He's Got the Key of the Door,Never been 21 before...
As is usual for me,nothing in my seagoing career was ever straightforward.I have already referred to the fact that "I no longer exist in the records",despite being at sea from 1969 until 1990 ! The reason of course being that I continued to be at sea after 1972,when no records were kept.
I know different of course,having my lovely blue hard-backed Discharge Book with me.That is the only thing(and thankfully my excellent memory) that reassures me it wasn't all a dream !
No,getting back to the subject,what I mean to say about things always being complicated for me,is that when I was 17 in the year 1969,they reduced the age of majority from 21 to 18,which meant that I was supposed to have the' key of the door 'when I was 18 in 1970.But..for quite a few years afterwards nobody celebrated their '18th',but still waited until their 21st(three years later- like those before us used to.)
I think if anyone at sea at that time insisted on having an 18th celebration,instead of a 21st,then they would have been told to do a running jump..
So anyway,I hung on until 1973 when I was 21.The reality wasn't that brilliant,being on a voyage from Port Cartier ,Quebec Province to Haifa,Israel with about 35.000 tonnes of grain.
We'd had a rough passage,and were routed increasingly southwards to avoid the usual succession of Atlantic storms,and we had also landed a sick motorman in the Azores.My 21st coincided with the approaches to the Straits of Gib, and I was 3rd Mate,but thanks to a terrific Old Man,Chief and 2nd Mates,who shared my two watches between them,I was able to have a good 21st,which on that voyage was very welcome for everybody.
Next day,with only a 'slight' hangover,it was good to be in the Med,on watch,with the sun on my face again,feeling different somehow now because I was 21 !
The officers presented me with a tankard which was engraved by one of the junior engineers.I treasured it and took it to sea...until a few years later it mysteriously disappeared from my cabin whilst on the Nigerian coast.I was out working cargo when the 'rummage crew' did a Customs search of the ship.I couldn't find it when I came in off the deck a few hours later,desperate for a cold lager from my lovely tankard.
If that's what happened to it,then that was despicable.....
Yet again,I have no tangible proof that I was 21 at sea....My lovely engraved 21st tankard disappeared .....
I have never had the heart to buy another tankard since.
It's only by getting these memories down that tell me it all happened!.
Thank you all lads and ladies for listening,as I know you all understand the mind of a fellow seafarer.
Happy New Year!
Gulliver
