hello there

[Ivan Cloherty]

John the producers got it wrong because they employed a 'navel advisor', so you see education and correct spelling are important no matter what today's educators say

[James blake]

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.

I feel that I come to the right place here! I'll just navigate myself round the site, not ask questions that have been asked before.
I understand how daft it must look when people write about what they don't know, I've a fair bit of travelling, overland, and I 've been in a few ports in my time, as you say though, it is the wee things that make the difference.
One thing I remember from an uncle's letter was the card schools- I think he liked a bet, he wrote that he had lost £20 that day - this must have been a fortune in '61. How prevalent was that kind of thing?

[James blake]

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

Totally agree. What I'm planning has a few incidents involving ships and ports.
One question needing explained is when one of the characters, who is getting destroyed by land life in the steelworks, just decides to go back to sea.
He was an ablebodied seaman, he has his card - so how would he make a quick getaway, so to speak, I've got him down to have to make Durban, thinking via Hamburg, then on the Palm Line to Windhoek, down that way, then on to Durban- would that have been a rational plan even?
Where there agents in Glasgow that would have fixed you with a berth to Hamburg, how long will that take?

As I mentioned to another poster, I am going to look round this forum and find some info.

I really do not want to steal from you gents on here, and I hope no one feels I' m being pushy - though I remember auld seaman in my family were never ones to mince their words!

[Ivan Cloherty]

I feel that I come to the right place here! I'll just navigate myself round the site, not ask questions that have been asked before.
I understand how daft it must look when people write about what they don't know, I've a fair bit of travelling, overland, and I 've been in a few ports in my time, as you say though, it is the wee things that make the difference.
One thing I remember from an uncle's letter was the card schools- I think he liked a bet, he wrote that he had lost £20 that day - this must have been a fortune in '61. How prevalent was that kind of thing?

James if you have specific questions or want specific information, please ask away, none of us mind and we will do our best to answer, we would rather that you ask rather than guess. You may not get an immediate answer as the source may be travelling or hasn't looked in for a couple of days, so feel free don't be embarrassed, you've already proved your worth by re-appearing on site, a lot don't when they've gleaned the information they were seeking. We are here to help and keep the spirit of the MN camaraderie alive, although we could have cheerfully killed each other at times. Card schools were a common occurence in the messrooms, some of our sea passages varied from 21 to 60 days without seeing land, so those that didn't have hobbies took to playing cards/crib etc, but it rarely got out of hand because a good bosun or donkeyman would keep the lid on it, especially the family men. All kinds of talent existed at sea even on the scruffiest tramp and the most unlikely looking crew members, violin playesr, guitar players, saxes, clarinets, or in my case tea-chest double bass, there were artists, embroiders, photographers, basket weavers, model makers, some of them really talented regardless of rank or rating. We had our own world and whilst you also got some real shipboard sh*t heads, but if they were in real trouble we helped them out, because in the end they were one of us, we also had a way of curing bullies, because there is more than one way to skin a cat regardless of size.

[Keith Tindell]

As Ivan has said, card schools, hobbies were well used on board, just a quick point, you have to remember the only things we had was self made, once we were out of range of decent radio signal that was it, books , cards, etc kicked in. No washing machines etc, dhobi (washing clothes) was in a galvanised bucket, life was pretty basic, but all of us would do it again, kt

[Red Lead Ted]

Not to forget Jimbo, You couldn't ring an Ambulance or The fire brigade or Police Service, We all had to deal with whatever came our way, The longest stint i done actually at sea was 38 days Karachi to Glasgow, Suez canal closed and engine trouble, Terry.

[Frederick Lacey]

Hope this comes out,

uk.picclick.com/Prince-Line-MV-CYPRIAN-PRINCE-Unused-Real-Photo-401066856891.html

Click onto photo to make it larger.

F.

Sorry It Didn't

If you enter the details it does come out.

[James blake]

As Ivan has said, card schools, hobbies were well used on board, just a quick point, you have to remember the only things we had was self made, once we were out of range of decent radio signal that was it, books , cards, etc kicked in. No washing machines etc, dhobi (washing clothes) was in a galvanised bucket, life was pretty basic, but all of us would do it again, kt

One thing that struck me was the quality of the writing of the letters that i 'inherited' - both the script and the content. I suppose they had a bit of time on their hands, however the punctuation, paragraphing and spelling was flawless.
We are talking about guys that grew up in the Gorbals and left school at fourteen! I suppose everybody was a reader back in those days. The reason for poor literacy skills nowadays is lack of reading.

[Red Lead Ted]

Jay, Its a dying trend these days, The reason of course is texting, I have never seen any of my grand kids put pen to paper and write a letter, Computers have Notepad and scanners Printers all these things including mobile phones, Have killed off the art of writing down on paper your thoughts, We all as seaman were not only book worms but could only correspond with family and friends with pen and paper. Terry.

[Ivan Cloherty]

James on this site you are speaking to men of 60,70,80 plus, most of us with no formal education, most went to sea at the age of 16, if not earlier, my first trip to Iceland on deep sea trawlers-I was 13. We listened to the radio on which the announcers spoke the King's/Queen,s English as it was known then, though most of us didn't do so, we learnt the correct pronunciation even if we didn't use it more often than not, but when we read, the only other real relaxation, we learnt to recognise the words. One of my friends has an AB's diary from the 1870's in which he recorded his voyage around Cape Horn, the script and prose are beyond belief and would do credit to an academic English scholar.

Having said all the foregoing we have a rule that no one corrects their shipmates spelling or grammar on this site, so there will be instances where incorrect use of the English language will occur, but it is the story and the memories which are important on this site.

Strangely enough although we had long sea passages, especially on slow tramps we never had a lot of time on our hands, especially watch keepers, who after keeping their watch took advantage of any paid overtime going, as there was also plenty of unpaid overtime, lifeboat drills, fire drills and in bad weather securing cargo or gear that had come adrift, and where laying in your bunk without bouncing to the deckhead or being thrown onto the deck was also hard work. Forget the glossy brochures with the silk smooth sea and the stars lighting up the heavens, think more of waves 30 to 70/80 foot high crashing down on your little vessel which is gyrating from port to starboard whilst at the same time pitching and pounding into solid walls of water, with the screw racing in fresh (well salt laden) air one moment and then digging deep into the ocean the next with the engineers wondering when the whole bloody thing is going to fall apart, whilst watching the for'd rails being torn off the deck and disappearing back to whence you had come, then losing a lifeboat 30 to 40 feet above sea level (well when it was calm), so you see there wasn't always a lot of free time!!