Correction on Now Closed LAVENDER LADIES Link Thread.

[Graham Shaw]

Commenting on a closed thread re Lavender Ladies and ,old shipmate' Bill Roberts.

JS....You mean Capt.Bill Davies and not Bill Roberts.Bill Roberts is/was a deck rating from Fareham,Hants and supplied many good maritime links on our site Bill was last on site in 2018.

The one you mention ,Capt.Bill Davies,from Shropshire it is thought, and last on site on 2/2/2014,was/is an entirely different kettle of fish to the amiable Bill Roberts. Professing (no one is sure) to hold an Extra Master's Certificate of Competency,and having' worked his way up the hawse-pipe' in Blue Funnel he ,whether factually or in fantasy saw himself as being Capt.Blue Funnel himself-in fact if any of us had worked in any outfit other than Blueys,then we weren't Merchant Navy at all!
I'm sure quite a few of you older members recall him? Yes,he often initiated some good topics for discussion -which quite often resulted in a supercilious scathing retort from him on many an occasion.Quite often he acted as if he was still our Master at Sea.
Regarding certificates of competency-if you had attained a Master's FG Cert.of Competency you were fine,but if you were one of those who qualified with the later STCW Class 1 cert,then it might just as well be a Mickey Mouse cartoon piece of paper .He was like that.
He was well known on the'other site' where he was booted off for his antics in inventing numerous other 'pseudonyms' in order to be able to post supporting views on his own comments.

Perhaps Capt.Bill has now gone to that great big Blue Funnel drydock in the sky-unless he's still with us here...do you think so?....Blue Funnel (2).gif
I wonder sometimes....

[happy daze john in oz]

Vernon, what dats was he skipper with Blue Flu?
I can ask my ex Blue Flu mate here if he knew him.

[Doc Vernon]

Not quite with you on this John???
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

#1 Sorry if made a mess up with names Graham you are probably right. I had a few private conversations with him and he said he had been a number of years with World Wide, he also said he knew masters in John I Jacobs before my time apparently. As regards the extra cert he seemed to know all about the papers on Economic Geography , and Oceanogrophy . And the advanced maritime law subjects . Which I balked at as the price of the text books was astronomical . Anyhow as said he could be very garrulous at times. Sorry for my possible getting the names mixed up . Thanks anyway. JS. PS I have assumed over the years that Bill Davies died when he ceased to post. JS

[Graham Shaw]

JS # 4 .
That's quite all right John-we all confuse names until reminded.

Yes,after Blue Flue ,'Kaiser Bill' went to Daniel K.Ludwig's NBC tanker company,the eccentric U.S. billionaire pioneer of supertanker shipbuilding in Japan in the late 40's/early 50's..They were extremely functional ships but generally quite ugly. As an example there were instances of them having just 'stove' pipes for funnel exhausts.Daniel Ludwig said he was averse to putting extraneous structures ,like funnels,on a ship,unless they could carry oil inside them ! I suppose that's why billionaires have the money! Ludwig would never inform a vessel of his impending visit but would suddenly pop up on board in port unannounced,thus keeping everyone on their toes.That reminds me of our own Scottish billionaire proprietor Brian Souter of Stagecoach Transport Group,although I'm sure Brian was a much nicer man. Unless it was for a specific board meeting with obligatory suit and briefcase,Mr.Souter would arrive unannounced and mooch around at one of his empire's bus garages in an anorac and carrying his business papers in a Tesco carrier bag !

Yes,I believe Capt.Bill Davies has crossed the Bar. I think another ex Blue Flue member here,John Pruden may know of his current status...
Cheers
Graham

[j.sabourn]

#5 There always was and always will be a mixture of people at sea as regards their personality’s Graham and suppose the secret of being able to mix was up to the individual.I would say my first 12 years or so I was a company’s stalwart , but after jumping out of the cuckoos nest one becomes more self reliant and make your own decisions and don’t look too much at the company’s policy and values. Your Kaiser Bill I don’t imagine he did , but at the same time he had his views on how life should be , but thousands may not have agreed. I probably sailed with 3 like him during my time , but was quick to get out of their clutches so to speak. Anyhow have had the privilidge to sail with many with similar thoughts to myself and life wasn’t never too bad that couldn’t handle . Was never a wasted life at sea , it was just a continuous learning curve and you didn’t even know it. Cheers JS

[Graham Shaw]

More Info on Vessels built by Daniel K.Ludwig HERE

This link describes how Daniel K.Ludwig was 'excruciatingly frugal', for example sourcing engines from much older vessels,suitably refurbished of course which then were maintained to a high standard,often giving many more years of service,and also mentions his vessels very thin 'stacks' PHOTO

[j.sabourn]

Does World Wide Shipping fit into this scheme of things ? They were based. In Hong Kong I believe, and knew someone else who worked for them, who is a long time dead now. I had relieved him as mate when working for an Indian company and he went on to be master with World Wide. I had a visit at home from him when his ship was in the shipyard at Middlesbrough and he wanted me to go mate with him , this was 2 years later. His words he planned to retire in a year and every chance would relieve him. I was already employed however and turned him down. The same bloke was older than me and had been a prisoner on the Altmark off Narvik as a 16 year old, and they were all rescued by the Cossack . Like every generation they were different to the following generations. He was a little Welshman called Norrie Smith , once sailed with or met never forgotten . Cheers JS

[Graham Shaw]

JS Re Yr.#8

Does World Wide Shipping fit into this scheme of things ? They were based. In Hong Kong I believe,

Can't really answer that John,but I always thought that World Wide Sg. of HK and World Tanker Co.of Liberia were entirely different.I know that a lot of World Tankers ,names beginning with WORLD....were built by Kaiser Shipyards in U.S. ,owned by Henry J.Kaiser an American industrialist,pioneer in WW2 of Liberty ship and tanker welded construction.He was obviously a contemporary of our Daniel K.Ludwig. I did wonder if Daniel's middle initial K might also stand for Kaiser,but I was disappointed to see it stood for Keith. Apropos 'Kaiser ' I don't know why I called the subject of the thread,our Capt.Bill Davies,'Kaiser Bill'.I think someone called him that on the SN site,and it lodged in my,and probably many others,brains at that time,as he did sort of,at times,act rather kaiser-ish....

Just another cut and paste snippet or two unearthed about our Daniel K.Ludwig.

'Business success brought Ludwig everything he ever wanted, and he asked for no other recognition. Once, when the emperor of Japan wanted to award him Japan's highest national honor, the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Ludwig refused, asking that it be given to his shipyard manager instead. A secretive, reclusive man, Ludwig wore cheap suits, shoes, and eye glasses bought at bargain prices in department stores.
He usually travelled alone, economy class, carrying his own baggage, arriving at tropical airports a few hours before dawn. All of his foreign assets, totalling some $1.5 billion, although run by Ludwig, were owned by his principal heir, his Zurich cancer institute. He retained in his own name some $500 million in U.S. assets'


These billionaires are always so eccentric !

[happy daze john in oz]

One of the problems today is who owns what.
So many businesses and no doubt shipping companies are owned by big corporations and no one is sure just who they are.

Carnival corporation owns Cunard, Princess, Holland America, P&O Australia, Carnival, Costa, Seabourne and a couple of other minor companies.
But very few would know that.

Check the stock market listings and some times you may find out who owns what.