MY driving and work history from 1980

[peggydeckboy]

The police come ,check around, and tell me to go and ring the office and say it is major indecent the whole load is hanging in the sheets. a pity we did not have cameras like today’s digital, and have been able to snap a few shots off .

After time a party came out from the Depot, all taking this ■■■■ etc ,if no one is hurt and a big ■■■■ ups there is all ways humour ,one of the foremen was there so it was decided that we needed another lorry to tranship the back loaded tea chest of the load on to another lorry. then get away to deliver them ,It was a hand ball load so no pallets. That was done after a time , it was time to cut the ropes and sheets to let the bulge at the front drop on the pavement , to get at the lose load so we could then re stack it all on the my trailer again ,it came apparent that when it was loaded originally by hand it was not done correct as when you load any boxes you put a binding layer every other row going up and across ,ie put some boxes long ways and some the short way because most boxes are oblong not square and is enough to make a good stable tier and load that was not done , I was no way to blame.

It ended all satisfactory, no prosecution ,however the Scottish prick of the manager never forgot, he blamed me he never said so ,but he did not need to ,as it caused a big ■■■■ up day all round ,I knew by the loads I got later on, I never gave him the satisfaction of moaning ,i just got on with the job as you do and I knew one day my day will come.[ it did however I had left by then and it was not good for him]

What happened was when the office staff used to have to go the whare -house they walked through what was the old booking office from the railway in side doors went of to toilets ,and there was a long cage attached along side of a wooden wall with a run that had a opening for a dog to be in and out side whenever it wanted and when out side it would be going mad jumping up and the usual practice was to tease it ,as we walked out of the office by everyone. just to get it barking , and we would be gone or round the corner cracking up with laughter ,-so out would come the manager and go just as daft to get the dog to be quiet yelling in his broad accent. It was classic entertainment for us not the dog.

The manager used to resort to get the dog in to the inside part where it would be quiet if he could …in the end he started using a broom stick on the dog pushing it through the wire netting to push the dog in ,well the dog loved that didn’t it ?It was the yard Forman s job to feed the dog etc and tie him up to clean it out. As you have guessed he was away and who took the job on. the manager ,well the dog did not forget and the ALSATION a big brute of a dog seriously mauled
the manager when he first opened the door .[just rewards ] I do not think he ever recovered properly. I had moved on by then I had no sympathy for him.

So I had now learned enough to know that I would be able to go to any transport firm and be a competent driver [my words] [ however as time went by your are only as good as your last load].i doubt that there were not many loads that we had not roped and sheeted ,that was the main part of the job then was to be able to secure whatever anyone gave you to do also able to drive a lorry .at a good standard,there were no automatic gear boxes, the art was using them [the gears ]to your advantage and get good fuel economy ,even then cheaper running cost were the key to firms going under or surviving .
My time had come to move on, but to get another job first was main thing in the 1970s there was a lot of employment around in all sorts of business. And the transport was one of them so long as you had a car.

The Len is this is not Len from before.
I eventually got a driving test at a firm about 6 miles from my home at a old RAF base that was using the old hangers ,as work places and the the old runways as storage for the finished packing cases, some of them massive in size, and heavy.
In the export packing of all types of machinery it was called C K D cars ,knocked ,down. land rover was their main customer at the start later on they had all the major car manufacturers from Midlands as their customers it got really big. as exporting was the main stay of the country ,of earning money.

The haulage company came from Coventry and had opened a depot at Chipping Warden within the facilities at Chipping Warden. I had never seen them or heard of them .and once I had the driving test with a forty foot trailer, fully loaded weighing 30 tons, I passed ,and was offered a job ,however it was to do local runs to the midland factory’s 2 trips a day, and was told when some more larger lorry’s arrived I would be engaged to do the dock work so I took the job.

Just after I had started the Government brought in the then new Licence ,for all types of lorry’s, different classes i.e. 1,1A.2.2A.3,3A. 4. 4A.my licence was first issued in1.11.1970 THEY WERE VALID FOR 3 YEARS and you had to apply for a renewal. One problem was that you the driver if you wanted a class 1 that was for all groups ,1 was for maxim weight articulated . you had to prove to the ministry that you had been driving that class of lorry for the allotted time luckily for me I had been on a articulated at Challis and the B .R .S

. The ministry of transport did check up on me as I had word from the challis office that they had filled the forms in and said that I had been on articulated since I was there, so with that and the B. R S .i had no problem and received my licence by what they called GRANDFATHER RITES, if you were unable to prove that you were in- tilled to the licence you would have had to have taken a lorry driving test what that was I have no idea, nothing like the young people are put through today. When you think we had not 1 days training you just got on with it, maybe some needed training I do not know.

The using of GRANDFATHERS RITES is a age old custom us by industry’s, it is the handing down whatever from father to son to keep it in the family Dockers in London were the main users of the system ,so they were all the same minded lazy ■■■■■■■■ .they called it the BRIEF, taxi drivers were the same it was never heard of outside the London area. But it was now, one good thing to come out of it. There was a lot of underhanded going on all over the country over the getting of the class one they were easy to come by if you new the right people and needed the service.

In all types of export-+ industry it was known that they usually kept to what they did ,you would not have dreamed ever that post men would be driving their own lorry’s absently unheard off. The unions both sides would never allowed it ,[example] the Export packing company we hauled for strip down machines and mostly all types of cars and packed them in crates for export .

,example = steel mills made steel, coal miners mined coal, etc car makers made cars. and they would use haulage contractors to do haul the loads. So that is why they did not haul loads for themselves [yet] even for local factories manufacturing for the car makers although it was in theory there own work, the unions would not allow it ,it would also put a lot of extra expense buying lorry’s ,having a transport department ,and all the drivers to deal with .so they stuck to packing ,or manufacturing all though they had their own union within the packing or production factory they normal did not want to buy their own lorry’s and be bothered by a load of moaning drivers…

The company at Chipping Warden was attached to the Coventry B R S it turned out that the drivers from Coventry wanted to do all the export work and not the local, as we found they out later they were a very organised union, as they were working around all the major car factory’s that at the time were very militant so as time went by if any of the factory’s we needed to go to collect loads from for export packing and they were on strike ,we were also on strike, as we dare not or would not cross their picket lines .

so basically we were zbed and the old adage came round if you cannot beat them join them ,so over time that is what happened to all us none militant men it was the way to go and yes it was them and us. However in my defence I have always known and thought ,that the management reserve the right to manage their own company ,not the unions run them for them ,that is what union higher management wanted they wanted in a bigger picture .it basically was to bring the workforce into their way of thinking that was communist. And that was their downfall the unions. However there is still to this day certain men who would like to see this country under the rule of Moscow and it is good that they get stopped .Once you have been on a strike for over 6 weeks you will know what is right.

PICKET LINES=when the people who worked at a factory had a disagreement over anything ,working practice ,wages, overtime, with the management they would ,the union, would withdraw their labour ,stop work, if it could not be sorted out by the management and union and it would involve all of that factory ,it could be just one department with a problem however they all stuck as one and would go on strike .and stand outside of the gates to that factory ,with the unions say so and stop anyone at all connected to the working of that factory delivering goods or collecting goods to not go in and so not to cross their PICKET LINE ,that was a unwritten working man ,s law and it did not leave the working environment until the late 1980s1990s

After Mrs Thatcher that is why she was hated so much by nearly all working union men in areas of the industrial working regions ,i will leave that part of my transport journey, I will say in all my working life I was a union member all ways on the outside fringe never bothered about meetings or politics, that went with unions. Paid my [dues] dues is the collective term for paying your union monthly subscription.
Two of the main reason I kept up my payments was if you ever needed a legal representative for any reason whatsoever, they had and you were entitled to them solicitors ,and if you were sick you would get a small payment ,also a death benefit .but that was it, as in the 1980s1990s haulage companies would not entertain any type of union activity.
My first union was the National UNION OF SEAMAN.1960.
Then the T. G. W . until 2002.

Time kept marching on, the work got boring, I got fed up and could not understand how some of the men would ,and could , get satisfaction from driving two trips a day to Birmingham or Coventry
in to the car factories ,and back to the depot, I knew it was not enough for me, and I tried to get into the zone of the other drivers heads ,how could you do this for the rest of your days. in respective every job is the same yes I know but you have really got to like it ,the draw back for me was at the Coventry depot they had all the good runs and work, long distance all the docks in England and all the Dock work from our depot.

On our daily runs you never had any chance to earn any extra money at all as we had no night money jobs at all meaning it was like 7am to 5 pm yes it was good you could arrange family and kids thing to do weekdays you knew where and what you would be doing, that was good all round however I wanted a bit more ,and I would have to wait as the regular money was manageable .

I did think about going back to Challis not on the cattle but general haulage ,but it was the handball loads that kept me away. they did have some ■■■■ work so in the end I stuck with it.

About 1975 Coventry depot managed to get a large contract car deliveries ,with car transporters to Scotland ,that was a mega buck job for drivers 100% controlled by the union stewards at the union house in Coventry, all drivers for that work were recruited by the union officials, they had their own waiting list for the jobs, and not the companies that run the actual haulage firms.

All the so called union executives ,conveners ,shop stewards from all the car components suppliers within the Coventry area were all in the same frame of mind, and militancy they were Trotsky supports, when you went into the big auditorium [we went once a year] the walls around all the side were covered in a Russian mural men on horses carrying, flying banners hammer and sickles everywhere just like a revolution scene.
So you knew they were militant, yes, I was a union man however I could never get myself to think the way they did .we sat board to death no idea what the were on about, after them meetings ,you would come out and think that they were running all the companies not the actual owners .

How the top men of the union got to think the way they did used to puzzle me what they had not done ever was see how the communist people lived ,I had ,and you would not want to go there ,but their way of thinking was, collectively ,workers could rule a country. thank god they never got the chance .Mrs Thatcher saw to that.

After our Coventry outing we would end up at the pub, another Sunday ,however we had a drive home ,about 20miles,it would not have mattered as there was no such thing as drink driving or even breathalysers ,you would only be in trouble if you were absolutely ■■■■■■ , and had a accident and you would be done for as being incapable .how thing have changed.

Once we were sent bigger units and trailers some of us went on to do the dock work ,now things were looking up, so now the art of the job was to get as much petty cash into your own pocket ,yes I know the management reserve the right to manage however it was the era to look after yourself.

One problem ,the manager hated paying us out from the petty cash flow and we used to fiddle as much as we could. if you like will go into great level of how we used to do it ,so if you are board now, and go and tut tut,sorry but that was the way it was. but was it the way it was. ?

Most of the major docks that took our export were ,I will write down dock distances from our depot and times of driving to them.

Southampton=110 miles distance. Hours drive normal day=4hrs
LONDON royal docks 90miles. ……3to4 +
Tilbury ,greys Thurrock, wharfs 90…3to4+
Kings lynn…100…3to4+
LIVERPOOL,BIRKENHEAD,…110…3to4+
Hull 140…4+
Felixstowe ,Harwich, Ipswich, Colchester wharfs130 +…4+
LONDON CITY wharfs90,over TOWER BRIDGE…4+
Avon mouth, Bristol 100 +…4+
CARDIFF,NEWPORT ,SWANSEA 130…4+

There were other small coastal wharfs that used to load in to small barges and then load ships out side of the docks, that were in private hands and the workers did not belong to the big national dock labour board, in other words they were not under the influence of the dock workers union that was the most powerful and militant in the country, from the 2nd war onwards until the closure of the big LONDON DOCKSin 1970s 80s .They did try to picket some of the smaller wharfs in the London area however they did not come under the P LA port of London authority so the Dockers did not have any authority over them ,all though they did all belong to the then T G W TRADES GENERAL
WORKERS, union like we all did.

So, wherever we drivers used to go to deliver goods you could bet there would be some kind of trouble, and if there was any hint of rain at all that would be it down tools and off they would go, that was the “Dockers” we were all supposed to be “brothers” but they would zb you about, as it pleased them .but woe betide it when they went on strike. they knew you would dare not cross there picket lines and it would then be on the news “[yes all the transport is supporting the dock workers]” no we were not you lazy ■■■■■■■■■

[peggydeckboy]

The export market kept us in work ,and the fleet got bigger and more men arrived .the lorries were not that good and all the repairs were done at Coventry depot however as time went on someone realised why not send a type of mobile fitter to the depot every day to do the every day repairs .and that worked out better.

Some of the drivers we had start had no idea on general haulage some were brought in by the manager, from a firm he used to work for to try to get more out of us, they would leave early in the mornings to beat all the traffic.

Get down to get unloaded before any of us just to look good also the silly prates , were loosing out on the extra cash with the night out money, no matter how you worked them days you would always get some knob ■■■■■■■ the job up .yes I expect in one way get more loads out of the drivers but it was the money you would loose on expenses but the manager knew if he got to pushy the union would be down on him ,I know what I have said and I do not agree with the politics of the union however it was the survival of your self to get the most you could and you never knew when you would be laid off by any strike, so zb him…

We used to get a return load from most ports, to anywhere in the Midlands or further on it could have been packs of timber ,reels of paper pulp ,tractors from fords ,anything and that was what the manager did not like ,because if you were at the docks and unloaded before dinner you would be able to drive back to our base within the daily working time so you would be able to do another load from the yard the next day,and we did not want that ,no petty cash for us.

I expect that was beneficial to the company however it would not have been for the driver that was what you called PUSHING but some drivers were so daft, they could not see what they were doing to the job, it was cutting the job up so in the end they would not need all the drivers that was there , it would have been easy to get rid of some ,yeh sounds a bit unionist but why kill the golden egg… also some of the drivers did not like the nights away from home so they would rather give away some nice easy petty cash and get home ,and not have some extra to take home their choice.

We then had a daily working time of 10 hours once you started driving you had 10 hour[union rules] day to do your deliver and get back to your base that time was including getting unloaded, and driving to the dock and back to the yard ,most jobs it was impossible so what was the point in starting early, afraid I never did if you dare start before 6am you were deemed a extra payment so you were never asked.in a way driving was trying to get so as it was like a factory job ,decent hours,back then why should it not have been.to be honest if more men back then within companies has followed the union lead maybe it would have been better now in 2018 .

Do not forget Owner drivers were more or less unheard of ,unless a person had a plot of ground and workshop/on site maintenance facilities ,most of all parking for units and trailers you had no chance, then you had to get ministry of transport licence when most men lived in council houses or rented accommodation also still payed by the hour every week ,no bank accounts then only blue collar workers would be paid salary ,the likes of lloyds,Barclays banks would not entertain you i had my first bank account in 1980.t.s.b THEY WERE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK.

it was the older men in the 1940s after the war who had the SENSE TO BUY LAND MOSTLY from FARMERS that is how some of the companies got started,maybe lease a bit out to onterpuners that a forward vision, BUT MOST HAD THE LEG UP because maybe their dad or grandad, ran a horse and cart and did a bit of carting as they called it and they progressed from there it was not open to every one as it changed in the 1980s or the large manufacturing companies who were C licence only. own goods got A licences .

Some times when they were desperate for lorries they would say [ the office]on no account load back when you have unloaded as we need you here get back as far as you CAN!! [to the depot] ,run in the depot in the morning load up and straight out again the next day. well that was best you could get because what you would do. I lived on the north side of the depot of the MI out in the country 6 miles from the yard,watford gap was my local taxi rank…

I [we] would drive the lorry back to your village or where you lived book off, on your LOG BOOK where ever you thought ,about 20 miles from the depot it did not really matter. Obviously you were home ,so you have had the night out money in your pocket. [you would collect the night out money from the office in the morning when you rolled back in…

If you had not collected it before you left ,they did not like giving you the money if they thought you might be able to get back in to the yard that day after your deliveries, NOT RELEVANT ON THE LOCAL RUNS .it was a game ,and if they refused to give the cash to you before the journey, you would do your utmost to make sure you did not get back that night and we won, every time ,unless you were with the wrong driver ,who would not thumb it home and he was senior to you ,they used to pair you up with the driver that would go all out, to get back to the yard that day .and others would be the opposite like me and others .

You had been home that night so you would roll in the next morning not much said, load up and away again,
i expect if it was a private company all this would never had happened but it was a part government run company and the men in charge were only managers ,
if they wanted you to do the same again it got a bit tricky, as you would be later leaving for the docks and you might get caught out and not get unloaded and you would have to spent the night out in b and b that was normal, or you would have been unloaded and set off back to the yard EMPTY knowing that you would have to park up for real, in a lay by because your 10 hours driving and time on duty
would have been up the even thumb itb home or go to a bed and breakfast
sleeping in the cab was the very last thing that would have happened absolutely unheard off because of the union rules instant dismissal and the union had the power to determine if you went all out against their rules you would be out.

Before you left you lorry to thumb it ,you had to think about getting back to the lorry the next morning, and could you get back to the lorry at a reasonable time you had to try to work it out by time because the office would expect you to have stayed in digs[b and b] and roll in about 9ish to the depot

.So i knew when men on early shifts would be leaving the village by car in the morning and they would be going the way I wanted to be nearest main road ,so it will be chance so the old [zb it] would creep in and off I would go as other drivers would do the same however most drivers lived in the main town but I lived out in a village most lorries would stop and pick you up once we started thumbing we used to hold our log book up in your hand and hope they stop.

It was all by chance getting home ,I think we were the only firm used to do it in our area other firms would send a car out and you would drive the car back to a depot and the other person would drive the lorry back to their base, but we had to follow the rules 100% so it worked both ways, we were not allowed to drive a company car, if our driving hours were up for the day that was it, and the manager had the only company ca and he needed it to get home, and no driver would have used their car to first find where you were and let another driver drive it

we never had phone yet at home so my wife would not know when I was getting home lots of dinners with gravy rings around the plate…also a quick visit to the pup before going home, sometimes it was never worth the hassle and trouble of thumbing it but is was the thought of winning a few bob by not spending it on bed and breakfast.

