We Did It (at least some of it)

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Vegaskip
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Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:23 am
Location: Auchtermuchty Fife

We Did It (at least some of it)

Unread post by Vegaskip »

From a MN site I’m on in Face book
Many years ago I was in my mid thirties and life was comfortable. I was married and had a reasonably successful business. I had a good group of mates that I trained with regularly a few nights a week. One Tuesday night over a beer they were planning their usual Friday night out for that weekend which they had done virtually every week since leaving school. On this occasion I just couldn't be bothered so I said I would give it a miss. I can't now remember my excuse but I can clearly remember the reply from an old friend named Carl........ "Steve you need to f###### get out more ...... You haven't f###### lived!!"

Well, Carl me old mate, by the time I was 22 I had been around the world 3 times and had visited 53 countries. I'd had my 17th, 18th and 21st birthdays at sea (all coincidentally in Biscay) and I had been to places my landlubber friends could only dream of and some they couldn't even begin to imagine. I had seen and experienced things of which they simply had no comprehension, I had embarked upon adventures with other pals to exotic places and boy had I grown up quickly. I had flown to the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore by national flag carriers. I had swam in the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, I had been trained to put out a serious fire properly, I could identify star constellations and "read" the weather, I could tie a proper knot ( I'm calling it a knot for simplicity - hitch or bend more correctly ), I could take an instruction dutifully and respectfully because I knew that the guy who had issued it had done it many times before me, I could help my nephew with his homework " Uncle Steve .... why do we have tides?". I had been a lowly peggy and literally been up to my waist in shit, I had slept in a hammock beneath the stars, I'd seen dolphins playing beneath the bows, and watched flying fish whilst painting on deck in those glorious glass smooth Indian Ocean swells heading for Penang, Singapore, Japan, The Phillipines ..... Oh! The blue sea..... Oh! The blue sky.....Ohhhhh! the anticipation!

I'd been to Bugis Street, The Venus Rooms, The Mozzy Bar, The Hong Kong Bar and the Harbour Lights (to name but a few) so I had seen it all and I had met Mamma San so we all know what that means ( sorry I know there are ladies in this group 😜 ) I'd seen Mt Fuji and the remains of Krakatoa, I'd been dazzled and gazed in awe from the centre of Hong Kong harbour at night and I've anchored in a bay somewhere in Indonesia were the only light from shore was the village campfires.

I've worked in freezing conditions and I've worked in the tropics, I've worked aloft from a Bosuns chair and I've worked at the bottom of the engine room. I've worked 35 ton forklifts and 40 ton cranes. I've worked until I was so exhausted that I couldn't even read my own illegible notes the next day. I've been carried back on board by shipmates when we have all had a little too much fun, and been guided by older and more sensible heads when I was young and didn't know any better. I've worked in a typhoon so violent that nobody slept properly for 72 hours, I've learned, earned and been given responsibility. At 21 years of age my employers trusted me ( well for 8 hours a day at least ) to ensure that their prized asset was heading in the right direction and didn't hit anything. I'd been eating three "all you can eat" meals a day from the age of 16. For a job description read experience in painting on an industrial scale, planned maintenance, electronics, engineering, cargo handling machinery, health and safety (well sort of), logistics, use and operation of Nav aids, skilled in the science of celestial navigation, fire fighter, docker, crane driver, greaser, forklift driver, steward, meteorologist, tally clerk, cargo super, rigger, emergency responder, signaller, boat handler, chart work, security management, admin, student, teacher, bog cleaner, bilge cleaner ( that's where the s##t was), communications etc etc and I nearly gave it all up for a certain Fe Fe Cheng in Taiwan 😍.

I've worked nights, I've worked shifts, I've worked watches, I've done all three in the same week and done each for weeks on end. I've been bored and I have been knackered but I have also looked up at the mid Pacific stars and chatted about nothing in particular with the the lookout or the officer of the watch and the hours have melted away in what seems like minutes. I've worked alone and I have worked in a team, a proper team with men who knew their job and had learned it the only proper way through experience and who in the most part would help the inexperienced as long as you showed willing. It was a along time ago now but I loved every single minute of it.

