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Thread: Mutiny on the high seas

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    Default Mutiny on the high seas

    When I was a ships writer one of my tasks was to fill out the charge sheet for those who were going to be "logged" and also to accompany said offender up to the chartroom to see the Old Man, presenting both charge sheet and offender, to be dealt with accordingly. My presence presumably being required as is was generally assumed that the offenders were incapable of finding their way to the bridge without assistance. On this particular occasion, the offender had so enraged the second steward that he (the 2nd stwd) decided that his charge was to be "mutinous behavior on the high seas".
    Upon presentation of this charge to the old man, he, looking aghast and probably grumpy at the tediousness of it all, and without even casting a glance at the offender, bellowed out at me "Mutinous behavior on the high seas????? You can't charge him with that, it's a hanging offense" and stumped off for pre-luncheon G & T's with all the rest of the lunchtime G & T hierarchy.
    So, back down to the 2nd steward and explained as diplomatically as possible to him that the charge would have to be re-worded. To which he sarcastically replied "Well lets see if you can come up with something that will only get them to make him walk the ***king plank !!"

    Austin

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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    He was probably quiet right it was probably still a death sentence attached. It hasn’t been too long ago that it was scratched from the statute books. The highest fine would have been a days pay loss and fined a days pay for riotous behaviour. But worse of all his tap may have been stopped. Cheers JS

    One trip when I was 2nd mate we did a Palm Line charter, and were landed with a Palm Line purser , I was interested on how he became a purser for the cargo only , as didn’t do nowt, he was an ex national serviceman and about my age so asked him how he became a purser , his answer was he started off as a ships writer and then went to purser , he was a passenger more or less and only there for the fact he knew a lot of the local patois down the West coast , never even saw him down the hold , and as he was on 10 pounds a month more than me , I thought I was in the wrong job.
    Cheers JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 13th February 2022 at 06:34 AM.
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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    Hello again and thanks for the thumbs up. By the way, I'm new to this so please excuse any mistakes I may make such as getting things incorrectly posted or whatever.
    It was an interesting job being a writer as the writers office was a hub of activity. We worked nominally for the chief steward but we were always referred to as the 2nd stewards writers because the second steward did all the work whereas the chief steward just swanned around looking good, entertaining his cronies and signing the end of trip report.
    Everything went through the writers office and we were pretty much in contact with the whole ship. If there was a problem in the accommodation, for instance a passenger was too hot or cold, a request had to be made by a little chit to the writers office, who would then write it up on another chit and proceed with it to the hotel engineers office in the working alleyway upon whose door was a little rack of boxes labelled such as this....."Plumber" "Electrician" "Hotel Eng" and so on. The complainee passenger would then have to rely upon the engineering diagnostic skills of the writer to ensure he deposited the chit into the correct slot. Incorrect deposits were ignored.
    We also handled all the signing on of the catering department, all their cabin assignments, logged all their overtime, took care of the mail and a hundred other tedious tasks, far too numerous to recall at this stage of the game. But one task I do recall was the sacking list. Towards the end of each trip the sacking list was discussed and put together by the senior stewards and of course the writers were the coordinators of it all. On the return trip all those who had been a troublemaker of some sort would pass by the office and try to wheedle any information they could out of us.....with the opening line usually beginning with "Have you seen the sacking list yet?"'
    Even the engine room bad boys would pass by us and ask the same question as we were in contact with the chief engineers writer, who had the engine room equivalent.
    I sailed on the old Queen Elizabeth for a while as chief stewards writer and had an office adjacent to his quarters which was located on R deck in the main square opposite the doors of the 1st class restaurant and directly alongside the 1st class restaurant cocktail lounge where all the soaks would head to sling a few back before the tedium of having to sit through a first class meal. The office itself had a large reception deck, the purpose of which always avoided me as there was no reason for it. It looked to all intents and purposes like the pursers office a couple of decks up and as our office looked like a pursers office and we looked like pursers, I spent most of my time explaining to the dozens of passengers who passed by each day that we were in fact not pursers.....but I can surely tell you how to get there.
    One time the chief purser asked me if I would be interested in joining his group but although flattered I knew that the junior pursers spent all of their evenings calling out bingo numbers in the lounges and being nice to all the old dears whereas I spent mine kicked back in a comfortable office drinking beer and playing cards. I was not interested.
    In closing I will mention that my dad was a purser chief steward on the cargo boats and I was definately interested in that career path, but at 18 years of age I knew I had several years to go to get enough seniority under my belt and by that time the entire industry had started to die. A purser C/S on a decent cargo vessel was probably just about the best job on the ship and I had spent a great deal of time with my dad before I went to sea, joining him in London and staying on board and learning the ropes. I knew all the fiddles and I mean all of them. One time in a word of sage advice to me when I was considering an engineering apprenticeship, he said this to me "Son, if you go into the engine room the only money you will have to spend will be your wages" (My dad had not touched his wages in years). I eventually did make the transition into the engine room though, but that was with the Americans and I made it up to Chief
    engineer unlimited.
    But I honestly believe I would have traded in my chief engineer rank if I could have gone back in a time machine and to have exchanged places with my dad when he was purser chief steward on Cunard line's cargo passenger ship Alsatia.

