Memories

[James Curry]

No doubt we can all remember our first trip, be it enjoyable or the most unhappy time you ever had at sea. So what about the good times. What made a great trip? The run , the ship or some of the characters met.

[Jim R Christie]

No doubt we can all remember our first trip, be it enjoyable or the most unhappy time you ever had at sea. So what about the good times. What made a great trip? The run , the ship or some of the characters met.

The people always.
Some of the worst ships I was ever in on some of the worst runs were some of my happiest simply because we had a great crowd onboard.
In fact all of my "happy ships" were of the more senior and decrepit variety - newer and more modern types tended to attract all the martinets and b*lls*****rs. That was something which held true regardless of the company I worked for.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I enjoyed every ship I was on; even the bad one. You may notice I said bad one as there was only one ship that was crook, only because we had a martinet as a skipper.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Looking back I can only say it was all good.
Yes good days and bad but at the time as a young man I was just enjoying life and getting as much experience as I could, any where I could.
Some great crew and some real DH but that was part of the deal then, out in the middle of the ocean with no where to go there were times when you just had to suck it up. But at the end of the voyage try another ship.
I look at some of the younger generation of today and feel a bit sorry for them, they will never undergo any of the experiences we did.
Times were so different then, and we began wet behind the ears, but came home as men.

[Ivan Cloherty]

- newer and more modern types tended to attract all the martinets and b*lls*****rs. That was something which held true regardless of the company I worked for.

There is perhaps no hard and fast rule such as old ships = happiness. A lot depends on your personal experiences, I did four trips on an old Empire ship, the first three were great and happy, fourth trip we had a change of Master, it was like being in a completely different Company and possibly one of the worst trips experienced for all kinds of reasons, the Masters were of the same vintage and both WWII veterans (as were most I sailed with) so their past experiences were the same, but their attitudes towards crew were vastly different. We had the same crew on all four trips, but none of us signed on for the next trip.

My next ship was brand new, my longest trip 22 months, but the happiest ship I had been on, no b*lls*****rs on that vessel, but decent lads all round in every department, only one bad apple, but he picked a fight with a bunch of Japanese fishermen in Shimonoseki and they filleted him, I had to attend hospital with him while he had apprx 200 stitches put in, we left him behind and the deck crew enjoyed shorthand money for the rest of the long voyage, the long part still in front of us! You didn't fly out replacements in those days.

[cappy]

ever had one poorly rated old man ......he was ist trip old man ....he paraded round infull regalia in the vessel ....which was not usual in old tramp ships .....the feeling he gave most crew and officers was he was some sort of superior being .....you could say mornin captain ...and he wouldnt even answer..and every sentence was as a command .. his walk was a strut ....in the galley on sunday inspection he bellowed at the cook what is that as he ran his hand along the top of the galley coal bunker ......it was a bit of coal dust FFS....his seamanship showed when we lost an apprentice over the wall....and was proven after 7 or 8 hands skinned out in wallaroo.....the man had nothing going for him at all ........i then had old roberts who JS sailed with .....standing on his bridge in long johns when the pilot came aboard.....who logged me as a boy rating twice but never took the money a strong character .....who balled a man out in the shipping office as we signed calling him a drunk and a liar ...and threw his discharge book at him ......there was one old man an ex prisoner on the german prison ship ALTMARK ....freed by our Royal navy in a norwegian fiord....the most gentlemanly master of all like a father to us ....always a cheery word and smile .....always a happy countenance....after 11 months on the indian coast ....we paid of in falmouth.....as i walked down the jetty a voice bellowed from the bridge .....dont spend all that money at once cappsy...i didnt think he even new my name .....that was one happy ship .....as for coastal vessels well it was like ben in your own home withyour own family.....those were hard and happy days .....showed me many things about how life could pan out ....best thing that could have happened to me ....stood me in good stead for my future life ...as i had heard it seen it and dunnit....R683532

[Keith Tindell]

I have the greatest respect for most of the skippers i sailed with, a lot of them were war time served, and they must have looked at us young crews, full of testosterone , and going adrift, being logged, and wondering what the world was coming to, and was a big responsibility. Much as most of us do now, come to think of it. But it did teach us to take our punishment, get your head down and do the job when times got tough. I never had to do National Service, it had stopped just before i joined the MN, but i do think that something along the lines of MN, National Service, was a good thing for young people to go through, in a day now where at 17 years you are still considered a child, and education continues in many cases until 21.The real world should be entered much earlier.

[happy daze john in oz]

Sailed with a few who had war time service behind them, all were good.

But even today with cruise companies, speaking with some of the crew.
They may have served with a couple of companies but will all try to get with either Princess or Holland America which they say are the best companies to work for.
P&O Australia along with Royal Caribbean they say are bad to work for.

Even clienst after some time find one company suits them better than the others.

[Doc Vernon]

All i can add here is that for me , all my Ships and experiences were of mostly really good memories, cannot say i recall a bad Ship.
All the Crew on the Ships i sailed on were great Lads, and i made some good mates aboard!
Being a wet behind the Ears Lad when joining in Cape Town, made for me the greatest Experience i had even encountered, and i learnt so many things from my Travels.
Yes there were a few bad days , but nothing that ever really put my mind on the path of getting out!
Loved the time i did and only wish that i had behaved myself more, so that i could have had a lot more time in the Merchant Navy.
But at times life is a Bitch! LOL

[Terry Calpin]

for me it was the charaters we met , and a good run. wish I was back.