Thursday, 26 January 2023

The rise and decline of Ocean Liners

The focus on the carriage of passengers really took off with the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 1800’s.

Stopford[1] summaries the development such:

“Between 1833 and 1914 every aspect of ship design changed. The hull grew from 176ft. to 901ft and gross tonnage from 137 tons to 45,647 tons. Hull construction switched from wood to iron in the 1850s, from iron to steel in the 1880s, paddle propulsion was replaced in the 1980’s by screws driven by steam engines. Triple expansion steam engines arrived in the 1880s and turbines from 1900. Speed increased from 7 knots per hour in 1833 to 25 knots per hour in 1907, and fuel consumption from around 20 tons a day to 1,000 tons a day.”

So technology supplied the opportunity to build bigger and faster ships but without a demand for their services ocean liners would never have developed as they did.

Two main drivers of demand were instrumental in promoting the rise of the ocean liner.

First emigration, particularly from Europe continued the trend started in the era of the sailing ship and secondly the need to have regular scheduled services for the delivery of mail.


[2]Unlike the sailing ship that carried both cargo and passengers the ocean liner was dedicated to a regular and predictable inter-continental passenger service. The design of an ocean liner had a high freeboard, a deep draft, and a bow to slice through the water and superstructure was limited to housing accommodation for passengers. Limited cargo space for mail and passenger luggage completed the design of the ship.

Emigration

The emigration that had started in the 1700’s accelerated in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. As the graph[3] of US immigration statistics shows that immigrants more than tripled between 1850 and the start of the Second World War reaching 15 million new citizens before declining until the end of ocean liners in 1952.

In Australia the influx of convict immigrants continued until the late 1800’s after which many free settlers arrived driven from their homes in the UK by the Scottish [4]clearances and the potato famine in Ireland.

Similarly Norwegian citizens fled from their country predominantly to the USA. [5]Between 1820 and 1925 as many as 860,000 Norwegians emigrated to the U.S. The driving forces for this mass migration were mixed from lack of farming land to an economic recession.[6]


The shipowners

Shipowners from the era of sail continued after the advent of steam. Samuel Cunard was the first shipowner to establish a transatlantic service with the paddle steamers Britannia. He received the contract to deliver mail thus enabling him to designate his ship RMS Britannia[7] (Royal Mail Ship). His fleet grew to be the predominate ocean liner fleet in the world and even today he operates one transatlantic service every year with the cruise ship Queen Victoria.[8]


Another English shipping company started life with a scheduled service to Australia from the UK. The White Star Line had many financial issues and it changed hands many times[9] until finally it commenced a transatlantic service competing with Cunard. It was the White Star Line that operated the fateful ship Titanic.

It did not take long before most of the European maritime nations started their own transatlantic liner service and later the USA started a service.



The Orient Line was another British liner company that operated to Australia from the UK with mail

and passenger services. [10]An association with the Peninsular and Orient line that operated between the UK and Spain and Portugal resulted in a merger in 1966. The emergence of a mail and liner service to Australia continued until the early 1970’s when the S.S. Canberra[11] was transferred to cruise activities.

 

 

 

A prize for the fastest average speed on the crossing spurred nations to compete for this covetous award, the Blue Riband, and between 1898 and 1952 no less than 18 ships won the prize. Six nations had the honour of winning the prize with their own liner service and between this period the average speed rose from 22.29 to 34.51 knots.[12]


The last ship to hold the Blue Riband was the S.S. United States and in 1952 she averaged 34.51 knots taking 3 days 10 hours and 40 minutes on the eastbound voyage. With a capacity of just under 2000 passengers[13] she accommodated first class passengers at a starting price of $350 and tourist class passengers at $295 for the voyage[14]. Built to American military standards to double as a troop carrier her design was to provide comfort at speed. The use of aluminium in the superstructure significantly reduced her overall weight.[15]

Many of the ocean liners were built to double as troop carriers and [16] during the Second World War Cunard’s Queen Mary was one of them.

The second World War also accelerated the building of large aircraft and that produced the first long
distance airline operations. Once again it was technology, this time in terms of aircraft development that brought about the demise of ocean liner services.

The arrival of the first jet engine commercial aircraft in 1949, the DE Haviland Comet with a capacity of 44 passengers, and its first commercial flight from London to Johannesburg in 1952 was the signal event marking the decline in liner transport of passengers[17].

In 1958 the first commercial transatlantic flight between London and New York took place operated by BOAC with its Comet aircraft. The eastbound flight took 6 hours and 11 minutes whilst the westbound flight took 10 hours and 22 minutes carrying 31 passengers with a refuelling stop at Gander in Newfoundland.[18]

There followed a rapid rise in aircraft development and commercial airline operations to the extent by the early 1960’s 95% of transatlantic passenger transport was by airlines.[19]

References


[1] Stopford, Martin, Maritime Economics.

