Gravesend sea school 1965 memories are made of this

#19 competency ,! For those ex RN officers holding commissions who were in the correct branch of the Navy could on application receive a merchant navy equivilant on retiring from Naval duties this however was a certificate of Service , it covered a masters f.g. Certificate with one exception which was a H.T. Passenger vessel , don’t ask me why as haven’t a clue.
But to my mind how can a naval officer jump the intermediate certificates with all the different subjects such as cargo handling and other topics ? Really is a bit of putting the cart before the horse. JS
PS for some of those I sailed with wouldn’t have even of had the required seatime to gain such certification . JS

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Originally Posted by j.sabourn

PS for some of those I sailed with wouldn’t have even of had the required seatime to gain such certification . JS

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Couple (nice blokes but!) I sailed with were completely lost on cargo work and stability, to us it was our bread and butter, to them it was an alien subject, lets face it the displacement on an RN vessel changes very little compared to a MN vessel. They should have been restricted to passenger vessels where their wardroom conduct would have been an asset on the aforementioned vessels

One I sailed with Ivan was a Lt.Commdr. In Submarines . According to him his cert. Of Service did not cover HT passenger vessels , so he asked to sit a Competency cert. he sat and passed. What this consisted of I have no idea, but his words he wished he hadn’t as had trouble in passing and if he had failed would have lost his cert. of Service. So doubt he would have passed a proper 2nd. Mates cert. JS
I sailed with naval officers for nigh on 4 years and one Lieutenant who had taught navigation at Dartmouth asked to come on bridge and take a Sun running fix crossing the Bay on a courtesy visit to Italy , he was on the bridge at 0730 and wanted the printed paperwork to fill in as per naval style, I said we don’t work like that just use the Haversine formulae , don’t think he knew what I was talking about, so I said Hav ZX= Hav.LHA Cos. Lat cos Dec +hav ( Lat diff. Dec ) don’t think he knew what I was talking about , he decided to go and have breakfast instead. JS

Hi Dave

I departed Gravesend just 3 days before you arrived on the 22nd Jan 1965.

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Originally Posted by DaveHeff

Arrived with others on the 25th Jan 1965, it was freezing. None of us had been away from home before (although I had spent a week away at HMS Ganges when I was 13, hence the photo in sailors uniform) I think there were 25 in the class, which halved within three days. I can´t remember how soon we were issued with our uniform but possibly the second day. It was not very flattering. Then it was haircut time. carried out by a sadist.

I cannot remember how many were in the dormitory, poss 350 plus. It must be what prison is like without the doors. I think I had a window but it was on the top floor, My cell mate was Wally Lavery from Ireland. Brilliant lad & hard as nails.

The heads, outside in the yard in a row, no doors either!. No one would go but By Thursday all embarrasement went in the rush!.

To make us all feel better we were told that it was made this bad, so that anything we would face in the future, would be an improvement. They were right.

Not allowed out of the school until Thursday and then on strict instructions. Worse no Home leave for 2 weeks and only 5 bob a week to spend. Then there was the food!.

Being in catering in our last week we had to get up earlier than anyone else to get the "food" prepared. I am sure everyone blamed us!.

Made some good friends both among those in catering and on the deck side, the camaraderie was something else. We had some good instructors as well. The responsibilty of looking after us must have been tremendous, as none of us were angels.

Only allowed out in threes and the highlight was the cafe near the ferry terminal (anyone remember the name?) .Top of the hit parade was "you´ve lost that loving feeling" which kept being played. And the waitress, oh the waitress, she had a tattoo at the top of her thigh and would show it to those on their final week. Happy days!

I can remember looking across at the docks at night seeing all the lights on the ships and being in awe. I couldnt wait to get on one for real. It seemed an eternity to the end of the course.
:)

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I joined in 1970 - 1. I decided to join the catering department. My uniform was called an Andy Pandy from the children’s to show because of its stripes R901093 was my number, it’s ingrained in my mind. I loved every minute and would love to go back in time. I had a good live then and I’ve got wonderful memories. Thanks for the memories. Robert Reilly.

Heads A Penny, we have enough problems with the origan's of peanuts.