Where were you on your 21st Birthday?

Alongside in Salaverry, Peru. 2nd R.O. MV Shirrabank 1979.
Birthday coincided with the 3rd mates birthday so we had a barbecue on the afterdeck & consumed a lot of “Castle beer” having replenished supplies in Capetown. Happy days.

RO on the MV Westbury, arrived in Liverpool on 23rd May 1974 from Georgetown with a cargo of sugar.

My 21st was going to be on the 26th May. Entire crew had paid off and a skeleton crew joined for the time in port. Got permission from the captain to leg it off to Dublin to celebrate with family and friends. Reached Dublin but got a call from Liverpool the following day to say that the ship would be sailing for London on the 25th to load Ford car parts for New Zealand. That rather pissed me off. They would have sailed without me. However, not being a Houlder Brothers RO (I was an employee of Kelvin Hughes), I shuddered to think of the consequences of an AWOL. So, hastily returned to Liverpool and duly sailed for London on the night of the 25th.

So, there I was on the 26th in the English Channel. A complete stranger to the temporary crew; no booze in any of the two bars. In any case the bond locker was sealed for the transit. The most memorable event was sharing my Golden Virginia baccy with a couple of crew who'd run out.

I went for a swim in Caracas Bay while bunkering on Cedric, Shaw Savill, next morning my legs were red with jellyfish stings.

My 21st was in New Orleans in Bourbon Street, French Quarter. I met a girl in the Blue Parrot bar. The Owner ;-). was adrift for 3 days. Went and saw the Rolling Stones at The Superdome!. Got a lift back to the ship, M.V. Cape Trafalgar, by the N.O.P.D. as a joke. Oh I remember it well.. One of the best times of my life!

I was 3/M standing by the Donegal in Gladstone Dock, L'Pool.......1968.

I cannot remember where I was but it was somewhere in the Pacific near Australia. I was on my first ship, SS Oronsay as Junior RO and we were doing 10 day cruises from Sydney. My very small claim to fame is that both my Uncle and my Dad had their 21st birthdays at sea and both were on a ship called Oronsay. Claim to fame because I wrote to P&O's newsletter who published my letter!! Like I say, only a very minor claim to fame.
Pete Laurie

Anchored off Nagoya in a (Thankfully small) Typhoon!

My 21st birthday was on the day we rounded Cape Horn on the way to B.A. to deliver a mob of stud Romney sheep from N.Z. We had provided for the event when loading ships stores in Timaru prior to sailing. With some cooperation from the Baker we diverted several cases of Timaru Bitter into the bakehouse and they were duly opened that evening with several of the catering crew assisting in disposing of the evidence. As each bottle was emptied it was ceremonially broken by hurling it into a corner. There was quite a clean up next morning!

I was just starting my 2 year National Service in the RAF, looking back it was not too bad, pity they stopped it, would sort out todays hoodlums!!

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Originally Posted by Pete Laurie

I cannot remember where I was but it was somewhere in the Pacific near Australia. I was on my first ship, SS Oronsay as Junior RO and we were doing 10 day cruises from Sydney. My very small claim to fame is that both my Uncle and my Dad had their 21st birthdays at sea and both were on a ship called Oronsay. Claim to fame because I wrote to P&O's newsletter who published my letter!! Like I say, only a very minor claim to fame.
Pete Laurie

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I also had my 21st on the Oronsay 23/01 1969 somewhere in the Pacific.