[2] ‘RMS Queen Elizabeth’.

[3] ‘U.s. Immigration by Year Graph - Google Search’.

[4] ‘Australia’s Immigration History’.

[5] ‘Norwegian Immigration to the US - English (General Studies) - NDLA’.

[6] ‘Nordic Immigrants’.

[7] ‘Britannia’.

[8] ‘Cruise Ships’.

[9] ‘White Star Line’.

[10] ‘P&O’.

[11] ‘S.s. Canberra - Google Search’.

[12] ‘Great Ocean Liners | Blue Riband’.

[13] ‘1986.016.0002 SS United States’.

[14] Grace, ‘SS UNITED STATES – 1952 – Five Nights at Sea – from New York to Europe – First Class Fares $350 and Up…’.

[15] ‘SS United States’.

[16] ‘Cunard Ship Troop Carriers - Google Search’.

[17] Editors, ‘First Commercial Jet Makes Test Flight’.

[18] Cross, ‘10/04/1958’.

[19] ‘Ocean Liner’.


Bibliography

‘1986.016.0002 SS United States’. Accessed 21 January 2023.

Australian National Maritime Museum. ‘Australia’s Immigration History’. Accessed 9 January 2023. 

Batalova, Jeanne Batalova Cecilia Esterline and Jeanne. ‘Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States’. migrationpolicy.org, 15 March 2022.

‘Britannia’. Accessed 12 January 2023.

CruiseMiss Cruise Blog. ‘Cruise Ships’, 21 November 2022.


‘Cunard Ship Troop Carriers - Google Search’. Accessed 13 January 2023.

Editors, History com. ‘First Commercial Jet Makes Test Flight’. HISTORY. Accessed 17 January 2023.

———. ‘U.S. Immigration Before 1965’. HISTORY. Accessed 6 January 2023.

Grace, Michael. ‘SS UNITED STATES – 1952 – Five Nights at Sea – from New York to Europe – First Class Fares $350 and Up…’. Cruising The Past (blog). Accessed 17 January 2023.

great-ocean-liners. ‘Great Ocean Liners | Shipping Lines’. Accessed 26 December 2022.

‘History & Fleet’. Accessed 6 January 2023.

‘Immigrants to U.S. by Country of Origin’. Accessed 6 January 2023.


‘Immigration History of Australia’. In Wikipedia, 22 September 2022.

Britannica Kids. ‘Immigration to Australia’. Accessed 9 January 2023.

‘Immigration to the United States’. In Wikipedia, 1 January 2023.

‘Liner Transatlantic Crossing Times, 1833 – 1952 | The Geography of Transport Systems’, 8 November 2017

‘List of Ocean Liners’. In Wikipedia, 2 November 2022

Magazine, Smithsonian, and Daryl Austin. ‘The History of the World’s First Cruise Ship Built Solely for Luxurious Travel’. Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed 11 March 2022.

‘Nordic Immigrants: Why the Norwegians Left | Immigrant Alexandria’. Accessed 6 January 2023.

ndla.no. ‘Norwegian Immigration to the US - English (General Studies) - NDLA’. Accessed 6 January 2023.

‘Ocean Liner’. In Wikipedia, 26 December 2022.


‘Ocean Liner’. In Wikipedia, 6 January 2023.

‘Ocean Liner’. In Wikipedia, 6 January 2023.

‘Orient Steam Navigation Company’. In Wikipedia, 20 November 2022.

‘Oslofjord, Bergensfjord, Sagafjord - Norwegian America Line’. Accessed 26 December 2022.

‘P&O’. In Wikipedia, 4 January 2023.

‘Passengers Ss America 1952 - Google Search’. Accessed 17 January 2023.

Plumer, Brad. ‘This Is an Incredible Visualization of the World’s Shipping Routes’. Vox, 25 April 2016.

‘P&O Timeline’. Accessed 18 January 2023.

‘RMS Queen Elizabeth’. In Wikipedia. By Queen Elizabeth in Cherbourg 1966.jpg: Roland Godefroyderivative work: User:G-13114 - Queen Elizabeth in Cherbourg 1966.jpg, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19493288, 8 January 2023.

SCHEONG. ‘Queens of the Sea: The Golden Age of Ocean Liners’. Throughout History (blog), 9 December 2009.

Science and Technology 5. ‘De Havilland Comet 4C’. National Museums Scotland. Accessed 17 January 2023.

‘Ship - Passenger Liners in the 20th Century | Britannica’. Accessed 26 December 2022.

