Spardo:
In 1964 my first ship was the St. John, a freighter of the South American Saint Line, which was bought out by British & Commonwealth. We had a strictly segregated setup. British officers, white deck crew with a Polish bosun, African/Caribbean engine room, and Chinese galley. We all got on fairly well but thought the Chinese a bit meek and mild and very accepting of profane criticism of the the standard of the food (which I thought was very good, but then I liked school dinners ) until one day one of them came flying through the small serving hatch shortly followed by one of his mates wielding a meat cleaver .
Fortunately he didn’t catch him, but if he had and the stew had tasted a bit funny that night - I don’t think any of us would have complained
Salut, David.
The Filipinos I sailed with were every bit as meek and mild as the Chinese David, often to ridiculous extents, though some of them had the cheek to racially abuse me, me being the youngest member onboard, though they’d only do this when the German officers were not present but on the same token I have sailed with other Filipinos on different ships who were totally different and were nothing short of brilliant. Mind you, none of my ships ever had more than a crew of six so there wasn’t much room for messing about but on my last ship, the little Hoo Swift the mate gave the two Filipinos hell all the time, he was often very nasty to them but luckily for them, they rarely understood what he was saying as their English wasn’t brilliant so as soon as he’d leave, they instantly turn to me and ask what he’d said.
the first time i crossed to irland i went stranraer to larne a long way to hitch from Leamington but i thought being short it would be ok…like hell
coming back from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead was like a mill pond…i’ve since been told if you have to cross water go for the widest bit as its less likly to be very rough in comparison. to short sea crossings…no wonder i like mid channel crossing and the train
Here is a nice example of the excellent standard of eastern European officers. This is by no means an isolated incedent either! This sort of thing happens quite a lot now with Polish, Russian, Ukranian and former Yugoslav country officers, mainly due to alcohol.
The ship in this video clip is German owned with a full Russian crew and it shows it running aground at Cartagena, Spain.
Spardo:
That is incredible Robinhood, full steam ahead as well, everybody tucked up in bed - or the mess room
I liked all the tooing and frowing with the engines afterwards, but nothing was budging there was it?
Salut, David.
I’ve found out today that this isn’t the first time the ‘Parsival’ (ship in clip) has been in trouble. In 2002 it had its bow totally smashed in when it was on the New Waterway in Rotterdam. Though I don’t know the circumstances behind that incedent.
Spardo:
That is incredible Robinhood, full steam ahead as well, everybody tucked up in bed - or the mess room
It doesn’t look like there was anyone looking out of the window.
Perhaps the officer of the watch had sleep apnoea, maybe he should contact Grace Productions
Spardo:
That is incredible Robinhood, full steam ahead as well, everybody tucked up in bed - or the mess room
It doesn’t look like there was anyone looking out of the window.
Perhaps the officer of the watch had sleep apnoea, maybe he should contact Grace Productions
Been there and done the puke bit, back in 75 when Doric ferries ran out of Preston Docks I did the trailer boy working on heavy haulage at the time, good cabins, but I can’t stand the sight of sick