Yellow Jack.

[j.sabourn]

Maybe Terrys little book was written by the Suns writer for marine affairs. JS

[Tony Taylor]

Des you are right there mate.
Not sure now who was responsible for all the crap that went on.
It appears the dock side people just wanted tot passengers off as soon as possible and out of their sight.

But have been on a cruise ship when we were not allowed due to an outbreak of Noro Virus on board.
That was in Singapore, but they have got it sorted.

John, some of the crews on ships now are from so many different countries I am sure they have problem communicating with each other, getting them to fly the correct flags may well be beyond them.

While on a lightening tanker I went aboard a Kuwaiti job, 250,000 tons, there was only enough men to muster one mooring party, including the cook (who looked to be about 20 stone), among this lot there was only one native English speaker (3rd mate). Tied up for'ard first then all ran down aft. Cook never made it to either

[thomas michael]

While on a lightening tanker I went aboard a Kuwaiti job, 250,000 tons, there was only enough men to muster one mooring party, including the cook (who looked to be about 20 stone), among this lot there was only one native English speaker (3rd mate). Tied up for'ard first then all ran down aft. Cook never made it to either

hi tony
i had a plasterer working for me whom was easily twenty stone, ( a dead man walking you would say ) he was the best and fastest tradesman i ever employed, dirty barsteward though smelled like a dog after a days graft.
tom

[j.sabourn]

As regards as someone mentioned about ones discharge book being recognised as a passport I dont think it ever came under that category. I travelled on it once out to Canada but with the accompanying letter and visa from their Embassy. Explaining my lack of a passport and rather think I was classed as a landed Immigrant. I was always under the impression that the red seamans ID card was brought out to try and act as a better form of identification for the lack of a passport. A discharge book was supposedly for British Seamen and cant see any country breaking any national rules to comply with the Inglis, more important documents as regards quarantine were the vaccination certificates that were mandatory in the 50s and 60s , Smallpox ( 2 years
Yellow Fever ( 15 years ) and cholera ( 6months ) if these were not in force you were more than likely to be confined to the vessel. Any other local diseases outside of these three which were prevailing you were also needled for as well. A passport was just as acceptable as a discharge book if not more so by Immigration officials. If you visited Russia on a ship your discharge books went ashore and were stamped like passports , but that was Russia with their peculiar only to themselves rules , this may of brought about the belief that they acted as passports , which they certainly were not. Cheers JS

One time whilst living here in Australia I got an emergency call whilst at home on leave to fly out to Indonesia where the master was said to have some weird disease. At that particular moment in time Indonesia was suffering some waterborne disease and I would have to be vaccinated against before being allowed into the country. This was on a saturday afternoon , and after much mucking around got the injection , only to be told 12 hours later , that the crew change was off because the next day was a holiday and it would cost too much to call out the relevent officials. So the master that was there had to continue sick as he was on passage to Australia. I was left with a throbbing arm carrying an unwanted and unneccessary injection. Wishing they had phoned someone else. JS..

[Doc Vernon]

I would agree there JS , the Disc. Book was never a replacement as far as i recall, but as said i do know that the ID Card was taken as such, as i used it a few times when i did not have any Passport, and was never stopped or questioned. The only strange thing there was that all the times i did use it as a Passport it was never touched with an Entry or Departure Stamp.
Cheers

[happy daze john in oz]

The ID card we were told at the Vindi from what I recall was supposed to be carried by all crew when ashore as a means of identification if we pulled over by any authorities.

Still have my vaccination card with the last entry being for Smallpox in about 78 or so.
It was eliminated world wide in 1980 along with Rhinopest in 2011 as the only two viruses ever fully cured and removed from the world.

[j.sabourn]

#35 Dont think there would be anywhere where you could put one. Think the Red ID was a flash in the pan. It was easier to just get a passport in the finish. Dont forget the MN was on the decline after 1967. And like the Roman Empire went without a whimper. Never made the Headlines whether purposefully or not is now too late to even contemplate,. The only thing left is the names on Cenotaphs. and even some of those are not taken too much notice of. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

Entered and departed Continental Ferry ports as a passenger joining or leaving ships in the 50's and 60's using my Discharge Book, (usually with a letter stating I was joining/leaving a named ship) on a couple of times it was stamped. My first passport was obtained in the 60's to go on honeymoon. Later on had a couple of 90 page passports, heavy blue beasts which I managed to fill on my travels, then had a new one attached to my old one as it still had valid visas in the old one, it was like carrying a novel around, still have them, certainly put in some airmiles, as well as sea miles going to various locations around the globe, happy and not so happy days on occasions. Ships for some reason never got into trouble in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, etc, it was always seemed to be some asshole place with no repair facilities.

[j.sabourn]

#36... That was what everyone was lead to believe at the time John. The same as TB and Leprosy a very easy cure supposedly. But there have been isolated cases of recurrence , formulating in 3rd. world countries and being transported. One of the reasons I was so averse to the stupid idea of Europe opening its borders to all and sundry. Where some people get their ideas from and others have to support them beats me. JS
I was in the Drs. the other day to see about what he calls gout. Plastered on the walls were big posters on the bulkhead about Syphilis and how easy to cure it is today. In our days it was an unmentionable word , today it is like a bad cold apparently. I still would not like to catch even if it is easy to cure. It killed Churchills father and was considered a real killer in that era. What a changing world with changing morals we live in Cheers JS

[Red Lead Ted]

#35 Dont think there would be anywhere where you could put one. Think the Red ID was a flash in the pan. It was easier to just get a passport in the finish. Dont forget the MN was on the decline after 1967. And like the Roman Empire went without a whimper. Never made the Headlines whether purposefully or not is now too late to even contemplate,. The only thing left is the names on Cenotaphs. and even some of those are not taken too much notice of. JS

John, I seem to remember the red I,D, Card being taken off you at the gate going ashore and then on return you collected it back. I remember a run ashore in Caracas, Which was deemed a danger i suppose if you never got back to the ship the port authority's had your I,D, As in it contained just like your discharge book finger prints any tattoos or distinguishable marks, Name D.O.B. Which also tallied with your discharge book held by the skipper aboard ship at all times. Terry