Newbie, 63 years young

[John Cutts]

Hello everyone, this exercise is very much a shot in the dark, but with the internet the world really is getting smaller.
My name is John Cutts and I spent the whole of my 6 years in the 'merch' with Bank Line as an apprentice/3rd Mate, except for a 6 month Far East trip with Vergocean, which sadly caused the termination of my love affair with the sea and a subsequent shore based life.
It would be great to hear from anyone who might remember me from that time-1964/70.
Regards, carbman.

[Gulliver]

Welcome aboard John.It would be nice to find someone who you knew you with your time in Bank Line.
Have you also tried the Bank Line forums in the Ships Nostalgia site? They also have a dedicated ex-Bank L ine crewlist feature in there.
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/

I 'm interested to know why you left the sea,due to your last trip with Vergocean.What happened? I'm pretty sure I sailed with someone in the early 70's, who came from that company who told a tale or three,.I know it's quite an old-established company,but I think by that time it had become one of the more increasingly 'dodgy' companies?......as many were,all of which helped to assist in the ultimate decline of the British M.N....

All the Best!
Gulliver

[Ron B Manderson]

welcome aboard mate.
Grab a chair.
Ron The batcave

[Doc Vernon]

Hi carbman (real name please)
Would just like to give you a warm Welcome to this very good site!
Here you will find lots of info,good Crew and with luck also find a few old Shipmates!
So sit back,relax and just enjoy the trip!
Hope we will have you here for a long time!
A site truly worthy of the British Merchant Navy!
Cheers

If you would like to join in and have your Full name R Number and First Ship
Included in the Flag then Please join the Crew List and leave full details on the Registration Form.
We need your names to get the New Flag full,so please do respond!
Thank you
Vernon (castleman)

Don’t forget to note your First Ship on the Form!

If any new Members or old ones too want a bit of info on the Flag Projects please
Go to the following Links where you can see Pics and Write ups on this subject!
Thanks

http://www.merchant-navy.net/gallery...php?photo=8380

If you have allready done this then Thank You!

[John Cutts]

Thanks Gulliver,good to be aboard.
Re: Vergocean, I took a job from the pool when I was a bit short of cash and was flown out to Karachi within days to join the Vergmont, (ex Welsh City, I think). I'm sure the clerk in the pool was a conjurer and conjured this ship from the bottom of the pile when he saw me coming in.
She was a mess, discharging coal and when I went aboard the first question to me was, 'do you have a ticket?' If I did they were going to sign me on as 2nd Mate. I didn't and they were a bit pissed off. When I met the 2nd Mate I understood their feelings.
From Karachi down to Marmagoa loaded iron ore to Japan. Captain drunk most of the time. While shifting ship in Japan, captain completely useless.
Left Japan lightship for Whampoa. 3 days on sw course and for each of them the mate and 2nd mate put our position at midday exactly on our chart course. Easterly wind and lightship, my sights put us 20 miles nearer the Chinese coast each day. They said I was wrong. When I went up to relieve the mate for his lunch, after a few minutes I happened to see away on the starboard side, the Chinese coast. I told the helmsman 'hard a port' which brought the mate back up to the bridge in quick time. We were 60 miles nearer the coast than they said.
Shortly after this incident we were trying to manoever around a typhoon, but the captain was so indecisive we were edging slowly closer to the eye. The mate wouldn't take over, but eventually he did and a decision was made which caused us to avoid the typhoon and reach Whampoa, safely.
Loaded rice at Whampoa for Colombo, where the captain was relieved.
Left Colombo 5th November 1970 lightship for Chittagong to load iron ore. 2 days into the voyage boilers failed so couldn't heat up heavy fuel oil for the engine, so engine failed. By this time we were experiencing heavy weather which turned into a full blown cyclone over the next day or so.
With no fuel oil, generators failed, so no power for the radio. R/O had managed to get a mayday message away but had not been able to get a confirmation reply.
By this time all efforts were directed at keeping the hatches watertight, which was a continuous struggle. We managed and eventually the storm passed and we were using the lifeboat radio to communicate and found out that a tug was on its way, from Dar es Salaam.
10 days after we broke down the Smit tug Barentz Zee arrived and towed us to Madras.
We learned that the cyclone we had weathered had caused a tidal wave in the Ganges delta and 250,000 people lost their lives. Also, of 7 ships known to be caught in the cyclone, we were the only one to survive.
We were in Madras for a number of days undergoing repairs. Lloyds surveyor came on board for a survey, which we passed, but I learned afterwards that various 'tricks' had been played on the surveyor to pass the survey and basically there were various problems with the ship, which rendered her unsafe.
I decided myself that I had put up with enough over the last few months and wasn't prepared to put up with any more. When I told the R/O he agreed with me and we both left the ship that night and reported to the Shipping Master in Madras the next morning. We were threatened with allsorts including prison, which I replied would be better than being at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal.
The ultimate outcome was that we were repatriated to UK on Christmas Eve 1970. Arrived Heathrow midday Christmas Day and made it my mums best ever christmas present.
While back at home I started doing voluntary work in a local youth project in Islington and started a different tack to my life.

[John Cutts]

[REF POST #1
Hi Castleman, thanks for the welcome. I've filled in a page on the crew list.
You should read all my initial post, but my name is John Cutts. Pleased to meet you.

[John Cutts]

welcome aboard mate.
Grab a chair.
Ron The batcave

Hi Ron, got a chair, what's the turn? Thanks for the welcome.

[Doc Vernon]

Thanks John Cutts
Sorry for missing that!
Havent ben myself at this time!
Cheers

[jdegs]

I was the R/O the Laurelbank for 9 months 1974 a fantastic time in my life, saw the world and great shipmates.
Jim

[Gulliver]

Hi John.Thanks for replying with that very personal tale.Sounds like the trip from hell,and not surprised that your personal unhappiness helped you in your decision to swallow the anchor.

That's the kind of experience that some of us here have stated that anyone shoreside wouldn't understand or believe in. We know better!

It could have happened to any of us at that age(early 20's).I was fortunate that in those days of the early and mid seventies,after serving my cadetship with a good company,that I chose a succession of 'good' companies,British-owned but H.K. and Liberian flag.
This was at the time when all the old-established British companies were collapsing left,right and centre,and thousands of British Officers had to look elsewhere.
It was soon obvious which companies had a better reputation than others,and were able to attract the right men.
The officers I sailed with were some of the most professional around,and the ships may have been chatty,but they were happy.Cowboy outfits they were not--casualties and accidents were minor and few.
Those who tried to continue acting in traditional ' British Officer' style soon had their heads re-extracted from their backsides.And those who endangered the ship through alcohol,and gave their colleagues grief through having to cover for them,were given a nasty surprise at the next available port by being greeted on arrival with a trip to the airport and a 'topside taxi' ticket home.
So chatty,happy,and safe.I lived to tell to tell the tale,and am still here with all those memories.
It's quite remarkable how,no matter what we turn to after our seafaring careers,that we always return(albeit on a website) to our first calling.

All the Best
Gulliver