Female radio officers at sea mid 70's on tankers before sex disc Act

[John Moxley]

[I]John Moxley....
.
After the EXXON VALDES incident all our ships became Dry Ships, no beer, no wine, no tots.
Brian.

OK, Brian, you got me fair and square....on the Gulf run...but on the smaller tankers in the 60's and 70's...in Singapore, Curacao, Bombay, etc...I believe there may well have been a wee bit of Hanky Panky going on, not that I would know personally of course.
Cheers
John

[cappy]

both you guy s are correct in brians case there was no chance .....in 2or 3 months .....but tramping on a tanker on the indian coast ....in all ports down to ceylon ...there was plenty to go at if required.......some very nice chee chee girls.......but one of the strangest after being told not to go past the seamans rest in abadan which was great for steaks and fresh milk ...that was like waving a red rag to a bull off we went in 2 taxis to the local honky tonk which was strictly a no no ......as we went through the red lite area ....which wasnt because there was no lights...the local hookers puuled there face masks of and smiled......not like other places of ill repute were the girls just flashed all to a seaman......sadley one guy got a full house and a guard was put on the ship in oz just to stop him going ashore...that was 58 ....regards cappy

[Lucy Knight]

If you want to get some idea of the Far East eg Singapore runs ashore on old Shell rust buckets, Kyties in Bugey Street etc in the 70's, difficult officers, try reading from Watford to Woolloomooroo. You can buy it on Amazon

[Captain Kong]

Hi John and Cappy
It is a different ball game today, The world has changed so much. too political and too extremist religions,

There is nowhere now in the middle east where you can get a leg over.especially in any mu slim countries, you may be killed if you attempt anything like that.
also today ships are not in port long enough to walk down a gangway.
I remember the old T2 tankers in the 50s. we used to have a week alongside in Curacao, just loading 10,000 tons.plenty of time to get up to Happy Valley.
You wont find any young and willing ladies in Singapore anymore, I go to Singapore every year and all that finshed a long time ago.
Now a VLCC tanker can load a Quarter of a Million Tons in 24 hours all hands on deck for that, and discharge to a max of 72 hours, . in a discharge port. Pumps going at 20,000 tons an hour with all hands working through to complete discharge including tank clean with crude wash, Many times we all did a 78 hour stretch on deck without a break and then back to sea.
Only six ABs then and I think they are now down to 3 ABs.on Deck
So you see there would be no room for any Drug user, the job is now too technical and complicated than it used to be, No chance of a leg over, and no chance of a tatoo, Safety at all times is necessary, every man has to be alert at all times, no place for cowboys on deck.
We worked hard and continous but the Rewards were excellent.We always sailed with the same crews all the time, Everyone knew each other when you joined a ship and became friends for years. We still have re-unions every year.
Cheers
Brian.

[cappy]

the last days of the mn as we knew it long gone......so sad ......we were so lucky to get the time we did .....no war ...and a world were it was still young......40 men on the average tramp.....all brothers ......listening and learning from the old ones and giving them respect.....doing ypur 2nd trip and showing a ist tripper what was what .....standingup when things werent right.....sounds like paradise ...most of it was meat 2 times a day and an egg every day the pleasure of a good cooks ships curry.....your ist proper grown women and learning from her ...the beuty of the ist port abroad.....whether it was mina lagos or new york .....coming home with a suntan in winter and a pocket full of money local birds taking two looks at you and realising yourself you were a man and a match for anyone .....and todays youth no chance of what we had ......what a learning curve worth thousands in the way of the world .....it was i have said a thousand .....theworld our oyster and we took it and shook it ......pity the poor souls who didnt see and have what we did.....the last of the best of the british merchant navy proud cappy and regards to all my brothers

[happy daze john in oz]

.....bloody hell john all mary had to do would be to wave her wooden leg ....and all hands would have give in.....ps she liked cooks she always got a joint off them......regards cappy

And no doubt that was not all she got off them!!!!

