Different Characters

[E.Martin]

In the course of my seagoing years met lots of different characters,first one
was on a coaster he was second mate,he was a man of few words never said much
he did not go ashore or had a drink for 7 months,untill we arrived in Hamburg,he gave it the big one there and took to the bottle,on arrival back in the UK he was sacked.
1956 a EDH was building a Television Set,I never knew if he ever finished it.
Another character was a mess man.I liked him he was a Kirk Douglas lookalike
twas said that he had been discharged from the army for having a uncontrolable temper,had some good runs ashore with him.
Another AB gave all the deck crew crabs.
Most of us must have met some unusual people.

[j.sabourn]

#1... Too true, some of the characters are still alive and friends of mine and would not speak ill of them, otherwise might get a smack in the gob if met up again. The ones who are dead I do talk about with no ill intent as most were real characters and learned a lot from same. As regards the alcoholic 2 mate, have met a few, this in no way is a rebuff to seamen in general, as some wives were heavier drinkers than their husbands ever were, have even sailed with some of them and they were a problem. As for the fresh meat in the way of crabs they used to say when they reached the eyebrows was the time to start worrying. Ed believe you are from Lowestoft believe I asked you once if the Chieftan was still lying in the inner harbour rusting away, seems like yesterday was there, but must be 25 years ago. She was owned by Briggs Marine. Do you know Mickey Slack or Mickey Reed from your area. Cheers all the best. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Two come to mind for me.
Joe Murphy senior second engineer on the Windsor castle. Insisted on sleeping with his engine room boots on, played havoc with the steam queens when we had to change the sheets.
Kerr first officer. Smoked and drank like no tomorrow but always tuned to. It is claimed he was such an alcoholic he had taken the alcohol out of the compass gimble to drink. Not sure how true but the number of empty booze bottles in his cabin was something else.

[j.sabourn]

John, believe I mentioned in a previous post re. the stand by boats in the 80"s. The old Admiralty method of acquiring crews for their vessels was still alive and occurring occasionally in Aberdeen. I used to carry a bottle of alcohol usually whisky, which if had been known I would have been fired on the spot. However had course to use this at least once when trying to bring round and off the bottle over a period of days certain people. Imagine coming to and finding one self on a vessel like Cappy recently said was filmed recently in a storm force 10. Or even being thrown into a FRC in a much more benign force 6. You wont hear these stories from present serving members as would be a source of them losing their jobs, which are scarce enough these days. As Cappy says in his post such ships as stated was rare in bad weather to maintain station, and I have known myself to be blown 80 miles away from the rig which you are supposed to be guarding from other traffic. Every rig or platform has a prohibitive zone around it usually 2 to 3 nautical miles and all shipping is supposed to keep outside the set limits, however one often got the odd cowboy either trying to cut corners or claiming he couldn't see a great blaze of light in front of him. The only way to stop him was on the VHF, if this had ever failed I don't know apart from putting your own vessel in front of and standing the good chance of being run down. Was like playing chicken with ships I suppose. However one good thing being 80 miles away would be someone elses problem. The only ships working constantly inside the safety Zone were the stand by vessels. Even the supply vessels had to be challenged and get permission from the OIM on the offshore installation and had to be logged in and out of this area. As regards the carriage of Alcohol was usually only a half bottle. On the night of the Piper Alpha I didn't have as joined the vessel and away in 10 minutes. Even if had think the only one who would of seen the bottom of the bottle would have been myself. Cheers JS

[John Arton]

Possibly mentioned in other threads but
Amongst Spanish crew members we had, a circus high wire artist (always used to look longingly at the radio aerial wires from aft to midships), a circus knife thrower.
A old British electrician whose tool kit consisted of a screwdriver to tighten connections and a drop of spittle on his index finger for testing live connections
A stone deaf sparky who you had to always shout when talking with him but never missed a Morse message
Another electrician who was so filthy and had such bad B.O. that he literally got thrown in his shower fully dressed and scrubbed down one night
A great captain who had a very pretty daughter who he was constantly trying to set me up with as he considered all the young men where he lived to be tossers
Enough alcoholics to fill at least 3 AA meetings but all of them capable of turning too and doing a full days work or never been late on watch.
Two A.B.'s from London who had always sailed on the A boats down to America but who were taking a sabbatical on a beaver boat after tossing a policeman off a bridge in B.A. after he challenged them one night when they were returning to there ship. These two had dreams of sailing around the world in their own yacht and had started their epic voyage at least three times but had never got further than the Canaries before rum and women took all their savings away.
I just wonder whatever happened to all those characters. I guess anyone choosing a sea going career these days will never encounter such characters.
Rgds
JA

[Stan Carter]

ref #1, OK, i'm surprised this has not come up before now, but I wonder how many minds are running wild over the "AB giving the rest of the deck crew crabs". need some clarification please to stop my mind being filled with images of a big hairy ar..d AB running amok.
It's a slow cold day here and need a good chuckle,
regards, stan

[Ivan Cloherty]

ref #1, OK, i'm surprised this has not come up before now, but I wonder how many minds are running wild over the "AB giving the rest of the deck crew crabs". need some clarification please to stop my mind being filled with images of a big hairy ar..d AB running amok.
It's a slow cold day here and need a good chuckle,
regards, stan

Eh Stan, tha must ave sailed on some clean ships, alas not all crew members, officers included, had a sense of hygiene and responsibilty towards their shipmates and crabs were easily transferred in two/four/six and more berth cabins where-in a cabin mate wasn't too bothered about whose towel/comb/brush he used or whose bunk he flaked out on when pizzed. Some even thought it funny to pass it on, but they usually get their cumuppence before the end of the voyage and those fire hoses can hurt!

[Stan Carter]

thanks Ivan, i just found it funny when I first read it. maybe my black humour surfacing. although if that was all one came away with during their time at sea, then they were damned lucky.
we've all walked that fine line.
regards, stan

[cappy]

#####a father and son both ABs...the father sailing with the worst case of DTs ever seen...... the son doiing his watch and his fathers for 3 days ......the mate letting it go ......but the father screaming about the rats and demons no sleep in the alleyway for the noise ......when he came round the nicest old guy you ever met.......they were from sunderland .......regards cappy

[Ivan Cloherty]

thanks Ivan, i just found it funny when I first read it. maybe my black humour surfacing. although if that was all one came away with during their time at sea, then they were damned lucky.
we've all walked that fine line.
regards, stan

Guess my luck held out Stan, left the sea with a clean bill of health which I carried throughout my career, and savoured a few spices along the way and could have opened a fruit stall with the amount of cherries I lost