If you were at London docks or a wharf you would be keeping a look out for lorries that would be going you way [north] you got to know the lorry companies by name and colour. so there was always a good source of getting a [lift]= as a passenger in someone else lorry .to drop you off near the place you wanted to be,] mostly at a junction on the motorway they would come off up the slip road drop you off at the top , then they would rejoin the motorway and go on their way and you would then start thumbing it again to get to you home ,not all ways easy. it was all chance. But cash flow was worth it.

The drivers hours of working “driving” have been a source fluctuation since I have been driving, bosses ,and every driver tended to making their own interpretation of the rules to suit themselves however the ministry of transport were not that stringent then ,the police policed it. There were no MINISTRY of TRANSPORT road testing station then they came in around the late 1970s.

However there were Ministry men or women, who,s job it was to record all the lorry number plates that went past there location wherever that might be it could be anywhere ,wherever they decided to stay and you would not see who it was it could be male or female you would never know, and that was the chance you took if you were doing anything illegal you knew there was a good chance the ministry would be around as there were only about 3 main routes out of London to go north. As we were close to the new M1 we were lucky enough to be near the route. The aussies call them MERMAIDS dont ask, but i do know .it could be a quiz question.

We found out that the very last LONDON public phone box number with the correct 01prefex was at the Scratch wood service station on the very northern outskirts of London about 2 hrs from the docks on a good day ,

why I am telling you is that as we had to go and phone the office when we were unloaded , by public and phone [mobiles are about10 years away 1990s] and we had to ask the telephone operator to let us a have a reversed call to our number at the office as the company would not reimburse you the price of a telephone call, so that was the way you would be able to make a telephone call with out having any money at all ,so long as the person at the other end would except the call. and our office would as you would have to give your name to the operator who would say so and so is calling would you accept the charge, as they did, however they would ask what is the number the call is coming from and that is when you had to be careful as LONDON had to be a 01 prefix that was all the LONDON area .
You would say you were empty ,and you would know or hope they would say back to the yard then see you later, and you would say in your mind “you can ZB right off “and then the ■■■■■■■■ would start you would squirm out of getting back to the yard that night, lying you way out of it, so if it was the manager he would try to demand you get back to the yard ,so then I would say, well get me a back load from down here then or from TILLBURY
I am not bothered I will stay here for the night and reload in the morning, and 99 times they would say ah no !we have a load here waiting for you for tomorrow you have got to be back, so then you knew you had him , you would be 2 hours away from the docks at the Scratchwood service station ,they would not know where you were they would think you were still at the docks so you would have a good 2hours head start BECAUSE OF THE london TELEPHONE NUMBER.01 prefix…by the way that is what northerners call all southerners O1,NERS.JOHN

MANY, many, times there would maybe be two or three of the drivers who had all run down to the same delivery and all made it back to the service station waiting for the time to tick on to ring the depot making sure there was not enough time to get back legally and we would toss a coin to see who would ring the depot .i expect it was a bit child like but we used to have great fun, sometimes we would all squeeze in the call box at once .just to hear the manager on the other end ,good fun.

Our week would finish on a Friday night and if you did not have a load to deliver on Monday not yet loaded from the yard, they would never ask for you to ring in SATURDAY morning for any instructions as they would have to pay you a basic 4 hours pay just for ringing in that is the absolute ,the gods honest truth .that was a condition inherited , from the main drivers from Coventry

So there was the inherited conflict with the management that was not really typical of the then non unionised men from our area but we soon learned to be .it got that it was a them and us so we would zb-em as much as we could, but now looking back, being rather lazy, and taking as much as we could cash, in the pocket, the wages were always a source of conflict as they would not pay anything over a 10 hour day as the normal working man s day then in that year was a 8 hour day then you would get into the overtime.

The inflexibility of the drivers did come from the non payment of the extra time you would do around the yard before your actual driving time started,[[ I WILL SAY THIS WAS THE ONLY COMPANY THEN THAT THE DRIVERS STARTED TO TRY TO GET BETTER CONDITIONS] then ,you were told your 10 hours started from when you leave the yard not when you get to the yard ,so preparing the load ,hitching up your trailer fuelling up was unpaid.small transport companies would have been total, different.

Wages were always a bone of contention through out the road haulage industry ,and they always will be and it is now I expect back then in the 1970s were all had it fairly good as job, jobs were plenty full, cost of living was not bad we used to get a pay increase above the cost of living allowance every year as most company gave it ,however we were still attached to the B R S so what the government said we got.

However it was never good enough for the big time union men, as members of the Trade Union and a General Workers Union they never had a proper department that pacifically dealt with lorry drivers i think in
BIRMINGHAM there was one man i think his name was MR morris,
and with all our complicated rules etc that we had to abide by. So basically we were just the same as joe blogs working on a machine in a factory ,or in car manufacture and I think we thought we were worth a special case. so rumblings started that there could and would be a transport drivers strike for I think it was £5 a hour that was to come later on.

We started to get more drivers working with us on the export side and first they would be well versed in the art of the Fiddle,[the dodgy night out payouts] some would fall right in and some took time to realise it was money they would loose.

Most did it in the end however things were about to change in a very big way for us drivers all over the country, the GOVERNMENT ministry of TRANSPORT were going to introduce the new device called a Tachograph ,

shock horror no zbing way, we did not have a clue as to what and how it would work , how would they fit into the lorry’s all types of questions needed answers ,so the next thing on a Saturday I think it was ,we all had to go to a paid 4 hours meeting in the factory canteen [export packing one] to be told all about the new tachograph and the laws and all the rest of the old ■■■■■■■■ [as we then thought] we thought it was a take or leave it situation ,but we were wrong[again] It went down like a lead balloon, I will try to explain how the log book worked then you will see why we did not want it.

After time log books got regulated by the company’s you worked for and were issued every month and you signed for them ,it was a 28 page printed document by the Ministry of Transport in a hard cover each page was sectioned hourly 0 to 24 and in hourly squares, so every hour you had to draw a line the relevant time you had to mark ,in ink.

if you were driving loading or time off resting, or sleeping. so any one would be able to see what you were doing at any time of the day it was a big graph really. it was open to all the fiddles this is what caught you out if you were seen at a place at a time and your log book was different, driving when recorded you were parked up.

You took your chance, you could have two books if both the office and the driver were on the fiddle in league together ,however that never happened with us. it had to be signed every day by the driver and weekly by the traffic office. And kept for 2 years .

When a new lorry arrived., from now on they were already fitted with a TACHOGRAPH I seem to remember there was period of transition of about 3 years so if you had a tachograph you would use a disc ,

also if you were on local runs one disc was issue to us every day to you and returned to the office daily .if you were away 3 days if you needed them that is all you would be issued ,it was a big deal then.

however the log book was still the legal document and it did not take log for us to know it was going to stop a lot of our night out payments. so where you said you were parked you would be there .
as we were not allowed to do any maintenance at all we could not attempt to start mucking around with the Tachograph however a lot of the owner drivers and other company drivers re guarded it as challenge to beat the tachograph ,at that time it was soon overcome.

[peggydeckboy]

But we never dared to touch ours when we had them as in the long run we did see them beneficial after time so we just kept on the same until crunch day came when the Tachograph came legal.

We were getting very busy so it was that the export factory were using their supply of different wood was getting used up so they stated to import the timber from Canada themselves when shipments arrived at different docks, that was good for us as we did get loads straight back to our depot if we were there at the docks the night before we would still hang around after getting loaded not to rush around so were would not have enough time to get back to the yard that day.

we had it down to a fine art we would let other drivers go in front of us to get loaded so it was always after dinner, then we would go to the nearest B.R .S. depot to fill up, lots of time it was at GRYS-THUROCK you would loose more time if you wanted it or not you think we were unionized, you should have seen that mob, plus you would go to the office and use the phone and lay the story on ,lots of lorry’s waiting from the day before all ■■■■■■■■ and you had then sealed the deal as we would say…I think we were the only drivers who used to do it .

However sometimes you could, and would shoot yourself in the foot, as by the time you got out of the depot or docks wherever you were, all you wanted was a big accident or traffic ,and do you remember the old north circular,a hold up and you would be screwed by being late to park up and thumbit home and you may have to have to resort in actually go in to B&B ,then the B&B were everywhere in all towns.

When we used to leave our fully loaded lorry’s in a lay by, we had to make it secure if possible if you did not have a sheeted load you would if possible lay the sheets [ tarpaulins to cover the load] on the road rolled up and then run over them with the wheels of the trailer so as not to be stolen ,they would have the company name printed in large letters but that would be painted out if stolen from our loads however a lot of our loads were timber or plywood back in big packs.

We would have lot of ancillary equipment to use to secure different loads you would load you would have a sack of wooden wedges [the same shape of a wedge of cheese] for securing reels of paper for the print works .

a large piece of wood to be used as a back scotch for the back
.lengths of chain to securing steel sheets,or coils or 40 foot lengths of re- bar steel ,we were prepared for most any load and of course loads of ropes [hanks] is what they are called.

most of it would have to go in to the cab no sleeper cabs in the passenger side foot well it would be as high as the engine cover
.however diesel was very rarely stolen. unless you took it yourself and sold some .and cabs were not broken into…how times have changed.

Lots of times when goods are stolen or cabs broken into it 90% of the time the driver will know about it, selling the spare wheel ,was a classic [ike what happened to me on my very first trip but i was not wise enough to do it my self].or any equipment was fair game to steal i knew one driver who would drive around and if he spotted any farm machinery around especially straw- bailer s they would have big bales of twine that tied the hay or straw bales up he would have that away [the string] also the little wheels they had as well.

Most mornings after you had managed to get a lift back to your lorry, you would be going past it the wrong way traveling ,as the labys were never opposite each other on a carrageway then you had to get dropped off where ever possible, cross the carriage way and either walk back or get a lift to your lorry hoping all was well, and normally late, so you had to start thinking up any story you could tell the boss,as no doubt there would be a load waiting for you at the depot this where both sides would be good at telling porkies.

If FOR EXAMPLE you was driving down from Liverpool area or Hull area you would have to pass either through COVENTRY or near, where our main workshops were, and we rarely got to them unless a service was due ,so if you had a few minor defects that you could live with it could be any thing ,electrical or mechanical, you would pull a wire out, let the inside tyre down ,save up a broken spring until it was time for you to use it as a defect.

luckily the transport office was out of view from the main gate to the workshops so no one know what time you crept in the yard. also the foreman was a good man and he would not grass you up. so you would be waiting for repairs when you rang your depot .they would go ballistic because you could be there all day, [job sorted].

If you were the south side of the depot ,overnight parked up in a lay by miles away and you were really late getting back to the lorry [bad lift day] you would be able to do lots of things to get you out of the ■■■■.

First one would be let air out of one of the tyres on the trailer and run it flat until one blew
and shattered rubber and then it was completely zbed ,they would not know what happened ,it blew and that was it and you never took the busted up tyre to your depot, the tyre man who came out to you would have it and take it back to his depot it was cheaper for B .R .S .to subcontract the service of tyre repair and recovery than do it them self s, if the inner tube [all tyres had inner tubes then] was shredded ,it must have got really hot?? [really how come]!And blew. Or it lost the air pressure.and blew,Whatever !it could be just a inner tube or God forbid! a new tyre or a re-cut well it did not bother us at all.

Now in retrospect we the drivers help zb the company up ,as if they made any money, god knows ,and then it was not our worry, managements .when I think back we were all to blame what was to come.

Or in dire circumstances the windscreen would be smashed then you would try to drive on to another parking area hopefully no phone so you would then start hitch-hiking to a phone ,report in full of ■■■■■■■■ ,how far you have walked etc job done again.

The windscreens especially if there had been a bad wiper and there was a etched mark right in your eye line, then were not like now they were not LAMINATED GLASS and not shatter ,they were a glass type that would. so you would not want to drive to far with no screen ,unlike today as they just crack Once a screen had been smashed you would find bits of glass every everywhere for weeks after sadly that was the price they had to pay for some night out tax free money…

[It was normally a brick thrown up from the lorry you were following ,the bricks, normally off building sites, used to get stuck in-between the rear tyres and work loose it was a common occurrence if they had been on rough ground] honest.

Yes ,you might think ,why all the lying and messing about ,why not just get on with it and do a good job,
put production up, let the company earn lots of revenue.
The answer to that is that the management would not pay us a hourly rate that was comparable to private hauliers and other workers in the “ working environment" within the motor transport industry, well that is what we were told and we stuck by it. Also the company Nationalised subsidised by taxpayers just like the railways,dockers ,coal mainers ,steel workers.
we were robbing our self s. but we did not think that way than.so we just carried on.

There was still animosity from all people in factory’s ,docks who had any dealings with drivers
you were either, early, or late, nothing was ever straight forward you would and did have a argument nearly every day with someone you had never seen before in your life all the time it was connected to work, i am not saying we did not bring it on ourselves, but we were ready every day if it was something on the docks ,you would never win and you had to be careful not to go over the top, as they would in the end really zb you up .

So it was then humble pie time, within the docks the big cases we were delivering were not yet made as to be taken off by a forklift and had to lifted off by a crane .with chains as the packing cases had a cut out at the end of the wood on each corner to take the crane chains,the all the time dispute was that the Dockers[ port workers] would not get on to the lorry floor to put the chains on the packing cases to be lifted off ,

we would jump up to do it [no problem] but the crane drivers would say that all [slinging] putting the chains on, must be done by port employees i.e. Dockers ,and they would not do it as they were not insured to get on to lorry ,s,[it is true that is what it was like all the time] so then in the end the foreman would have to do it while the Dockers watched.

,Stevedores is the correct name for port workers i.e. people who load and unload ships. Most stevedore gangs within the then London,Liverpool, Hull,Southampton,Glasgow,the most militant… port area did as they pleased if there were 5 men in a gang 3 would work the other 2 would be off, [in the pub] the dock area in most ports were very pub friendly .a pint and a pie was some dockers dinner.The Royal docks ,KGV dock ,ROYAL albert dock, Vittoria dock all docks .except southampton had pubs just out side all the gates it was a recognised part of the job beer,i never knew anyone that did not like a pint,at dinner time…

The main feeding place was always the dock canteen every day they would cook mega breakfast , then massive dinners, then at 3 o’clock tea .you never went hungry when in Liverpool that was for sure every dock area would have its canteen.

We would never have a problem finding the ships berth that your lorries cargo ;[whatever it was ] was for in Liverpool, the long dock road 3 miles [ish] long all the dock gates numbered ,the name of the ship would be on your paperwork and the dock gate number. Once you got to know where what company ships regular berthed

i.e. far east runs, as all our cargo from our depot was for middle east far east ,Australasia ,New Zealand ,Hong Kong You knew how far to drive past the mass of lorries that were always parked outside the docks to get to the gate you wanted ,well you used to think you did,you could get parked up in the wrong queue for the wrong ship,but at the right gate number you would park up, walk to the police on the gate to ask is this ship here, you would get a load of ■■■■ in their scouse accent [Liverpool accent] cant you read would be their normal reply !so you best just zb off that would be the gate coppers [dock police]

And that would be the start of the hassle ,so then you would drive past the lorry’s hoping to see someone named port stencilled on the cargo on that lorry with the same cargo as you ,stop jump out ,hope the driver is in the cab and ask him what ship he is for waiting for, to unload his cargo.if you are right you now have to turn around.

There was know way on this earth that the police would let you just come in the dock gate to turn around, basically you were ZBked and if you knew Liverpool Dock road,THERE was no where to turn around ,no roundabouts, so you kept going until you could turn right and right again then left back to the dock road go back up the way you had come then turn around again so you would be facing the way you were for a start, it was a zb night mare and by the time you had done that you would have found more lorry’s parked where you should have been in the queue in front of you putting you further behind in the queue.all though that did not matter Liverpool docks WAS A TWO DAY JOB nearly every time,then another day to reload ,so maybe you can see where our bolishie attitude stems from we were in inverted comers all members of the T.G.W.

If there was 2or3 of us running together ,what we would do is one driver would drop his trailer on the dock road then drive down past all the docks look for our dock gate and suss out the queues ,and then come back to us and get parked at the right one, it saved a lot of time.

Quite a lot of the dock road was still made out of cobbles[oblong pieces of granite] ,not tarmac ,and they were deadly to drive on for slipping when wet. also railway lines used to criss cross the road
as the rail-network was still busy you could get stuck for a long time by the time the train and wagons had got to their right dock ,either for unloading or loading.

Liverpool was the only dock I knew off that you would not be able to get into unless you were at the right gate all the other docks ,and that was a lot around the country ,you would drive into the dock gate ,then you would drive around inside the dock complex to find the right ship -and shed[warehouse] number that you wanted to be at not like the old fashion Liverpool ,they never did change until they got more or less closed when container shipping came in [that is another story]As for me i used to use the docks in a early life so i new some of the pubs form the 1960s.

Liverpool had a very strange system of having dock labour, men would congregate outside the dock gates and a foreman, employed by a cargo handling company [ ganger man ]would come round and choose the men they wanted for the day, the men would give them a “tally ”like a metal disk .it was a piece work system.
Not fair at all ,however that was the way it worked ,how the unions accepted it I do not know, I think there was more to it than us mere drivers knew. however we must have liked the way they worked as we kept going back for more week in and week out. Not only Liverpool but all the other docks.

