rfa

[Ronnie Grant]

someone, some time ago made a comment that RFA crew were wannabee RN. I worked (not served) on three RFA ships and found in general that most of us MN crew took great delight in reminding the mostly ex RN officers in very subtle ways that we did not care for the kind of stockyard confetti that they attempted to shower us with. In general they were happy ships but on a wave boat I was on we had some officers wives and children for a short trip. Stewards expected to scrape child poo off carpet, sorry mate, it's not going to happen. I was personally rebuked by a second mate for not knocking on his door, needed to plug the dickson polisher in to a power point to get the alleyway polished. Tropics, door on the hook with a curtain. How the blank am I going to knock on a curtain?
Having said that I have many happy memories of my time in the RFA but we and the RN are different. Regards to all,Ronnie ex Leith pool

[Jim D]

Speaking of RFA we took over the Dewdale as it had been on a long term charter to the RFA--We got it back as the Edenfield--The E/R was spotless, you could have eaten your meals off the deck plates BUT---Nothing worked!!--They ran the ship on diesel so the Heavy Oil heaters had never been used--the Weirs evap couldn't raise a vacuum as they took water at every port, same as the Nirex had never been used--The exhaust gas boiler didn't work-The Turbo-Alternator had never been run.etc etc---It took us 6 months to get everything running then the company(Huntings) in its wisdom, sold it to the Greeks--It became the "World Field" with Niarchos and a few of us stood by in Scaramanga till the cheque cleared---Ronnie Millar was C/E when everything was sorted and once the word came through that the ship was being sold, he wanted off--All that hard work for nothing

[Arthur Brown]

Hi Guys,
I shipped out of the river Tyne on RFA "Tide Spring" to the cries by the Geordies on board yelling "Hot Pies". I have many happy memories of this RN Tanker. I was an EDH amongst a great crew and fondly remember an incident whereby we borrowed a whole pallet of beer that was destined for the "Ark Royal" and hid it all in the punkah louvre ducting on the deck heads above our cabins but we had to fess up in the end and give it all back (bugger). Our main base was Sembawang which had great open air food stalls with all manner of Asian foods including magic Indian curries. From Sembawang we had to pass through Neesoon where the British army base was, and where I got some good "tatt's" done by "Johnny Gurkha". Coupla beers and on to Singapore for fun beers and laughter in "Bugis Street" etc etc. Our best port of call was the Seychelles, 200 miles out from Mombasa, the Yanks hadn't been there yet and so everything was un-spoiled and reasonably priced.
Anyway I met a nice Aussie girl in Sydney and jumped ship in November 1965 and been in Oz ever since.
There's much much more to my tales but it might get boring so I'll call it quits 4 now.
Best Wishes
Jim in Oz.

[malcolm doherty]

HI JIM
Yea i tried them but they were not for me, to much bull------ i did hear they were great jobs years ago i suppose with the younger generation coming on board now they can throw anything at them and they,ll jump
anyway was wondering is there anyone out there that had the good fortune to have made a trip to the port of LONDONDERRY N IRELAND late 50s / 60s i remember when we were young lads and we used to row over from culmore point and get a close look at these ships when they were tied up at LISAHALLY, some smart a-----
would wave us alongside then lash a bucket of water down on us, happy days wet days, this was the time when the R/NAVY was based in LONDONDERRY , hows things in AUSSIE? shipped in there a few times

ALL THE BEST Mal

[john liddell maltman]

hi guys i join the R.F.A tidespring in rosyth 7.1.74 and was one of the best ships i was on we went to the far east and the crew were great i could never forget the ship pay of in portmouth 2.10.74

[frank earl]

My first trip in 1959 straight form Arethusa was the Tideflow,an RFA tanker on an 18 month trip round the far east,based in Singapore.What a wonderful experience for a 16 year old boy.I remember one morning,waking up and looking through the porthole at sublime white Greek islands rising from a clear blue Mediterranean on the way to Pyreas.Malta,Gibraltar,Tripoli,Port Said,Amsterdam,Rotterdam,Sicily, the list goes on.I feel so sorry for todays youth,who can never know the splendid ocean going life we had.I also served in the Wave Baron and Wave Prince,and Olna (the old ww2 one) before leaving the RFA to go on cargo boats.I have some RFA pics on my album:Facebook

