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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH SHIPPING APPRENTICE – PART 3

©Tony Clements 2007

 IRISH MAPLE

• I joined in Dublin in the spring of 1960 and from there we sailed to Quebec to load grain for the UK : Hull and Newcastle-upon-Tyne . Then to London .
• At London and then Le Havre we loaded general cargo for the US Gulf ports: New Orleans, Houston, Galveston and Brownsville before sailing back to the UK with a mixture of grain and general cargo, part of the latter consisting of military equipment for the US Army in Europe. Our discharge ports in the UK were Liverpool , Manchester , and Glasgow . Then back to Liverpool where I paid off.

In Quebec I went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled and walking back to the ship was in time to join the crowd and have a close-up of General Charles de Gaulle, the French president, who was visiting the town hall. Before the arrival of the general, the principle attraction for the crowd was watching a man laying the red carpet which stretched from the pavement to the town hall steps. The pavement end kept curling up, no matter what he tried. Eventually, to cheers from the spectators, he returned with a tin of glue – problem solved!

In Newcastle we discharged the remaining grain at Ranks flour mill. It took ages, I don’t know why but it gave us the opportunity to find out and appreciate Newcastle Brown (great stuff!) and Newcastle girls (I suppose you are a grandmother now Judy..?). At that time Newcastle-upon-Tyne was one of the most seaman-friendly cities I can remember with great pubs and dance halls.

  In Le Havre we loaded Opel cars (Why load German cars in a French port? Don’t ask me!). The cars were loaded with slings and stowed in the tween decks. Once stowed by the dockers, they had to be minutely examined by the apprentices for any scratches or dents which had to be recorded and the list given to the Chief Mate. On arrival in the States the cars were in turn minutely examined by the receivers and the idea was that no scratches or dents could be blamed on the ship.

We were sailing late at night from New Orleans, late because we had waited for a missing crewmember but he still hadn’t shown up. The pilot was on board, the headlines were being slipped and the ship starting to swing out, when the missing man comes running along the quayside and, the bulwark top being level with the dock, makes for the stern to jump on board. “Second Mate” hollers the Master, “Don’t let that man on board!” Then, seeing the stern line still fast and the man getting ready to jump, the Master comes storming off the bridge and down aft “Don’t any of you help him on board – let go that stern line!” and turning to the latecomer tells him “You can join us by bus in Houston!” But he managed to scramble on board and, acknowledging the inevitable and seeing as the ship was now broadside to the river, the Master decided it was time to return to the bridge. And the next day, as was usual in those times, the offender was hauled in front of the Master and logged X number of days pay for the offence.

  On the second voyage there was, for reasons I cannot remember, no Chippy signed on so the Mate nominated me as acting Chippy. This suited me fine  – I was on day-work. One dark, misty and wet evening we were feeling our way up the Mersey to Liverpool . As Chippy, I was on standby at the windlass. Over to port I noticed, through the mist, a dredger with anchor chains running out in various directions. Then someone came to the foc’sle to relieve me for a smoko. As I reached the main deck I felt a jar as the ship seemed to lurch. I immediately thought that we had run over one of the dredger’s anchor chains. But then I heard a scraping sound and looking over the port side was just in time to see the stern of a sinking vessel sticking up in the air with rudder and propeller already visible. On the stern was its name and port of registration: Denby Coast , Liverpool . Next there were shouts to man one of our lifeboats to search for survivors and I found myself one of the lifeboat crew. We rowed, or rather levered (as the boat had Flemming propulsion gear) our way round in the darkness and rain until eventually we lost sight of the Maple and everything else and were lost. We could hear foghorns all around us but could see nothing until we bumped into a channel buoy and tied up to it. Just when we were wondering if we should break out the lifeboat rations, lights came through the dark and it was the pilot cutter come to our rescue. We were hauled aboard (I cannot remember what happened to the lifeboat, I suppose they towed it in) and there in the saloon we found the crew of the Denby Coast , rescued by the cutter. The Master, with a scowl on his face when he found out who we were, was sitting barefooted with, around one big toe, the remains of a duckboard. Apparently, on seeing that his ship was sinking, he took off his shoes and rang out on the bridge wing to jump overboard – and on the way got a big toe stuck in a duckboard and had to jump overboard with the whole duckboard. On the pilot cutter they could not free his toe, it would have to be done ashore, so had cut away as much as they could. He was not a happy man. From what I heard later there was no blame attached to the Maple, the Denby Coast had cut across the main channel.

  IRISH LARCH

  A Summary of Voyages  

• I joined in London in the late summer of 1960. From London to Hamburg and Le Havre to load general cargo (including French wine and champagne) for the US . Our discharge/loading ports in the US were New Orleans , Houston , Galveston , Corpus Christi and Panama City . We sailed for the UK with a mixture of grain and general cargo. Our discharge ports in the UK were Liverpool and Manchester , then back to Liverpool .
• At Liverpool and then Glasgow we loaded general cargo for the US . Our discharge/loading ports were Houston , Galveston , New Orleans , Mobile and Tampa , in which last port we loaded thousands of cases of orange juice. In the UK we visited Liverpool , Manchester , back to Liverpool then north to Glasgow where I paid off.