As time went by the packing cases that were for made for export , the case cars,started to be made as if they were massive pallets bottoms so as they could be unloaded by fork lift so more efficient and a quick turn round for the driver and the company ,not as if we worried anyway we had got so used to being zbked around it made no difference to us we just kept up with the lies and ■■■■■■■■. and made a long day out of a short one, and of course Liverpool still used the old way the old crane right up until the end .

well they did not have bigger enough fork lifts to lift the cases off anyway, [progress nasty word] so it never changed, the work practice what I personal liked about Liverpool Dockers they never changed you knew where you stood with them both of us at the bottom of the ladder [Dockers drivers] they all had long greasy coats,flat caps at all angles on the heads,if you have ever seen film footage of men rushing out of a factory in the 1940/50/60s all dressed the same they were not dockers they would not have known how to rush whatsoever ship yard workers yes dockers no.there were all ways men walking around, doing nothing ,some drivers used to go in the docks with bags a salt and THEY the drivers would have to unload it themselves in a warehouse at lest we did not do hand ball ,well not there .

What people will do, sometimes puzzling for instance, if the company had a massive big shipping order, there were times when the company wanted you back to the depot [no matter what] as soon as you were empty and they would pay you the night out money whether it warranted it or not [good deal for us] to use you again to get the loads to the docks.

The reason would be as the shippers would have arranged a direct to the ship delivers, so no messing around waiting all would be geared up to take the cargo direct off your lorry and straight down in to the ships hold[hold is the ships cargo spaces] sometimes called ships hatches. this was done by the big dock cranes that were all along the dock quays mounted on railway lines so very moveable ,the absolute cruncher was that the Dockers would not allow us drivers anywhere near the slinging =[putting the lifting chains around the grates from the crane to load them in the ship] so they themselves then used to get up on the trailer to do the slinging these were the same men who would no way get onto the trailer ,when we would want to be unloaded by their mobile cranes any other time absolutely unbelievable, but that was Dockers “tossers”
.
Most times when unloading direct to the ship the first in the queue to get unloaded would be last to leave as they would take different cases off different lorry s as they wanted them by size. Not weight so you would be shunting up and down [moving under the cranes as they wanted the packed crates] as they would be loading [filling the hatch spaces up] more than one hatch at a time.
There would be all kinds of orders being shouted about lots of swearing, a good typical organised ■■■■ up ,that was as it seemed but of course it was not all good fun. better than stood at a machine in a factory for a job that was for sure.

New lorrIes and longer trailers 40 foot long had now started to get to our depot, also the tractor units were now being manufactured without the big engine lump in the middle of the cab some genius had decide to maybe make life a bit easier forthe poor old driver and they somehow made the chassis bigger and drop the engine down so it was nearly flat in the drivers cab between the seats, and a lot more improvements, bigger mirrors, softer seats ,more head room padded roof headline [roof] not the bare metal roof ,and the now compulsory tachograph, not yet into use. and interior lights above your head [1 small bulb] electric fuses you could get ,and some had a radio fitted sheer luxury whatever next .a slide down window .in stead of winding the window down you used a bar to slide the window down ,now that was class.

The new type cabs also introduced new sleeping arrangements that proved very popular in the end with every one ,however over the years us union men used to scoff at drivers who used to make do and sleep in their cabs and not go to bed 'breakfast houses. Most times if we were going to a new location and they had a B.R.S. Depot nearby we would get our office to get them to book beds for us before we even left. That was normal proceeded at all depots connected to B.R.S. The office had a idea where you would be and it was a bit of falseness with us drivers letting the office take control of you ,however it -was only laying the seed for you to use it for our benefit.
So you would not dare sleep in your cab, then ,but later on we did.

All furniture delivery lorries would have a Luton [as we did in the cattle trucks]over the front of their cabs and a entrance hatch within the driving cab roof, just jump up and they had their beds,
so after time we[some of us drivers] started to look into this and worked out if we got a plastic bread tray they used in the bread vans for delivery ,make a few alterations ,turn it upside down and it would fit in-between the drivers seat and the passenger seat to make a near enough flat surface [job done ,one bed]

Now was keeping the cab dark, e used a ordinary hook and eye screws around the roof lining and threaded stretchy curtain wire ,now we got a curtain rail, next was old curtains from home easy to get it used to be absolutely hilarious ,some would be flowerier kitchen curtains ,some big long thick lounge ,all cut anyhow ,very few of us had bedroom curtains. and the best was if someone knocked on your cab if you were asleep you would jump up pull the curtains to one side and 99 times out of a hundred the whole lot would come down.

You only did it to someone you knew .i must admit I was one of the worst for knocking. But hey ho “what went round came around ”you would not always be able to sleep like that it depending who was with you ,some drivers would no way entertain it at-all and go into to b&b so you usually went with them just to keep it low key as of yet the union stewards were not aware of what we were doing

.
The port of Felixstowe was starting to get more export and import trade also it was a deep berth so was able to take large ships, and not within the port of London jurisdiction businessman realised that they need not put up with all the dock labour union disputes that were never ending within the 1970s in the London ,Liverpool area they would build the port of Felixstowe up to be what it is today.

The Dockers union did try to use their pickets to try to stop transport however most of the haulage using Felixstowe were private firms and not union members ,when the pickets were at the port to avoid any aggravation we would go in to Ipswich depot for fuel and find out the situation and if pickets where at the port we would stay at Ipswich and wait until they had gone it was the easy way out.

As it was only 10 miles away .plus a nice easy day or two. You would not be able to go to the pubs as the pickets would leave at any time once the picket buses had been reported to have left the port and Ipswich , you had to go so long as you were legal [within the driving law] even just to get in to the dock complex, and u load the next day or the same day. the dock workers were not restricted by time. if it got as you would not be able to get b&b then the cab sleeping would come into play ,that was if you were “equipet” for it.

after time within the port there was a brand new drivers motel build with all the mod cons .However the price of a room was dearer than ordinary and we used to paying small b&b usual a ordinary house with spare rooms no modern gadgets, like showers and food on tap .so the new complex did not suit us, for a start. Until we learned how to get extra cash ,then we all wanted to go to Felixstowe.

At the new port of Felixstowe so much cargo was coming in to the port and out it was getting to be a main export area for the middle and far east also new containers in and out ,what was happening was the cargo for the ports that was predominant serviced by ships that only used London and Liverpool was being loaded on to small coastal ships from Felixstowe and then taken across the the English channel to continental ports to be loaded on to deep sea ships for further destination, the start of the rot that the Dockers caused

[peggydeckboy]

themselves. [no more to said.]
Also cargo coming into Felixstowe from Europe the return journey to stop ships using our ports,and get held up as before ,were using new methods of moving cargo ,the containers were coming in from U.S.A .and other country’s however we were the last of the so called modern nation to go over to containers.
However in 1955 in America a lorry driver named MALCOLM McLEAN had started the freight revolution he realized hand balling cargo boxes 3/4 times,was time consuming so why not put it in bigger boxes or cases and he started the company,SEA-LAND -SERVICES.1962 they had over 8.000 24 foot boxes-trailers ,TILBURY container berth opened in 1969 FELIXSTOWE port was investing in the new container mode of transport but still 10 years later our road haulage system and companies had no got on board.ONLY LOCAL COMPANIES CLOSE TO THE PORTS IE [BRAINS]

Only a few, that is how the first MIDDLE EAST TRUCKING STARTED IN THIS COUNTRY, probably with middle east backing -two reasons “dock strikes in the uk” ,and a massive hold up in shipping berths in the persian gulf ports for saudi, iran, iraqi, etc, god knows how or why,but ships were stuck for months full of our British exports,and all our then car manufactures were the main exporters ,HILLMAN, ROOTES, BRITISH LEYLAND [BMC]FORD ,VAUXHALL.JAGUAR,they were the companies that transport companies were taking their goods to our ports ,however some of the smaller ports did not belong to the DOCK PORT AUTHORITY [PLC] they were used as was FELIXSTOWE,kings lynn,also some river wharfs not under the control of the[ TGW dockers]all to load small cargo ships, then go over to rotterdam and load in to large deep sea ships there was hardly any roll on roll off ships then,

As so much cargo was in the FELIXSTOWE port ON European trailers they had to moved around the dock ,they would use anyone with a tractor unit to move a trailer from A to B for cash, so that is where we came in, if we got unloaded in the morning we would go to a cargo agent within the dock to see if anything wanted to shunted around ,if we were lucky £20 in your pocket , however there was always a catch ,if there was two of our drivers one would load try to re load your trailer[mostly reels of paper .or pulp, for you with your return load if the load was from the dock. While the other one earned the extra cash .but you never got paid until the job was done however it was a two man job every time so the reload would have to wait

This is reason why, please do not fall asleep.this is for anyone who has no idea how to connect a trailer.

On our English trailers ,the tractor unit is connected to the trailer by a pin that is located under the front of the trailer about 4 foot and hangs down about 8 to 10 inches and looks like a cotton reel but hard steel and bolted to a steel plate under the trailer front ,so as a tractor unit backs under it ,on the tractor unit is a “turntable “[name] above the two rear wheels on the chassis that slides under the front of the trailer and locates the pin.

At the back of the turntable ,it has a locking jaw that you open ,by a ratchet lever on the side before backing under the trailer, to open the jaws ,once you are under the front of the trailer you keep backing back until the jaws locate the pin and it locks in place ,job done ,so easy, humpf .
However what we found was on all the European trailers the pins were locate further back than ours so that meant that when we eventually connected to the pin the front of the trailer was right next to the cab so in theory we could only drive straight and not turn ,or only by small adjustments if you had the room to ,and you did need another driver with you as it was so easy to smash the rear of your cab ALSO they used different air line couplings, English were male and female ,air line connectors[needs no explanation] and the euro ones were Palm couplings .chalk and cheese.

So we had to be invented, there were lots of the foreign trailers all over the docks, we would have spanners ready, every driver had 3 spanners if he had any sense ,one for adjusting brakes[ total illegal within the B R. S.] and two for changing or robbing air lines, the same procedure for undoing water tap connectors at home you need two spanners if you had to?

And we would take ,borrow] the palm couplings off the front of the parked trailers [foreign] so that left them with nothing .we did not worry about who would have to pick it up later,[some zbstard pinched the couplings] .as the trailer would not have left the docks as they were not uk road worthy so the Dockers had to move them.

The running in period for using the Tachograph was now on us [ I think a year] if you had one fitted that caused a few problems ,if you were on the local runs the traffic office would issue you 1 tachograph disc for 1 day only and returned into the office every day ,now who would believe that but that is what happened, and if you were on a dock run as most weeks they would give you 5 discs and you had to sign for them ,it was a big deal, and being English we had to do it right and stick by the rules ,and the office staff were just as bad ,it was if every one was watching you

. Big inquests if you had not done something right ,well that was the game in fact it was a handy tool [the disc] for us to have as when we were still having fiddles and thumbing lifts home we would just stand around in the parking area just hold out the tachograph disc and hey -presto the lorry would stop and away it was a useful tool for years.[the disc].

Now some of the union men were getting new lorry s [the forgiven units] to keep them [ sweet.]sweet not a term or phrase that was used then] however they were the lucky ones with a bunk in the back of the cab ,unheard of then ,so we knew the ruling of sleeping in your cabs would come in for scrutiny, by us did they use the bunks or go into B&B or a time they tried to keep away from us either being early or late at the docks ,however it did not take long they were in the bunks curtains manufactured in the factory .so then ended the rule of go into B&B and do not sleep in your cabs ,so the green light was on. I must say that all the goings on was only from our to depots .

No one else seemed to have minded what you did ,it was the first time the union never said a word .
The next thing was the company wanted to drop the amount of night out money we were getting as they thought ,hello, they are not using B&B why do they need the money well the ■■■■ hit the fan , “more trouble” in the end it got as the night out money was for the inconvenience of being away from home and your food for the next day or more if out longer, not where you slept you could do what you wanted once you had finished work for the day, so long as you were back in the next morning at a start time at your lorry, it was nothing to do with the office what you did with the money.
You would never believe what aggravation just that caused, it went right to the top of management and the top union officials ,deep down I think after that episode our cards were marked
by top office not our depot, still did we care, no our attitude was still zbck-em.

We did have 2 sad times at the depot we had one drive killed in a accident and another died while on a night out away .natural causes. So I will leave that at that.

We were having a lot of export work that was good ,however the threat of containers was right in front of us, and the management did not seem to have the forethought to push for containers trailers so you would be one step ahead .

Some trailers were just a chassis no floor ,cross members of steel,called [SKELLIES ]but we never had any, new 3 axles 12 wheels and the all important [twist locks ] they are the main piece of the trailer that locks the container to the chassis they are at each corner of the trailer. So when a container is lowered on the the trailer on each corner of the container is a space , oblong, it is the corner of each container about 6 inches oblong and deep so as you can push up the twist lock from your trailer-and it locates in the void.

And you push up the twist lock in to the space and turn it left or right and the top of the twist lock locates in the shortest side only by about 1 inch job done it is the weight of the container that really keeps them on the trailer, and the twist-lock is the safety device.
When the containers first come in to Felixstowe already empty, the goods unloaded elsewhere we would have empty containers as a back load that had to go to a inland container depot for reloading [not by us 100%unionised,]and having no twist locks trailers we used to chain them on back and front .[health and safety would have kittens now days but no such thing existed then] .

You could get 2 x 20foot [length] for one trailer or just 1 x40 foot [length ] and they would go to a transport yard ,not the main inland container depot, as we did not have the correct trailers,they were no the wiser.
These depots 1 in Birmingham,and the other in Manchester were the very first In land container depots, the dockworkers union tried at first to have them manned by dock workers [relocated from London. and Manchester was in the dock area
there was all kinds of threaten strikes by both unions in the end the T G W won in the end, but the dockers went on strike to ■■■■■■■ the imports and exports ,it went on for some time and in the end it did affect all transport it would only take a week and you would either be on strike or normal laid off as the 1970s were creeping towards the end things were not quite as good as before.

The main car manufactures were having their own problems with strikes of their own however it did not stop them from looking at their main transport contractors used in all different ways that was mostly private company’s doing most of the car manufactures work [for hire or reward was the common term used[ the car makers did have their own fleet of lorry s but limited only to carry their own goods ,that was the licence they had , so relied on all outside contractors for production.

However after time it got as the Ministry of Transport [ government control of all transport]v gave in to pressure and gave the manufactures the right to use their own transport on all transport connected to the building of any equipment concerned with manufacture .

Now these were the same people that when on their picket lines we would not cross now they wanted to do our internal work, and export if they chose. So now the union heads had got their self a situation.

So it did not take long before they were doing the work we were doing not the export but a lot of the local ,also B M C British motor Corporation [ British Leyland] were using the first containers to have their cars packed into ,and ship them straight to the port from the export packing depot we were based in, so our previous work would slow down.

The next thing in 1978/9 ,we had all had enough of strikes, the winter of discontent that contributed to the downfall of the Labour Government ,they wanted a cap on pay increases ,so across the country official and unofficial strikes ,rail workers, nurses, and lorry drivers all on strike, for short periods ,not so good times, so we were nailing our own coffins!

We still had work of sorts we had to work around what ports were open to accept export that was ruled by the dockers union , they all were really. some more militant than others.

The main exporters of goods that we were working for were constantly looking for alternative methods of export, and regional small wharfs [small unloading ports or stations along rivers] to get away from the dominance of the unions that threatened the right of individuals men exercising the right to work even canal transport to other larger places was looked at and in the end they found 2 places that was good news to us as it kept us away from the major ports [for a time]
. One was on the river Trent at a place called near Gainsborough that was unbeknown to us, had a small port operation going, for coal to the local power station , this revelation came to light after the miners strike. A lot of coal fields were near-by and the Wharf was picket then by miners.

It meant that small cargo ships [coasters around 1500 tons g .w. [gross weight] not British flagged, would be able to use the river and turn around on a high tide at the wharf and load up and go to a continental port to off load for onward shipment.

The other place was in London area at a wharf owned and worked by British waterways at Brentford. they would load the goods into large Barges ,and they would towed down the river Thames by tug boat to Gravesend area and load into ships at anchor, by the ships own derricks[cranes on board ships] that kept the operation away from the Dockers unions.

The system of transport was starting to look like the old ways are changing and new is better, yes it was better ,however it did not do help our cause for the driver who so wanted a better paid job and also move on with newer equipment to get into container movement ,this was the new big thing and the management did not realise how import as well as export would be affected [or did they at our B R S nationalised company] the answer =it is to late “yes” they did know and did they want us to be involved at our depot “no” .

We, us, gallant stupid, drivers, our union leaders decided to go for negotiations for a new pay rise I think it was for £ 5 an hour,this was country wide not just our company all England ,all large company s and there were a few around the major port and industrial areas ,now who put the union officials up to it ,no one knows so a “vote” was supposable taken and a all out drivers strike would begin!
I do not recall the date it first started however I do remember it with much clarity it was the worst 8 weeks I have had it also concurred over the Christmas/new year 1979/80.

To start with you have your weeks wages the first week than the second week you have your weeks in hand money=[the first week on any job you would not get paid until the end of the second week at work]that was the rule in nearly every job ,as we were weekly paid [ workers].only staff ,would get paid every 2 weeks or monthly. then the 3rd week on strike you would get some income tax refund then that was it for money.

you then went to the social security [the dole office ] and with children they made sure they were getting free school meals ,and they would pay you interest on your mortgage if you had one ,i did not or help you with your rent,after you had filled a massive means test type form in. however the help the gave you was welcome.

