hello there

[Captain Kong]

Look in "Seafaring Stories" thread in "SWINGING THE LAMP FORUM"
Cheers
Brian

[Ivan Cloherty]

Are there any books that anyone could recomend?

Take your time James, Rome wasn't built in a day, there are hundreds of books on our lives and life styles but only read those written by ex seafarers, ignore those written by those who have never been to sea, but who think they know what it was like, but having never sat around the messroom or saloon table have no real idea. Research the author's history before you decide what to read. You will get all your answers on this site, but we are not as quick as we used to be, as mentioned before trawl the site you will glean a lot, some through rose tinted spectacles, some sad, some dangerous, but none invented.

[Ron B Manderson]

welcome to the site young man.
I'm sure you will be overloaded with info.
Enjoy
Ron the batcave

[j.sabourn]

The first thing at the very first lecture I attended at 15 still remember and was entitled What is a Ship. A ship is a vessel built to carry goods from one part or the world to another, and for this purpose is divided into various compartments called holds, by walls which are called bulkheads. Start from there. Spend 4 years at sea and then look at some old examination papers for further advancement. People can only answer your questions generally as all have had different experiences, the same as any tradesman working ashore. You probably have as much idea as the general worker ashore, who a lot still think that a ship stops at night and drops anchor. Forget all you have heard from any non seagoing friends you may have who have done voyages as passengers only and think they know all about it, and start from the original "What is a ship". About 50 years in shipping and I learned a ship can be a thing of beauty, it can also be a death trap, it can be cantankeruous, and at times it seems to have a mind of its own. It has to be nurtured the same as your car and will give you back what you put into it. it appears to be a living thing to many of us. This you will only find out yourself by living with it every day like you do with your wife or girlfriend. As like someone has just said previously take your time and note what answers you get. However if you are a non seafarer and try to write a book about it, don't think most seafarers would read as would soon spot it was written by a shore person. Most of your questions you ask re employment etc. is second nature to most of us. So others will probably reply. Britain after the war years led the world in shipping and seafarers also shipbuilding but was let down by successive governments which they will deny and come up with other reasons. The great Maritime Nation that Britain achieved a few hundred years ago through its merchant venturers is no more. JS

[gray_marian]

See below

[gray_marian]

Hi James just a suggestion from a landlubber, we have several authors as members, you could look through the "Recommended Books" thread on site where you will locate a varied selection on all manner of experiences and seafaring aspects, others with references of facts and figures of lives lost which are most poignant.

[j.sabourn]

One of your queries in your first post James. There were in general three types of trade in shipping, the Tanker Trade mainly centred around the Persian Gulf where most of the oil exports started their journeys to various parts of the world. The Liner Trade which did not have to consist of passenger ships, but were ships on dedicated runs such as to South America and UK, or South Africa and UK or Australia and UK. Then you had the Tramp Ship Trade which were usually in the era that you want, cargo ships of about 10,000 tons deadweight with drafts of around 28 to 30 feet that could get into ports others couldn't and load and discharge themselves. These were like your rag and bone man ashore would go anywhere there was a lucrative cargo to be had. This together with what is a ship, is the highway you are now on, as some served on all three types of trade and others spent a lifetime on one, you will get various answers which may appear contrary to each other, but they aren't. Is like asking the pilot of a jet airliner and a spitfire pilot their experiences both fliers but different aircraft. If trying to do a crash course on shipping, the easiest way would be to settle on one type of trade until you think you have enough and then go to the next one and so forth. Cheers JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

Also very important, make sure that when you are writing your novel that the geography of the era matches the era of the time you are writing about. We see so many films, read books, see news reports that cause us much amusement/annoyance because people haven't done their research properly. You can see films where-in £millions have been spent making it and the third mate is wearing three stripes and the 1st mate is wearing one stripe, just one example, yes the general public don't know, but that's not the point is it.

[Keith Tindell]

In my time at sea 1958-1965 i went for ships to the shipping federation offices in London, this was really the labour exchange for seamen, there were other means to join a ship, but i did not use them.Using the shipping federation for a ship you filed a great deal of knowledge in your brain eg, what was the overtime like on that company, where did they normally trade, what was the accomodation like, very important , what was the food like (some were not good), you had to very wary if you were joining a ship abroad, as you could be told a pack of lies, and find on arrival it was a rust bucket, the reason a lot of the jobs were there on these ships was the crew skinning out (deserting), but what a life we had. This is going to be one interesting posting, and good luck KT

[j.sabourn]

Just like that episode in "New Tricks" Ivan. where this Commander R.N. had one of his epaulettes the wrong way round. I also noted in the credits at the end they also had a Naval Adviser. Shocking as those shows aren't cheap to organize I would imagine. Another BBC one was when your ex England football captain appeared in either St. Pauls or Westminster Abbey sporting his newly acquired OBE on the wrong side, and this was amongst a bunch of Military people, and not one advised him otherwise. I have always noticed that when the media drops an obvious clanger they never admit to it, maybe they think we are a bunch of morons and don't know any better. Cheers JS