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Thread: Interesting people

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    Default Interesting people

    One of the most interesting people I have met was an American named Marshall Greene. I first met him in the bar of the Booker Hotel, Georgetown Guyana. He had been living in the country for several years while searching for gold and diamonds in the jungle riverbeds. A qualified pilot with a Piper Comanche light aircraft he flew in supplies for the men working on claims he had and bringing his share of gold and diamonds out. He lived with a woman from one of the Amazon tribes who was so tiny she looked like a living doll. A wealthy man who was doing very well from his business.

    About six months later I joined the same ship, Booker Viking, again. When we arrived in Georgetown everything had changed. A new government was in place and he had been banned from flying and his claims taken over, the reason for this was taking the wealth out of Guyana and not giving anything back.
    We brought home as DBS a ships engineer who had been working on the claims, he said when the plane was grounded all food supplies stopped and he had to walk out of the jungle living on pig tails and rice given to him by villagers. He also said
    he was completely broke but when we got back to Liverpool he would be flying to Antwerp, as this is the diamond capital of Europe perhaps there was more to this story.

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    Default Re: Interesting people

    What year was that Louis , I have only actually been to Georgetown once and that was in 1987 and were boarded by pirates when anchored in the river waiting for a berth. However 20 years previous to that we picked up a Ch. Stwd . Off one of the ore carriers running between Georgetown and Chageramus next to Port of Spain , Trinidad , and he told me there was a regular smuggling trade between the two ports involving gold and diamonds , and the main culprits being those in authority and put there to stop the trade . Can’t trust anyone in those days , and expect things haven’t changed much today. Cheers JS
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    Default Re: Interesting people

    Hi John both trips on Booker Viking was 1969

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    Default Re: Interesting people

    Well this Chief steward we picked up was a Scouser and also an ex pow from Changi. We only carried him back to Montreal and was going home after doing his contract off one of the Sun ships. He himself wore a heavy gold neck chain and said it was his insurance if ever got strapped for cash. This was in 1967. Think he was in with the authorities and smuggling rings himself. He was only a fill in as Ch. Stwd as was well out of place with passengers and we carried a dozen so used to sit and have a beer with me after I came off watch. He too was a very interesting bloke, especially about his stories about Changi. Cheers JS
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    Default Re: Interesting people

    #4 As some might say ... why was he was unsuitable for passengers , our passengers were usually old retired personages doing voyages around the West Indies an example would be a retired school mistress. This chief steward was a well tattooed personage whose every second word began with F , his claim to fame was his tattoos and which he always offered to show to those he talked to , he also had one on his penis which he was extremely proud of and that also used to be a centre of his conversation. Personally I think he was still traumatised after his POW experiences and slipped the net on his medical examination after release, that’s if he ever had one. However he was harmless , not so years before as according to his accounts after release him and a few others commandeered a Jeep and shooting at every jap they saw, went on a rampage, before being stopped. I have heard the same or similar ones from other guests of that notorious guest house. So is quite believable.The tattoo on his back showed the usual bunnies tail showing as it disappeared into unmentionable places, His piece de art however I never volunteered to look at . Cheers JS
    Think I mentioned him to Lou Barron when I met up with him years after , but Lou couldn’t remember him. Lou as far as I remember spent most of his time in a a camp at Loyang which he always pronounced as two words. I had inside knowledge of Loyang which was converted to a sea base for the offshore Industry and spent some time there picking up and taking ships back there from Australia. JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 7th September 2022 at 01:00 AM.
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    Default Re: Interesting people

    For the first 10 or 15 years at sea every ship I joined had at least one interesting person or characters as we called them on board.
    The MN was probably the only job they would have fitted in, their stories and antics made the ship a happy place.

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    Default Re: Interesting people

    The first ship I joined in Dalgliesh’s was the Pennyworth as mate. The chief steward was from South Shields who had a very bad stutter , he said to me III Knkn know y y y you , I said I’ve never met you in my life , he stuttered his way through telling me all the wives met in I think it was Bainbridges every Friday in South Shields and discussed whose husband was due for promotion and who had missed out on promotion in fact they knew more than we did. The same Chief steward complained and complained about not having a mat in his cabin and was getting his feet cold having to stand on the tiles getting out of bed, so I gave him a coir door mat. I told him if not satisfied to see Capt. Phillips the deck superintendent which he did , after stuttering his way through asking for a proper carpet , the deck super was fed up and just said if you don’t like it put your notice in , he didn’t , and he didn’t get his carpet , and just used the coir mat, and I never heard him complain again . Which made it much easier on the old ear drums trying to figure out what he was on about. JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 7th September 2022 at 08:38 AM.
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    Default Re: Interesting people

    Quote Originally Posted by j.sabourn View Post
    the first ship i joined in dalgliesh’s was the pennyworth as mate. The chief steward was from south shields who had a very bad stutter , he said to me iii knkn know y y y you , i said i’ve never met you in my life , he stuttered his way through telling me all the wives met in i think it was bainbridges every friday in south shields and discussed whose husband was due for promotion and who had missed out on promotion in fact they knew more than we did. The same chief steward complained and complained about not having a mat in his cabin and was getting his feet cold having to stand on the tiles getting out of bed, so i gave him a coir door mat. I told him if not satisfied to see capt. Phillips the deck superintendent which he did , after stuttering his way through asking for a proper carpet , the deck super was fed up and just said if you don’t like it put your notice in , he didn’t , and he didn’t get his carpet , and just used the coir mat, and i never heard him complain again . Which made it much easier on the old ear drums trying to figure out what he was on about. Js
    i knew that chief steward with a stutter john ......it was said he was in charge of an oerklon gun in convoy in 39 .......a stuka flew very very low coming straight at the vesssel .....he shouted gggggggget rrrrrready .....tttttake aaaaaaim.......ffffffffffffuck it we will get it next time.....r683532

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    Default Re: Interesting people

    That’s him ! JS
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    Default Re: Interesting people

    Quote Originally Posted by j.sabourn View Post
    that’s him ! Js
    lol old ones are best john

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