As my friend and work colleague lived in the same village he helped me out in many ways ,we would use his car all the time and it was no ordinary car it was a American Cheviot left hand drive a real beauty no one else every drove it. And funny enough his name was Len, never ever knew if it was Leonard or Lenny ,never did find out perhaps I should have done .
Len, he would not ■■■■ on your wheel ,he would have tried to pinch it, he was [I know for sure ]born in Cable Street east London the place where Oswald Mosley tried his march or intimidation by the then Black Shirts[■■■■ sympathisers] in the late 1938/9ish…

[peggydeckboy]

So Len and myself would be going all over the area [WE DID LIVE IN THE COUNTRY AND KNEW WHAT WAS ABOUT ]looking for anything to do in a wide area , as we had already not bothered to turn up for picket duty to far and costly to go , we would get the odd day on a building site , we would do anything helping out on a farm for a day cleaning all the ■■■■ out of a barn anything all for cash in hand, we had ladders and went knocking for window cleaning , some times it was snowing and we would still go ,we did have a laugh.
I knew Len did not need the cash as he had no children and his wife worked but he was used to going out every day, also he did it for me ,.and all though the age difference he was one of the lads ,he used to have a dry cough ,never smoked like we all did ,he liked his pint the same as us. His favourite saying was “well deep down” no matter what

For instance [One night on a night out we were in Gray s Thurrock Essex [[where the Dartford bridge is now ] about 5 of us including Len and we were having a few beers Len would slip me the money for me to get my round of drinks he knew I was all ways short of cash ,and he would get it back some way or another,len had all ways something going ,on he had 2 garages away from our houses and he he mors car parts than soft nick ,engines with gear boxes attached ,we have been out and collected all kinds of heavy parts ,with a piece of strong wood 4x4 and some rope two of you could lift engines ,gearboxes in to his run around[TRIUMPH ESTATE ] cars boot .half of it was for his brother he was what they called a FENCE,SAY NO MORE. BACK TO THE MEAL=

anyway after the pub we went for a Indian ,now I hate Indian, also len knew I could not pay, again paid he mine at the end of the night, when it came to pay,but i was his labourer . the lads were arguing ,who had what ,who pays for what the usual banter and zb about, Len did no more he stood up he had got a load of change and all the other money ready to pay ,i remember he said zb you all and threw all this money up in the air and walked out .i managed to scrabble a few bob for myself off the floor, someone paid up , it was not me .i did keep the cash. ■■■ money.

Also another time we had been to the pub about 4 of us ,lots of banter so we decide we would have a chicken takeaway ,after we all had got ours then we went out side, Len unusually for him was moaning about the sauce he had got and said the ■■■■■■■■ gone off, and tastes of lemon, he had only been trying to squeeze the hand wipe,and ■■■■ it out, ,that was it ,we were in hysterics ,but he just shrugged it off.

After about 4 weeks on strike you get to thinking zbck this I am going to jack the job in and go somewhere else but you could not as you would not have a union card that some employers now wanted you to have also you could not get your NATINIONAL INSURANCE CARD So you had to ■■■■ it up as they say now, easier said than done.

Well salvation was not far away, we went into our local town looking around and we notice some furniture vans unloading outside a brand new store ,not yet open ,so as you do ,we went up to see the men in the back, and the vans were full up with all storage racking .we asked if they needed any help, and the chap said see the boss inside, we did and he said to us both “have you been sent down from the dole office” [Unemployment office] for a days casual labour for the day ,well we did not need asking twice and said yes of course`, he took us in the store and give us a smock[long linen coat as used by Ronnie barker in open all hours a television program ] also used by workers and he gave us instructions where to put materials that we were taking off the lorry along with some other men ,unknown to us, [ that was what happened.]

There were a couple of other chaps doing other jobs also from the days casual labour sent from the dole office so we ■■■■■■■■■■■ , ,told them nothing really and just carried on for the rest of the day while having a good look around, it was Aladdin cave as expected it was a new supermarket !!also a clothes store, a real big brand name.

After finishing doing what we were told ,the other men went off home ,I do not think they had EVER worked for a long time ,where as Len and me went upstairs to the office to ask for some more work ,and the manager asked if we would mind doing some rubbish clearing ,he could not have asked two better men.

After a while it was time to go so we spoke to the boss to see if there was any more work tomorrow and he asked if we could make a early start and would we be able to get in for a 7 o clock start the next day so that was that we were really chuffed and hoped no one spotted us leaving the store,although lens car was not at the store we drove back to the village all was good and we got home i was full of it .
.
Next day the old purr of Lens automatic chevy automatic got me out of the door very quick I lived in a big circle of housing estate and you would tell the noise of any car you knew coming round the circle ,you would not be able to get round if you were trying to be secret ,not as I needed too but you knew who was about “ village life"

Another thing was if the main roads were clear of snow, you would bet anything that the village road out ,was always the last to be cleared and still blocked, you would ring the garage in the next village on the main road from the public phone we did not have house phones yet, and ask what the main road was like and if it was clear to town.

The other road out of the village was impossible to use it was a massive hill ,no grit or clearing then.
People said ,and my father said it was true in april/may 1947 the village was cut off for over two weeks and they were walking on top of the hedge rows, however the trains were able to run they were higher up than the village, so that was the other option that was all right if you needed to go where the train went ,not always the case.but 90% of the men in the village worked on the railway.

Len and I set out to our new jobs ,too early for anyone to see us so that was good ,as everyone new we were on strike…the best we kept it to our self,the better, my children were a bit to young to know what I was doing.

When we arrived we were first there after Len had parked his car out of the way from the store, we stood around the rear entrance, my ■■■■ flowing, Len coughing,NEVER SMOKED we were waiting for some one to turn up next thing someone came out from the store the rear entrance and said come in[night security] and have a tea,the lorry will be here soon, we looked at each other ,”what lorry” he said the one from Denmark with the bacon .he had been told we would be here to unload it ,so that is how we were in.

So it was now time to pump the security man in a casual way and learn how things worked
.Len all the time I knew him used to say to me and he was right,I used it time and again was “If you act daft you will get away with murder” how right he was although I do not know about the murder bit ,but it nearly all ways worked.

We got to know what times all the staff would leave at night there would be a security bag check at the back door every night ,the clue was if the night man came in early for his shift that was the give away. also there were cameras inside by the tills and no where else, and some out side not connected yet, you would know when they were connected to screens , be they had not yet been put up in the security office because we were in it ,and we would have to carry them in from the loading bay ,if we were still there,

In the end the lorry turns up and he was not a Dane he just drove a Danish Bacon lorry from great Yarmouth, these drivers were not on strike as they were what you called “own account”C licence we never let on we were drivers.

just the same as car factory drivers ,so he was paid a good wage. and he did give us a hand at first as there was a knack on how to lift and unload the full sides of a pig a half of Danish Bacon that were wrapped in Hessian sacks, nice and slippy and awkward ,Len and myself soon got our self s -covered up in black bin liners to keep the slime of us.like aprons and over our arms.

We were the first ,the driver said,he had seen that had done the clothes cover up, he had learned something, it was hard work as the Bacon had to go up in the lift 2 floors up and we got well versed in the workings of the unloading system very quick ,we learned that you would be able to creep the lift up to a floor and stop it with you inside and look into the stores floor without anyone knowing where the lift was, so we tried it out times I would stay in the lift Len, would stand around in that part of the store room and he would not know where the lift was.

As there was a metal sliding door on the store room side and stood inside of the lift ,about 5 foot from the floor above ,under the gap of the store room lift door, you would see into the store room. Then I would make a load of noise and then Len would put the lift up to its correct height open the metal door to the lift then we would unload it into the chill store,not with all the fresh foods in it a separate store that was for the meat products all though the bacon did give off a odour I do not think it contaminated the other meat products .

We could not believe it we had only been there 2 days and we were looked on as old hands,I think we were a asset to the manager as the other men there would never have been able to do what we had done ,they had no idea how to work,lets face it they we out of work ,how they got on with the next delivery ,i do not know.

At the end of the day the manager asked to see us both and said he would like us to stay with them until the end of the Christmas period as there was lot of lifting to do,he then said he had rang the unemployment office and they had no record of us, what was going on ,as he needed our P45so he could pay us properly not as casual labour!

P45 explanation=The important document that every one who is or was employed, it is a record of the Income Tax and National Insurance that has been deducted from your wages while in that persons employment, once you finish with any employer you will get your P45. Or known as your cards So if and when you start employment on a permanent basis you need to hand in your P45 or else you would be stopped income tax from your wages at a emergency income tax rate that was very high in percentage terms per pound sterling .after time you would be repaid the income tax providing you were legitimately employed and not Casual.

If ever you had the misfortune to be unemployed and used to attending the unemployment office there would be another form you would be used to it was called UB40. That is where the pop group got its name from.

[peggydeckboy]

We now had to tell the manager the truth who we were and circumstances we were in ,he understood and said he would have to find out from higher up if he would be able to pay us on a casual basis or not, as he would like us to stay.

Yes it worked out to our advantage, we would be able to stay until the Christmas so that was a relive and some needed of cash as we were about out of it at home.
We had given up on the strike, it was now survive and wait until we got back to work we new that would not be until after Christmas. We had no means of contact to other drivers only to our office and they were down to one, the rest laid off .it was dull all around .

So Len and myself started our new short careered in retail-help your self therapy yes I know it was wrong, and we were on a small amount of money however when you have nothing for the children, less for others in your family and yourself s you get to see things a bit different .and i think being in the industry we were in, where everything was free-gratis so to speak

.It seemed that every one[ workman] I knew would take a bit of something. It is true “you will get hung for a lamb or sheep” or “a penny or pound” it is all the same it is the “intention” to steal ,rob ,thieve, theft, all wrong. however at the time it seemed right so if I am judged as a thief so be it ,but next time you put that packet of sauce or sugar into your pocket “for later” from the restaurant /café is it stealing?? OF THE PEN FROM THE OFFICE
I do know for sure ,that my wife was absolutely against it FROM THE start, even now even 34 years ago she still has not forgotten it ,.but the Christmas cake was nice…or talk about it.

Once we were back to the store we started to get into a routine, [I hate routine] I am a ■■■■ it see how it goes man, but I went along with it ,one job was sweeping the shop floor when the store was open ,with a massive double type soft broom ,a fluff catcher, what we had to do was to make sure no one seen us who we new us.

We would be taking racks of clothes back up to the stores ,moving goods around ,general doing as asked ,the one job we were interested in was the foods dry goods ,we were not the only men there was about 10 regulars men in employment with the company also some from the dole office on daily basis, the company realized they needed more staff so some came in for day work and some were a waste of space.

We again learned a art of “stealing clothes” of one of the young day workers ,what he would do was pick the shirts he wanted, go into the toilet put all the shirts or what he wanted underneath his original clothes just before home time ,he would look a bit fatter but who would know??
he was lucky we never seen him get caught.

In the store they had some really nice jackets ,about our size, I was bigger then than now ,so we knew we would not be able to try any on within the store so we had to get the right size each, no point having a jacket to big or small, so at dinner time Len and myself went over to the Burton’s shop on the pretence of buying a jacket each, so we got to get the right size we needed.
Next we had to sort out what we were going to have away first the food or clothes, the food was first ,tins ,cake ,Christmas puddings all the dry goods was stacked in racks in no order so during the day we would move the tins we wanted near to the end of the store room near the rubbish compactor.

The rubbish compactor was the way we got the goods out of the store room. so we would then go round and collect all the rubbish we could find by the tills and all the shop rubbish bin and make sure we were well seen by staff as doing a good job ,also as it was winter time it was well dark out side.

To get out side we had to ask the security to let us out the store rear door to unload the lift, one of us would go round to the back of the store next to the unloading bay there was the big sliding doors to the lift that went down to ground level as no-one was allowed to carry anything at all down the rear steps, our job then was to unload the black bin liners from the lift with all the rubbish in and throw them into the big skip, the company had in its own skip place at the rear of the store. however we did not throw, we carefully placed the black sacks ,to be retrieved later.

Loading the metal cylinder on the 3 rd floor that was called a compactor it was operated by a foot o do the compacting it was powered by air, so it made a noise every time it was used once the lid was down ,however you were able for it to make the compacting noise without it actually compacting as it just sounded as if you were busy, we were all the time!!

It worked well for us, desperate times ,desperate measures after two weeks the Christmas brake came and we were told that we would not be needed after Christmas ,and that was the end of our shop work.
It worked out very good for us all and I did not give a rats arse for the strike i now knew that if I had to I would be able to switch to some other employment ,not that I would want to
I think shop work would be to tame for me as long term, also the stock would be short.

All my family had some very strange Christmas presents lots of scarf’s, and gloves ,the kids had matching pyjamas they were pleased with them if it had not been for the extra goods and the cash we would have been in a very sorry state.

Even now I am not proud of what I did but it was just one of those things, that had to be done. I knew Len enjoyed the crack, it was a laugh for him and he knew it was serous to me ,that is why he came with me and it got him out of the house. Len was what you called a dark horse, he never moaned about anything ever always full of fun, never nasty, would and could be violent ,he had massive hands like a boxer it was Lens brother who was the [wide boy]slicked back hair, felt collar coats, dealer boot s, one you kept on the right side of however he was always quite when Len was around so you could joke about him, and know he would take it, but we only seen him around the pub ,he did not live in the village ,[good job to] the shops would have been emptied…

Len severed in theWW2 but it was never mentioned, also the manager where we based he was also in the armyWW2 and the driver that got killed in the traffic accident going to Coventry was a prisoner of war in Singapore’s notorious Change jail in W. W. 2 .after serving all that time and ending up in a traffic accident.

The strike rolled on into 1980 . After a time even before January most of the company’s had settled the pay dispute and were back to work, after time we eventually [the union] did and things were supposed to get back to normal.

We started to get back to taking goods to the docks and private wharves ,and most defiantly fiddling nights out,we were owed a lot of lost money ,our own fault,[yes] , did we care if we got it from the company [no] had we got any sense [no] we knew the writing was on the wall.
A ,lot of the car companies that were exporting started to adapt the sizes of the cases filled with car parts to fit in the 20foot [6 meters] or 40 foot[12 meters] long containers that we did not haul.

Although there was tons of case cars standing ready to go for export at the depot it appeared as if some orders had been lost and the export company were going to have to unpack them and reuse the goods for others .and be packed into containers,

It was not long after Christmas ,we had got our £5 that was over due, and the talk that some drivers were going to be made redundant on a [last in first out ] meaning the longest serving drivers would be kept on and the newer ones would have to leave, also it meant that company would not have to pay as much redundant payment for the men with the shortest service. with the company. what helped me in the first redundancy was that my service with the Banbury B. R .S was added on to my service with Mortons as it was the same Nationalised company [sort of]when it suited them .

We had to then do all kinds of work local and export you did not know from one day to another and the nights out were getting less, and the fiddles as well. It got to be near summer holidays around June where there came another wave of men who they had got to let go I was in that batch, I am glad I hung on in and waited ,and not left before the actual redundancy came ,as a few men had got themselves other jobs and left and lost out of any payment ,however small, Len was safe for the moment as he had got longer service than me. It took a while to get used to the idea that I would now have to look for employment also I knew there was very little work around our area especially within the road haulage .

Not forgetting a nice little sum of money coming our way, that was not to be overlooked ,however I knew it would not take long for it to disappear very quick .
You were allowed to sign on the dole as soon as you finished work however getting money was another thing, you had a lump sum paid to you there were entitlements that you would be able to claim ,that is what I did and did not feel guilty at all .

The day came and my service was no longer required a few of us went to the local pub and enjoyed the day with a nice wage packet and a cheque, some of the men were working so we had their beer. I think I was driven home safely, well I am still here so I must have been, and a new chapter of my working life was about to begin ,if you have been bored reading what I have all ready wriiten the next 22 years coming up may be a little better or not.
?what I said before is all true, as this next saga rolls out, I found doing the work that I did quite interesting and new .
That is about it, all though i " all though it is not driving i have started writing from my school time [very short] and my very start of working plus sea time that is ongoing now…if anyone objects please let me know and i will cease.thanks D.B.P.

[joeshell]

keep it going DBP its a fascinating read(certainly takes me back!)

[james_908]

Don’t you dare stop peggy…its been a great read…keep it going.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[peggydeckboy]

When I was 14 years old at school in the b/c stream ,classed as no hopers ,38 in a class I am very close to the bottom of the class but about 3 of my friends just beat me to last, however we all had before and during ,and after school, jobs of work to do after school ,more important than learning ,mine was a butchers round also a paper round the butchers round was on a Monday lunch time go round half of my round to collect orders then home for my dinner then finish off getting orders from the houses then after school at 4 pm that would take at lest 1 hour then back to the shop and give them to the butcher.

Mondays was always half a day off for Butchers in our area,Tuesday in the morning I would be at the shop for 7.30 am on my bike the orders would be getting made ready by the butcher and his wife.
We used to have those willow reed baskets with thick handles, you would ride your bike with one hand and have the basket over the other full of all kinds of meat.

By the time you had finished delivering and took the basket back to the shop and rushed to school you would get in school for 9 am -ish if raining you were wet and cold ,and sit in you wet long legged trousers I wore shorts all my life until I was 14 years old
Igot confirmed in to the church of England exactly on my 14 birthday and the trousers were my present, as church faith I had no idea ,my mum made me go every Sunday since I was 12/13 to the choir Sunday morning and evening the reason was all the other mums had their children [who could sing go to the choir ] it was a village thing, for me a complete waste of time ,and to this day still 2018 is I have no religion at all. what with Sunday school from a 5 year old then the choir,… enough.

As for some of my friends ,some went to grammar school as they were the “eleven plus” passed kids but I never gave that a thought and one in lad in particular had a piano and had lesson, so I thought if he can do it so can I ,so like a prat [but did not know it then I pestered mum for a piano ,they brought a 4th hand ,stand up piano for me what I did not relise that I did not have enough concentration to learn I could not compute the music to my fingers my brain did not work quick enough I had a job to recite the A.B.C in one go.

It took me 3 times as long to learn the basic tunes than others and my mum used to sit in the lounge and listen to me play, and it was all over the place as she said it sounded like –plin k plonk-plonk I had no idea in the end the teacher told her it was waste of her money and his time I was doing this also with the two work rounds I had ,so it speaks for its self.

