Sulpher

Marian, every British ship had amongst the paperwork what was called the De_Ratification Certificate which showed the ship was supposed to have been inspected every 6 months for vermin. Howevever saying that was probably another of these paper laws not always adhered to. As regards other lifestock on board, cappy used to class as fresh meat and eat it. Ships in my time always used to carry emergency oil lamps of every type i.e. sidelights, masthead light all the towing and emergency lights, the same as before as was used prior to electricity. The term AC/DC implied that person was of dual sexual traits, believe there is a band now called that, hope they realize what their name means. Cheers JS

Crikey John, You learn something new everyday on here:) From Sulphur Candles, Fleas, Cappy's dietary habits, Rock Groups and folk of different persuasions. Merci

Cappys law was see it and eat it. You must have seen his post re the jars of something containing livestock, these were put to good use. If they were bought and paid for were always consumable, I was on a Norwegian ship out here and had to carry a doctor due to the amount of people on board. He took it upon himself to go into the fridges and start condemning certain items past their use by date. The Norwegian Master sacked him on the spot and had him replaced by a trained medic. When you come to ships stores you are talking money we can all understand, sometimes you can have stores valued at thousands of pounds, and then again with stores amounting to coppers. On the Hong Kong system once again all stores used to be bought by the ship and paid cash for, if storing on the continent 10,000 pounds for food was not out of the way, this would have a reduction of 10 percent back for cash a thousand pounds, which was very open for dishonesty. Some of the British coasters worked on a similar system which I have also sailed with this was on the two vessels I cant remember the names of, as seem to have a mental blockage when it comes to these 2 vessels which were Yugoslav owned. Cheers JS

Sulpur... As a cargo carried this from Vancouver to Shanghai in the early 70"s. Is usually a grab discharge and the grab contact in the inside hatch coaming and causing a spark was always igniting the sulpur. Had to have hoses continually pumping water at hand to douse the flames all the time. A pain in the Ass. JS PS When I say flames there is just the immediate flame then smouldering so was easy enough to put out. JS

De-Ratification Certificate. Ship officially if remember correctly had to be inspected every 6 months for the presence of rats on board unless overrun by vermin this was done by an inspector/s examining mainly the fridge/freezer areas of the ship, they had practical knowledge of the habits of such and knew by their droppings whether there was a lot or not on board. Think it was on their say so whether ship required fumigation. If this certificate was out of date the port health in any port could delay clearance of the ship entering inwards, so was always advisable to keep up to date. The port of entry was desirous of keeping disease away from their communities and not on the welfare of alien seamen to them. When a ship entered Inwards The Arts/Agreement, All light and Harbour dues paid/The clearance from the last port/ Ships Safety Construction Cert. and of course the Cert. of Registry, were deposited at the Custom House or the British Consulate, if had an Agent who did this very good, if not had to do oneself. On clearing outwards these documents were returned to vessel with the necessary Clearance out Cert. light and harbour dues paid, also the current rate of monetary exchange was usually stamped in the back of the Articles and was the one used for calculating how much money everyone had spent on wine women and song. Maybe wrong on the documentation landed ashore but sure someone will know better, as seems that far in the past now is not funny anymore. Pretty sure about the rats though. Cheers JS

coasted a few blue flue ships coming back from the far east cleaning out hatches some creatures down there I don't think even had been named? jp:p

#16... Didn't find any crocs then John... JS

I recall the practice for regulating immigration and emigration of rats was metal discs placed half way up the hawsers. Put in modern context the mind boggles!
Richard

Hi shipmates, the only ship I recalled that had Cockroachs was the "PENNYWORTH" but the crew, and rum, made up for them. rat guards? put them on mooring lines many times.

The old ratguards Richard. Everyone thought they were for keeping the rats from coming on board, it was the other way round and was for stopping them going ashore. If didn't have the approp. rat guards for the wire back springs used to wrap burlap round part of wire and pour tar on same seemed to satisfy the port health. Although any rat with sense would just use the gangway, which used to be painted white at the shore end supposedly to stop rats using, always thought rats were colour blind though. Most used to come onboard through the grain shutes with the grain. Cheers John S