‘SS Canberra’. In Wikipedia, 17 January 2023.

‘S.s. Canberra - Google Search’. Accessed 18 January 2023.

‘SS United States’. In Wikipedia, 5 January 2023.

Stopford, Martin. Maritime Economics. page 29-30. Accessed 5 May 2022.

Teace, Author Emma Le. ‘Ocean Liners, They Still Exist: Here’s Everything You Need to Know’. Emma Cruises (blog), 2 November 2020.

‘Ten Pound Poms’. In Wikipedia, 23 December 2022.

‘Timeline of Largest Passenger Ships’. In Wikipedia, 13 December 2022. 

‘U.S. Immigrant Population and Share over Time, 185.. | Migrationpolicy.Org’. Accessed 10 January 2023.

‘U.s. Immigration by Year Graph - Google Search’. Accessed 26 December 2022.

‘Victory Ship’. In Wikipedia, 24 November 2022.

‘White Star Line’. In Wikipedia, 25 December 2022.

Why Did Ocean Liners Disappear? | HISTORY, 2021.
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Friday, 20 January 2023

Port Said

 

First Really foreign port – Port Said

Now, said Colin, watch out after the gangway was lowered in Port Said!

The first thing that happened was that we were surrounded by people in colourful clothes trying to sell us stuff.

The problem was we did not know what they were saying as they spoke a sort of pidgin English with words that had no meaning like “gulli gulli man” and those that were more explicit “feelthy pictures”!

They crowded around us, so it was difficult to get away. One guy cornered me with his gulli gulli shout. He squatted on the deck and produced 3 coloured balls. Rapidly hiding and showing the balls as he moved them around, he covered them all and asked us where the red ball was. Piece of cake, I thought, but no it was not and then began the betting. £5 if you can guess where the red ball is. £5 lost and I realised that I was been duped and on a salary of £10 per month I had just lost 2 weeks’ pay!

Enough. I told you so said Colin with a big grin. But it was too late. Ralph had bought a “Rolex” watch for a bargain price and when he got it back to his cabin, he found it ran in an anti-clockwise direction and after a couple of hours stopped all together!

Of course, we could not resist looking at these “feelthy pictures”. We gathered round and he produced some well-worn prints. There is one with a donkey he said. Our eyes widened and our sexual education took a whole new direction!

However, our attention was diverted by a shout from Colin. Mail has arrived and we dashed up to him


to collect the airmail letters from home, the first of the trip. There was one from Mum hoping I was being a good boy and drinking my lime juice! As the daughter of a Captain, she knew far more than me of life aboard ship, especially in the tropics and was lucky enough in the 1920’s to get ashore in Port Said and see the pyramids. That is her on a camel.

If you have letters to go, then hurry as the port agent will not be long on-board shouted Colin. I had written a short letter so put it in an airmail envelope and then what I shouted. Take it down to the purser’s office said Colin.

The purser’s office was full of Egyptians, all wanting to talk to Percy, the purser, at the same time. Put your letter on the table over there shouted Percy above the hubbub of sound.

Back in our mess for a little peace after all the chaos of arriving I asked Colin on the whole business of port agent and letters.

Boyo, said the slim senior apprentice from Wales through a cloud of smoke from his pipe, that is a bit of a challenge, and you will learn a little more when you start your correspondence course! But here is some background.

There are different types of shipping services in the world. For conventional cargoes such as tractors and beer and camels and jute there are 2 distinct services. One is called tramp shipping where a ship is hired to take cargo from one port to another and then must seek further cargoes. This might mean that a tramp ship must go empty or in ballast to a third port to find a cargo. Such a service can take these ships all over the world.

The other type of service is the liner service where a shipping company places its ships on a scheduled service between areas of the world. We are in the liner trades offering cargo services between Western European ports and Indian ports calling at ports between. We also offer a service from India to the east coast of the USA and then back to Western European ports. Such liner services are highly organised with dedicated docks and cargo handling equipment allowing shippers of goods to assemble their goods in warehouses before loading on the next available ship. The schedule is fixed and enables a shipping company to offer secure regular services unlike the tramp trades.

Many liner shipping companies join into what is called “liner conferences” to stabilise freight rates and avoid competition within a conference. The counter argument is that conferences bar other countries and shipping companies to offer services on the same routes. This has been especially true for developing countries because most shipping lines are from the European countries, and they carry cargo from developing countries denying competition from developing countries who must pay freight to the liner companies to export their own goods. Partly because of this the United Nations formed a new agency called UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) to control the liner trades and regulate the share of liner services between nations.