A good start for learning but the 14 shillings a week back then was more important than anything in 1958/9 70 pence in 2018 money but buying your own cigarettes then was growing up.

ASLO I had a paper round from 6.30 every evening 6 days a week taking the local Northampton paper round the village that was another 5 shillings but I had to give my mum that as she was saving that up for me to get clothes ,trying to get me on the right path of self sufficient but I did not realise, we were never allowed near the 3 village pubs so it was sweets ,fizzy drinks what you could get Korana and of course plenty ■■■■ but the local paper shop man would sell you them any time nearly everyone smoked except my mum and dad so they could smell the ■■■■ on me but in the end never said no more I think there were off licences around but not where I lived ,also it was all bottles no cans whatsoever the only thing in cans was food.

There were two of us lads in total in the village there were 4 butchers boys I e 2 butchers shops and one slaughter house where we would go and assist on a Tuesday afternoon,[sick day off school]also boys would be groceries boys[food shops]also delivering but not in the mornings.

The other lad with me was in the A stream at school however that was never mentioned it made no difference most A stream kids were more or less grammar school material but there was only enough space for a few I was told .anyway at 14 our education was never mentioned between us.

He passed the entrance to the ROYAL NAVY while at the butchers ,he had a brother already in the service ,so I thought if he can do it so can I no on ever mentioned to me at school ,look you may not have the right qualifications ,I did not and I failed however it was at the recruiting office in Northampton that they gave me a paper booklet on ships ,at that time I had never seen, or ever been close to a ship I had no idea what crews were nothing all I had heard of was the ship the queen Elizabeth eventually I left school with absolutely no qualifications ,why would I need any I would go to work .

My first job was on a mixed farm a few cattle ,sheep and crops I used to bike 2 good mile a day there for 8 hours then home that was the start of my university degree of human nature and the meaning of hard work after 6 months I had to paraffin clean 4 large red tractors McCormack inter national they were you sat in the metal seat and the whole tractor sort of drowned me ,now belive it or not I was taught back then to reverse a tractor and trailer ,maybe it was then that I got the seed to drive?

One of the jobs I never forgot was “sledging” bales of” hay”not straw there is a massive difference
Bales of hay are good grass probly seeded left to grow long then cut and baled then used for feed for animals in the winter hay has a lovely smell to it it is also used to make a feed called silage where the grass is put in a concrete [like a big storage box with one end open] and molasses is mixed ,it is the covered up and left then it compacts down ,then is cut by the biggest knife /blade you have ever seen, then feed to stored inside kept animals and the smell is wonderful ,well i liked it

Sledging bales when I think back was one of the most dangerous practices preformed on a farm ,the hay has been cut and ready to be bailed up, a tractor pulls the bailing machine ,attached to that behind by 2 chains is the biggest wooden made sledge,made of round well worn poles with some boards on top so will the tractor is pulling the bailer the bales are coming out of the rea end of the balier and you are stood on the wood ,collect ting and stacking you get all the dust and ■■■■ thrown up and thrown around ,while stacking bales . you then preesed a lever and the bales would slip off and stand in the field. In square blocks ,they were so heavy. I could not lift a hay bale up on the end of a pitch fork to stack them up I needed more beef on my body I was a little lean…

The same procedure when the bales from the wheat harvest more dust than ever the bales were [straw ] I only had one summer season.

I then moved to a timber yard I had a good school friend working there also they had and I used to help load the old lorry what make it was god only knows as I had no interest at all in lorries , girls,and ■■■■■ any age ladies were my then intrest.bashing the bishop was not a church thing it got taught, by the older boys then bingo a new lifetime intrest.

I also had the most wonderful job ,in the “creosote pit” a massive concrete bath a foot deep 12 foot by 12 foot and all the products made ,for outside on the farms used for cattle feeding troughs ,5 bar gates all were dipped in creosote then stacked up on the side drained off, then man hauled to a stacking area, dried then loaded on the lorry, we had old plastic [sea sou-wester ] coats and your own old trousers some old rubber ripped gloves, used by all we used to stink ,and get soaked in creosote for years later I would still have creosote in the pours of my skin om my legs.

The other lad was going in the army he was also a ex A stream class at school I think by now the penny had dropped that I would not pass any education test for any job
Working at the sawmill/ timber yard was a machinist and we would all sit on boxes and eat our sandwiches ,someone brought up the far east for some reason and he said ,yes he had been there he had been on the cargo ships as crew, he never said what crew he was, and back then I had no idea what a crew consisted on so never asked but the travel bug had just dropped back in to my head.

After a time, my mum and dad both, were putting me off travelling, I asked this chap at work how do you go to sea and he told me he had a brother on the ships and sails from Liverpool he would write to him [not many people had house phone or even televisions back then].

I must have waited at least a month, when the chaps brother had given him a shipping companies name and where it was ,well I was full of it, at home the same night I started to write a letter for a job ,well I had no idea so my dad helped me reluctantly , he was a railway engineer .better educated than me .

I wrote this letter with the help from my dad, to just the shipping company crew department, and asked for a job ,I did not know what job it could have been ,any, but I bet once they had seen the writing and knew the work I was doing I expect it fitted in one department [nothing to taxing].and left it at that.

[peggydeckboy]

About 3 weeks later a letter returned from a MR GREENWOOD SUPERINTENANT inviting me for a interview at BLUE FUNNEL SHIPPING COMPANY BIRKENHEAD .it had the company name franked on the back of the envelope i could not believe it ,I was in before I had got there in my head ,after a lot of long faces my dad agreed to take me to BIRKENHEAD I think he was looking forward to the visit as he had never been there before that was the one and only time that I went anywhere with my dad just the two of us.

I expect he wanted to see for himself it was a memorable trip also for me as the main line trains went direct from BANBURY TO BIRKENHEAD it was on the western region and we lived and he worked on the L.N.E.R.REGION the east coast side of the country.

When we got off the train at BIRKEN HEAD WOODSIDE STATION we went to the public toilets ,a first, I had never been in a public toilet ever, and with my dad .

,I remember stepping up this big step to the massive urinal it was like a bath turned upside down I could have got lost in it ,I was looking all around and dad says [look what you are doing] well right in front of me is this most enormous sign, advertising a venereal disease clinic well I might have well been on the moon,I had no idea, of course I would not let that matter drop ,in the end, my dad sort of told me, but I do not think he really knew. what it should have said on the sign[you will find out].

Another first, we sat in a taxi driving down the dock road I spotted a ships funnel this massive blue funnel topped of with black, then ships came in to view,all lined up. my very ever first view of a ship, not on a film.

ODESSY WORKS was the office for DECK,AND CATERING CREW the interview ,thank god was nothing, I was just asked what work I was doing it was a no brainer that it was a manual workers job I needed .
plus I had a medical,a eye sight test for colorblindness ,i passed ,apparently if you are colour blind it will never change, it ids not something you pick up like a cold. I do remember he said I needed to put some weight on, there were others lads there but I took no notice.

After the medical he said yes there will be a opening to their deck boy training school very soon they will send details etc and that was that, Cloud nine had not a patch ,also what we found out later was if you are colour blind you cannot go and work as a deck hand,and you will not know until you have had the simple test…

What I did not know, if I had had gone to the local, then it was called the [labour exchange] dole office, no one ever mentioned that they found work for people ,living in a village where there was no one out of work , nearly all worked on the railway, we would not have known .
THERE WERE TWO NATIONAL SEA TRAINING SCHOOLS i did not know, however as it turned out I had the better deal, apparently they were sort of run under a strict rule regimented allegedly they called the lads “peanuts” it was in or near Gravesend

I received the letter of acceptance and a list of what I needed to take with me as it would be 6 weeks training then you should be ready to join a ship we to get all the clothes etc sea boots [wellies] oil-skins sou- wester everything from their stores that will be brought with the money you bring from home .i have a remembering that it was around £20 pound quite a lot of money back then for my dad to pay.

I was still 15 when the time for me to leave the timber yard and catch the first train on my own to go to BIRKENHEAD.

When it was time for me to go ,no hugs or kisses [now look after your self]mums famous words.
I was just a bit older than when my mum left her home in 1932 aged just 14,she was given 6d ,a address of a big house in LONDON written down, and the fare for the taxi driver,she was to work as a scullery maid [servant] they lived in Sussex, then, but my mother is a true born cockney as she was born in CHELSA BARRACKS the true bow-bells ,not bow in east london. [SHE IS 99 NOW 2018] my mother asked her mum , when will I know when to get out of the train, ,and her mum said, you will hear all the carriage doors bang open ,get out ,follow all the people ,look for the taxi rank,give the taxi man the written down address and the sixpence , and behave your self ,blimey she was 14 ,so I expect I get a lot of my traveling from my mum…

Once on the train I am all eyes it is like a big adventure into the unknown ,the sea school I am going to, has not long been opened as all Blue funnel trainees used to go to a place called Aberdovey IN Wales it was a outward bound school used especially in the wartime it trained merchant navy officers,and ratings, thank god I did go there, not from what I heard in later years ,there was no ill treatment but up at silly hours, cold showers, lots of navy type routines ,thinking back perhaps I would not have survived the ROYAL NAVY that is something I will never know.

Once off the train , the hostel we were all staying was just up the road from the rail station, directions were given in the letter .I do not recall very much of the first days in the hostel it was the Y.M.C.A. ",no not the dance "silly,
IT WAS “,THE YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION” it was run on strict-ish rules but no religion, if you did not want it,i certainly did not i had had my share of church, there were 4 lads to a room ,some of the lads were already there and all had different accents, one lad had a bit of a moustache ,so I worked out I was the youngest

I was never sick ,and we all got on, it was strange all eating together, some had some table manners and some did not,I had mine drummed in to me since a little lad, I did know how to act at a table after a time I tended to like the way we were all living and sort of as my mum would say “slopping about” no sitting on my hands like we were made to. stop fidgeting about my mum would say and with a bit of luck you i would not get a clip round the ear.

As I had never had any school dinners at all, and had only eaten at home it did not take long to I realised I could eat what I liked ,[chips] we never had chips at home never, at home I was always hungry I cannot sort of remember when I was not, when at work I would eat all my packed lunch and any ones sandwich if they did not want them .so perhaps the doctor was right I needed more weight.

We all had to catch the local transport bus down past the docks to the school I think we were all a bit nervous then but it turned out we had no need to be, there were also some of the local lads at the school as well they went home every night ,we were all kitted out in blue sereg trousers a jumper with BLUE FUNNEL embroidered across the chest a beret and shoes,also a deck knife and little scabbard we had to leave it in school every day when going home,to be honest it was a very important piece of equipment worn, on your belt every day of my deck sea time, and we had to wear it every day when in the school to get used to it .
What we did not know that at least half the population of that area were all BLUE FUNNEL employees of some description and lots of merchant Seamen also dockers ,the pubs along the dock road were out of bounds for us [for now].

THE teacher was a serving BOSUN [a scouse irish man]also a retired ships master was there he taught us how to behave on a bridge and read the compass,.your only duties when older , on the bridge were to take the ships wheel [steering the ship on a course]all navigation was done by deck officers [grammar school lads] that is where I went wrong at school

WE WERE THERE TO LEARN ALL ABOUT THE DECK WORK to end up as a A.B.as deck crew.

In the school class room there was had full working model of the deck of a conventional cargo boat it was large and it had all the working parts of cargo handling equipment eventually as a deck hand you were able know how things worked also they had ships ,blocks and tackle, and all the ropes for different jobs and sizes and what they were made up off, plus a mock up half of a life boat, a ships wheel, and binnacle with compass, ,most every thing you will need to know,and equipment over the years it was a bit overwhelming untill i realized it was just to get you used to seeing all the ships"GEAR"as it was called.

I had no idea about anything for a start,however some of the local lads did seem to know what we were being told, as far as I was concerned they could have put me in the galley and been a galley boy and learned to cook or they could have put me in the stewards catering department learning to serve and wait on tables I would not have known no different, but they sussed out I would make a good deck hand, manual labour all round .

Some of the lads had a advantage has they had brothers already at sea and they had been schooled by what sort of job it was going to be,but they treated us all the same in the school,we all had books to draw and make notes I think we all did the first week in the end I gave up it was not going to be looked at or marked.

Once you got learning or thought you had I was not on my own when it came down to asking questions ,however I was able to show what I had learned by showing on the model ,like some of the other lads and that was sufficient to show that I had understood.

It does not take long to realise how dangerous life aboard a ship could come when working on deck you had to be aware of what was happening as a lot of tasks are two man ,also one thing was stressed you never ever relied on any one to tie any knot that may cost you your life ,when working aloft ,or over the ships side in port.you are responsible for your self .

LIFE BOATS were very important we had to know all about the rations lowering them lifting them how to sail them and best of all row them ,that was great fun once we got the hang of it the lifeboat looked like a spider going across the dock for a start then after half a day we got better .for real in a bad situation god knows however I did eventually sail with men who had been torpedoed during the war and survived they were in their forties then ,still at sea and knew nothing else…

We had to learn to BOX the compass start with north then go roundto east.it would be like this N north
NbE means NORTH BY EAST. N.N.E north, north east.
NEbyN
N.E.
NEbyE
E.N.E
EbyN
E
And in between other combinations’ for the whole 360 degrees but we only needed to learn one quadrant, like above as ships had a gyro compass it was just to get the basic as steering by the " compass" all though wheel man still steered the ship there was no automatic steering like now.

[peggydeckboy]

Deck cleaning, painting ,rust chipping, washing down paint work called sugie one of the hundreds of jobs eventually being done by us, the main schooling was about the ships cargo working gear ,the DERRICKS they are now replaced by cranes ,they are used to lift cargo in and out of the ships cargo holds [hatches] it would take at lest two years sea time to get to grips and be able to go to any ship and perform your duties with heavy equipment also to be able to use a bosons’ chair and not kill your self ,also they taught us the basic splicing of rope and wire and all the knots you would use ,[so the old dolly was never used on ships ]but variations a [Spanish windless]so after 6 weeks we were deemed to be let loose on a ship but only with blue funnel as they had sort of invested in us but there was a waiting list to move up. the so called ranks, ie DECKBOY on blue funnel 9 months sea time
J.O.S JOINER ORDENIARY SEAMAN. another 9 months
S.O.S.SENIOR ORDENIORY SEAMAN another 9 months.
E.D.H. EFFICENT DECK HAND you take a board of trade exam every one must pass to be able to be signed on a ship as a AB however you can take a watch when you are E.D.H. if signed on as edh as there are to many ABs you would get the ABs rate of pay. on the same crew.ALL pay was stanadard with all British ships
A.B. ABLE BODID SEAMAN.

After the 4 th week school we were taken aboard one of the many ships in BiRKENHEAD to see where we would live had a show around the accommodation, not on deck as it was busy working cargo ,it was a surprise to the to see the cabins, deck boys3 OR 4 to a room all others double bunk except the P.o.s single berth all the other places where you would be .two mess rooms, toilets showers
always all to be cleaned by us/you ,the deck boys and you will be 9 months doing it all also fetching and carrying all the meals ready on plates from the galley in to the mess room and put in to a warmer cabinet for all ,then wash all the dishes up put them away clean the tables ,scrub the floors in the mess room ,toilets ,always but we all took that in and promptly forgot it…

THERE WAS A WRECK ROOM, so called it had a dart board darts without flights a radio gram ,a few records a few books dominoes half there cards 3 half of packs sort of sette going round the bulkhead [wall] a few chairs legs in need of repair at first glance it looked a wreck ,but over the years it was a important space for all the non officers crew.i found out in later years

It came to the last week as in the previous weeks we were going to the local swimming pool to learn life saving with baggy overalls on what a non laugh, as most of us were not that hot at swimming ,the ones being saved were kicking as well to get across the pool in tact we all got the ticket ,board of trade again.also a lifeboat mans ticket.

I had my 16 birthday therein the last week and it was our big time to go and collect our board of trade MERCHANT NAVY discharge books our record of our conduct and ability and the ships name and dates we were on them signed by the master after every trip, good job I was 16 as you were not able to go to sea unless you were 16 ,lucky or what .

THEN ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT our joining of the seaman’s union ,no union paid up membership ,NO ship

THE company Blue Funnel like a lot of companies had their own men signed on as contracts so guarantied employment ie companies men but us youngsters were like a apprentice until we took our EDH , that was done you could and would be like nearly all merchant seamen freelance a company called the SHIPPING FEDERATION one in every port was like a clearing house of work ,ie like a agency for seamen all companies needing crews let the federation know what different companies need for a ship it could be one man or a full crew.

Men would report every day once their leave time was up to see what they have got it could be a day or a week before you get a job.this is where seamen’s missions came in to being at ports as you needed somewhere to stay until you got a ship…

If you were paid off a ship you could have 3 weeks leave it was up to you.and if you had been asked back for the next trip and you wanted it you would go to the federation and report they would know most men did one trip then went ,if they did not want to go to the far east they would not , you would have the choice of 3 ships you could refuse 2 but you had to take the 3rd or face the consequences the union could suspend you also you had to keep your union dues up to the present week no areas allowed …i am getting ahead of my self back to DECK BOY…

Once we had all finished we all made our way home I had one suitcase originally now I had this massive kit bag full of all the clothes I would need for wet ,rough weather just like the army kit backs .

Once home I just had to wait they told me I had to wait for a deck boy to move on, it could e at least a month, as men leave ,and then men move up I did understand that so I went back to the timber yard for work ,
One Monday dinner I was home we were all eating and there was a rap on the front door ,now that never happens unless it is a telegram I flew out the back and our local post master who has known me and the family all our lives is grinning and says it for you
I bet half the village knew before me it said

MR---------------join ss PATROCULUS stop.
VITTORIA DOCK BIRKENHEAD, stop,
SAIL DEEP SEA. ON THE JUNE 3RD 1960.

