[LANCE BALL]

I did my first twelve years at sea on tramps out of Newcastle ,Souters , Sutherlands and WHSN, West Hartlepool Steam Nav. I enjoyed it, the longest voyage was 2yrs 1month which at the age of 17 to 19 was a wonderful adventure to a young man. The ship was badly run and hungry but it did not seem to matter.
Then the usual happened , masters ticket, marriage and a change to coastal /middle trade but i have always been glad that I spent those years roaming around the world and seeing so many places, often very primitive in a world that has disappeared,and that I saw all the continents and oceans of the world

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I tend to think of the classic tramp as a single tweendecker, like an SD14. Certainly there is a borderline between the tramp and the liner - some ships can be used either tramping or in liner service.

Here's one such, a "modern" ship with fully folding tweendecks and box shaped holds and container fitted (she's tramping in the picture)

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/galler...Kwangtung_.JPG

We do speak of the tramp containership meaning a containership that is owned for the purpose of being timechartered to container lines but since these ships are always by definition in liner trades even if not their own I am not very happy with the term.

I suppose today's real tramp is the handysize bulk carrier.

[Trampshipman]

[quote=Jim Brady;272442]I dont know about the three R's but the name Baron or King comes to me.
You would scatter from the Pool when ever one of these were "going through"
As you approached the Pool the conversation would be"Whats going through
boys" any Tramps going was bad news. Fortunately most of the guys that
sailed (no option) on these ships had a bad discharge i.e. Double DR single
DR or V.N.C..This is why the crew was made up of a crowd of "Cowboys".
On the other hand you could have a crowd that wanted to clear their book
and get accepted back onto the Pool as a "good boy"
The story goes the guy was in the Pool and was offered this nice ship the
Barongedes which he accepted when he got down to the ship it turned out
tobe the Baron Geddes!!!

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I sailed in Baron Yarborough in 1949. Primitive and very poor conditions. BOT ration scales [on your pound and pint], hungry all the time. Lived in `open foc`sle. Had to bath in a `bucket`. only water supply was `midships outside the galley. Stinking `icebox` on lower bridge, green meat after a week or two. Everything else infested with weevils, which you ate anyway because the only alternative was to starve.
The `punch line`is :- I did not know of ANYONE aboard that ship who had a DR [Bad discharge], or was a `COWBOY`.
Regardless, I wish I was back aboard her now.

Regards.

Ken.

[Dickyboy]

Though not trampers in the accepted sense of the word, I was on Many of BPs Product Carriers. We joined ships anywhere in the world, did trips from anywhere to everywhere. Had changes of orders frequently, we went where the cargoes were required, discharging parcels all over the place. Often discharging, loading another cargo, then returning to back load the original cargo. Orders could be changed at any time, even mid ocean. Often the first indication we would have of a change of orders was when the ship began to vibrate due to a change of course. I also joined a couple of ships in NW Europe and ended up coasting the Far East, Australia and New Zeland with no idea when joining the ships where I would end up. Not real tramping, and often the turnrounds were quite quick, but it was interesting and fun.
Often we got LEFO (Lands End For Orders) but never got there

[tudor]

Originally Posted by barney b

Surely a tramp is a ship with no regular routes. All Shell tankers were tramps, never knew where you were going from one trip to another.Also never knew when you would get off. Spent 12 months on the Valvata,must have been mad because could have paid off in drydock in Bremenhaven. Also sailed on Uskbridge one of Jones of Newport they were also tramps,especially when they lost contract between Ireland and Casablanca with phosate.We even went to the States and really got hammered going across N Atlantic,plates on bridge buckled in and windows broken.They were real ships, not like todays lot floating around in palaces.Ah happy days, I Think!!!

Hello Barney..I was on that trip, Uskbridge, maybe 1968...to the states, mexico and down to BA...great trip, good tramping, crossing the line and all that good stuff. I was the deck apprentice until they sold out soon after.....Tudor Palmer

[Split]

[quote=Trampshipman;430793]

Originally Posted by Jim Brady

I dont know about the three R's but the name Baron or King comes to me.
You would scatter from the Pool when ever one of these were "going through"
As you approached the Pool the conversation would be"Whats going through
boys" any Tramps going was bad news. Fortunately most of the guys that
sailed (no option) on these ships had a bad discharge i.e. Double DR single
DR or V.N.C..This is why the crew was made up of a crowd of "Cowboys".
On the other hand you could have a crowd that wanted to clear their book
and get accepted back onto the Pool as a "good boy"
The story goes the guy was in the Pool and was offered this nice ship the
Barongedes which he accepted when he got down to the ship it turned out
tobe the Baron Geddes!!!

0
0

I sailed in Baron Yarborough in 1949. Primitive and very poor conditions. BOT ration scales [on your pound and pint], hungry all the time. Lived in `open foc`sle. Had to bath in a `bucket`. only water supply was `midships outside the galley. Stinking `icebox` on lower bridge, green meat after a week or two. Everything else infested with weevils, which you ate anyway because the only alternative was to starve.
The `punch line`is :- I did not know of ANYONE aboard that ship who had a DR [Bad discharge], or was a `COWBOY`.
Regardless, I wish I was back aboard her now.

Regards.

Ken.

Crikey, Ken! How can you wish to be back on one of those? In 1948 I made my first voyage as apprentice on a Counties Ship Fort.

Sounds as if she was a dozen times better than yours. We all moaned, of course, but the conditions you were sailing under were, frankly, a disgrace. Hogarth, Chapman, Ropner were all company names to send a shiver down our spines!