Operationally shipping companies hire agents in all the ports they call. Their job is to arrange for cargo to be loaded and discharged and the ship to receive stores, fuel and water as well as handling our mail.

A liner service generally has a home port at each end of the service and for us it is Liverpool and Calcutta. Here there are permanent Marine superintendents to control the port activity and arrange local labour to offset the work of the crew.

So, there you are, liner services in a nutshell!


Now we need to get back on our watch system as we join the southbound convoy through the Suez Canal in an hour.

The Suez Canal offered a convoy system both southbound and northbound and as it was not possible to pass ships in the Canal the southbound convoy must anchor halfway down in the Bitter Lakes to allow the northbound convoy to pass. (Authors note: the Suez Canal has been widened to accommodate larger vessels and enable ships to pass at certain places without anchoring today).

I do not remember much about the Suez Canal except the long straight canal passing through an immense desert. Sand everywhere. It reminded me of a joke I was told about two Irishmen who arrived in the desert to do a job of work. As they descended from the plane one of them commented,” Oi Paddy, I hope they have enough cement!”


However, the Bitter Lakes have a special place in my memory as my father was stationed there in the Second World War. In the photo he is on the left. On the backside of the photo are his notes stating he was running a navigation class. After been captured at sea by the Germans and released in Norway he was transferred to the RNR (the Royal Navy Reserve) and stationed at HMS Saunders in the south of the Great Bitter Lake. The station was part of a Combined Operations setup by Churchill to carry out offensive operations. In the case of HMS Saunders, it was primarily to train personnel

in the use of landing craft for assaults in the Mediterranean theatre of war. Later it also became a camp for Italian prisoners of war.

We anchored in the Bitter Lakes to allow the northbound convoy to pass and then we continued south to exit the canal at Suez to proceed south down the Red Sea. Now, said Colin, you will learn what it is like to be onboard ship in the tropics, a whole different existence, he said, with a broad smile. What are we in for now, I wondered?

 

 

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Sunday, 1 January 2023

woodturning photo gallery








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Saturday, 31 December 2022

Really foreign

 I puzzled over what Colin had told us last night. Whites tomorrow! Well, as we neared the eastern end of the Mediterranean and Port Said, it was certainly warmer. Grandpa had helped me with my uniform shopping as Dad was at sea, so I had some white clothes. Time to dig them out and get ready for tomorrow.

First there was the short sleeve shirt with holes for epaulets on both shoulders. Attaching the epaulets was relatively simple, the laces go through the holes and are tied on the inside of the shirt. Quite grand with a single gold bar along the length of the epaulet much better than the lapel flashes of the blue winter jacket.

Then there were the shorts. Seemed to be a little long as they came to my knees but apparently that was the style.  Fastened with two buckles at the front, “Empire builders” Colin said. Especially important that they were not too short but also that they were not too wide. He told us that once as the ship came into port, the Captain with his wide empire builder shorts caught the heel of his shoe in the back of the shorts and went “arse over  tit” as we say. Just as he was about to greet the pilot!

No, mine were fine. Then there is the long white socks and the white suede shoes. Do not forget to “blanco” them, said Colin! What does that mean us first tripper shouted?

He passed us a bar of what looked like white soap and said: Get a brush, a little water and brush this white compound onto to your shoes. When it dries, they will be white and beautiful!! Cleaning shoes was never my most popular activity but to have white shoes, what next. Soldiers have used blanco for centuries so today we call it “to blanco your equipment”, said our much more experienced 18- year-old senior apprentice as he lit up his pipe. In your case your shoes. You will need to do it nearly every day!

Well there is a first time for everything, but I am not liking this bit at all.

Next morning, we duly dressed in our whites and all the officers similarly shone in their bright clean tropical uniform.


Here we all are. Note some lacked the white suede shoes and not everyone had their socks rolled up.

Nevertheless, we were now in our tropical rig. This is a later voyage and I am the one with a pipe, now a third mate. The apprentices are sat in front.

Later I learnt that “whites varied” from company to company. For instance, P&O and the Orient Line had quite different and very formal rigs. Perhaps because they were passenger ships, they had long white trousers, a white jacket with a white shirt and black tie. Must have been uncomfortably hot in the Red Sea!!

Of course, “whites were for watchkeeping” and not for daywork., For this we had khaki uniforms identical to our whites but khaki in colour. Much more practical for working on deck or in port. For really dirty work we had white boiler suits except Grandpa had neglected to mention this to me, so I was left with my khaki uniform for all work!

Tomorrow, Colin said, we will arrive in Port Said and I need to prepare you for this port arrival. It is nothing like Gibraltar and is really your first tropical port and you will need to take some precautions. That sounded ominous.

