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Hell on Earth

7K views 25 replies 15 participants last post by  sagalout 
#1 ·
Spud Bashing on the Vindicatrix in Jan 1956, and being permanently hungry!! You know it! cheers FredW
 
#4 ·
My first trip was on a tanker from Isle of Grain to Liverpool. It took all of 5 days in heavy weather. I caused a lot of amusement by turning up in my brand new Vindi uniform. First and last time I ever wore it (although the "piss jackets" came in handy!)
I gave it to an Arab gentleman in the Suez Canal in exchange for a tablecloth. I think his name was George Robey--very good man!!

Strange though, I never did get to sail in a passenger ship, only tankers and the odd tramp ship. I have no regrets, I`d do it all again. Must go, my bladder is filling up with emotion! cheers fred.
 
#7 ·
Never peeled spuds on Vindy 1947 but first trip was galleyboy it was regularly sack a day on LOCH GARTH, like entry above ,no pototo machines in those days. Great first trip though brilliant run,West Indies Panama and Canada and States West coast. Remember having row with deck crew when we were entering Curacoa and they started throwing my PEELED potatoes at hammerhead sharks which were accompanying us through picturesque entrance,I said use UNPEELED b******
 
#10 ·
Sometimes it was more of a chore using the rumbler than peeling by hand. You still had to 'eye' the potato's, could'nt have the captains spuds winkin back at him, then you had to strip it down and give it bloody good clean. They were and probably still are a health hazzard. So sometimes I found it pretty relaxing to grab another member of the galley staff if no galley boy available and go sit on the poop deck in the hot weather and bash a few spuds so to speak.

My worst nightmare was fresh brussels sprouts, peel off the outer leaves and score a cross in the bottom. Use to take booldy hours, and thats with doing 'peel one, throw one over the side'.
 
#13 ·
A bit of downtime is what I thought of spud bashing out side the galley door, no one to lean on you if you had caught up with all other chores,never used the grinder if I had time it was just as much trouble to clean the plate to make sure it passed the march of the stripes whereas the peeling went over the side
loved every minute of being a galley boy.chefs assistant was fetch and carry jobs not to keen to show you their little secrets and short cuts Tony
 
#14 ·
What else did we hate cleaning in the galley then gents?. I never used to mind doing the meat slicer, in fact got some sort of perverse kick out of the getting the mechanics of it right, never used to mind the steamer for some reason or other, found the stove a pain in the **** so used to try and do it most nights so it never used to get on top of you. My pet hate for cleaning, or strapping up was probably individual derrier moulds after there'd been a duff on for sweet, and why was it called 'strap up'? come on old hands never did think of asking that one when I was at sea.
 
#19 ·
I remember a galley boy on the trawlers who gave the spuds a short back and sides, they finished up like oxo cubes, when the cook pulled him about it he replied ''peel the b@st€rds yourself'' then turned in, he got sack and i don,t think he went to sea again,(Jester)'cueball44'.
 
#21 ·
I was galley boy on the worst ship I had the misfortune to serve on, B.M's La ***bre 18-3-55 - 22-1-56. Supposed to be Home Trade; yeah! Ten months later, paid off in Emden, because the bucket of rust nearly sank in a storm in the Channel. Anyway the point; if you pull up a photo of the La ***bre you will see a hut of sorts on the extreme aft, that was the potato locker. I spent many a hour spud bashing, climbing into the "spud locker" just for peace and quiet. Something to be said for spud bashing.

Good sailing Rodney R602188
 
#23 ·
Being a deckie, I didnt have much to do with the galley, but on one ship, the rock dodger, Firth Fisher, it was our job to go in the galley at 05.00, and flash up the oil fired stove ready for the cook who turned to at 06.00.
This stove was a right royal bas**** of a thing and it would often take a full hour before it would ignite. The cook, couldnt even get it going sometimes, then we would all get sandwiches until the engineer could be persuaded to have a look at it.
Luckily there was a chip shop handy at each end of our Warren Point to Garston run.
regards,
Pat(Thumb)
 
#24 ·
Being a sparks I had very little to do with the galley but on 1960s built British ships with their total separation of officer and crew accommodation, going via the galley was the only "indoor" route from one place to the other. One day, in the Pentland firth, we were being bounced around worse than usual and I was summoned to investigate a failure of the TV in the crew mess. So I headed down to the officer's saloon, through the double swing doors to the galley and was heading for the other set of swing doors when I spotted the 2nd cook looking a bit greeen round the gills. One minute he was stirring his pot of soup and the next he was contributing to it. Nobody had the soup that night and the Chief Steward blamed me for talking.
 
#26 ·
Hi Fredw if I remember right the beer outbound was Tennants Export for the life of me can't remember the Kiwi beer homewards. Must of been strong though 'cause a deckie who I rarely saw sober had an appendix burst!!!!!!! Had the op in the mess room & the drugs didn't knock him out felt the op all the way through.
Sagalout
 
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