[j.sabourn]

A lot of the replies to this post have been about the lack of judgement and good order shown by senior people on board certain vessels. Speaking from my own experiences and observations during my time at sea, there were certain bad attitudes and certain people not particularly suited to the position they held. I served as master or crew on ninety odd vessels during my time at sea and can honestly say it was only on a very small proportion say 5 vessels or so that I was aware of bad stewardship. The master usually comes into default with any such complaints, but let me say the average master is or was only proficient in his own seamanship duties, he would have been brought up from the deck and been able to do any job of a seaman as such, as regards engine room duties he would only have a basic knowledge of same the same as any layman, also the Radio Room, and would therefore rely on others to keep him informed of any necessary faults with same. The master was usually considered by everyone to be the final say in any dispute and the ones I sailed with in my younger days could usually go to in confidence for advice or whatever. Nowadays where you have very young masters who spend most of their time aquiring the skills supposedly for their profession before ever stepping foot onboard a ship is a different situation where it is more than likely them themselves who require advice, as have never seen the other human side of life which they have no experience of. The master on a ship used to be the head of a ship, nowadays he is the manager of the corner shop or deli and more reliant on what the owner tells him what to do than make any judgement for himself. The years Lucy refers to the mid 70"s was when to me the shipping industry was going down very sharply and I was trying my best to find employment as unless you had been established with one company were out on a limb, however that was my fault as had had the good years where could roam at will. Lucy must have been extremely unlucky to have had such bad experiences in such a short time, we all have had bad experiences but being a man may have had a different attitude to same. I have been re-reading these posts and trying to put my finger on the problem, but can only arrive at, she sailed with some very unsavoury characters and worked for a company where most of the marine staff came from the same background with the same work ethics. John S

[Captain Kong]

Regarding the deline in Seamanship skills, After taking early retirement from ESSO I went back to sea again, shore life was so boring I was going demented.
I was Master on a ship, we had an Iraqi 2nd Mate who as totally useless, We had to place the Port anchor on the quayside due to a damaged joining shackle, The Mate was on change over day, the old one ready to go and the new one not arrived yet,The Iragi 2nd Mate was sat in the Sailors Mess watching TV, I said "Hey. get your Boiler Suit on" and then went on deck to arrange the job. The 2nd Mate did not arrive, I went down to the Sailors Mess, he was sat in a chair watching TV, I went mad with him, he says "you tell me to put Boiler suit on, I have put it on, OK?" I could have killed him there and then.
We went forard, with three ABs, the shore crane arrived and we put a rope ladder over the bow,
"Now who is going down to shackle the sling to the anchor?" `Not me` , each one said, `might fall in the water,`
2nd Mate. `Not me`. What kind of totally useless "seamen" today. all scared of going over the wall.
I did it, See my avatar above,
A simple job, [ I did enjoy doing it, ] but what kind of `men` go to sea today. when they are scared of going over the wall.
On the same ship I was sailing for the Thames and to save time for a tide I took her through the downs between the Goodwins and Deal. towards Ramsgate, there is a dogs leg in the channel with a turn to starboard to the next course, the ship was on iron mike, as I approached the bouys, there was another ship approaching from the north so I told the AB to go on the wheel and bring her over to Starboard a little to make more room for the two ships as we would be there at the same time. The `AB` took the wheel and immediatel went to port across the bows of the approaching ship, I dived on the wheel and knocked the `AB` to the deck and grabbed the wheel, The other ship missed my stern by inches, I went out of the other side of the channel and brought he round the bouy and back into the channel again.
There was lots of cursing on VHF from the other vessel, I had to apologise to him.
The `AB` i grabbed him by the throat, `What the hell were you doing? I told you to keep her over to the starboard side of the channel. ` he said , `I dont know what starboard means.`
He told me , it was his first trip to sea, he has done a two week course at Gravesend Sea School and was issued an ABs and Lifeboat Certificate.
So that is todays ABs. totally useless and incompetent and Certificated.
So that is another factor in the decline of the British Merchant Navy. All the skilled men had gone ashore in retirement and replaced by useless people.
I was 60 years old then.
Cheers
Brian.

[j.sabourn]

Brian a lot of good seamen went ashore during the seamens strike in 66 and never came back. It was all downhill from then as far as I can gather. I chose to go foreign flag when I saw the disgraceful way they were treated, and came back 71/72, things were definetly in a downward motion then. I think in the middle 70"s was when Lucy had her problems, about the time the sex equality act or whatever they called it came into force. The shipowner was probably falling over himself proving he was not that way inclined, as soon after started seeing Masters and mates on passenger boats, where they came from God knows. Certainly didnt come up the conventional way I knew about, was to appease the general public as far as I could see. What you describe as seamen have had the same problem, and this applies to mates also, the Eng. room should imagine had the same problem. A lot couldnt even throw a heaving line, maybe they should bring that into the shore curriculum for pre sea training. The sea nowadays all that is left is memorys, today it bears very little semblance to the job we were trained for..,. Cheers John S

[j.sabourn]

I must say however working in the offshore Industry was a lot closer to the old seafaring skills we were brought up with, and was no place for a seaman who didnt know his job. So maybe I was spared some of the shocks to the system I saw when going back deep sea, during lay up times in the North Sea. Cheers John S