The assumption a hard ship was a happy ship

[Ivan Cloherty]

On my first trip the C/E was Russian,he kept us Jun/eng`s on sea watches for almost 5 months,

What can one say, these Russkies are evil barstewards, must have been akin to working in the salt mines!

[Alan Knight]

I agree with you Rob! As a D/A in Shell Tankers (U.K.) Ltd, I sailed on two of the "V" Class, "Verconella" and "Vitrina", built late 1950's, and by the late 1960's/early 1970's they were getting "long in the tooth" but were making serious profits due to sky-high charter rates, following the closure of the Suez Canal. They were prone to fatigue cracks in tank bulkheads, and on "ballast" voyages, we grubby Apprentices were turned-to to help the Engineers. The cargo tanks on either side of the crack would be ballasted-up to just below the level of the crack, and we would inflate truck inner tubes as buoyancy aids and "tool platforms". After testing the atmosphere with the MSA gas-detector, we would split into two groups, (one each side of the bulkhead) and launch the inner-tubes onto the oil-scummy water, and paddle over to the crack. The Engineers would drill four holes around the crack, place a rubber-backed steel patch over the crack, and push bolts through the holes. On the other side of the bulkhead we would place the rubber/steel patch onto the bolts, place a nut on the thread, hand-tighten" the bolts, and when done, place a spanner on the nuts. When ready, we would tap on the bulkhead, and the lads on the other side of the b/head would tighten the nuts with a air-powered drill.
When the job(s) was/were complete, we would all sit on the pipelines and have a couple of cold Tiger beers, before turning on a fire hydrant and having a "wash-down" with Fairy soap. It was hard, dirty work, but with a good bunch of lads, cold beer, and a curry lunch to look forward to, it was grand!