And that was it, this was now a proper education but I id not know it.
Once I arrived I knew the procedure I stopped the night in the YMCA and got a taxi at 10 oclock to the dock at the struggled up the gangway with my bags I had an idea where to go and I found the deckboys cabin there were 2 other lads there, older than me anyway introduced my self told them, my first trip, it was ones 3 rd trip and the others 2 nd trip ,so I was the new boy but I knew that was the way it worked one locker two draws and like a small wardrobe .i was top bunk after about a hour the Bosun came in, asked who I was he knew the others he told them to fill me in on the duties, and no going ashore as we all sign on in 1 hours time he asked for my discharge book I would not see that until we dock at the end of the trip as she sails tonight.

The routine is quite manic all men going here and there collecting lining for their / your beds towels ,
in the mess room it was full of men I felt to quite lost until one older chap said in this gruff ,laughing type, of broad scouse voice are you the new PEGGY, LAD,YES I said, he said whatever your name is from now on its Peggy ,and that was what all three of us answered too that trip if you were the duty Peggy and every trip that you were a deck boy on all Blue Funnel ships

The mess room consisted of two long tables seats for 6 each side and on 4 seated one, with noisy bottom chairs when you dragged them, all tables had a shiny formica top ,around the edges, wood that lifted up and clipped up when in rough weather to keep food and plates on the table ,they were called the “fiddlie”,I would learn over time when the sea was really rough you had to put wet tea towels on the tables as whatever the weather all the men would still eat. all their meals

In one corner on the bulkhead [wall] there was a large copper gesser for hot water at all times men ,ships and tea go together, all morning and afternoon work tea breaks were called SMOKE –O that would be shouted out when the men are working on deck in the afternoon smoke-o there would always be some kind of cake made they were called [TAB-NABS] WHi have no idea and there would only be enough for one each even for the watch keepers also fruit the same number apples oranges and invariably us deck boys would be like vultures’ if one man did not want his whatever it would be devoured by one of us.

Also there were 4 plates each different sizes for every man soup, starter, ,main course ,pudding I had never been so well fed it was completely unreal I had never had so much food and we/I would eat anything left or not wanted also for the Po,s mess there was exactly the same.

There was a large cupboard for all the plates and each man had 2 spoons. 1 knife 1 fork and1 tea spoon, in the cutlery draw all the Peggy’s reasonability ,the only food a seaman would take to his cabin was a cake /fruit or his tea and he kept his own cup all the time.

We as peggey,s did all the washing up for all the men/mess room you would take all the plates needed in to the galley=men x3 and when the cook said ok go he would put whatever course on the plates and you woud take them in to the messroom, and put it all in the hot press, with sliding doors most men would come straight away when told “grub up”so as soon as the starter was finished the main would go in the press then the pudding took about a week to get the hang of it most men once finished would leave the mess and go to their cabins or the wreck room or out on deck but they knew we had to get cleared away ,washed all services cleaned the floor, top up the water boiler nothing ,left out only maybe a watch keepers dinner in the press but that was down to them you never threw anything out until you had seen the man whos dinner it was .

Breakfast was as bad there was always fish or porridge then a fry ,every person had a different breakfast once they had requested a certain ,egg, hard ,soft over easy ,poched ,scrambled and type of bacon crispy soft cremated they had the same breakfast for the whole trip as the cook would know exactly what to cook and the peggy soon learned there was so much to do learn all dopey stuff to an outsider ,but deep sea ship life was different it would take a book as big as the bible to tell all ,you were eased in the job by the older experienced deck boy-peggy
All so whatever seat they first sat in, it was theirs all trip…

I have not mentioned the deck [floor cleaning] toilets showers P.O rooms ALLWAYS SCRUBBED brass to be cleaned, a daily crew cabin inspection by the master and his other officers and the bosun it was what you would call in 1960 your job of work in 2018 slave labour but to us it was normal ,so to be honest nothing ever faced me ever again.

At11AM every day at sea there would be the captains inspection all over the accommodation checking every where was cleaned ,in the mess room the big copper gesser[hot water boiler],is always hot and to get it cleaming so bright you could see your face in it we would use a mixture of salt and vinegar /or Worcester sauce in a saucer and put it on the copper with a rag and for at lest 10 minutes it would
Shine then go dull again, it was just for inspection always once the inspection was finished men would be walking all over the always with boots on etc ,it did leave me with ,if you know you have done something and within 5 minutes it is all back to square one it never bothered me at all , thenyou got used to painting over grease later on.

As there was 3 peggys one would be on deck with the deck crew for a week weather in port or at sea then it would change around, wherever a ship was all duties carried on meal times and cleaning but no inspection in port.

After the first 3/4 days at sea past the bay of Biscay seasickness had worn off ,never to be sea sick again ever ,it is the smell of the fuel oil and the motion that gets you ,well that is my theory .

Every morning once clear of port the ship is washed down from the bridge to the main deck about 4/5 men, one hose 4 brushes ,and all of the ships gear is stowed away all the ropes used for mooring are put down below in lockers for when the sea is rough .All the cargo hatches have been closed up and secure with at lest 3 massive tarpaulins over the wooden hatch boards and jammed in with thin steel bars and wooden wedges. another art in its self the carpenter was the last man to go round banging all the wedges in the sides of the hatch bars, so in theory what ever the sea came over the ships [wall] side the power of it would push the wedges in further to hold the wedges in another we had to learn to do on your own when taking your E.D.H but that is later on.

DAY WORK

The duties as so very varied it would take a mammoth task to write them all down so I will give a synopsis of a able seaman’s duties –ish
If on DAY WORK it means you are not a watch keeper DAY WORK means 7am to 8am wash down
1 hour breakfast
9am to 1015 work
1015 1030 tea brake [SMOKO]
1030 1200 WORK
1300 1500 WORK
1500 1515 [SMOKO]
1515 1630 WORK –FINISH unless overtime, or getting ships gear for port overtime after your days WORK
It could be you could be off from 1630 ,then arriving at a port at 2300 berthing ALONGSIDE , deck work getting the derricks ready all many of thinks to doit may be 0200 before you finish then A LATE START AFTER BREAKFAST or you could be in bed and arriving at a port at 6am so you would be called at least 1 hour before needed no pay until on deck. and that would be overtime until 7 am from when you were told to go on deck am not when you were called
So many jobs in fact you would have to been at sea to know what was involved in deck work it took at lest two years to get proficient…

Watch keeper
A merchant navy cargo or passenger ship is run on WATCHES
Ie 12to4
4 to 8
8 to 12 the watch system is mostly for the deck department and the Engineering dept.
Deck dept.only =3 men on each watch ,once you start on a watch you never change ie 8 am to 12 noon hours
There are always officers in charge of each watch mostly 2 officers they make all the dececions the officer system is different from ours you just do as your told, im on 8 to12
I AM WRITING ABOUT ME so once I was eligible to be a watch keeper I had taken the exam ,conducted ashore by the board of trade the exam is called the E.D.H.TICKET efficient deck hand .it proves you can do all the tasks required a deck hand does efficiently and you can be a

WATCHKEEPER. EDH

Meaning that you can steer the ship manually[ships wheel] from the gyro compass follow orders and keep the ship steady on the given course and obey commands.

[peggydeckboy]

That you can safely take the position of ships look out, and report sightings correctly in the right manner also the you can safely use all deck equipment ,tie all knots ,splice wire,and rope, use winches ,top and lower the Ships derricks use all the fire equipment and smoke helmet use a Bosuns chair safely work at heights on your own ,work over the ships side while in port painting ,lowering and lifting the gangway up due to the tides when on duty in port…

[[[also many more. tasks also be a very good beer drinker, going in to bars, and make sure you get back to the ship in the mornings by 0730, there were no ashore restrictions where you could go at all, no like the ROYAL NAVY WHERE THEIR MEN WERE RESTRICTED EVEN IN WHAT BARS TO GO IN also they had their shore police patrols “scooping” up all their drunks, also all other country,s Royal,navy,s had their own police shorepatrols, the "YANKS"were the most imposing massive men in uniform they had more stripes on their uniforms than a zebra crossing ,they all carried swagger sticks [batons]`on there BAR patrols ,driving in open top land rovers they looked like a forward row of american football players, they called us “LIMEYS” yes it is true, when i think about it how many boys my age then,also all the others had even seen a American.except on films.

THEY[police patrol] WERE RUTHLESS WITH THEIR OWN MEN if there were YANKS in any of the bars you would not go in because you knew it would kick off and once you have been in a bar when it does, you do not do it again believe me, however that is all later on when i get a little older.]]] but bags emptied. and tattooed .that would have been a good night…later on in my sea time it was normal procedure .[ back to work.].

Cleaning all the paint work you see ,it is called [sugie] IT IS NICE WHEN IT RUNS DOWN YOUR SLEEVES. ,deck painting ,chipping rust, changing ropes, wire ropes greasing, working blocks maintenance wood deck scrubbing ,varnishing any amount of jobs to keep the ship in working order…

THE EDH ticket means you can sign on a ship as a AB HOWEVER some companies will only have so many Abs and the rest Edh to save money.

Back to my first trip ,seasickness over. I am getting to get in to the swing of our duties there is no let up I think my early work experience has done me good I just get on with it the same as the other two lads.

FIRST port was PORT SAID entrance to the suze canal as we never berthed it was a new experience to me in fact it was jaw dropping it made you want to pinch my self to think where I was.

The system of going through the canal back then was in convoys just say 10 ships going south and 10 coming the other way and it is single traffic there has to be a change over point and that in what is called the Bitter lakes where one convoy parks up in a cutting while the other goes on through.
When approaching port said a ships derrick is rigged and lifted as I am looking over the ships wall[side] two small boats are approaching with Arabs in them the very first I had ever seen with all their hab-dash long skirts like coats they had massive army coats on top of it all ,hats and caps to me they looked like ali-baba the thieves or bloody tramps the one thing I did notice after a while they all seemed to have a wonkey eye glazed over if fact a lot of the arabs all over seemed to have a bad eye

Back to the bum boats they get so close to the ships side a hook is sent down on a line ,they attach a rope from the boat and the whole boat is lifted out of the water ,and our ship is still steaming ahead they are hauled on to the deck ,what I did not know because I could not see the same was going on on the forward deck so two small wooden painted all colours boats 8 arabs on the ship??

I had no idea what was going on it came to light when we got to the cut they were the men who rowed our mooring lines ashore .
Now I was 16 never seen a Arab before ,we were told keep all accommodation doors close, all port holes locked, on no account were theses men to get any where in side the ship .for oblivious reasons.

I do not know if any readers have ever heard of the saying
“you wanna buy dirty picture jonney”in a English scotish arab accent these were the men ,as true as I sit here typing …Suez canal bum boat men…

We did see them quite a bit as we had to be in and out ,they slept on deck rolled up in blankets and carpets, they were the roughest looking men I had ever seen but they were so funny to me /us apparently morning ships wash down was fun ,I never witnessed it but lots of screaming abuse went on ,no one liked them ,and I forgot ,bloody flies another first for me, sweltering hot clammy and bloody flies we had mossy screen doors behind the main doors that went out on to the deck every door so the main solid doors were hooked back and the mossy screen doors were used but with men in and out of the accommodation.

There was bound to be a few get in ,as there was no air conditioning there were blowers along the deck heads [ceiling] that blew hot in the winter and hot in the summer bloody useless BUT IT WAS A SOURCE OF AIR also you had two blowers in the cabin and one port hole, if you were lucky [we were not ]there was a round mesh screen[just the same as a sive] that fitted inside the port hole to keep flies ,mossies out and let fresh air in [but nearly all the crew smoked ]so that did not really work. so at night ,with the Arabs about ,you had to close all port holes as believe it or not,most normal size men ,can get in through a ships porthole…or out.

Imagine over the years these OLD arabs would be on different nationalities ships all year they new every swear word ever said and they new all the Scottish surnames and names and they could even do the Scottish accent ,it was hilarious [they would say ]Hi my name is jock mctavish you English ■■■■■■■■■■ THE POPE .IT WAS SO FUNNY for a youngster like I was and of course all our older men used to keep warning us “do not get near them on your own they will cut your throat “they like young boys ,all that stuff. but the Bosun told us just keep way from them and do not give them anything whatsoever the cook gives them food ,do not try to talk to them unless another seaman is with you and that was what we did ,well that made it even worse ,but of course it was a wind up but it took time for the penney to drop

One of the most hilarious things I ever did see over many times was when the ships left the cut to continue onwards the men in the boats would be lowered down in to the sea ,the other end to do the return journey of course on another ship.the relation ship between ships crews and Arabs was not the best ,[over years of abuse] the bum boats were lifted up and over the ships side and the ship would be picking up speed the boat would have a forward line of theirs attached to the ship so in theory as the ships steam ahead the boat is lowered[gently] in the sea

and with the line attached with their tiller they steer away from the ship and as the ships speed takes up they steer out from the ship out of the ships propellers wash.

Before that happens now as their boat is just about in the water it would be picked/winched up and dropped quick by the winch operator ,who cannot see what is happening [but knows ]now this starts them screaming abuse from the boat ,and they were hanging on for dear life then they go up again then splat right down ,then the gash[mess room waste] bucket is thrown over board by a unseen man…they normally got the lot all over them it was so funny and of course back then, all what was said “they are only ARABS” the next day you would find there reply ,because they new what was going to happen and they would ■■■■ under a winch…No wonder a lot of foreigners don’t like us we were the countries ambassadors[like zb]…

.As the ship is steaming forward they unhook the line holding the boat up they were going mental as their line is still attached forward they are picking up speed all you can hear is you the shouting in English zbing ■■■■■■■■ from a Arab ,in the end the line is let go our end they retrieve it and we steam away.
You may think a canal has high banks but it surprisingly does not however certain places are high there is one place that is a hospitial ,but it just looked like a fort ,there were men working in gangs on the banks, apparently prisoners, all the information comes from the bridge as there is a Arab pilot up there telling the captain and wheel man what course to steer mostly follow that ship ahead.

Them old Arabs know every time what is going to happen I bet it was only us English and Scottish ships that ever did it.

Once clear of the canal our way was down through the red sea ,the sea was as flat calm as a mill pond but the heat was unbelievable no breeze what so ever even from the ships own created wind ,still calm just the ripple in the sea from the ships movement but apparently shark in fested

The heat in all of the accommodation was hot ,all doors out side were open, all cabin port holes open what I did not know it would be like this until we get back to the Med.

As I had not been any where I had my shoes on as I had never seen flip-flops before, but they were not allowed for working in even carrying the meals in from the galley shoes all the time

BOSUN has us on deck work showing us how to use a[ windy hammer] it is a electric motor with a attachment out of the end about 5 foot long covered in like spring like metal ,and on the end is like a grass strimmer but it is made up of like steel flayers, oblong like bent nails and there is guard like on a electric saw and you push the end on to the steel decks and it gets the rust off to look like new steel ,when I think back one of the most dangerous bits of kit ever used you were covered in dust and muck in =fact your face was black i cannot remember if we had goggles or not I know he made us wear our soft sun hats and keep our t shirts on to stop us from burning, the introduction of deck work . the heat was getting unbearable when it reached the 90 F =34c ish we would be brought off the steel-deck, [called a well deck]

[peggydeckboy]

It was not long before us youngsters were getting heat rashes [called dhobi rash] around your nuts ,under your arms , we had a special powder given to us by the chief steward, it soon cleared up. we were given salt tablets to take every day and we had too the bosun made sure we took them
there was a big jar of them on the mess room table for all, also when it was smoke ohh we would get from the galley by arrangement a big like small babys bath full of LIME WATER with a soup ladle for all to have a cup of it.[ once a certain temperature had been reached…it was hot… Plus the daily cake /s called TAB-NABs there would be ON Eeach for every man ,the name tab-nab is on every ship ■■ Also there would be a bread roll for dinner time and one each for the evening meal.

Salads and cold meats would be sent in, as well as big cooked meals and the routine sort of relaxed ,the meats would be sliced wafer thin so the first MR Piggeys in the mess [the usual suspects]their were not many fat men at sea… would eat it all, until I learned to hang back with the meat and let them [mostly the day workers ]have a hot meal then when the others trooped in I would get the cold salad from the pantry/galley annex. and blame the [pantry man]responsible for the cols cuts. of course I realised they were all mate[ lesson learned]

IN all mess rooms there was a” gash” bucket for all the [slops] tea leaves all the tea was sweetened by the tinned thick milk we called conie-onie there was always milk in tins ,for breakfast there would be some milk made from powder for the men who had cereal[ i had seen men put the thick tinned milk on to bread and make a sandwich.

[no tea bags all raw tea leaves]all the plate scrapings of food so by the end of the day it got very full, it was the duty peggies job to empty it and it had to be the LEE side there was a Shute placed on the after end of the well deck that we used ,placed by the deck crew that stuck out from the ships side OF COURSE THE RED SEA WIND UP for us /me! First tripper, WAS that the sharks know what time to throw the waste over board and they will be waiting for it [of course more than one would be watching from the deck,once the deed was done I am watching for the sharks ,because I had been told they know when the ships will pass I was soon told to get back in the mess…laughter over but yes caught .

Another first trip deck boys job was STOCKHOLME TAR the ships fore stayI realised it showed if you had a head for heights there was a small block attached by a AB at the mast end of the stay ,he climbed a ladder where the old crows nest would have been
.A line was thread through the block and sent down to the deck, a big d shape shackle was placed over the stay and a Bosuns chair attached you got in the chair and you were given a pot of stockholme take and told to keep your fingers away from the stay you were being pulled up and hold on to the bosuns chair ,and he made you tie your own double sheep bend,

Once you were up as far as it would go you had to dip the rag in the tar and above you head rub it in to the [lay] of the thick stay you were being lowed down on look on any photograph of a ship in the 1960 and you will see the stay going from the foculs head [front of the ship ]right up to the foremast, it was a stablelising stay for the mast

.Once completed that task it would take days for the tar to be washed off , that week you would be on deck work so you did not have to get the meals from the galley ,but you did help other chores.

