Most shameful memory in younger days.

Hi John
Unstable conditions in Aus at the moment storms heavy rain etc. my wife had to call in our son to fix her mobile phone . Google wanted to connect an account up, no idea if it was good or bad, but he fixed it up, she is now watching ships in trouble!!! Maybe hoping I was on one of them Lol.
Des

Des ref. #9:memory not too good on this one ,but from school days if you count the seconds between the thunder and the lightning and divide by 3 , the 3 is I only think correct as long ago, then the centre of the storm is that many miles from your position.??? JS

Dubledbup

John
To this day I still do that, I count One and Two and three and so forth and I come up with the distance, I taught my kids to do it many years ago and they still remember it.
Des
PS Had a very svere one last night big hail stones hitting the roof, and the a deluge of rain, welcome fpr the grass and shrubs;

Aparthied was ridiculous to most seamen, especially for someone like myself who had worked on Deck with Multu culture crews on ships like in South American Saint Line, our crew on the St Essylt was Chinese catering, Jamaican engine room hands and the deck crowd were Norwegians, Germans, a couple of Scots myself and a ‘displaced person’ DHU (with no passport or admitted Nationality, probably a Rusky) I never once saw ANY racism at all on that ship. Around 1963 I was on a Shell Tanker “Hatasia” for about 18 months mostly running white oil from the gulf refineries down to India or East Africa. It was weird as we off loaded in the African coast ports as each week the language ashore had changed, I’ve never had to order beer in so many languages in the same month before. Mombasa was English, Lorenzo Marques (Mozambique) was Portugese, Tamatave (Madagascar) was French and the Durban was Afrikaans it was VERY confusing on drunken runs ashore forgetting where you were.. In Durban we were warned to stay well clear of Dusky ‘maidens of the night’ and stick to white ones. Also we were warned by the Agent that a number of the said “Dusky” maidens were in the pay of Police purely to boost their Police pay with extra curriculum bonuses and that if we did go home with them, then just as we were about to exit the foreplay and get on with the dirty deed a pair of Durban policemen would charge in the room and arrest you for breaking apartheid laws. The sentence if charged could be six months in a very unpleasant jail, unless of course we wished to pay a ‘private’ fine, get dressed and just go on our way, the fine being however many Rand you had left in your pockets.. Police corruption was rife in Argentina or Communist Poland but I wouldn’t have expected to be mugged by the cops in South Africa. Ones best policy by far was wait unti Lorenzo Marques to sate any carnal urges in your young body, Mozambique was a fantastic run ashore before the Portugese abandoned it to the rebels and left town.. Ca la vie ..

Hi Puffins
I was on the BP tanker the British Builder, we held her up in Durban, all the crew went ashore, but told the Apprentices to go back aboard, they had more to lose. We went to a pub then two local blokes took us in a couple of cars all squashed in, to a pub, the next day {Can't remember what happened that night} Next day we where in a pub when two customs officers came in and said we better get back to the ship, I went to order a final drink when they blew a whistle and we where surrounded by cops, beating the living daylights out of us. As you say not a place to snub a copper.
Des

#15 There is no room for racism on a ship. People live and work together and come under the same reprimands and money . Racism is usually found ashore where living and working conditions and also rearing its ugly head religious beliefs which is usually the main excuse for such. The nearest I have come to it on a ship Indian crewed ships with Indian officers where the caste system was still in force. The poor old topaz’s to this day don’t know how they survived the fact that an Indian officer in a lot of cases would not deign to speak direct to such and would pass this job to,someone else, usually the Tindal., I went 12 months on one ship and the 2 topaz’s had no official sleeping berths , and had to assume they just slept in the alleyways. JS

Very true John, look at the cruise ships now, so many different cultures but they all get on.

As to 'Dusky' maidens in Cape Town.
Me and my mate got mixed up with a couple of them, did not look 'Dusky' but apparently were.
We were in their place in just our undies ready to get down to business when a bang at the door.
Police we were told, grabbed what we could of clothes and managed to get out of a window.

Running along a road just out of district six area we must have looked a sight.
Managed a taxi and put on what we had left of our clothes.
Walked up the gang plank bare footed, no jacket or tie and got a very odd look from master at arms.

There used to be a well dressed woman used to roam around Duncan Dock , obviously well dressed and looked European , was tipped off by one of the old hands the only way one could tell visually otherwise was the half moons in the finger nails. I can tell you before you ask , I didn’t have the bottle to ask her to show me her nails.
JS .

I would have been more concerned if she had an Adams apple.