The approach to Port Said is relatively featureless with one exception. The ancient lighthouse at the entrance to the port (The Illustrated London News, No. 2255, Vol. LXXXI, July 22, 1882).


Other than that Port Said is on the eastern edge of the huge delta of the longest river in the world, the river Nile. Of course, in 1957 my knowledge of such things had not been covered in geography lessons at grammar school, so I was ignorant of Egypt, its history, and the role of the Nile. “Never mind, said Colin, your correspondence course will be arriving by mail here and then you can start studying”. Study, I thought that was all behind me now. Think again, boyo, you are to learn “on the job”, Colin said in his lilting Welsh accent. Bugger, that I had not thought of!

The fairway buoy marks the seaward end of the channel into Port Said and is so far offshore you do not even see the land! The pilot boat was there waiting for us and a swarthy overweight pilot clambered up the rope pilot ladder and was helped onto the main deck and escorted to the bridge. The Captain greeted him, and the pilot took over the pilotage of the ship. “Half ahead, he said, and the distinctive chimes of the telegraph rang out as the message to the engine signalled our intention to enter Port Said.

“Boy, said the Captain, what is your name again?”. “Douglas, I replied. “Ah, yes the apprentice who does not know his weather side from his leeward side”. “Go down and tell the Chief Officer we will be mooring to buoys fore and aft”. “Yes sir, I replied dutifully, happy to escape the bridge and probability of making more silly mistakes. I was later to learn that mooring to buoys was a common method of mooring on our voyage especially in rivers and sometimes with chains when there was a lot of current in the river.

The channel is also the entrance to the Suez Canal and as we approached the port city you could see the Suez Canal stretching away south into the desert.

We moored up on the starboard side in the city and what difference to Gibraltar. On the water everywhere were small colourful boats, some clearly ferrying people to the eastern banks of the canal whilst others seemed to be full of goods. “What are they doing, I asked Colin. “Bumboats, he replied, wanting to sell us useless things such as fake watches and cheap clothing! Lock your cabin doors, the circus is about to begin!

Looking ashore, I had never seen so many people. The streets were heaving with humanity and a breeze brought a very distinctive odour. “What is that smell”, I asked Colin. Spices and camel dung, replied Colin, sarcastically. Well, well, we are really foreign now.

Aft with my Glaswegian second mate I soon learnt the Egyptian mooring method. Two ropes from each quarter were passed to a mooring boat that towed them to the mooring buoy where they were fastened with quick release wood pins through the eye of the mooring ropes.

Mooring completed, the accommodation ladder was lowered to just above the water level and the pilot disembarked. The quartermaster on gangway duty muttered something about chaos and swarms of Egyptians clambered up to the main deck.

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Monday, 26 December 2022

A Mediteranean interlude

 So, this is Gibraltar, that large rock at the entrance to the Mediterranean that I have heard so much about lately and here it is right in front of my eyes, my very first foreign port. I'm really looking forward to it.

As a 16-year-old grammar schoolboy I learnt very little history being more led through English literature and languages which did not excite me at the time.

Only later did I learn of the British Empire and its tentacles around the globe.

Gibraltar was an outpost of the British Empire but has had an interesting and varied history.

Not only is there evidence of prehistoric cave dwellers on “The Rock” as it is affectionately called but it was of religious and symbolic importance from around 950 BC. For the Greeks and Romans, it was called “The Pillars of Hercules” after the Greek legend on the creation of the Straits of Gibraltar.

The Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 covered the occupation of Gibraltar until the Spanish recaptured it in 1462.

In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain, and it later became a British Protectorate albeit there were many attempts by the Spanish to retake possession.

The Napoleonic Wars showed the strategic importance of the Rock, and it became an important British Naval base.

However, to me, as we approached the harbour and the extensive breakwater all I saw was a lot of naval ships. Colin called them “the grey funnel line”. Well, at least, it is a sailor’s port and that means lots of fun ashore.

So, you're expecting to go ashore says Colin in his Welsh accent. Of course, this very excited 16-year-old boy had never been abroad and here we are in Gibraltar. “Well let's wait and see”, says Colin.

The chief officer wants to see you now. Okay what's all this about so I went for’d and knocked on his door and said, “Sir you called for me”. “Yes Douglas”, he said. “This is your first foreign port and you’re only 16 years of age. Because you're young and this is a sailor port you've a lot to learn.

“You can go ashore with Jock, one of the quartermasters. He'll be going ashore for a few beers he will take you into a bar and give you a beer. Then I want you to promise me that you'll come straight back to the ship. Is that clear?” “Yes Sir”. Okay Jock is ready now so you can go get into your city gear and get ready to go ashore”.