Off course sleeping was a nightmare you would not be getting any air that was even cool ,it was the same for all some of the older hands [crew] had metal chutes that fitted in the port hole hoping to drawc a nice cool breeze in but we did not we used to try carboard bent in to shape but it never worked you just sort of got used to the heat ,well you never you just put up with it…

One of the peggys jobs was to do BAR watch the second every other day we took it in turns,
The second steward a responsible position but does not sound it ,he runs the BOND,[ships shop] it is like a little cupboard one stable type door and you can just about see in what goods they have it is a ALADDIN’S CAVE,EVERYTHING YOU COULD WANT [LUXURY] SWEETS ,BISCUITS ,SOFT DRINKS TABACO ■■■■ ALL MANNER OF SMOKING PARAPHERNALIA PAPER PENS.ALL THE BEER, WINES SPIRITS .obviously all the crew could not get down to the door at the end of a alley way so we did bar watch,[we got I hours overtime for it] no money changed hands whatsoever all transactions were done with writing on a paper chit [supplied] and signed .

The seamen were only allowed 2 cans of beer a day no spirits at all us as junior ratings no alcohol what so ever but there were lots of soft drinks
All the cigarettes and tobacco were in round tins 50 ■■■■ a go, the posh ones were in flat tins all manner of brands tobacco was in ¼ lb tins pouches were starting to come in but not on this ship.

The Pos could have spirits and they used to get it for some of the older men a lot of the older men were [true blues] company men and they had know each other since the war in fact some of them got sunk and saved together to sail again as soon as they got back if they did, a awful lot of Merchant seamen were lost during the 2nd war and thousands were kept as prisoners of war you never hear about them if they were saved from a life boat by the enemy they were sent to GERMANY and if in the pacific it would be Japan.

There are books about the prison ships used by Japan moving prisoners around
As a new boy I was looked after by the older Abs[ dos and do-not] aboard a ship and just being schooled they were wise men.

We were nearly out of the red sea and heading over to CEYLON the capital PORT AND WAS/IS COLOMBO CEYLON name back ,then however now it is Sri-Lanker ,the terrorist were /are the tamil tigers.
This was the very first place to go ashore since leaving Birkenhead however there was no sub _{given OR SHORE LEAVE GIVEN.to dangerous
is a sub from your wages you have accrued in the ship ie every day you are on a ship you get paid in theory, but you do not collect your wage packet on a Friday ,the chief steward looks after it ,in theory , not like all other jobs ashore. it is a paper form ,so you can have access to how much you have in the ship,for going ashore if you want. But if you use it all you will not be able to buy anything from the ships shop [the bond] until you have worked ,say another week .
The chief steward has ALL the currencies for what ever country /port you are going to , before you get there they ask how much money do you want for the run ashore as i got older i knew .}

[whisperingsmith]

Great Story telling Peggy

Do you remember the Gilly Gilly men who came aboard in Port Said? (the magicians with the day-old chicks)

The Egyptians did have a great sense of humour & I grew to like them & enjoy their banter

I remember my first trip through Suez as a deck apprentice 1964 (Yes one of the grammar school boys

You got used to the heat & it came in handy when doing almost the same trips to the ME by road some years later

[peggydeckboy]

HI whisperingsmith,
I am so pleased to know that there are other men/man, on "trucknet"who know what i am waffling about ,yes the gillie men, i had forgotten as you will well know there is so much that used to happen on ships, that it would be endless trying to tell all,as you know, you had to be there .

AS you as a APPRENTICE [the only difference between us was the [elven plus], was not all easy for you, your stories would equal mine, however i would have liked to have swapped opportunities with you ,but i hope i am giving just a small incite as a young man how working life started before LORRIES .

Why don’t you put yours on “trucknet” you mentioned middle east for a start,all the study and desk work you had to do this would be a walk in the “sand” for you ,i was going to call "the " book “MERCHANT NAVY ON WHEELS” thanks again P.D.B.

[peggydeckboy]

A few hatches were opened and cargo discharged the workers [dockers] looked all the same to me, small build all wearing sarongs nothing on their feet turbans and mustachios and all spitting a red gob from their mouths it was what they called BEATLE NUT JUCIE all their mouths and teeth ,what you could see were red as a post box.

The lads called them dirty ■■■■■■■■ for gobbing[spitting] every where we were there for a few hours cargo discharged the gangway was lifted up and stowed it was stripped down to a basic massive step we were ready to leave, stations are called ie the amid moans and groans . he also makes a ships security with a AB and a middy to check there are no stowaways.

As all the derricks that had been lifted had to be lowered ,hatches re-sealed up with the massive tarpaulins and battered down all the gear taken off and stowed away as we were still crossing the Indian ocean one day it is as calm as a milk pond then with in hours a raging storm

The ships wireless officers collect all weather reports and
they were correct ,for zb sake talk about a ship rolling she was rolling so much there was no cooking the next day, sandwiches only, no deck work ,indoor cleaning paint work it was too rough to go out on deck ,the watch keepers can reach the bridge from inside the ship via the outside of the boat deck when it is bad weather.

We as youngsters were assured all is well, its normal ,get used to it and I did and they were right, the worst is when she is pitching meaning the bow goes right down in to the water ,well it looks as if it does, but its floating ,then up she comes and crashes down in to the sea again and the sea floods the steel well decks ,that is why a ship has holes along its side called [scuppers] to let the water flood off the ship as water is very heavy, then as soon as the water has gone it comes back .

When the weather is bad on the bridge and the sea spray is covering the ship and its howling ,each side of the bridge, there are windows with like a spinning disk made of glass I expect, and that gives the ships officers a view of nothing really but the radar will be on.

The ship will be moving about so much the helms man will try his best to keep a course of sorts.

Sleeping is worse its hot and if you bunk is [thwart ships] meaning going from port to starboard[ left to right.] across ,you roll in your bunk you try to jam your self in with bulky life jackets but it is a waste of time you will not sleep.
Most crews bunks went the same way.

IF ITS PITCHING and your bunk is the other way [forward to aft] stern to stem the blunt end to the pointy end…you slide up and down even worse…You could not believe how a 10,000 ton ship in the Indian ocean could be tossed its will waves so big ,if you have not seen them you would say no way, how the stability dynamics work I have no idea
Once you start getting used to the routine within hours the sea is nice and calm and normal work continues no damage is done ,that is why all the gear is stowed away out of the seas HARM.

The weather is getting hotter we are still north of the equator but dropping down to Singapore is more or less on it ishso to be honest these trips you do not actual cross the equator but so close…

A deck swimming pool is erected, steel stanions holding sides wooden sides and a massive canvass inside ,like a bag is tied to the sides and filled up by a ships fire hydrant hose the water is very warm straight out of the sea [filtered first]it is very good ,and certain times[only] for the crews and departments .strict adherence to the rules .

The thing that I could not get over was how the sea was so blue and calm some days not a ripple on one of them days it is the[annual boat show] [life boat drill ] a full Monty no zb ing about my very first,the ship is slowed down to a speed of I do not know and one life boat is swung out from its davits and it is crewed .by pror arrangement ,im not included, a few from each department.

Life boat drill was very important as fire is one of the worst things at sea and it could mean abandon ship, so every one took it seriously even us deck boys as when we got older we would be the Abs help manning a life boat so you had to know all by watching and leaning.all though the officers will be in charge,but if any thing happens to them you need some idea .

A ships life boat does have food-ish biscuits and water and glucose ,barfly sugar jars of sweets all the water barrels have small measuring cups for rationing
as we were not conversant with the metric measure, it was hard for us to under stand as it was in MIILLIE –LITERS a world wide measuring system that “we have now adopted” ,but back then it was alien ,it was surprising how a small measure of water would keep you alive .

AT least one life boat had a engine ,so that would be started and then it would turn away from the ship and go for a spin, then the rowing oars would come out and it would look like a spider in the sea [another fun thing to see] the sail would come out and put up ,but with no wind a lovely clear day it was useless but very funny I never ever did get to go out in a life boat for real but I never lost any sleep though.

The ship did steam away from the boat it was far enough away but the ship did a type of turn round in like a figure of eight and the life boat come back ,the procedure for lifting the boat back up is harder than getting it down as with the ships movement “it did not stop” I do not know, and with the sea swell, they have to re-hook on the lifeboat hook and attached the block with the wire ropes [called falls] that are hanging down near the sea,
a very dangerous manoeuvre as getting both hooks attached at the same time but they did it.it was quite a days entertainment I think we all learned from it .

On a ship they always have trainee deck officers called MIDSHIPMEN theses young men 17/18 years old –onwards ,will eventually become chief officers then masters ,however they are treated like ■■■■ from the officers some times, they have deck work with the Bosun, watch duties with the officers plus study work they do a lot in port also regarding the cargo watch,if I had my time again I know it will never happen but if I had passed my eleven plus and went to grammar school ,a deck apprentice would have been my dream job ,however I had never heard of them before I went to sea .

Some seamen who had a good understanding of maths [for navigation ] could and did take correspondent courses in deck officers duties and could achieve a 2nd mates ,chief mates tickets and even a masters however they needed money to go to collage .out of my league

The sea was so unpredictable it would change within hours most mornings on the well decks there would be FISH ,FLYING FISH yes 100% true like a small mackerel with tiny side wings they were soon picked up by the Chinese’s for drying and eating…

All BLUE FUNNEL ships had Chinese engine room crews ie,
DONKEY MAN
GREASERS,
FIREMEN
GENERAL WORKERS .they worked a 3 watch system
They also had their own boss he was like their chief engineer ,normally a electricians mate
All the engineers were white ,a chief down to a 5th or 6th engineer apprentice ,then two ELECTRICIANS we did not have anything to do with them ,as you hardly seen them ,more in port that at sea.

Back to the Chinese’s they all lived in their own accommodation at the after end of the ship called THE POOP DECK THERE WOULD BE ABOUT 20 ODD CREW they would have the fish drying on deck ,well to me I had never seen anything like it I do not remember ever going to their accommodation one of then used to cut anyones hair for a 50 tin of ■■■■ and the first time when he had finished he used like a powder puff to put on your neck where he shaved it ,my god that was soon washed off.

I knew we were getting close to our next port SINGAPORE as all the ropes and the derricks were being re-rigged on deck and a request for [subs ]was asked for I had no idea how much money [a foreign currency]
There was a lot of wind up for me as a first tripper ,that they would be taking me to a bar ,then to the ladies for [gig a gig], then a tattoo then more beer I had not really tasted any beer yet ? money beer ,and more beer you would need or how much anything would cost ,I would be guided by the other older deck boy as we had not used any money since leaving England .

you sort of forgot about money you had all you wanted and the food was excellent but I do not put much weight on, There was different atmosphere as if we all knew something different was going to happen ,and they were right, every ship I ever went on when you were getting close to going ashore, after time at sea, the talk of beer and girls… I had a lot to learn yet.

It was night time by the time the ship had got along side and the smell hit you bloody hell, it was sewage and mosquitoes .once the deck crew had finished getting all the hatches ready for the dockers port workers while the gang way was put down, it was like a bloody swarm of humanity scores of strange dressed men were steaming up the gangway ,all going different ways how they new where to go I do not know ,the bosuns making sure all our doors are locked ,the same routine as with the Arabs keep all out of the accommodation port holes batten down unless some one is in the mess room .it is so bloody hot I am sweating doing nothing, the time must be around 10 pm their time and half the stewards are already going ashore its night but not dark…
Once the dockers had got settled the next day they had built like little houses,made of rattan and old wood ,a seat and he was the man as the would work both winches themselves ,and with their feet , i think that was correct. on the winch controls

[peggydeckboy]

Once showered, sweating more than ever, money in my long trousers pockets I WAS told to be sure to get back by the Bosun he told the other lads to look out for me [they must have known what was going to happen I did not]

It was like walking in to, I cannot describe it properly my first steps on a foreign soil it felt normal ,I expect it was but who would have thought it me ,from the village all this way away, my head was on a swivel ,they say the hustle ,well it is true and the noise rickshaws running every where I could not believe it, men pulling a cart with people sat in car horns honking for nothing people all the Chinese ,Malay voices ,well all shouting road side food sellers I was looking at food I had never seen it all looked horrible to me we started to walkin to the town

They new where they were heading, but I did not there were at least 5/6 of us ,I had a long sleeve shirt on nice and white ,good trousers my only pair of god ones
,We arrived at this lovely cool bar air conditioned another first, we all sat around a table someone ordered beers ice cold tiger beer the from no where theses lovely young girls arrived from nowhere all got Chinese dresses on called a “chong-san” a split up the side, buttoned up to the neck, high healed shoes, and they all had their hair ■■■■■■■ in buns never in my life had I seen anything like it I knew I was going to like this life.?

Some of the other lads new them ,well made out they did AFTER ABOUT A HOUR they stated to pair off with the girls what I did not know if a young lad had not had ■■■ before he was called a CHEERY-BOY not a derogatory term it was normal talk Inbars all over the far east, that was where we were . so the inevitable happened, cheery boy no more, 16 years old not bad ehh would I remember it??it must have been 0100 hrs so time to go back I was sick on the way back first time but I made it .

The next night, the girls would say ,whaaa shlip ![what ship],if you were in a different bar, they would know how and how long the ship had been in port so the “old cherry boy” did not work but I went for seconds also got a tattoo can you believe it,of a sailing ship saying [homeward bound] bloody heel I had only been at sea 6 weeks ish. I got it out of my system. I was not on my own it turns out most boys/men get the tattoo the first trip… a bit sore and I was not drunk I went to get it done…

After about 4 days it was time to leave but we would be back on the return trip to load cargo ,we were bound for PENANG and PORT SWETNAM both ports on the Malay coast and with some TRAGIC UNBELIEVABLE history theses places were both Japanese strongholds during the second war, and men were taken from there from mostly Singapore to built the railroads ,all so they were places of horrific slaughter beheadings of Australian troops there were monuments on the quay side. being young it was only a generation before I was there .16 years previous…

Then it was batten down all the hatches all the gear safely stowed as we were going in to typhoon weather to MANILA in the PHILIPPINES at that time is was another country in turmoil after the second war the Americans were there if force but they had their terrorists that wanted home rule [does that sound familiar] so no shore leave what so ever ,when there, armed guards along side the ship on the quay ,also on the ship watching the unloading, checking all the workers coming on and off it was like a war zone the main cargo was tinned milk hundreds of tons of it.

.We were all glad to get going from there all the ships Gear stowed away we were en-route to HONG KONG ,hong kongIS THE ISLAND WE berth in Kowloon side, that is the main land you have to catch the star ferry over to Hong Kong.
Blue funnel a have their own berth there[HOLTS WAHRF] not far from Nathan road where the British army base was. ,Kowloon it is where all the Chinese’s engine room crews come from ,so to them, it was like us getting home
What a sight the airport runway came out in to the harbour and seeing the planes coming in was a spectacular sight they look to just miss all the high rise buildings then drop down as if going in to the sea then they lift up and land.

BEFORE getting there all the lads were telling me/us what you could buy ,get shirts ,suites trousers all kinds of electrical goods then portable record players were the rage and transistor radios the best you could by ,all from the same tailor lady who has the concession for blue funnel you could get all the clothes within 2/3 days or collect when the ship returns on the home ward voyage.

First time sailing in to the HONG Kong open harbour it is like fair ground, so busy ships in and out Chinese junks zig zaging,in and out crossing wherever they like ,ships blowing their horns[sirens] so bloody loud on board booming blasts ,like “get out of the way” all ships have picked up a pilot to guide them ini bet it was a nightmare for the deck officers.

Whole families live aboard the junk , the sea is so busy it is like a cities road system but on the sea, there are little boats sculling around always the women doing the work in what are called [sampans] small rowing boats but not rowing sculling from the after end with one oar.

All sound seems to echo around you could hear the voices from the junks as you pass so close and on the after end OF THE JUNK [a source of amusement] is the “THUNDER BOX “ their toilet and times I have seen them squatting of course a cry will go up from the deck crew…[ if my wife heard it she would have said to me [little things, little minds]

THE whole run in to the port is a memorable site first time after that just the norm sometimes you did not even bother looking

The whole area is surrounded by mountains and the famous PEAK a tourist attraction on the island, you go up by cable car,yes i did get there.it is featured in many films ,just for a point when the Japanese took Hong Kong that was the last place the British held out. all British AND come wealth prisoners were transferred by cargo ships, in the cargo holds from there to Japanese taken countries for forced labour, read books called [PRISON SHIPS], HARROWING ACCOUNTS.

Once the ship is berthed all the Chinese crews are going ashore they have so many boxes and bags each it looked as the whole town had come to greet them .
once they were all gone another engine room crew comes aboard to take the ship to the rest of the ports ,then they change back [like back home it is call [round the land] just local runs.ish

Once again we are still working ,and the stewards are all ready for the run ashore but as I am told keep your money for JAPAN the trinkets are better and the bars. and other delights.

Our duties carry on the same MEAL TIMES CLEANING except no inspection, but the BOSUN keeps us busy you have to make sure you have got enough cigarettes as the BOND [customs as it is a British colony] .