    Austin

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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    I did one trip on the old Alsatian, june 1962, lovely looking ship, kt
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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    Hello Kieth, thanks for the thumbs up
    I'm not sure if we are talking about the same ship, my dad's ship was Alsatia, no "n" at the end. But if we are talking about the same vessel then yes you are correct, they were lovely looking, the Alsatia and the Andria, twin flu' sister ships and rather looked like miniature versions of the Queen Elizabeth herself. An oddity I remember was the forward stack which was a false one and housed the old mans' cabin, curious indeed but it was a nice cabin. The Alsatia and Andria were passenger cargo vessels for the previous owner but it was not Cunard's policy to operate them as such so the crew, (some of them at least) had the luxury of using the passenger cabins, which were a little less sparsely fitted out. I remember the ward room on her, it was fitted out like an old English pub. Lovely ships. After they were sold my dad moved on to the Andania and Alaunia.

    All the best
    Austin

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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    Sorry Austin, thats a typo, yes was the Alsatia, joined in London, then Le Havre, montreal, Quebec and back to London, only did the one trip. kt
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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    #3. Thanks your explanation of a writer. The one and only time I sailed with a person entitled to purser as I say was a Palm Line one , and he apparently had nothing to do with catering . Thinking the word writer which he started off as thought at the time he would of at least done the cargo plans which he did not do. He even refused to do any paperwork for the master like the manifests and such like saying he was a Palm Line employee and wasn’t his job. He was as said just there for the ride. The ships I was on a chief steward was a chief steward and I always thought in later life after my time or near enough that purser being added to the title was just to keep people happy. Some people were very self conscious about this , e.g. engineers insisting on being called officer after engineer , some deck mates also insisting on being called officer only. I grew up in a time when a master was a master a mate a mate , and an engineer an engineer , the only one entitled to the term was the Radio Officer as he signed on as such and was the only one on the ship. Different horses for courses I suppose , also applied to ships I suppose , although thinking back my short term on tankers there were 3 mates, and a chief officer on daywork ,didn’t last long for me though , shortly after going there they dispensed with the ch.off. And I found myself it,doing both jobs. Being ch.off. Only must have been a Bobby’s job. Cheers JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 13th February 2022 at 11:36 PM.
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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    Now I know after all these years who it was who wrote up for money to be stopped as a result of a logging.
    What a miserable task having to do that to a fellow seaman.
    Did writers get a percentage of that or did it all go to the company?

    Then there were the chits the head waiter in tourist had to write up if the blood wanted a poached egg, not on the menu, get a chit for it.
    Did you have to write that up? LOL

    But until now I had no idea what the writer did, thank you for the explanation.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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    Default Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    The loss of a days wages obviously was to the owners benefit as he didn’t have to pay you in the first place. The fine went to charity and could if you knew the law could of gone to a recognised charity of your choice , so in theory you could have said I want that days pay, paid to the AA , and not the Auto Association. JS
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    Post Re: Mutiny on the high seas

    Not about Mutiny but about Writers.....

    My early years were right at the very end of the heyday of the MN that is as most of us agree , the late sixties/early seventies,you know,the very end, the time when all the passenger liner trade was ceasing and container ships were coming on stream. My 2nd trip to sea was on a 20 year old ,12- passenger (downgraded to 6,presumably to avoid having to carry a doctor.) ex cargo liner. On that trip we just carried one nurse as a passenger from Durban to Hong Kong.It would have been a darned site quicker to fly of course,but the young lass had just finished her posting,had lots of luggage and some furniture and wanted to unwind on a sea voyage as I could well imagine.
    To that end,because the ship was capable of carrying up to 6 passengers .we had two Purser Chief Stewards ! Now,I am not knocking the workload of any Purser,but having an Assistant P/C/S does seem like overkill,but boss 'Jack',not his real name,left it all up to his assistant. The Boss purser 'Jack',in my eyes had a ball,soaking himself in both gin and sunshine for the whole voyage,leaving everything up to his young subordinate.That guy was a nice chap and he actually was a Writer from an ex passenger ship-I think it might have been either the Andes,or maybe ED's Aureol. He even assisted the C/O with drawing the Cargo Plans.It was no surprise to hear that on a later voyage he had been promoted to Purser Chief Steward of his own ship.He certainly had a good grounding in his new rank on that voyage I mentioned with 'Jack.

    On one voyage on a Clan Line charter we had a Supercargo,who was actually an ex-Marconi Sparky.He also did the cargo plans,and certainly did more than the tallying that Sparkies of old were sometimes obliged to do(was it in their contracts,if required? .Anyway,it was in my opinion a good thing to employ a supercargo who knew about ships and crews and got on with everybody,and certainly took a good deal of hassle away from we deck mates as regards cargo stowage.

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