[Brian Rattray]

first trip RFA was on the Olwen for the Cod war dec 74-March 75, great fun & great crew . All RFA I sailed on had fantastic crew & great crew bar, some of my best sea time was on RFA & the fantastic guys I worked,drank & got locked up both (Naples/Gibraltar) but hey we got let oot later. then the Black rover, Gold Rover Olwen x2 then finally Resource world cruise 1980(me only got as far as Hong Kong tho) Some great shipmates & really great shore trips never to be forgotten. Any old shipmates oot there give me a shout.

[Arthur Brown]

Hey mal,
All good in Oz and never been sorry I jumped. Weather here on the Gold Coast Queensland just North of the New South Wales border is Great.
Speaking of Londonderry, I was there in '61 or '62 on a small coastal freighter called "Yewhill" out of Leith. We would leave the Tyne and venture North up through the Pentland Firth then head South through the sheltered waters of the Kyle of Loch Alshe then cut over to Londonderry. I was but 16 at the time and the boys set me up for my first root with a dubious lady in Madam Dubarry's pub, knee trembler up against the wall out the back of the pub -
Good Luck Mal
Best Wishes
Jim in Oz

[George Mortimore]

Hi Ronnie.
I served 36 years in the RFA and never sailed with one ex RN Officer. One or two Signalmen who came over after their 12.
A lot of us were ex MN and the majority ex RFA Cadets

[John Arton]

On my first trip to sea we ended up in Lisbon for dry docking. I was ashore with the 3rd Mate who came from Hull and who had been given the choice of Borstal or the sea by the judge when he was 15.
WE were drinking in a bar in a street just behind the Texas bar when a portly gentleman (that's fat bersted to youse) came up to us and asked in a very plummy Oxford accent "Say chaps, hear you are English, what are you doing in Lisbon", to which the 3rd Mate replied "We are on a ship in dry dock, what are you doing here".
The reply was "Actually chaps, I'm a chopper pilot in the RFA"
3rd Mates reply (he did not like southerners or authority), "so its true then"
"What's that old chap" says RFA Man
"Pigs can fly, so ferk off mate and leave us alone" was the 3rd Mates reply.
Now this would have been o.k. if there was just the one RFA chap in the bar but unfortunately he had a bunch of his mates with him who decided it was time to treat the pair of us to some discipline, the hard way, so they came for us.
Discretion being the better part of valour, especially when seriously out numbered, as the exit was blocked, we turned over the table we were sitting at and chucked the chairs through the window, making our exit through the broken window and legged it off down the street being chased by an angry crowd of RFA guys. Rounding the first corner we bowled over two armed Portuguese policemen. WE picked them up and profusely apologised explaining we were running to catch the last ferry back to the dry dock across the river. No sooner had we got away from them than the RFA crowd came barrelling round the corner straight into the same two policemen. This was a bit too much for them, being bowled over twice in almost as many minutes by two bunches of British drunken seaman and the last thing we saw was the RFA crowd being arrested at gun point by them and being marched away.
The next day our captain got a visit from a very irate captain of an RFA ship wanting to know why he could not sail as his helicopter pilot plus a number of his other Officers were locked up in jail after being arrested following a fracas in a bar with two British seamen. Our Captain asked him how he knew that these two men were off his ship and the reply was that apart from the RFA ship in port we were the only British ship in dry dock at the time. Our captain told him that as we were in dry dock all his crew were working extra long hours and so had no time for shore leave being too tired at the end of a 12 hour day, so the two suspects must have been off another British ship that only hours earlier had departed the dry dock. Also all his officers were too well bred to be frequenting such dives and perhaps he should be looking at the (mis) conduct of his crew instead. A very red faced RFA Captain departed in a right huff and apparently his ship was delayed sailing by 24 hours whilst he got his men out of jail and had to pay to repair a broken bar window!!!
rgds
JA