans scull against the tide,
The cargo soon is discharged with dispatch.

Nathan Road is clad in light, a shopper’s true delight
Silks, watches, custom suits and much much more,
And when we’re working cargo watches with gangs in all the hatches,
The vendors will be knocking on our door.

Our stay is all too short and soon we’re leaving port,
Past Whampoa, through the inlet to the ocean,
Then we’re heading past Taiwan and steering for Japan
With a South East swell and gentle rolling motion.

We view Fuji’s panorama then on to Yokohama
And orders come to load in Otaru,
Where we load in snow and sleet and long for Swett’nam’s heat,
Then we’re heading south to load in Shimizu.

We load in Kobe too as is usual in Blue Flue
Then head for Commie China and Tsingtao
The Commies think we’re spying and that our country’s trying
To overthrow their leader Chairman Mao.

We’re glad when loading’s done for we’ve hardly seen the sun
For a week, and it’s bitter cold at night
But we’re heading south again in force five and sleet and rain
To where the skies are shining blue and bright.

To Hong Kong once more where we get some time ashore
We can wander round and marvel at the prices
We see wooden chests and watches, and exotic things in boxes
And the air it smells of rain and eastern spices.







I won’t bore you with reports of all the homeward ports,
Where we loaded to our marks with eastern goods
We loaded rubber bales and spice, tinned pineapples, bags of rice,
Hides, tin ingots, and more rubber and exotic tropic woods.

It is on the homeward run that the finish paint is done
And we no longer see the primer and red lead
The varnish sparkles in the light and all the brass is burnished bright
As we pass on through the Red Sea and the Med.

We catch a freezing winter blast and the sky is overcast,
And we’ve long since changed our dress to blues from whites,
There are ocean swells aplenty as we pass by Cape Vincente,
And our eyes are searching through the rain for lights.

As we pass through Bay of Biscay we lay in our “docking whisky”
And Channel Fever soon runs through the ship
Approaching Holyhead we can’t see the fo’cs’le head
And the radar’s on, we’re watching every blip.

We pass The Skerries once again in patchy fog and rain,
But the pilot is on board and knows the way
As we pass by Abergele there’s a knot in every belly
For we’re almost back again in Liverpool Bay.

The tide is now just right and we’ll tie up before night
So we close the entrance at “Dead Slow Ahead”
We’re safely through the lock and into Gladstone Dock
With shouts of “Keep ‘er stern off the knuckle, Fred!”

The ship is soon made fast - and we’re back home at last!
Tomorrow we sign off and pack our gear,
We’ll catch a late night train and head up North again
We’ll be at home for Christmas and New Year.

I hope you like this rhyme and it brings you back in time
To the days when ships were ships and men were men,
When in every foreign port were British ships of every sort,
With names like City, Clan, and Palm, Cape, Port and Ben.

Dugie Mc Nab 2007
dugiemcnab@yahoo.com

[Captain Kong]

What a fantastic poem Dugald, brings back a lot of memories of a Blu Flu voyage like that.
Enjoyed it.
Thanks for that.
Brian

[cappy]

thats some poem man ......i was getting the channels at the end ....regards...cappy

[gray_marian]

Thank you Dugie, A joy to read, almost felt I was on the voyage too

[Louis the fly]

I was always curious about Blue Funnel, it seemed to be a Merchant Navy apart from the rest with it's own training school and crews that never left.
There were stories, some not so good, about the company.
When they merged with E.D.'s to form Ocean Fleets I had just come home from a trip on the Obuasi. The personnel guy ( think his name was Ede ) asked me if I wanted to join the Helenus. I was a bit dubious but said I would.
Even though the only pool man aboard I was accepted immediately and had a great trip. The seamanship was the highest quality and the ship was maintained far better than I had seen before.
After that trip I joined another Blue Flu, Machaon, back to the far east this time finishing up in Sarawak and Borneo to load a deck cargo of logs.
Once again a good trip with good crew.
Curiosity satisfied it was back to the pool.

[John Pruden]

kevin eda always wore white gloves looking back he must have had some form of dermatitis but a fair man I never had much time for greenwood a very sullen face all the time?jp

---------- Post added at 10:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 AM ----------

Louis I was one of o brians commandos that was the nickname for the teacher dennis o brian ex boson and a hard task master and I must say I passed out odyssey works 100/100 ?jp

[Captain Kong]

I only sailed with Blu Flu once, on a Sam boat EURYADES, for six months. The Best voyage I have ever done. working in the paradise of the Spice Islands. [ see my story in Seafaring Stories thread, Swinging the Lamp,] Then Mr Greenwood sent us all to the Melampus in June / July 1960 for the maiden voyage. The Seamens Strike started so some of us walked off on strike. Mr Greenwood told us we were Not welcome anymore.
Always admired their ships. but one thing I didnt like was, On the Melampus, they had, ABs and then Leading Seamen, and then the Bosuns Mates and the Bosun., Never come across that before or since,
I still do not know what qualifications you needed to be a Leading Seaman, and is he senior to an Able Seaman.? any Blu Flu men out there know about it?
Cheers
Brian.

[Louis the fly]

Hi Brian, on the two I was on there were four leading seamen. They were men who had trained with Blue Funnel as boys and stayed with the company.
They were not qualified higher than A.B.'s but were on the ladder to become the next lampy's and bosuns.
I used to work with them in the rigging gang overhauling all the blocks, runners etc. Excellent seamen.

[John Pruden]

the leading seamen always seem to take the docking wheel but the ships always ran well a lot of bs but good ships good feeders some of the mates belonged in nelsons day but good work horses of the sea non were insured by Lloyds of London they had a fund of their own? own shore gangs that would come out to meet the ships ready for work in Liverpool and Birkenhead discharging within 1 hour of docking?jp

[Captain Kong]

I must say that their ships were well designed and built and the organisation was 1st class.
, What baffles me is , where the hell did Blu Flu and all its Associated Companies disapear to??
Massive fleets of ships. all gone.
.
I was on the wheel on the Euryades and sailing into Singapore in 1960. Pilot on board.
There was a ship we were passing, The Captain said to the Pilot, "What kind of ship is that?"
It had Containers on deck.
The Pilot said to the Captain. "That ship will mean the end of Blue Funnel."
Captain said, "Rubbish".
How Right he was.
.
Brian.