Anecdote

Jaap Jager @ FELIPES (3), Fri, 02/06/2009 - 19:15

South Chinese Sea: am I a seagoing gardener..?

Once,happy sailing onboard Felipes in summer of 1985, my job was to be officers steward.
Due to this job I had to be care of cleaning officerscabins and several other spaces in ship's accommodation, serving meals in officersmess and did work in Felipes laundry.
In crew's- and officersbar and officersmess this producttanker had a large numeral of pot's and hanging baskets,filled with a lot of different plants from all sizes. Once paid by the company on this tanker they looked like a mini-jungle.
Sometimes when ship was in harbour,people were able to buy new plants from ship's money,given by captain. And when dockstores were coming on board,companysent small bags with fresh plantingground and artificial plantingfood were once included.

Some stewards gave those plants water and the special food during work,some didn't.
But when they did,only when they had plenty time. Or when they liked to look after plants very much. Most of the voyages I made, apprentices did the 'greenwork'.
Or some officerswifes,who sailed with their husband several months onboard and had very much freetime...and mostly very 'green fingers'.
For me,on Felipes I had no time to look after the mass of plants and as a matter of fact,I wasn't interested in it at all,so I just did nothing about it.

When working more than a month onboard,the plants got more and more yellocoloured leaves,as water was not added to them by nobody at all.
And one month further,I had to pick up a lot of fallen leaves from floor,which started to irretate me. And during rolling ship some pot's also started rolling...
People asked me something about the plants and I said I'm doing nothing about it, because we had enough other volunteerscapacity onboard. There were four appentices and I thought four or five officerwifes,and my dailyschedule was fullfilled with work...
So,later on the captain (W.S.van der Ham) asked me about doing ship's plants.
And he got angry,because I said to him I wasn't onboard just to do so.
As housekeepinggroup,our group was to be smallered,because company wanted to save money on crew's occupation. So every time you came on an other ship,you got a lot more work to do,because sailors and apprentices were not minimalised,at those times.
I told captain greenkeeping was not included in my contract,it was just a voluntary
'job' and I even hadn't any knowledge about it. He began shouting at me: I had to do the plants,it had costed company's money and people onboard liked to look at them...
He said I was responsible for cleaning officersmess,thuss for the plants too...!
I still refused and told him I wasn't to be A GARDENER at all,there was nothing standing about it in my seamansbook and on ahip's payroll...!
He warned me about reporting me,due to bad behaviour and 'refusing work'.
Allright,at last I told him I would give them savingwater for once,but officerswifes
could to do the rest of greenwork,in their freetimes.

That afternoon I opened a porthhole and gave them endless refreshing water...
Next day only a few neat plants were left in mess and bar,and captain asked me: where's the rest of it ? I told him they had enough water for the rest of their lives,so after a while he understood I had throwed them over the side...
He got very angry again and reported me as a very negative person in 'conduite-report',at the end of my term.

But It wasn't only me he reported afterwards; nearly everyone of Dutch crew got a bad 'conduite',then.
Later on,during freetime in Holland,Shell-office invided me to speak about the pro-blems on Fusus. They told me,until then captain was used sailing with foreign crew-members. And having a crew,which was speaking 'against' captain's 'ordered wishes', was quite a new thing to him,on those socalled P.L.A.-ship's.
The office was surprised nearly whole crew got bad report...so,it happend to be rare
occasion.
Many years later however,after a two years scholarperiod about green- and woodkeep-ing in naturereserve-area's,I had been contracted for six months to a city green-keeping department.
Quite a coincidence: then my contract told me,I used to be a gardener...!

A.j. De Gooijer Bill @ DAPHNE, Wed, 02/04/2009 - 21:46

opgestapt in singapore met een ploeg rubber boys na 1 dag in het hotel aan boord en de ketel in om schoon te spuiten ik wist absoluut niet waar ik mee bezig was. verder vond ik het een troosteloze roestbak .en spoelpoorten schoonmaken was de grootste ramp die ik maar kan verzinnen.verder was de lol en ervaringen goud waard.

A.j. De Gooijer Bill @ FICUS (2), Wed, 02/04/2009 - 21:31

In de zuid chinese zee 131 vietnamese vluchtelingen opgepikt destijds een zeer bijzonder ietsen na ongeveer 3a4 dagen afgezet in okinawa.