Jock was a huge, slow speaking man from the Hebrides, so clearly, I was going to be in good hands ashore if anything happened.

A little bit despondent at the thought of being chaperoned I went and changed into a pair of slacks and a short-sleeved shirt because it was quite warm and then went down to the quartermaster's accommodation. I knocked on Jock’s cabin door and he said “OK, let's go”, and we went down the gangway and I stepped onto “foreign soil” for my very first time. We went straight across from the dockyard into the Main Street and there was a bar. It was called the Pinto bar. “This will do”, he said, and we went inside.

Not having been in a bar before I was eager to see what it looked like. Well there was a long bar down one side with beer pumps. Behind the bar on the wall were many shields of naval warships with their names clearly visible. It was dark inside after coming in from the bright sunlight and it took some time to see the rest of the tables. There was a lot of cigarette smoke, and a jukebox was playing an Everly brothers record “Bye Bye Love” in the corner.

This is going to be great, I thought.

OK, said Jock, “I will buy you a beer”. That was generous, I thought as he handed me a pint glass of beer. This was my first ever glass of beer, so I eagerly took a sip. Not at all what I expected! It had a heavy froth on the top that stuck to your lips and the taste was really bitter. Jock saw my grimace and laughed. So it is your first taste of bitter? Bitter is the Englishman’s drink, lager is for all those continentals, he said.  It is very like the Newcastle brown from your area so get used to it.

I noticed he also had a pint but also a double whisky. Never seen that combination before.

“Cheers”, he said, and we stood at the bar and drank our beers. He then downed the whisky in one swift movement, turned to me and said, “Laddie”, it is time for you to get back to the ship and for me to get down to some serious drinking”!

“Remember what the chief officer said, straight back and no dawdling”!  What have I done to deserve this, I thought, but remembering my promise to the Chief Officer and uncertain of the consequences of disobeying I turned left out of the bar and wandered down the street to the dock.

Looking around I could see that it really was very British, red post boxes, red telephone kiosks and policeman with English Bobby hats. Everybody seemed to speak English, lots of sailors around lots of bars. This is a place I could get to like. If I missed the ship, it wouldn’t be too bad.

However, a promise is a promise so back to the ship.

 My first trip offshore in a foreign port and it lasted about 1 hour, and I drank one beer. Aw’well, let’s hope things improve on the voyage.

Next morning after breakfast we prepared for departure. The “Blue Peter” was flying so we


expecting to sail. This flag is the “P” flag in the alphabet and signifies that the ship is getting ready to sail. Has anyone seen Jock said Colin, he has not returned yet and we sail in a couple of hours? No-one had seen him, but no one seemed too worried. An hour before departure a taxi raced up to the gangway, the rear passenger opened, and Jock fell out onto the dockside. His mate on gangway watch hurried down the gangway and helped him up to the ship and he disappeared into the accommodation. So, this is what is meant by “serious drinking”! Must remember that.


The pilot arrived, the pilot flag “H” was hoisted, and the gangway lifted inboard. We went “to stations” and on the poop I again had to handle the telephone and communicate with my Glaswegian Second Mate. At least it was daytime and no rain this time. We “singled up” and waited for the tugs to arrive, two giant naval tugs, far bigger than those we had on the Mersey, one forward and one aft. “Let go everything”, came the command from the bridge and duly we winched the wire spring and the after mooring rope in with clouds of steam coming from our mooring winch. “All gone aft” shouted the Second Mate and then there was a great shudder through the ship and we gently eased away from the quay and out past the breakwater. The pilot boat came alongside and the naval pilot in full uniform went over the side down a pilot ladder with a wave and we were away heading east for our next port, Port Said. Perhaps this would be a real “foreign port”.

Now we are heading east in a clear blue sea, fine weather and everybody settling down to our watch system 4 on and 8 off. That is all except Jock who has not been seen yet. Still recovering from his “serious drinking” trip ashore!

Next morning I was woken at 0700 after only 3 hours sleep to an infernal racket outside the cabin. Sounded like an aircraft crash. Jumped out of bed cursing being woken up and bumped into Colin. What the hell is that noise, I shouted. Relax boyo, he said, the crew are holystoning the deck. What the hell does that mean? Come and see, he says. Outside the cabin was a row of Indian crew pushing blocks of stone along a wet deck!!! The boat deck was a teak deck fastened on top of the steel deck and apparently it needs to be cared for by scrubbing it with sandstone!! But holystone? No idea, said Colin, we have always called them that and it happens every week followed by washing the decks down.

OK, another maritime tradition I need to get used to.

At our leisurely pace of 8 knots it is going to take around 9 days to reach Port Said. That means at least one more round of holystoning, must remember that!

