Hello!

[Ron B Manderson]

Bat sea is thus.
"Like being at sea is like jail with more chance of Drowning."
But I would never had changed a moment.
You end up with Friends, Mates and board of thrade people.
Your friends will be freinds for life.
Ron The batcave

[Ivan Cloherty]

Well Danny, you have a variety of views to try and steer a course through, but the most important thing to remember is, if you want to be a good seaman 'That the sea is a calling and not just a job' if you really want to go to sea then you will go, no matter what, even though we 'old' seamen don't think that modern ships look like ships anymore and are looking through rose tinted spectacles as mentioned by a shipmate. It will give you a different and positive perspective on life and it is not, as if like in our time (40's, 50's, 60's and the 70's also) that you can get Shangied and be away for two years before heading home.

Your girlfriend has to be supportive, it takes a special type of woman to be a seaman's wife and I would say that most of us here were lucky in that respect. Absence does make the heart grow fonder and it is a honeymoon every time you come home. In these modern times your time away will be shorter and your honeymoons longer. Myself and my siblings experienced a father away at sea and in the services and I cannot say it did any of us any harm, children of seamen and servicemen in my experience seem to respect their parents more than their land based peers.

But only you can make the decision and money wise some sacrifices have to be made to follow a dream, there may not be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but you will be richer in knowledge and tolerance and learn that men of all creeds and colour can pull together for their common good in times of adversity.

[Captain Kong]

It is always better to have wished you Had Not done it , than to wish you Had.
Brian.

[j.sabourn]

In latter years I worked under Ozzi Rules so to speak. Which on paper was 6 weeks on and 6 weeks off. I remember 1 seaman off the Tasmanian Ferrys whose girlfriend also worked on same, he lasted a week and had to send him home as couldnt bear to be apart from her any longer. Sad isnt it when you consider the conditions during our time. As regards myself, dont think I ever had the 6 weeks off as always had calls to shift a rig, or bring newer tonnage down from Singapore or other parts of the world. It was only I would presume the older seafarers who would do this on their leave periods, however it was always extra money, and most of the older ones had strong memories of money hard to come by to pay off their mortgages and other committments, nowadays everything is on credit One of the reasons why the shocking events recently world wide took place. Cheers Queers and Ginger Beers. John Sabourn

[Captain Kong]

When I was at sea, my wife ran off with a friend of mine, I do miss him and our nights in the pub..
It was the only decent thing she ever did for me. Now it is hell for them both.
Brian

[Red Lead Ted]

If you have your wifes blessing, You are half way there m8, The old saying comes to mind behind every good Man ,There,s a good Woman. I wish you both well whatever you decide. It will make or break you Danny but unless you follow your instincts you will never no Regards Terry.

[j.sabourn]

As someone said you have had a host of replies to your query. You will probably think in a lot of cases we are a bunch of old gossips as shore persons would never discuss private matters as some of the subjects raised. You may be fortuanate to find out for yourself that mainly seafarers are a breed of their own and mostly do not adhere to shoreside standards as such. I could be in a party of 20 people with 1 seaman among them and am 99 percent sure I could pick him out. Whether it is a sixth sense, a way he stands, and there is always the odd maritime word slips out, but as in the past have always been able to identify. There used to be no secrets among the crews of ships, when you get 40 odd men cooped up together for month after month there were no secrets as such. There was the occassional person who tried to keep himself thus, and in some casesd nowadays would probably be considered suffering from some form of depression. I sailed with a few masters like this and were considered a pain in the ass, however as said they were probably not very well persons. I dont think the so called political correctness of today would go down very well then as shipping in our day you were a law unto yourself, the ship was run from the ship and was its own entity. Seamen spoke their minds and still do as you can see by this site. It is a continuously changing world and I for one am loth to change with it. I believe the old standards that we had were the best the world has seen and is ever likely to. Modernization for its own sake in a lot of cases is not for me. All the best on what you decide. Regards John Sabourn

[Red Lead Ted]

I agree with Iohn ,s post, Men will always take to the sea it covers 2 3rds of the earth its natural to want to explore it. Your problems arrive when it tries to explor you. It can be a very lonesome life at times and we old salts tend to escape that , We only remember the good times. But in today,s Merchant Navy it has its good side there may well come the time when you and your wife can explore it aboard ship together. I tmay seem a 1,0000,0000 miles away but what will you do in the next 5yrs of your life. Personally i woudn,d change a thing i have done in the past. Regards buddy Terry.

[Doc Vernon]

Wonder what happened to Danny Boy! (The Sea the Sea is calling)
No replies ,that is not acceptable is it!?
Cheers

Anyway if he pops in here is something for him to read!

MERCHANT NAVY !!! THE OCEAN OF GOLDEN PENNIES

[Ivan Cloherty]

Doc you read my mind and beat me to it.