ANY NON CREW donot come in to the accommodation ,there is a door right in front of the once over the weather step, gangway from the accommodation and our roon is right by the door,if that ever bangs we all knew it but the watchman is there he is a Chinese blue funnel employee

All but one SELLER OF GOODS are kept out except a women called MARY.who is the tailor and known by all, she is the one who makes all the clothes and suites i think she knew all crews from all the ships apparently allegedly she would remember any one who owed her money for years…
Last year I think it was, either her or her daughter came over to ENGLAND to, the BLUE FUNNEL ASSOCIATION DINNER it was run by the monthly magazine run by ex employees a very informative magazine [A NEWS LETTER].I think that was correct I know she was here sometime…

One sight to be seen is when the ships hatch cleaning women come on board the ship some time the steel needs de-rusting and painting how can i explain go in to google and put in SHIP HATCHES 1960 AND A BLUE FUNNEL SHIP WILL COME UP it will show all the gear up
Back to the hatches they fill the hatches out with” bamboo scaffolding” put that in to google and you will see it was unreal and the ladies chip and paint every inch of the hatches.

The ships sides are painted at KOWLOON FROM THE QUAY and by a raft on the water side I think that only happened in KOWLOON.ship side painting by shore side workers probly Chinese deck crew

We were there about a week discharging then we were going to JAPAN the ports of Kobe, Nagoya, Shermistuzue yokohama to finish off discharging all cargo and start reloading for the homeward bound trip.

When I was walking around ashore you soon forgotten about the atrocities the Japanese did during the war all the people were so polite and of course it did not ,to me, seem that we were [white men]a completely different race. and the girls were lovely[ for a fee]

Kobe ,the welcome is quite different [yes they want your money]but bloody hell its like you died and went to heaven there are streets called “THE MOTTO MACHIE” like little shanty back alleyways ,all bars and wash /bath houses ,all old fashion a lot of people in Japanese dress like you see on telly ,well films

,The bars have all got a MAM A-SAN the boss lady,who you have to pay to take the girl from the bar or even her .
There was 1,000 yen to the pound sterling and I was on 13 pound a month plus overtime it was the overtime you spent ashore… they would tell you how much you could _{before you touched your wages .
FOR A ALL NIGHT 3.000 yen including fees .that was a weeks wages +Taxi back to the ship plus a deep bath you have never seen a bath like it nearly scalding water you all get bathed before any action…say no more.whispering smith, i hope you experienced the same.
However if the AMERICIAN 7th fleet were in massive warships with thousands of crews you stood no chance, the price went sky high. That is another sight ,seeing ■■■■■■ up yanks sailors getting put in to their meat wagons by their military police, the sailors were only allowed in certain areas, that was the one and only time I saw a sailor ,with pinky and perky tattooed one each side of his head.}

[peggydeckboy]

All ships have forwarding agents in every port all round the world and when you join a ship you are given a sheet with expected dates of arrival and departure for mail ,you sent that home, then you get your mail [the air-o grams are pre paid] my mother used to have, every week a paper specially ordered from the village shop called {lLOYD’S LIST]every british ship was reported in it where the ship was the name and company, ,date due ,departure, and forward port she used to like to keep up,

Some men with girl friends the mail, it was their life line ,you could see some of the older men sniffing the envelopes as whoever, had smothered the paper with perfume .A lot of the now twenty year +old were at sea ,so as not to do their national service in the Army now the compulsory call up has finished in 1960 maybe more will leave the seaman’s life.

My mum ,sent me the odd letter and a local paper, I had all my birthdays away plus all Christmases for 4 years , once she sent me some cakes ,BANBURY CAKES they specialised in sending them abroad ,they were just like a Eccles cake

As a country we had military all over the world back then in fact a lot of the cargos were for the military tanks ,lorries, steam trains were all ships cargo, anyway ,theses cakes arrived,well talk about crushed, a bet every post man gave them a squeeze. Crumbs was the word ,but I never told her.

The cargo is all discharged and the reloading starts and the duties are the same we go back to all the same ports in reverse order nearly all BLUE FUNNEL ships were on scheduled runs the far east run I was on was app, 3 months 3 or 4 days that takes some organising I did 3 trips as deck boy on the same ship on the trot with leave in between I found village life so boring and slow and of course I was a beer drinker, but not in the village as every one knew me.

I did not have close mates they were nearly all doing apprentice ships in factories, garages some on the railway, they were living a total different life to me they did not have a lot of money ,well I did not but paying off after 3 months gave me a lump sum ,plus I sent a amount home for my mum. However she saved it for me and i did not know it.
Some had motor bikes so I was a willing back seat passenger going in to DAVENTRY COFFE BARS,I did introduce some to drinking

To this day I cannot remember how I survived 3 weeks at home from ships life.

The[ PATROCULUS].all blue funnel ships were /are named from Greek Mythology all ships in a class, were the same built, A class ,M classD class ,and P class ,all were what was called heavy ship[s meaning they could take and lift heavy cargoes ,like steam trains e [no more though]
we had about 3 weeks leave while the ships went around the coast mostly Glasgow or Rottedam for discharge and maybe dry dock visit for scrapping the ships bottom or repairs

As time went on I went on to a junior ordinary seaman to a senor ordinary seaman, to efficient deck hand to AB JACK OF ALL TRADES MASTER OF NONE.

I could tell you and bore you about all the different ships i was on,but ships life was good I thoroughly enjoyed it ,you got to see the sites I never would have ,although I think I sort of grew up quick from a country lad know nothing to a walk around any town city man .IT WAS MY EDUCATION my university.then i carried on and done my "Doctorate"with road transport.like hundreds of other men.
The same for all the men ,however it was a job, just the same as any other.BUT PROBABLY DOUBLE THE HOURS…

After a few years I got to see how mens lives went. To be honest it was all beer, pubs, women and a good time so long as you had some cash. i realised at some point in time you had to decide how you wanted to spend the rest of your life as a wanderer living on ships or seaman’s missions ,
It was a good life for my age back then, even the lads who lived in the port cities [ship mates] would all congregate at the same dives I used to wonder how men not connected to the sea ever found a “decent girl” as all the ones I come across were the local [slags] whores in most ports in England some were as rough as us lot.

Luckily I come from a stable home back ground strict mum and a family home , many of the men at sea did not, some only knew children’s homes they were sort of institutionalized some, not all.
.There were only a certain amount of seamen required on a ship, as things were changing, even less crewmen would be needed as the job was getting modern .
The ships hatches were going from single wooden hatch boards then covered in 3 massive sheets [about 3x8 panel lorry sheets] were one sheet for covering a hatch , now Steel hatch covers rolling along with one wire to pull them called McGREGORY cargo hatches were being put on the new ships,less labour.

However I had no idea about that back then but if the older AB s did not move on or leave the sea there was less opportunity for all us younger lads to move up and be A.Bs and the company men would not move on ,why should they ,a good job steady income a job they liked why would they so that meant boys like me had to move else where ,.and eventually deck boys will be in decline ,not so many needed but that was in the future .

There were opportunities, to stay with Blue funnel up until the E.D.H THEN SIGN ON AS A COMPANIES MAN I think they then got a wage waiting for a ship or they would work as shore gang until they got a berth to ship out again a lot of the men came from the local BIRGENHEAD DOCK AREA so they were home and I wanted to go to other parts of the world

So I had to move on as there were no [beths for new A.B.s] at blue funnel there were lots of ships, there was no guarantees.
All kinds of different companies needing crews so you had to go to the shipping federation pool to get on them or go the to the shipping offices in LONDON down Ledenhall st, where all the big companies offices were it was a game of chance ,that was later on

As a junior you were on deck all day with the deck hands doing the same tasks or the ones no one else wanted to do and there were a lot but you were on day work and sometimes there was no overtime another thing we as boys, were not aware off was that there was a seaman strike in the very near future and as most of the BLUE FUNNEL men were company contracts I expect they were not really bothered , I did not know as junior rates we were not allowed to strike.

Around may –June 1961 THERE WAS ASTRIKE FOR A STRIGHT 44 HOUR WEEK also pay increases it meant from a deck boy our wage was from after 9 months what i was it was £15 12 shillings and 6 pence a month IN 1961
A Increase for me as a junior to £23 .00 per month. plus other bits overtime and other payments it went up to £24 2 shillings per month that was it…
The strike was on for a short time and luckily I was away ,so really non the wiser there was talk back then to have a union representative on ships ,maybe they did as there were still massive passenger liners still running with hundreds of crew.

My time had come to move on, I am to this day thankful for the “life education” my university [not knowing ]received from all those men on the ships while a lad, all that scrubbing, fetching and carrying and learning.
I was now a E.D.H in LIVERPOOL living in a seaman’s mission once my leave was up I would leave home and book into the seaman’s mission waiting for a ship ,from the shipping federation [at mann island] .

Liverpool one of the seaman’s mission, was a old female prison the landings were the same, as soon as you went in you knew what place it used to be ,the rooms were basic single man accommodation all washing ,toilet facilities were on every landing no mod cons at all the food was cooked at “meal times “ for 1 hour if you missed it too bad.

[peggydeckboy]

Other Missions to seamen were normally run on religion Catholic [stella mare] I think the flying angel ]protestant, or “flying tab-nab” but it made no difference what religion you were ,you always had a welcome and a bed [berth]

Nearly all ports around the world would have some kind of missions to seamen.i must say I did not use any, lots of men did mostly the middies and officers they would get the attention of nurses and nice girls at the dances .i think the girls that used to go to the missions to meet And play ping pong. Read papers where as us gang[ the rabble] would be looking for a shag ,and that was out of order.

GOING FORWARD A YEAR OR TWO we were in the most southerly port more or less in the world . called Bluff south island new Zealand it was the last port before the long trip back,to America, and we all had a thoroughly good runs ashore, we were there for the very last cargo 2 hatches opened ,2 days was the limit so sat night ashore was good lots of beer in a hotel bar, and a first ,fresh oysters and chips from a chip shop half us deck crew got back about 2 am ,off all day Sunday until sailing time at 8 pm [ no overtime],the next day was planned a dinner time ■■■■ up there were about 8 of us ,lots of chatter at breakfast ,we had been together for 9 months we were on a run called the [manns run] round the world ,we had 3 months to go ,so we all got on well after time sharing all monies and women the lot ,

Some one must have heard about our run ashore planned ,on top of every gangway on every ship ,
A crew member came in the mess and said ,the board says no shore leave today as we could be leaving early .

■■■■■■■■ that would have been the 1ST MATE, OUR TOP BOSS
What he did not relies we had some roman Catholics IRISH ,SCOTS WELSH ENGLISH,SOUTH AFRICIAN NEWZELANDERS all deck crew[very religious] for that day!!!,they got one of the stewards to go to his boss and ask if he could go ashore for morning service he must have asked the mate or the master and the answer was yes yes without knowing [no shore leave]if anyone wanted to go to church they could but back by 1200 noon[ this is true ]whisperingsmith.]

Well before any one new it it was a mass exodus dressed as we were all money had been pooled it was called [A TARPULINE MUSTER] YOU ALL THREW IN WHAT YOU COULD ANY CURRANCY
No one seen the church, THE STEWARD STOPPED AS WELL, the drinking rules back then in 1963/4 in new Zealand if you were a traveller you could have a drink in a HOTEL ONLY , could well be wrong on that but i know there where different laws i think the pubs closed at 6pm every night and only hotels open on sunday .
about 2 pm the Bosun arrives with the lamp trimmer ,both good men the bosuns name was LENNIE[the lion] and the lampy was MURDO two cracking good men, I still remember them .

,WELL WE WERE AS NOISY AS A GANG COULD Get The ships name was “GLOUCESTER” A FEDERAL BOAT we would end up singing ,yawping glory glory Gloucester, and other rubbish , like ideots at about 1500 hrs the BOSUN and lampy had some beers then the money ran out, we all trooped back to the ship like a lot of noisy football hooligan ans .

Dinner was scoffed cold, then all to the bunks, waiting for the call to go to stations ,we did not sail until around midnight .some had dinner some did not as it was officially a day off until sailing in theory you can do as you please so long as there was no danger to anyone as the unions /shipping companies new working hours were in force.

THE NEXT DAY WE WERE ALL EXPECTING to get logged by the Master that means you all go to his cabin and he can stop some pay for whatever or worse still at the end of the voyage he can stamp your seamans discharge book as for conduct [ D.R].decline to report ,and also if your work is not up to standard or you basically zbup for your Ability A[D.R.] YOU WILL NOT KNOW UNTILL YOU ARE PAID OFF AND GIVEN YOUR BOOK BACK many men have zbed their sea service because of DRs and luckl y for us all it was all forgotten-ish as we all got VGs for both.maybe it was because the Bosun stopped WE WOULD NEVER KNOW

Back to the story The only missions we used were bars.to be honest anything religious at all ,not for me ,I had enough of that when I was younger also I think it was only tea or coffee and more about the culture of where you were at that country. Imagine the likes of Lagos being religious the arse hole of the world + others.

,You would have to pay, before you stopped overnight and if you paid a week in hand ,and left before the week was up you got your money back, they were run and looked ,on a type of institution ,in fact like ships rules…

In London I would stay in the queen Victoria seaman’s mission in popular not far from canning town/silver town and the royal docks ,bus number 15.

The pubs all around the royal docks ,my god they were some dives if some of the passenger boats were signing on there would be hundreds of men all trying to get as much beer ond other drinks in to them, as much as they could [all so there were the [steam queens] some of those ships must have been full of [modern day GAYS] they kept them selfs to the groups, .god knows what it must have been like on them massive passenger ships .

I do know that on some companies large passenger ships the deck crew had to wear a type of sailors uniform especially the watch wheel men ,I do not think they signed on as just HELMSMEN butjust ordinary A.Bs.

I suspect there was a pecking order on them ships WITHIN ALL DEPARTMENTS some would have a nice easy job just looking after deck games equipment ,I did hear once that some had to wear a petty officers uniform I am pleased I never went on a passenger ship.

IThe main dress of most British seaman ashore was washed out /faded by wear blue jeans, the leg bottoms turned up by about 2 inches, and jean jacket all so well worn ,you did not buy them like that, like it is the way now it was washing and scrubbing,

Also HONG KONG shirts they were popular multi colour check, thin material not like the lumber jack shirt, but well before that ,they were easy recognisable or a white Tshirt. The uniform all times home on the ship and ashore
Some men would have their discharge book in their rear pockets visible but it never impressed us /me
. Middies ,and deck/engine room officers would all be suites ,or jacket ,trousers and a tie ,also they would get the cream of the crop when in civilised ports where nurses were invited, I expect we were a bit uncouth .

A news paper in your back pocket, your jeans were from a shop called Flemings on Scotland road Liverpool, unless you had been to the states OR Canada and got real Levis or Wrangler they were cheap but then you had to pay a tax ,even back then the Americians had a system where it all sounded cheap, but every thing was taxed on top of the price shown so therewere two prices. just like our V.A.T

Once on theUS coast the ship would hire a television set ,organised through the seamans missions, they had books they used to lend out ,you would not have wanted a book returned by any of the scouse crews as it would all be re-written ,also there was colour tv back in the 1963 the first we/i/had ever seen, light years in front of us. and all the adverts ,all the time ,we only had the BBC back home ,commercial tv was years away we must have followed the American trend ,also the Cuban misslle CRISIS was in full swing but we had no idea.

although all the U.S.ports had a military presence

Once you were registered with the pool[shipping federation] there you meet all the men, under the sun some looking for ships ,and some just ex seamen trying to bum money off all us new lads or buy us a beer etc however we were made aware of what goes on especial if a ship had signed on that day in the office and not on the ship ,they knew there was money about,first time someone ask s for a ciggy you knew you were in for the [tap] all the ■■■■■■■■ you could here etc,i soon got hardened to it, some were perhaps ex seamen who had hard times , but they would not be there every day, only signing on day ,even to this day i never give, if anyone approaches me at all,they get as my mum used to say [short shrift]whatever that ment,in other words zb off…

I

[peggydeckboy]

Iwas on one ship called THE ROYSTEN GRANGE A Holder brothers company it was a chilled meat carrier [not frozen] and the main port was Buenos Aires in Argentina the first single berth air condition cabin ,we were there about 8 days in 1963 that same ship caught fire in may 1972 and ALL the crew were lost there was a collision in the river plate .se google

Hundreds s and thousands of men,over years, have all done the trips I did ,not at the same time, it is just that I was on a certain ship at a certain time .

I have decided I am going to stop writing ,to be honest most deep sea trips were the same never boring, but ships routine is 100% the same whatever company you worked for all though it was not like work, never once did i not want to [turn too] go to work .Thank you for reading i realize it is a TRUCK site however it has something i have sort of got of my chest by writing MY COMPLETE WORKING HISTORY.

I will leave it to others

!! Just the ports and countries I went to and ashore, i did like geography at school ,sitting at the back, with 31 others in the class wishing the teacher would shut up now i will .
.ROTTERDAM.
Ceylon,- Colombo.
SPAIN ,MALAGA.
SINGAPORE,PORT SWEETNAM,PENANG.
PHILIPPINES MANILA.
HONG KONG ,KOWLOON.
JAPAN, YOKOHAMA,KOBE,NAGOYA,SHEMITSU .
CHINA SHANGHAI.
ARGENTINA=Buenos Aires.
Australia. FREMANTLE , ADELAIDE,MELBOURNE, GEELONG ,SYDNEY ,NEWCASTLE.BRISBANE.
BRAZIL …RECIFE.
BERMUDA …HAMILTON.
CHILE,…SANTIAGO , VALPARAISO.
PERU …LIMA SANTIAGO.
URAGUARY… MONTEVIDEO
VENEZUELA… CARRACUS .
PANAMA CITY… COLON.
NEW ZEALAND… AUCKLAND ,WELLINGTON,LYTTLETON,BLUFF.
NEY YORK NEWARK.SAVANNAH.
CANANDA …THREE RIVERS ,MONTREAL.
AFRICA…CAPE TOWN. LAGOS ,DURBAN.