Badenohare @ ACHATINA (2), Tue, 02/03/2009 - 18:46

WHEN I JOINED THE SHIP SHE WAS BERTHED ON THE TEES WE SAILED OVER TO IRELAND TOOK ON SUPPLIES FOR THE WEST INDIES AND CANADA THIS WAS OUR REGULAR TRIP FOR ONE YEAR AFTER ABOUT TWO WEEKS AT SEA A SMELL FILLED ALL THE AFT CABINS ON INVESIGATION IT WAS FOUND SOMEONE HAD HIDDEN SOME BOXES OF BUTTER WHITCH HAD MELTED AS THE WEATHER WARMED UP AS I WAS THE DECKBOY AT THE TIME I GOT THE JOB

David Read @ BORUS, Tue, 02/03/2009 - 16:16

I was 2nd Mate on the Borus, the Eastern Fleet in 1962/63. One port we visited many times was Tjilatjap on the southern coast of Java we were known as The Tjilatjap Express and also The Bouncing Borus (becuase of the 3 cylinder doxford) and The Porous Borus. One time going into Tjilatjap the engine started giving trouble, we asked the pilot if we could turn round and go back out, we were just approaching the entrance. The pilot said no problem we put her hard over and ran aground to the east of the entrance and were there for 5 days on the edge of an old Japanese mine field. We were loaded with gasoline and kerosine. The only time we had seen no swell from the south, lucky. Another Shell tanker finally came and unloaded half the cargo before we got her afloat and that ship did more damage than running aground as it was then that the swell started to pick up. The locals sure thought it was funny when we finally went alongside.

Scotto Di Vettimo @ BORUS, Tue, 02/03/2009 - 10:50

mon premier petrolier de la Shell annee 1952
pendant 6 mois avec le commandant Duchamp
rendu aux Anglais chez Dubigeon (Bretagne Loire Atlantique 1952

Eric John Rowlands @ LYRIA (2), Mon, 02/02/2009 - 23:24

I joined the Lyria as a first trip deck boy(GP Boy)in Elsnore Denmark in November 1976.The Lyria was a new build, and I sailed on her maiden voyage from Denmark bound for the Persian Gulf.
Her first ever port call was Las Palmas for some repairs. On completion she sailed for Kark Island for her first ever cargo for delivery in Rotterdam.

Eric John Rowlands @ LYRIA (2), Mon, 02/02/2009 - 23:24

I joined the Lyria as a first trip deck boy(GP Boy)in Elsnore Denmark in November 1976.The Lyria was a new build, and I sailed on her maiden voyage from Denmark bound for the Persian Gulf.
Her first ever port call was Las Palmas for some repairs. On completion she sailed for Kark Island for her first ever cargo for delivery in Rotterdam.

Christopher Grindle @ VERENA, Mon, 02/02/2009 - 12:14

I remember joining the Verena in Nynashamn, Sweden as a first trip fiver, on the 23rd march 1968. I was housed in a porta-cabin lashed to the funnel deck as we were carrying so many extra engineers. I spent the next two and a half weeks in the air heater of one of the main boilers unblocking air heater tubes by hand .Lucky for me Shell in their wisdom decided to pay me and another fiver off in Cardon , Lake Maracaibo and I then spent five and a half months on the Venassa .

Ken Gifford @ NEOCARDIA, Mon, 02/02/2009 - 07:59

In the mid 1950s I was an engineer for over a year on "Neocardia".
I joined the ship in Geelong,Victoria and ranged over most of the
world,from Australia, U.K.,South America,Finland,Germany,Holland,
Persian Gulf,and most countries in the Mediteranian.
Some of the time was in the Far East.
I was 4th Engineer on watch as we were leaving the Lake Berre refinery
in the south of France with a load of petrol.The passage out to the Med.
was across the lake,through a canal to Port-de-Bouc and the open sea.
Approaching the entrance at half speed I recieved an emergency astern
which I responded to with much starting air and noise.
A minute or so later we felt the ship take to the ground,listing and
righting again as it came free.
Almost immediately petrol fumes came down the ventilators.
I told the cadet engineer to report to the Chief Engineer on deck,and
sent the 5th Engineer to shut the boiler furnaces off.
The Second Engineer then appeared and described how a barge hidden by the
break wall crossed us and was hit midships and pushed up on to the wall.
The family and their dog managed to scramble ashore.
The Radio Officer with great presence of mind recorded the whole thing
on film,and all on board recieved copies.
We got clear and went well out to sea to clean the tank and gas free.
WE had to return to the Berre refinery to discharge the cargo to allow
drydocking.As we passed through the canal returning,the ship recieved
a typical Gallic reaction with much shaking of fists and other gestures.
Every cloud has a silver lining.We had a welcome stay in Marseilles
for some weeks as the damaged plating was repaired.

Howard Fitzgerald @ HADRIANIA, Thu, 01/29/2009 - 10:30

Eldest daughter (now 42!!) born 29th July 1966, the day before we docked in La Spezia, and England won the world cup.Skipper (Capt Charlton)insisted I drink half pint of rum to celebrate !! Thought we were coming home, but went out through Suez, and returned home in December.

Howard Fitzgerald @ HADRIANIA, Thu, 01/29/2009 - 10:30

Eldest daughter (now 42!!) born 29th July 1966, the day before we docked in La Spezia, and England won the world cup.Skipper (Capt Charlton)insisted I drink half pint of rum to celebrate !! Thought we were coming home, but went out through Suez, and returned home in December.