Holy stone

[Keith Tindell]

I got to thinking of the jobe we had to do from time to time at sea, and i recall on the Alsatia one of the jobs was holystoning the decks, as i recall the stone was held in a metal frame attached to a long handle and hoses running and pushing these things up and down the timber decks, probably no longer heard of. The story that i read was they were called holy stones as when the fleets were anchored out in the Solent, waiting for a favouable wind, the derelict church here on the Isle of Wight at St helens was the source of these stones, in fact the remains of the church is still there. in all probability other stories are out there as to where these stones came from. i seem to recall holy stoning the decks took place on Union Castle. Dont ever remember doing it on trampers, the only wooden decks on them was usually the boat deck, KT

[j.sabourn]

#1..Nearly all the ships I was on were trampships. Apart from the Avonmoor which was a wartime built ship all had boat and bridge and housing decks wood sheathed. Also wooden Taffrails. Never see them nowadays. When had a chippy was a big job depending on how much decking required doing , for cutting out the old and replacing the oakum and tarring in. Ships looked and were cared for as ships in those days. The present system of too few people as regards maintainance and the promises that when they brought out small crews that all maintainance would be done by shore labour ( another similar promise to a politicians ) has brought about on most ships this feeling of lethargy and people dont take a pride in their ship like they once did. Cheers John S

[Richard Quartermaine]

That's a blast from the past I haven't had in my mind for many a decade!
My father used to refer to holystoning the decks on the P&O branch Benalla and Beltana before and after WW1. Caulking with oakum and tar was certainly part of the maintenance on the old ships I sailed on.
Richard

[Keith Tindell]

That thought re holystones came to me in the middle of the night when not being able to sleep, amazing what daft thoughts chuck up, KT

[cappy]

That's a blast from the past I haven't had in my mind for many a decade!
My father used to refer to holystoning the decks on the P&O branch Benalla and Beltana before and after WW1. Caulking with oakum and tar was certainly part of the maintenance on the old ships I sailed on.
Richard

....printed off reading later ....family here today regards cappy

[Jim Brady]

When i joined the King Henry it was in a right state,there was plenty of overtime on offer to bring it back upto scratchAfter painting deckheads and bulkheads and cleaning the oil off and repolishing the engineers cabin doors there was only the deck to do which had ground in oil so much so nobody knew what colour it was.I set to work on it with wire wool doing about a yard and a half a day 2 hours overtime,Get the oil off apply deck polish buff it up with buffer.Once the alleyway was complete i never had to scrub it again,I filled a pillow slip with rags.got a holystone off the bosun,place holy stone on top of pillow cushion and run for&aft along the alleyway,it was like glass by the time we got back yo yhe UK.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[cappy]

When i joined the King Henry it was in a right state,there was plenty of overtime on offer to bring it back upto scratchAfter painting deckheads and bulkheads and cleaning the oil off and repolishing the engineers cabin doors there was only the deck to do which had ground in oil so much so nobody knew what colour it was.I set to work on it with wire wool doing about a yard and a half a day 2 hours overtime,Get the oil off apply deck polish buff it up with buffer.Once the alleyway was complete i never had to scrub it again,I filled a pillow slip with rags.got a holystone off the bosun,place holy stone on top of pillow cushion and run for&aft along the alleyway,it was like glass by the time we got back yo yhe UK.
Regards.
Jim.B.

easy work jim lol regards cappy

[j.sabourn]

#6. Some or nearly all of these composition decks now jim, can be treated with a coat of what is probably a very light varnish, and only needs a mop ( dirty things ) once a day to bring up the shine. Usually lasts about a month and then is coated with a remover, allowed to dry , and redone again. That is inside the accomodation. Everything is there for supposedly little or no maintainance in theory. However theory is one thing practice is another. Cheers John S

[Louis the fly]

Holystoning was a job we all hated. Wet the decks, throw sand and basil on the decks then begin to push the heavy stone up and down.
As you will all know on every ship there were headworkers. Their trick was to put a beer bottle top under the stone, smooth side to the deck, then stand there pushing the pole with one hand and smoking a fag with the other.
I loved the old ships with spotless white wooden decks, varnished taff rails and shining brass.
I was once on a tanker with wooden decks inside the accommodation, one day a flagon of B.O.T. lime juice was accidentally knocked over and where it had run the deck was like new. This was how we cleaned it after that, looked good and smelled good. Don't know what it did to our guts by drinking it.

[robpage]

I was on an old Car a Ferry SS Normania the deck head in the cabin was the planking of the deck above , tar and Oakham hung loose and the rain came in too , pretty when it's over a steel dck , but on its own . No thanks