Passports

[Tony Taylor]

I renewed my wifes passport a couple of years ago did it all from home online, she now has a blue passport. Had to upload a digital photo but it was easy to do.
Someone mentioned earlier about having two UK passports I also required this for work as I was travelling to different countries each month so my employer kept one and got the appropriate visas in it when I was off somewhere else. To get the second passport all I required was a letter from my employer saying it was required for business purposes. They also paid for all passport renewals I just claimed it on expences.

Same for me, although I had to organise all my own travel and visa requirements. I had several visits to Iran between 09 - 12 which could cause problems in certain other countries. I also got queried a couple of times about my visit to Yemen in 11.
Got messed about by Iranian Embassy on couple of occasions and had to travel elsewhere whilst my 2nd passport was held up by them.

[James Curry]

I remember flying into South Africa & Israel the immigration did not stamp the passport. They stapled the entry and exit stamps to a page in my passport so you could remove it if you wanted to.

[J Gowers]

Hi Tony my visits were to Ghana, Nigeria, EG, Cameroon, Angola, Congo, Egypt, Malta, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, US, Trinidad, Venezuala, Holland and South Africa.
Think I actually went to more countries when I was in the Drilling Industry than 14 years in the MN.
I remember in the 80s when I was still at sea guys having problems if they had an Israeli stamp in their passports getting into Saudi and having to use their discharge books.

[Tony Taylor]

Hi Tony my visits were to Ghana, Nigeria, EG, Cameroon, Angola, Congo, Egypt, Malta, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, US, Trinidad, Venezuala, Holland and South Africa.
Think I actually went to more countries when I was in the Drilling Industry than 14 years in the MN.
I remember in the 80s when I was still at sea guys having problems if they had an Israeli stamp in their passports getting into Saudi and having to use their discharge books.

Quite a few of those I wouldn't want to go back to these days, they were bad enough back then.

[Rodney Mills]

James #33.

The reason Israel does not stamp the pages of passports is a courtesy. You will not be admitted to Saudia Arabia, the Emirates, or most North African countries if you had an Israeli stamp in your passport.

Cheers, Rodney

[James Curry]

Yes Rodney I am aware of that. South Africa was the same it may have led to problems entering other nations during the apartheid years.

[j.sabourn]

#33. JG unless you were in SouthAfrica as a visitor in the 50s you wouldn’t appreciate the Apartheid that existed in South Africa . I was 17 on my first visit to Capetown . Was warned if I wanted to keep clear of trouble with the police then not. To be seen commuting with any Cape Coloureds otherwise my feet would never touch the ground , and I took their advice. The next time I was there I saw this what I assumed was a European woman well dressed wandering around Duncan Dock I was all for going down and see if she was lost. I was again warned off by one of the ABs . He said she was a cape coloured and was hard to pick out. He said the only way you could discriminate her background was by the half moons on her finger nails which weren’t all white . I said what’s she doing here then ? His reply was she is looking for someone like you who is wet behind the ears , she is after continuing with the colour change by having a whiter baby again and you with freckles and ginger hair maybe what she is looking for.
I always take good advice and wouldn’t wish freckles and ginger hair on anyone .It was a monstrous thing the way the colour of a persons skin was used . Saying that the same trip we had a gang of stevedores who were all white skinned but negroid featured and there was supposed to be a tribe of them somewhere nearby. However a few years later and not so green , freckles and ginger hair faded to Auburn I had a couple of female friends who lived in Woodstock and a different AB warned me of going there after nightfall , thinking back it may of been a ploy so he didn’t bump into me in the neighbourhood. Cheers JS

[Keith Tindell]

I think i am right in saying that we were warned by the skipper on the Castle boat that he could not help if we fraternised with the Cape coloureds. Also in the 60s , SA did a trade deal with Japan, and so reclassified the japs as whites. Must have been very difficult to classify the various nations white or black, or coffee coloureds. I visited Capetown a few years ago, now a lovely place, still have to be careful after dark, but freely travelled on the bus in day light.

[Ivan Cloherty]

I have three 90 page passports all fastened together by green tape and wax (by HM Govt) showing the extent of some of my travels in a 10 year period. HM PPO were very good as my first issue had unexpired visas in for certain countries when it became full, they were still valid as where other visas in my second passport when it became full,as did the third passport. Previous to getting the 90 page passports I had the normal 30 page, but they got full in a few months, although they were also valid for 10 years. My 3 x 90 page fastened together became very bulky, but you would never misplace them! Both Israel and Lebanon would give you a stapled entry visa if you asked for one. Some Arabian countries would put their stamp on top of my USA| 'indefinite permission of entry' visa which didn't please the USA Immigration, but never prevented me from entering, but they always checked the 270 pages to see if I'd been somewhere they didn't like. Those were the days! talk about your feet not touching the ground.

[Rodney Mills]

The first time I went to the States was to New Orleans; galley boy on the La Cumbre. Burries and Marks.

I had a half day off and took the bus into downtown New Orleans. The bus didn't have a conductor, you paid of dropped money or tokens were the driver sat. I paid, the bus pulled away and it was pretty empty. My preferred seat was at the back of the bus, so I made my way to the very back and sat next to the window. The bus came to a sudden stop and the driver came storming back and asked me if I was a smart ass. I said no. He told me the whites don't sit at the back of the bus, ******* do. He then pointed out a yellow board, midway down the bus and told me I had to sit in front of that sign. I noticed all the seat backs except the very back row had slots so the sign could be moved to allow more seating for the whites.

The craziest thing was there were food and drink establishments strickley for whites and separate establishments for "colored" ,but if you went into a department store, both races could go in but had separate entrance/exits for whites and blacks.

What was worse for us, -on the La Cumbre- was the catering staff were white and the deck and engine room crew were Jamaican or Indian/Pakistan. waiting for a bus together to go into town and the bright lights chatting together and seating separate, plus they went to one bar for coloreds and I and other catering went to whites only.

In the States it was called "Jim Crow" rules, they were finally got rid of about 10 years later and not a day to soon as far as I'm concerned.

One of my good friends was black and was drafted from high school by Notre Dame Football, one of the best-known college football teams in the States. He had gone to all black schools prior to being drafted with an all-paid scholarship. He dropped out and went to a predominantly black university instead. He played and graduated from there and was drafted and picked by the Pittsburg Steelers or the Atlanta Falcons and ended up playing 11 years for 3 professional football teams. During which he had to mix with whites and found out we were all not night riders wearing white sheets and a mask.

Cheers, Rodney
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