When working for Davies of southampton some crowd who’s name I can’t remember started running a couple of freighters from Southampton down to Bayonne. As a local firm we were offered a discount rate to use the sailing and three of us were chosen as guinea pigs.
It would have been early September because it was my first trip out in my brand new V reg FH?
On arrival in Southampton docks we commented on how little traffic appeared to be there and indeed the total load count was the Davies trio, an empty rigid car transporter and four unaccompanied trailers.
Alarms bells should have rung when the deckies insisted on securing everything with as many chains as they could find tie down points.
As we were shown to our cabins things didn’t look so bad and sitting down in the restaurant we we treated to a half decent meal along with a table full of bottled beer. Happy days we thought and sat and watched as we rounded the isle of wight while tucking into the meal and beers.
As we cleared the island and headed into open waters things got a little choppy and within the hour all 4 drivers retired to their cabins for a short siesta before the evening meal.
Having woken from my afternoon nap I immediately noticed that choppy had turned into rough and not being the worlds best sailor I decided to skip the evening meal and get a decent nights kip.
That night things took a turn for the worse and although I managed to hold the contents of my stomach it wasn’t by much and I could here that some weren’t quite so successful.
In the morning it was still pretty rough but I managed to make a brief appearance for breakfast before returning to my cabin where I spent the rest of the day safe in the knowledge that by 2200 that evening I’d do back on solid ground.
At around 2100 I got out of the bed and struggled to shower before chucking my gear in the bag and heading to the restaurant for a quick coffee before docking. I was surprised to find no other drivers there and when the chef type bloke asked if I wanted a meal I said I would wait until we docked.
I must admit at this point I was a little surprised that it was still very rough considering we should have been approaching port and then my heart sank when I enquired if we were on time and was told that yes we would be docking as scheduled at 1000 the following morning.
I returned to may cabin a broken man and there I stayed until I was knocked up the following morning by one off my mates.
I have never been so happy to see dry land and can honestly say that at that moment I was tempted to drive off the linkspan, jump from the cab and kiss the ground.
Having tipped Madrid and reloaded onions down around Valencia with another of our drivers I did the usual ring to confirm I was on my way. When asked what boat we wanted the consensus was that we were both happy to be spun at the port rather than venture on to another ship. Our wish was granted to a certain extent because we did both get spun for Portugal all be it in pompey.
Luckily the boat was never a success and finished within the month so I never got the chance to repeat the crossing although I know a good few of our drivers did at least one voyage.
Cheers
Neilf
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