I've crossed the equator and been duly initiated, I've shopped for presents, cameras, watches and silk kimonoes in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Motomachi in Japan. I know how to barter (well! As long as you don't count the "genuine" imitation gold ring with blue sapphire that I bought in Trincomalee I think it was), I've been up the Empire State Building, through the Suez and Panama canals, I've been to the Peace Park in Hiroshima and witnessed the Cherry Blossom in Osaka, I've been to temples in Thailand and I've also been to "temples" in the Reeperbahn and Red Light Districts of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. I've travelled on and in helicopters, rickshaws, tuck tucks, The Bullet Train, mopeds, speedboats, powered canoes, paddled canoes, lifeboats and God knows what else. I've been to beach parties in Ceylon, Nigeria, Indonesia, Mexico and California. I've worked in ship yards and in dry docks, I've worked on brand new ships and I've worked on ships built before air con when the sweat runs down your legs and the cockroaches run up them! Funnily enough they weren't called cockroaches they were called " Jaspers", and cakes were called Tabnabs and the big blue wet thing we were all floating on was called the Oggin??? I've experienced many times the excitement of joing a new ship, the smell of bunkers at the top of the gangway and the din of cargo winches, instantly replaced by the homely smell of fresh bread from the galley and the soothing hum of hidden generators as you enter the internal calm and close the heavy weather door behind you.... The start of new adventures.... new friends and colleagues. I've experienced the smell of woodsmoke wafting across the waves from Malaysia the evening before landfall, the smells and sounds of markets and bars in the mystical magical Orient and much much more. Anyone who has been to sea will know that none of the above is particularly exceptional and I am not boasting or complaining, it was just..... Well! .... Our life and it was brilliant for us all especially when so young! Life at sea ( then) was all about variety, new experiences, ever changing scenery, new horizons, new challenges and it was both exciting and rewarding and it set me up to have a sensible and practical attitude and approach to life when I settled ashore. None of the above is scripted in any way, just random thoughts whilst having smoko ( an extended smoko because I know I have gone on a bit) and I hope nobody minds me sharing my thoughts. One day I might explain all this to Carl but he won't understand. Carl was until the day he retired an insurance man, which I admit is an entirely honourable job but one of which I have absolutely no knowledge or experience. 😄
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DaveH
Posts: 395
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:58 pm
Location: PLYMOUTH , DEVON

Re: We Did It (at least some of it)

Unread post by DaveH »

Nice one Jim .

Funny old life when you compare it to the likes of our civilian counterparts , half the time they think we are shooting a line but never quite appreciate that we have been there , seen it , sampled it , and worn the tee shirt . Plus it weren't all beer and skittles along the way .
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ivorthediver
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Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:42 pm
Location: Cambridge Shore Battery

Re: We Did It (at least some of it)

Unread post by ivorthediver »

And Likewise there are those amongst us who would have swapped in an instant had they been fit and able lads , am I jealous ....bet your bloody boots I am :mrgreen: :cry: ....but life had different plans for me and tarnished by those who new better .....to late was the cry ..
"What Ever Floats your Boat"
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: We Did It (at least some of it)

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

Vegaskip wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:23 pm
Well, Carl me old mate, by the time I was 22 I had been around the world 3 times and had visited 53 countries. I'd had my 17th, 18th and 21st birthdays at sea (all coincidentally in Biscay) and I had been to places my landlubber friends could only dream of and some they couldn't even begin to imagine. I had seen and experienced things of which they simply had no comprehension, I had embarked upon adventures with other pals to exotic places and boy had I grown up quickly. I had flown to the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore by national flag carriers. I had swam in the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, I had been trained to put out a serious fire properly, I could identify star constellations and "read" the weather, I could tie a proper knot ( I'm calling it a knot for simplicity - hitch or bend more correctly ), I could take an instruction dutifully and respectfully because I knew that the guy who had issued it had done it many times before me, I could help my nephew with his homework " Uncle Steve .... why do we have tides?". I had been a lowly peggy and literally been up to my waist in shit, I had slept in a hammock beneath the stars, I'd seen dolphins playing beneath the bows, and watched flying fish whilst painting on deck in those glorious glass smooth Indian Ocean swells heading for Penang, Singapore, Japan, The Phillipines ..... Oh! The blue sea..... Oh! The blue sky.....Ohhhhh! the anticipation!

None of the above is scripted in any way, just random thoughts whilst having smoko ( an extended smoko because I know I have gone on a bit) and I hope nobody minds me sharing my thoughts. One day I might explain all this to Carl but he won't understand. Carl was until the day he retired an insurance man, which I admit is an entirely honourable job but one of which I have absolutely no knowledge or experience. 😄
Many thanks Jim, I resemble a lot of it :-)

Jim
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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Blackbat242
Posts: 109
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2019 5:15 am

Re: We Did It (at least some of it)

Unread post by Blackbat242 »

DaveH wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 1:34 pm Nice one Jim .

Funny old life when you compare it to the likes of our civilian counterparts , half the time they think we are shooting a line but never quite appreciate that we have been there , seen it , sampled it , and worn the tee shirt . Plus it weren't all beer and skittles along the way .
As is said amongst Uncle Sam's Misguided Children... "Its been real, and its been fun... but it hasn't been real fun."
;)

That said - I regret none of it (save not being able to continue at the end of 8 years due to physical issues), and would do it again if placed in the same situation with foreknowledge.
SGT USMC '81-'89 VMA(AW)-121, VMA(AW)-242, CV-61 AIMD
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