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As a deep seaman from 1959 to 2003. The latter date when I retired from the Dover Harbour Board as a Survey Cox'n.
In the early part of my sea-going career I sailed and worked on many cargo ships which took four to six passengers. In those days Great Britain had a Merchant Navy to be proud of. The pool of London was always a hive of activity and every trip in a cargo ship was an adventure for me, because of the exotic ports we visited. Cargo ships in those days could be in port for one or two weeks and if changing pistons, which we did on a regular basis in New Zealand, sometimes in Australia. Up to three weeks could be the norm. Sometimes in New Zealand we unloaded our own ships with our own cargo handling gear...and were paid for it. In those days of the fifties and sixties we traded with our Commonwealth and others including America... Now I feel we are an Island Nation lost, without a significant Merchant Navy of our own.
Joining a cargo ship as, a passenger in those days, must have been an adventure too. Cargo ships traveled the world and visited ports, which were well off the beaten track, so every trip could be different. I served in three Merchant Navies in my time, British, Australian and Norwegian, as a Motorman, Able seaman, Bosun, and in my last job as Survey Cox'n for the Dover Harbour Board. My ships were of many different types, which included Prawn trawlers in New Guinea. Cray fishing boats off the coast of Western Australia, Prawn Trawlers in Shark's Bay, Oil-rig tenders in the Southern Ocean and the North-west shelf of Australia, and many more. Those days, alas I will never see again, as modern ships do not stay in port too long now days, and not crewed with British seamen who shouted at the Devil, and be damned.
I will always be grateful I was born into a time of adventure of ships and the deep sea. My world map was made up of nightclubs, bars, and so-called houses of ill-repute, where I made many friends, and not geography. Sailing in ships from the Great Liner Queen Mary, and the Capetown Castle, to the New Zealand Shipping Company's passenger and cargo ships Rangitata, Paparoa, and Otaio. The latter a cadet ship, which trained young officers to become deck and engineroom officers. And many Cargo ships and Ferries sailing under many other flags... One including a narrow escape of changing ships just before the ill-fated Herald of Free Enterprise met her end. The man who took my place on the Herald, a childhood aquaintance, losing his life in the tragic event. My favourite ships were always cargo ships because of the time spent in port and the few passengers they carried... One of my favourite, the Rippingham Grange of Houlder Brothers.
I will miss the parties ashore, in the sly-grogging days in New Zealand, and of the crews and passengers who sailed in them with me.
Now retired in Dover and almost in my Seventy-seventh year I have many memories to keep me going and to look back on... I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have lived a life of my choosing.
