A funny thing happened on the way to Canada

[John Arton]

As 5th mate on the empress of Canada, my afternoon watch was taken up largely in doing bridge tours for the passengers, 1st class at 13:00 and tourist at 14:30.
I would meet those wishing to have the tour either in the 1st class lounge or in the shopping area, escort them to the bridge via the internal stairway, show them around the chartroom where they could look at the voyage charts and instruments, then onto the wheelhouse, explaining the telegraphs, radar, fire alarm panel, water tight door closing controls etc. The last was the helm where they would be given the opportunity to steer the ship and have there photo taken by the ship's photographer doing so. ( These photos could be purchased for a price which meant it was a nice little earner for them). One afternoon doing the tourist tour I could see the Q.M. was a bit agitated as the tour proceeded and before I got to the steering bit he was frantically shaking his head and he whispered to me that the steering gear was jammed , it was a hydraulic system connected by gears to the wheel and the gears had slipped jamming the helm at 10 degrees port helm and we had been going round in big circles for the past 30 minutes whilst he waited for the chief engineer to come and fix the problem. He arrived just as I was about to take the passengers over to the helm so I had to make up a quick excuse as to why they would not have a go at steering the ship this day. The person most put out by this seemed to be the photographer, no doubt due to loss of income. The chief found the problem pretty quickly and by the time the tour had finished we were no longer circuling but heading for Canada.
Those tours were my only opportunity to actually meet and speak with the passengers and I was able to meet some very interesting people along with being able to make assignations later with some decent looking fillies.
Rgds
J.A.

[Terry Foskett]

I was a purser on the Canada back in the 1960s
Regards
Terry Foskett

[nicholas clibborn]

Terry. Just saw your name. I have a feeling you and I were Cadet Pursers together on the Accra. Am I right ?

Nick

[Keith at Tregenna]

Very interesting thanks John.

Keith.

[happy daze john in oz]

Was invited by the skipper to do a bridge tour on the cruise ship we were on going to Japan.

A real eye opener looking at how they manage today, the helmsman, if you could call him that, sat staring at a video screen and holding the joy stick.
Long gone is the wheel and much of what we know on a bridge all those years ago.

Was impressed though with the flag holder.
All along the back bulkhead of the bridge, each in it's own pocket, all the flags required for all occasions and events.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Every ship I sailed on had a flag locker of pigeon holes containing two of each flag, plus extra pigeon holes for courtesy flags, for some reason it was always on the port bulkhead. However its main use throughout the voyage was for holding the electric kettle, tea and coffee jars and mugs on top

[thomas michael]

hi ivan cloherty #6
good morning i presume tango, charlie,mike,sierra,would be the order of the day.
tom

[Terry Foskett]

Sorry Nick. I missed your message. Yes I believe we were. That would be March to july 1961. Please get in touch.
Regards Terry Foskett