arawa maiden voyage shaw swiv

[Bob Dunkley]

any body sail on this trip up untill cape town we had an A.B called cannonball (george McPhail) i think from aberdeen he was on the mutiny on the waiwera I think ,got 3 months prison in cape town and sent home D.B.S on the windsor castle this was a mad trip ,when we paid off in london there were 29 D.Rs we went to bridge house hotel and all booked into anchor house in canning town that night was abig fight against etheopians ,and father McGuiness loved it few hospital cases that night and back in the kent arms next day, some names on board were Odd Job Norman geordie greaser Eddie Mooney a steward fish Algie Gavin Kincaid Rodger Trivet and a good crowd of hull greasers .Is there any one remember this trip

[Phil Crawley]

Hi Bob, I was there 26/2/69 - 4/6/69 2nd veg cook, without doubt the worst ship I was ever in, if you remember they gave a £3 a week sub at sea for your ale and fags (no book in the pig) at the second sub I asked if it could be raised to £5 a man as the £3 wasn't quite enough, later in the day an assistant purser came to the galley and took me to see the chief purser, who informed me I was heading for a lifetime ban from shaw saville and a DR if I didn't adjust my attitude, I had already given myself the lifetime ban and never got the DR, two pantrymen and an assistant cook went "funny" just before Cape Town and were paid off with mental problems, the standard procedure at the time was to be sent home DBS on the next homebound castle boat, I met one of them in Liverpool when I got home he told me there were new rules and they were put in a mental hospital under observation for six weeks before they were allowed home.
Phil Crawley.

[Bob Dunkley]

allright phill dont remember you but all what your saying was true cannon ball the A.B perched himself on a sampson post at sea for hours and refused to come down all the passengers were taking photos of him and the captain was the chief mate he had kicked down the stairs on the waiwera during the mutiny 3 years previous whilst in N.Z ,his name was D.R Aberdeen also on board was big bubbles in catering nice to hear from you phill

[Adrian Taylor]

allright phill also on board was big bubbles in catering nice to hear from you phill

I sailed on arawa when abberdeen was captain, god what a ship. worst I ever sailed on.

[Phil Crawley]

I see your point Gulliver, someone once said, if they had to have a mental examination instead of a medical most of them would not be at sea.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Hi Gulliver, I agree with you, but when the chips were down and it was a matter of all hands to the pumps soe's to speak, even the s~~t crowds became professional and could be relied upon, only speaking from personal experience, cannot vouch for all the s~~t crowds though
Ivan

[Bob Dunkley]

They sold out for cheaper wages the same as they still do because some of those lovely foreighn crews are just as bad if not worse than the crews you say would still be british if they were angels .I was on a british ship when they started hiring and we had gambians and guini bissol crew attacking each other with knives every day it was a night mare ,and the crews who mostly traffic drugs do so partly because of the low wages we were sacrificed for in the 1st place ,we had a laugh and enjoyed ourselves but changing crews and flags was purely £$£$£$

[Glenn Baker]

Im pretty sure that if there was a change again in favour of British crews , the selection basis would be a lot different to the days when we were at sea, and many people would not be tolerated on board a ship .
In all honesty much of the problems were because of that white line down the middle them and us.

Even in those days the Norwegions and several other Mercantile nations had no problems with crewing and behavioural matters.

On that note im pretty sure if there was a reversal decision on crews thses days the selection criterior would be much different from our days.
Glenn Baker Australia

[john tippett]

i was passenger on arawa oct 69,oz via panama,some of the other pax were as mad as crews i sailed with,spent time down with the real people,i had served on persic,corinthic during my time at sea,i think aberdeen was the captain,not bad for 10 pound,remember john was library man,and lena wagstaff was table steward,she was on a couple of castle boats,i was deck dept, deckboy---ab.and everything inbetween.