After lunch Colin called us into the apprentice messroom. It is Saturday today and tomorrow, Sunday, the Captain will start his weekly rounds of inspection and that includes us.

“What”, all of us first trippers shouted. We thought we had escaped having to tidy up and clean our bedrooms when we left home! Well, boyo, he said. Not quite used to this boyo thing. Must be some Welsh expression but is he being kind, patronising or is it just like in Yorkshire when we shout, “ 'Eh up'.”? Well, at least he is not angry. OK Colin what have we got to do? Well, just so you know he comes with clean white gloves and if he finds something whilst wiping above doors behind bathroom taps etc., we will get a rocket, get it? Everything must be squeaky clean. And another thing he will inspect your personal lockers so do not leave any dirty underwear in there! And finally, we line up outside in FULL UNIFORM.

Bloody hell seems we are in the Navy now. Something like that says Colin with a smile.

Sunday arrives, 0945 Colin has done his inspection to check everything and just before 1000 we line up outside our cabin. Right on 1000 the Captain arrives in full uniform, the standard gold “scrambled egg” on his uniform cap showing his full authority. The doleful chief officer trails behind.

Good morning boys, the Captain smiles, no illnesses, all in good physical form? Fine we all respond, and Colin invites the Captain in to start his inspection. He pulls on a pair of white gloves, smiles at us and enters the hallowed apprentice accommodation. We are told to wait outside so have no idea what happened in there. Fifteen minutes later the entourage comes out and the Captain reports that all is well but commands Colin to train the younger apprentices to be more thorough in cleaning behind and under the taps!! Not only that we could better organise our clothes in our lockers!!

So ends our first inspection and Colin sighs a breath of relief. “I thought it was going to be much worse than that”. It was a good idea that I did an inspection first. One sneaky thing some Captains do is to put a coin in a well-hidden place and then check to see if it is still there on the next inspection. I found one under a bunk mattress. Well done, Sunday is a day of relaxation for non-watch keepers which is alright for me, but you guys have to go back on watches! He smiles and lights up his pipe.

The weather is warming up and it is not too bad on watch now. Seas are relatively calm and the midnight to 0400 “graveyard” watch is pleasant enough once you have the routines worked out. It is relatively quiet on the ship and the only sounds are the thump, thump of the engine and the splashing of the sea against the ship’s hull. Now and again dolphins come and play in the bow wave jumping high in the air before diving like a torpedo back into the sea. However, there is not a lot of time to hang over the bridge coaming and dream as there is plenty of ship traffic coming and going in our direction and we do not overtake many ships at our leisurely 8 knots. There are fishing boats around and they seem to have no regard for other shipping and the only lights they seem to display is very bright overhead lights over their fishing gear. Not very good for detecting their movement. So, the days and nights pass quickly and there is a sense of excitement on the ship and the word is we will change into “whites” tomorrow whatever that means!!

 

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Friday, 23 December 2022

Going “foreign”

 We sailed out of the Irish Sea and left coastal Britain behind.

As we steered South South West (SSW) we crossed over the continental shelf and truly could say we were “deep sea” sailing. For the first time I was at sea going towards foreign countries, in this case the North West coast of Spain.

To reach their we must cross the Bay of Biscay, notorious for its gales and enormous swell driven by the South Westerly prevailing winds coming all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, we today were truly in an ocean, no longer a sea.

There are several “markers” that tell you that you have left coastal waters and entered an ocean regime.

Birds that wheel around the ship zigzagging around the wake looking for food are completely absent. Both land and seabirds are gone. They are not true ocean birds like the albatross and need to return to land.

Maritime traffic also changes. There is much less recreational boats and local fishermen. They too have their land-based bases to return to. Of course, there are deep-sea fisherman offshore to keep an eye on. Other merchant ships are also present but in a more ordered manner. No longer traffic coming from all directions but more of an ocean motorway with ships going in the same direction or opposite direction. In fact, in some congested straits and channels there are traffic separation schemes (TSS) that regulate the routes of marine traffic.

In the Bay of Biscay traffic is usually heading south to the Mediterranean or north to Europe so there is plenty of passing ships to see.

One becomes familiar with ships by their flag and colour scheme. The flag or ensign denotes


country of registration of the ship and is usually flown at the stern. The colour scheme of a ship often clearly identifies the owning company of the ship. Brocklebanks, for example, has a black hull with a white band. The funnel is black with blue and white band on it and the name of a ship also provides a clue to its identity. In the case of Brocklebanks they were all Indian names and my first ship was named “Mahout”.

I had heard the Second Mate telling tales to the other apprentices how bad the Bay of Biscay can be. Not more days with gales, being wet and seasick surely.

