Hi There, Have just joined the site

[Richard Quartermaine]

Adam, Lived in the tropics for many, many years and our rule was COTTON. Most particularly next to your skin. Nylon is like wearing a plastic wrap. Some of the later man made materials blended with a major cotton content also soaks up sweat and evaporates. Good luck and welcome aboard.
Richard

[j.sabourn]

#19... RLT.whenever someone mentions people of the past whose name brings back memorys, it usually brings back a flood of others as well. Suppose we all have had old friends and shipmates who have left lasting impressions behind. In 1953 I sailed with an old Norwegian carpenter who had lived in the UK for many years. Can see him now saying to the senior apprentice yust the yob yeffrey. Could never like most Scandavians pronounce his Js. Old friends drowned at sea or killed in the industry, who we tend to put in the back of the mind, and forget, which we shouldnt. Most of us are lucky to have reached the age we have, without coming a cropper like so many others did. The old carpenter was 80 if he was a day, and the only place he was happy was at sea, which he considered like a lot of us our home. The sea will never again have the attraction it did in our times. The workings of a ship are now completely different regarding the routines and maintainance we were brought up with. Our time has been and gone. Unfortuanetley the maritime heritage that we had is slowly disappearing as well. Cheers to absent friends. John S

[John Arton]

Not being an engineer I can only pass on the following advice given to me by a very good friend of mine, an excellent Chief Engineer,
It goes like this.
Before touching any piece of machinery, READ THE BLOODY MANUAL.
rgds
JA

[robpage]

The Manual????, I was on a ship once with all the separator manuals in Finnish , oh and the main engine manual , the superintendent borrowed it , The first Clan Line ship I was on had a set of Manuals in the Chief's cabin , but they were not for mere mortals to read , Good Advice John , but one that I could never take advantage of . My first ship , I drew a bilge plan , a fresh water plan , a salt water distribution plan , a steam plan , ad infinitum , and the old exerciise book was brilliant with teh sketches , but after doing it , I never needed it , like the escape routes they were engraved in the memory

[John Arton]

"My first ship , I drew a bilge plan , a fresh water plan , a salt water distribution plan , a steam plan , ad infinitum , and the old exerciise book was brilliant with teh sketches , but after doing it , I never needed it , like the escape routes they were engraved in the memory"
Rob
Totally true, its the only way to learn pipeline systems, how they work and what their purpose is. To this day I can still draw the pumproom and tank lines of my first ship, an 80,000 crude oil tanker, 4 steam driven centrifugal pumps, 2 steam driven stripping pumps, positive displacement, one ballast pump. Ring main cargo line system, 4 branch loading/discharge manifold, 7 wing tanks port and stbd and 8 centre tanks plus one set of dedicated wing ballast tanks.
rgds
JA

[robpage]

but then we did an apprenticeship , not a three year university course , and the air conditioning failed if you did not turn the vents to the wind with course movements .

[John Arton]

but then we did an apprenticeship , not a three year university course , and the air conditioning failed if you did not turn the vents to the wind with course movements .

On that first ship after we left a bunkering port just outside the P.G., in Oman I think, the old Chief Engineer shut off the A/C saying that as we were now at sea and there was a breeze, we could open our cabin portholes to get a nice breeze into the cabins. Earlier that day we had been frying eggs on the deck just to see if it could be done as it was so hot. Fully laden crude oil, aft accommodation, port holes open facing the tank deck, cabin filled with crude oil fumes and smoking allowed in cabins!!!! Sense prevailed and after a night sleeping on deck the captain persuaded the Chief Engineer of the sense in having the A/C on at all times.
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

Cant remember having AC on ships I was on for the first 15/20 years at sea. Had this blower system on the more modern ships used to blow hot air into cabin. Thermotank think they called it. Cant remember even on the two tankers I was on them having it either, although maybe wrong there, just never noticed it at the time. Nowadays ships wouldnt put to sea unless it was fitted and working. The ex North Sea survey ship I stood by in Singapore for 3 months, the malaysian owners wanted to put it on the Australian coast, I told them it would not be accepted down here as had no AC in crews cabins, the only AC units they had were in the survey rooms, this was to keep the computers etc. at a constant temperature and had nothing to do with human convenience. Most of us have short memorys when it comes to the inconveniences we had at sea years ago. I thought we had luxury when serving my time as we had an electric fan in the cabin for 4 of us. Many a fight in the middle of the night when one of us would get up and redirect the air flow towards their own bunk. JS

[cappy]

11 months up the gulf and indian coast .......no air con ......swam down the tanks in ballast to cool off ....but that was the norm in the 50s and early 60s.....british defender

[robpage]

I was on a Gulf Oil Tanker , where the A/C worked better than the fridge , and was set lower , on full recirculation it took 12 degrees off the outside air temperature and about 80% out of the humidity , some "hippy " was smoking a herbal tobacco , so we all got a share through the recirculating system , it is a smell that I personally fi8nd nauseous , so had to shut down the A/C and open the portholes with a couple of oil drum ( 25 litre ) scoops to get the air in