Best time of the day

[happy daze john in oz]

Sitting up on the funnel deck in the afternoon heat looking down on the bloods cavorting around the pool. Then late at night seeing the moon come up, the stars like giant bunches of grapoes hanging there and the luminesence of the ships wake. Pay off day was also popular.

[Tony Wilding]

it depended on the Ship and Weather, about 0430, on the 4/8 ER Watch, take the ER Rubbish up on deck aft and dispose of it, then sit and have a Cigarette and watch the last of the Stars, see the Sun as a golden glow rise as big red ball of fire, especially in the Tropics, then go to Officers Pantry raid the Fridge for Goodies, make our Tea and Toast with lots of Butter, for Engineers and myself, take it down below and eat it, then a ciggie and bit of a chat, usually 0530 by this time, things to do, check oil levels, clean purifiers, dump purifier waste. 4/8 used to pass quickly, off watch at midnight was nice to sit on deck with a tea and ciggie, looking at the night sky. so many stars. unbelievable the first time you see it. but you never tired of seeing it. .Tony W.

[John Arton]

Breakfast after doing the 4-8. Best meal of the day. Hardly ever bothered with lunch and dinner was always rushed as you were on meal relief. Brekkys was the only meal you could savour without having to rush it.
Am I a greedy pig or what?
Morning and evening star sights were also great times and the period between sunset and 2000 when the evening cooled from the heat of the day so you spent that time on the bridge wing just watching the sea and the stars when you were in warmer climes.
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

#19 Keith I was mate on British Ships 63/64 to 66. It was after the seamans strike of that era that the so called 5 day week came in. The only people to get overtime were the watchkeepers on the weekend. This was also cut back at hastily made up Rules by the Labour Party then in power that if there was a bell from the bridge to the messroom the third watchkeeper was unnecessary, and think although I maybe wrong here, that also if ship was fitted with automatic helmsman only 1 man on a watch was necessary. Shortly after, I was rather disgusted at the way the shipping world was going and decided to go on foreign ships where at least they were paying more money. When I returned to British ships in 1972 it was game set and match and believe the 12 hour day was an accepted fact. of life. However in 1977 I went into the offshore world and apart from a couple of years back deep sea during lay ups in the N.Sea oil industry. In 1991 I emigrated to Oz and worked all manner of ships for the next 11/12 years. Conditions on Australian Shipping being a breath of fresh air. Cheers John Sabourn PS I am of course referring to the deck dept. The catering was different as primary they did get overtime at weekend as was essential work. J.S,

[Keith Tindell]

Thanks for that John, thats the period i was thinking of, got the years all wrong. I think about that time when it all started to go downhill, regards KT

[John Pruden]

some of the things you see you cannot put into words because you always think of more and better .jp

[Captain Kong]

I emember a hot night, sailing from the Gulf to the Red Sea on a VLCC the look out said ` Whats that light ahead.` The horizon had a long strip of light, then it started to get bigger and bigger. then we were inside a luminous mist which soon enveloped the ship.
It gave the appearance of floating in space, we could not see the sea or anything, it was so silent and we `floated in space`, for about 20 minutes then the luminous mist started to thin out and we were back on the sea again. The sea was so calm, not a ripple.just had the phosferessence*. It was a magic moment of the phosferessence* mixing with the sea mist.
Shore people never ever see those magic moments in their Offices and Factories.
What a lucky life we had.
Brian.

[John Pruden]

that's what I mean about this thread you type one thing and the memory gives you another keep them coming lads good reading.jp

[happy daze john in oz]

I emember a hot night, sailing from the Gulf to the Red Sea on a VLCC the look out said ` Whats that light ahead.` The horizon had a long strip of light, then it started to get bigger and bigger. then we were inside a luminous mist which soon enveloped the ship.
It gave the appearance of floating in space, we could not see the sea or anything, it was so silent and we `floated in space`, for about 20 minutes then the luminous mist started to thin out and we were back on the sea again. The sea was so calm, not a ripple.just had the phosferessence*. It was a magic moment of the phosferessence* mixing with the sea mist.
Shore people never ever see those magic moments in their Offices and Factories.
What a lucky life we had.
Brian.

You are right Brian, the ones ashore have to do drugs to get that effect.

[John Arton]

One of the most amazing sights I ever saw was on one trip we were coming round the Southern tip of Madagascar and at around 0730 in the morning, on the horizon I could sea what I can only describe as a scene out of 100 leagues under the sea. What I was seeing looked like a monster Octopus doing battle with another sea monster. As we got closer it turned out to be a large pod of sperm whales (the ones with great big fins covered in barnacles or similar) in a feeding frenzy, leaping out of the water and slamming back down in order to stun their prey. Accompanying the whales was a large school of dolphins also having a feeding frenzy. This went on for around two hours and it was like the sea was boiling as all these whales and dolphins enjoyed their breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one go.
If you look at a chart of the area there is a large bank that extends south of Madagascar where the depths are only around 100 fathoms and also it is a confluence of two ocean currents so I can only assume that the mixing of the two currents forms a feeding area at certain times of the year where the fish that these whales and dolphins go for, gather to feed or breed.
Apparently a similar occurrence happens annually in the Gulf of Oman where cold currents push north causing a cold air mass to hit the mountains there. This air mass rises up the mountains giving rise to a tremendous rainfall that turns the southern slopes green with vegetation and leaves sufficient water to feed the vegetation for the rest of the year, whilst the northern slopes remain barren year round. The arrival of this current and associated air mass also signals the arrival of the largest shoals of herring? anywhere in the world and this leads to the landing of the biggest single catches by the local fishermen anywhere in the world. National Geographic channel had a episode on this some time earlier this year.
rgds
JA