I did my first trip to sea as a Junior R/O straight out of Norwood Tech in the Rothesay, general from London & NW Europe to the usual Cape range up to Beira, then deciduous fruit from PE and Cape Town back to Le Havre and Southampton. I have three abiding memories of that 4 month voyage.
First, she never stopped rolling - some wags on board reckoned she'd roll in a drydock, and I'd tend to agree.
Second, there seemed to be a fire in the main engine scavenge spaces at least once a week (big bang, lots of black smoke and silence apart from the alarms ringing)
Third, a huge headache after my 21st birthday on passage from Le Havre across to Southampton. Most of the evening passed in a blur, partly 'cos I mislaid my glasses !
A good friendly & helpful crowd for my first trip, made a good start to my career at sea with B&C
Next time I saw her was in Cape Town alongside the repair jetty as a very shabby 'Laura' - sad to have seen the deterioration in her condition.
Cheers
Andy