He talked about places Ushant and Finisterre as important places in navigation, so I needed to find out. Colin, our all-knowing senior apprentice explained. “Boyo”, he said, in his soft lilting Welsh accent, “they are lighthouses used as marking points in planning the voyage of a ship. Rounding these points is seen as a marking of a passage in the voyage and the start or completion of a difficult passage. Ushant and Finisterre are the guardian lighthouses at the northern and southern extremities of the Bay of Biscay separating France and Spain. This large open part of the Atlantic Ocean had been feared by seafarers for centuries.

Escaping the tobacco laden atmosphere in the messroom by Colin puffing on his pipe as he pontificated on maritime geography, I searched for these headlands to no avail. Colin told us that the first landfall would be Cape Finisterre, probably around noon.

For my first trip the Bay was behaving with blue sky and a deep blue ocean we rolled our way across in a light SW ‘Ly swell at our sedate 8 knots. Now in the 3rd day of the voyage I was settling into the 4 to 8 nature of watches and starting to enjoy myself.


Figure 1 Courtesy Deensel (CCBY 2.0)



On the 6th. day in the late afternoon I spotted my first foreign landfall on the port bow, Cape Finisterre, in fact my first foreign country having never been abroad before. Very exciting. The very word Finisterre meant “end of the earth” in Roman times so was it believed before the age of discovery later.

 My companions in the Apprentice accommodation were also settling down and Ralph, one of the other “first trippers” shared a room with me taking the lower bunk. We exchanged our experiences and our knowledge of how the ship ran increased rapidly. Ralph was on the four to eight with the chief officer. One morning “the Mate” told him to report to “Chippy” at 7:00 AM and do the rounds with him! Chippy is the ship's Carpenter and is responsible for checking the integrity of the ship. Although we are a steel ship, it is just as Patrick O'Brien has described in his book. The Carpenter reported in those days every watch how much water there was in the bilges of those wooden ships. So, every morning at 7:00 AM chippy went around the ship “sounding bilges”. This involved unscrewing a brass cap on the deck and lowering a brass rod on a rope till there was a dull thud as it reached the bottom of somewhere, I know not but as described as “bilges”. 

Bilges, it turns out are the lowest level in the ship where water collects from leaks and whenever there is damage to the outer hull, it is the bilges that receive the ingress of water. This is a simplistic explanation but all I needed at this stage. Colin said, with a huge grin on his face, I would become much more acquainted with double bottom tanks and bilges after we had discharged our cargo. Not sure I liked the sound of that!

The next day watch 12 noon to 4pm we were coasting down the Portuguese coast, and I mentioned to the Second Mate what Colin had told me that headlands and lighthouses were important navigation points in planning a voyage. “Come”, he said, “I am checking the courses for the next couple of days, you can see what I do”. “You need to learn a little of this when you go for your tickets”. Not sure what he meant but thought it may have something to do with studying for my first officers’ certificate, 2nd. Mates, some 4 years away!

 

 

 

 

He produced a table and explained what they were:

Position

Course

Distance

To go

C. Finisterre 106 x 10’

 

 

541

C. Roca 093 x 10’

183

251

290

C. St. Vincent 075 x 5’

165

111

179

C. Trafalgar 023 x 12’

113

154

25

Isla Tarifa 006 x 3’

096

25

0

 

The position is an important navigation point where we change course. So, we start from a position with C. St. Vincent bearing 106(T) at 10 nautical miles. We have 541 nautical miles to go to Isla Tarifa just west of Gibralter.Then we steer 183 degrees (true) for a distance of 251 nautical miles until we come to Cape Roca bearing 093(T) at a distance of 10 nautical miles.

These positions and courses we lay off on the chart and measure our progress by checking our position either by radar or by taking compass bearings from the wing of the bridge repeater. “Do you get the idea?” I replied that it seemed complicated but would follow what he did. So began my first introduction to coastal navigation!

However, much more interesting was to use the binoculars to gaze at these foreign coasts. Very different to what I was used to in Yorkshire. Undulating hills with steep cliffs coming down to sandy bays and beaches populated by white houses. Wow!

We passed Lisbon and continued our way south towards one of the major headlands of Cape St. Vincent. Then we changed to more easterly course and headed for Cape Trafalgar of English naval history significance before continuing eastward to the Straits of Gibraltar.

At this point the Chief Engineer came on the bridge and told the Second Officer to tell the captain that we were not making enough fresh water for the boilers that fed the steam driven triple expansion engine and that we would need to enter Gibraltar for water.

So we struggled through the straits against a strong westward flowing current and finally entered Gibraltar harbour, my first foreign port. This was going to be exciting!

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