Sunset stirred my memory

[Keith Tindell]

Never sailed with women on board in my time apart from Castle boat, no such thing as DVDs or TV,s etc, but brings to mind when i was on the Alsatia, a ship i have little memory of, but going up the Laurence river we could hire a tv from the shoreside, which was brought out by launch. On one of the previous trips an EDH was putting the aerial up the samson post when he fell, he the skipper opened the revs and got him ashore as quick as he could, but alas the guy died. What was good in those days for entertainment was reading, we used to go through a huge amount of books, swap with any other british ship, or sometimes the flying tab nab . Most ships i was on there was a huge amount of overtime, could almost double your wages, 12 hour day was the norm, kt

[Lewis McColl]

John , I think the 2nd mate thing must be on most of their bucket lists, I have seen many an eye opener when going on the Bridge about 2/3 am. When UMS if you got an alarm when you cleared the engine room you always let the duty mate know when you were clear sometimes you would just phone from your cabin or just pop upon the bridge. On one occasion I was even offered sloppy seconds ugh!!! I declined as this couple made it well known they had an open relationship. Her I may have said yes to but no way was I wanting to be the meat in the sandwich.

[John Arton]

Maybe they were just leaning at the same time to grab the chartroom rubber John. Coming from the dark into the light can sometime affect a persons vision and aspects. JWS.

J.S.
No rubber was involved, in the Canadian Pacific we used Pelikan erasers for all chart work, nautical or congjucal.
Rgds
J.A.

[j.sabourn]

I was leaving the rubber open to question John. Both types made of synthetic materials but used by different body parts. Cheers JWS.

[j.sabourn]

Davey You should have crawled in on hands and knees and if questioned say you were practising for the next fire drill and keeping below the fumes . If however bumped into the old mans legs was easier to assume the grovelling position and then use the same leg to raise yourself and say all present and correct. Ready to relieve you of bridge duties. He might however say take the egg off your chin first. The Navy always used red night lights and they tell me it was like waking up in a brothel, but how would I know.. On days of yore when Knights were bold. Memory’s the same as 007s martini should be shaken not stirred. In days of old when lights were bold and.....etc. is there anyone out there can complete. Cheers Q and Es.... JWS.

[John Arton]

#63 KT.
Before those high gain amplifier t.v. antenna came into being the best t.v. aerial was a blown floodlight bulb attached to a long striker pole and hoisted up the nearest mast to the newsroom. Those portable t.v.s hired in the State. Lawrence I can recall but had completely forgotten about. Never watched them much as the joys of Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, St. johns had much more appeal for a testerone driven 17 year old as opposed to episodes of "Days of our lives"
Rgds
J.A.

[Keith Tindell]

I think we are all the same John, forgotten huge amount from our time at sea, then sometimes a little spark ignites the log forgotten memory. and away we go with a story, its what we are all here for, kt

[happy daze john in oz]

Davey You should have crawled in on hands and knees and if questioned say you were practising for the next fire drill and keeping below the fumes . If however bumped into the old mans legs was easier to assume the grovelling position and then use the same leg to raise yourself and say all present and correct. Ready to relieve you of bridge duties. He might however say take the egg off your chin first. The Navy always used red night lights and they tell me it was like waking up in a brothel, but how would I know.. On days of yore when Knights were bold. Memory’s the same as 007s martini should be shaken not stirred. In days of old when lights were bold and.....etc. is there anyone out there can complete. Cheers Q and Es.... JWS.

In days of old when nights were bold
and monkeys chewed tobacco
on a UCL you took special care
or they whacked it up your clacker.

[happy daze john in oz]

As officers steward I can honestly say I never saw a deck officer worse for drink, apart from the first officer who was an alki but somehow managed to keep himself upright.
Engineers were a different matter, do not recall any going on watch worse for drink, but at eh end of their watch it was always pints from the bar for them.
Full time job for us when the 8to 12 came off they were by far the biggest drinkers.
Then there was Abercrombie, Commadore chief engineer from Scotland, who complained because Vodka then only came in normal size bottles.

[Ivan Cloherty]

As officers steward I can honestly say I never saw a deck officer worse for drink, apart from the first officer who was an alki but somehow managed to keep himself upright.
Engineers were a different matter, do not recall any going on watch worse for drink, but at eh end of their watch it was always pints from the bar for them.
Full time job for us when the 8to 12 came off they were by far the biggest drinkers.
.

As a deckie I could always understand why engineers would need a can or two when coming off watch, especially in the tropics and with the steam engines, never envied them their job, probably my worst nightmare to be honest, although when traversing the north or south Atlantic in winter I may have gladly changed places with them after peering into the darkness in snow and sleet on a bridge wing, with the radar so full of clutter it was virtually useless in close quarter situations when the last definitive echo last showed up at around fifteen miles away and you wondered where the hell it had gone. Cannot remember an engineer I sailed or shared a watch time with having a drink before going on watch, a dangerous place to be if tipsy I should imagine.