  When I joined the vessel in London , she was berthed at Surrey docks. She was on charter to Cunard (the funnel was painted in Cunard colours). We were loading general cargo for the States. Among the cargo were shoes. As an idea to prevent pilfering by the dockers, we loaded only the left-footed shoes. But this did not stop the dockers because, as one said to me: “My brother is working on the ship that is loading the right-footed ones.” But the loading didn’t last long as the dockers went on strike. And there we stayed in Surrey docks for nearly six weeks. Of course we quickly ran out of money and had to rely on the generosity of the Irish nurses at the nearby hospital to buy us a pint now and again.

 Heavy weather in the North Atlantic , bound UK , November 1960. 
Checking the lashings on a deck cargo of empty bourbon barrels. They were for use by the 
Scottish whisky industry.  
(l to r): Chippy (name unknown), Jimmy ……..? and Peter ……..?

The ship had just returned from the States and everyone had brought US one cent coins with them. They were for use in the public phones as they were the same size as a sixpenny coin. One day the police visited the ship and all the crew were called to the saloon. There a solemn faced policeman told us he had received a complaint from the Post Office as to how all the public phones nearby, when emptied, had been found to contain mainly US one cent pieces. And we were the only ship in Surrey docks recently returned from the States. Though knowing it was the Larch crew responsible, he had no proof so ended by saying that he hoped there would be no more of this. Which the Master repeated to us afterwards but with, it seemed, a slight smile on his face as I am sure he also had his supply of one cent coins.

Eventually Cunard ordered us to sail to Hamburg . The day after we left, the strike ended but we continued to Hamburg . In Hamburg at that time (maybe still now?) on a Sunday morning at the docks would be held a banana auction. All bananas recently unloaded and that were not fit for the shops were auctioned in public. For very little one could buy a huge bunch of bananas. As they were mostly the overripe bunches they sold, you had to eat them pretty quickly so for the next day or so it was a banana diet.

  In Glasgow we loaded Scotch whisky for the States. This being in pre-container days, the cases (cardboard cartons) were loaded direct into the holds – thousands upon thousands of cases of all different makes of whisky. The temptation was too much, of course, for the Glasgow dockers, and by the end of the day they would just be able to stagger down the gangway. We apprentices were in the holds supposedly to check that no cases were broken into but who were we to argue with big, beefy, drunken Glasgow dockers…

  One of our favourite haunts in Liverpool at that time was the Cavern. There was a band for late-night dancing when the pubs closed and we could meet Irish nurses. Many years later someone who had been with me at that time asked:

“Do you remember the members of bands that played in the Cavern at that time?”

“No - because I was looking at the nurses and not the band. Why do you ask?”

“Because some of them were the future Beatles.”  

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"What a surprise to see the photos of the trip around the world on this vessel. I was 4th. eng. for 13 months and remember "Noreen Bawn" Eddie Duffy, Cadet Peter and many others. Sorry to read Jimmy was lost at sea as I remember his face quite well. The Doxford ran the 27 days without a problem from Panama to Japan, and I recall the heat aboard a ship built for the Atlantic and serving in the tropics. How ever it was a good training for my future at sea as an engineer. Where have all the crew gone? as the song goes"  

Larry Flood.-- March 2008

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IRISH POPLAR  

A Summary of Voyages  

• For my second period in this vessel, I joined at Rushbrooke in the spring of 1961. We sailed for Dublin then across the North Atlantic to Canada . Our first port was Sorel , then Montreal . Continuing upriver we entered the St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Great Lakes to load grain at Port Alfred. Back through the St. Lawrence Seaway and across the pond to our discharge ports in Ireland : Dublin,Waterford and Cork .

• From Cork it was back across the North Atlantic to Canada, through the St. Lawrence Seaway again, across the Great Lakes to load grain at Port Arthur and Fort William . Having loaded grain in both ports, back across the Great Lakes , through the St. Lawrence Seaway and a stop at Montreal . From Montreal we sailed to Cork where I left the vessel.

I returned to the Poplar for two trips to the Great Lakes . Concerning the St. Lawrence Seaway I  don’t know if they still do it now (maybe it is considered an “unsafe practice”) but at that time there were no shoreside mooring gangs when one tied up for the night or while waiting one’s turn in a lock. Instead each vessel had a long-armed davit for’d with a block though which a rope passed attached to a bosun’s chair. On approaching the berth whoever was designated to take the lines ashore was swung out over the side and lowered to the quay. Great fun!

On return to Cork after the second voyage myself and another apprentice jumped ship. We didn’t jump because we were not happy on board or fed up with the sea, no, it was just one of those impulsive actions of youth. My fellow jumper didn’t go back to sea but ended up joining the Rhodesian police. Last I heard from him was when I received a photo, showing him on horseback somewhere in the African bush! I often wonder where he is now – Greg White from Carricktoole (actually he was from Cobh , Carricktoole being part of his nickname), where are you? His father was a commander in the Irish Naval Services. I still have a book on seamanship he gave me.

©Tony Clements 2007

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