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Author Topic: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.  (Read 2016 times)

tigertiger

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Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« on: January 31, 2009, 02:26:11 pm »

On the Silly Tuggers thread
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=15043.msg148013;topicseen#msg148013
Reply #14 onwards is a short discussion about seismic surveying of the sea bed.

This is something I know nothing about. And I realised that I know very little about the range of jobs undertaken at sea. Both currently and jobs now long gone.

Most of us are familiar with some of the workings of ferries, having been passengers. But there are so many more jobs. Some interesting, some high tech, and some downright dangerous.


Let me start with a job from the past
My grandad used to put on the old silver suit, get on a swing and was lowered into steam ship fire boxes. He had a small hammer and he had to knock the clinker off the insides of the fire box. This had to be done hot. If the fire bricks cooled they would shrink and fall in. He was aided by a boy.

The boy's job was to watch him carefully. If granddad started getting sluggish the boy had to pull him up.
If Granddad passed out the foreman would take him off and he could not work anymore that day, so he went short of cash.
If he was pulled up an OK he had to take a mandatory break before continuing. The more times he came up, the less work he did, so the boy must not pull him up to early either.

Oh the joys of the steam period. And before the days of H&S.



Well that is one job, now gone.

What other intersting, scary, or unusual jobs are/were there in the wonderfull maritime world?


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ronkh

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Re: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2009, 02:41:58 pm »

They had b#lls and guts in those days.
Couple of things though; what would of happened if the had boy past out as well as your granddad (say, by fumes coming out. etc)?
How hot is "hot"?
If he took too long and the bricks did shrink and fall in, could he of got penalised in any way?
Was the mandatory break to stop him cooking?
Hats of to them.

Ron.
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tigertiger

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Re: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2009, 03:08:28 pm »

They had b#lls and guts in those days.
Couple of things though; what would of happened if the had boy past out as well as your granddad (say, by fumes coming out. etc)? Both Dead

He also had a string to tug to signal the boy to pull him up, when he thought he could take it no more.


How hot is "hot"? Bricks still red I presume.

If he took too long and the bricks did shrink and fall in, could he of got penalised in any way? I guess this was the foreman's or ships Chief's responsiblity. Perhaps one of the old salts on here could shed some light.

Was the mandatory break to stop him cooking? I guess. Heat stroke and fatigue can lead to accidents.

Hats of to them. Oh! yes.

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garston1

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Re: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2009, 03:33:41 pm »

Deck Hand on a Submarine?
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Bunkerbarge

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Re: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2009, 05:52:35 pm »

An interesting follow up to marks post is the fact that very early low pressure steamers actually used raw sea water as feed.  Consequently they had to have the water spaces scraped out every couple of days as well to remove the salt.  So when you'd finished with the furnace you moved on to the water space.  All done hot and all done in a days visit in port.


Here's a couple of Cruise Ship ones:

Pot washer.  Yup he spends all day hand washing pile upon pile of stainless steel and aluminium pots.  All to the regulatory requirements as regards temperature and procedures etc.  Not what you would call dangerous but doing that for 12 hours a day!!

Veg Prep.  Most automatic veg prep machines are not allowed by various regulatory bodies for various reasons so all veg has to be prepared by hand.  That's peeling spuds, cutting up broccoli, slicing carrots etc...etc...etc...  again for 12 hours a day.

Motorman.  13 hours a day doing normal watchkeeping duties and overtime work.  Not too dramatic but who do you think cleans out the sewage system pre filters?  You wouldn't believe what gets taken out of those and all five have to be done twice a day.

There's many many more but there's just a couple to think over.  By the way they are also away from home for up to possibly eight months at a time and some ask to stay longer.

Nowadays a medium to large cruise ship has somewhere in the region of 1000 to 1500 crew on board so you can imagine the range of jobs undertaken on these vessels.
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Bryan Young

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Re: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2009, 07:34:25 pm »

On the old cable ships; when the bight of the cable was just a few feet away (below) from the ship then 2 guys would be lowered to cut the cable. There may be the weight of 20 or more miles of cable in suspension on either side. Only once did I see a guy get his face and jaw sliced open by a backlash. Not for the fainthearted.
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Jimmy James

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Re: Land Lubbers Guide to Jobs at Sea and in Port.
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2009, 07:52:52 pm »

The first time i signed on a merchant ship after comming out of the Navy in 65 was in Manchester, a 7000 tonne Tramp Named the Baron Kinniard ,belonging to the Baron Line "Horgaths of Ardrossan" (Known as Humgray Hogarth's) out bound for the Far East via USA ,Chile ( 2 Ports ),Pago Pago, New Zealand ( 5 Ports).Aussie (3 Ports) ,Ocean Island Back to Aussie ( 2 Ports) up to Japan (4 Ports) Hong Kong, Singapore  Cape Town Townsville(Aussie) then to Fiji to load Sugar for Silver Town (River Thames) This was a normal 2 year trip ( All British Seaman and Officers on British Foreign going ships Signed on for 2 years or the first British port on return)  For this I was Payed The sum of £52 4s and 6d a month. and worked a normal 12 Hr day at sea and some times an 48 or 72 Hr day in port (Sailing and Arrival days)
Freebooter
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