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anyone remember the 56 hour week

11K views 36 replies 24 participants last post by  Shane O'Connor 
#1 ·
joined Port Wellington 1966 given cup knife and fork and I think condensed milk , an old metal bunk and a 56 hour week plus i days leave for each sunday at sea. they were great days but what a difference when we got through the strike ,a 44 hour week, mostly that meant that those men that couldn't before, could now afford at trip ashore and a good time. full employment for 50,000 seamen in the merchant navy. I would do it all again , the comradeship ,the feeling of being proud to be a seaman , those were the days my friends we thought they would never end.
 
#2 ·
Remember it well 56hr week for £10 a month, board of trade rations,I shipped out April 1954 two weeks before my16th birthday on a Savages coaster 4on 4 off stuck it 3weeks then shipped out on a B.P. Tanker as deckboy lousy food and bloody awful accommodation freezing in the cold weather and sweating like a pig chipping the rust up the perishing gulf,finished in 1969 on £76 a month 44hr week,but still a dreamer with rose tinted glasses who would do it all again.
 
#5 ·
good post Tom


good post Tom , good memories and good to talk to someone who knows, I have a mate still at sea that I sailed with back in the day,he said it's so hard to talk to shipmates who only know todays life , so go to talk to anyone from the 60's and all the stories. He said a deck boy on his ship thought a derrick was his dick. I hope the head block works. abit of humour.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I went to sea in 1958 as a deck boy in Blue Funnel. my working day commenced at 06.00 and finished as soon as I had managed to clear up after the crew had eaten their dinner, usually about 18.00. This was every day in the week, except Sunday when we got 3 hours off in the afternoon for dhobi etc. call it 80 hours per week for the princely sum of £3/6s/8d per week, all found.
Despite what others may say, I very definitely would not do it all again!
 
#8 ·
Working ashore, overtime is paid at time and a half, or double time. At sea the overtime rate was a miserable pittance, less than half the hourly rate if I remember right.
My pay off after my first voyage of three months amounted to less than £25,after deductions for tax and subs. The only ssving grace was the crowd had a whip round in the shipping office for the two deck boys, and we shared an extra £12.
Regards,
Pat
 
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#11 ·
By gosh Pat what a tight bunch you sailed with first trip I ended up with around forty pounds tips but then that was from the firemens mess as well and a couple of engineers as I used to take ice water down the engine room,the only one off the deck who didn't tip me was a miserable scots Canadian,I saw him years later when docking in stanlow on the Hyria he was in the shore gang,the tips were great as I had to send four pounds a month to my mum and out of ten pounds a month before stoppages I had little left pay off day.
 
#9 ·
Joined Shell Tanker Venassa in late 1965 as a 'Fireman/Greaser.' Just caught the 7 day week as I was at sea aboard her during the strike (was an NUS member at the time.)
Did the Hemisinus and the Vitta after that with a better working week, (and more overtime.) (Smoke)
 
#12 ·
You have to remember Tom that £6 was equivalent to almost 2 weeks wages for a 'peggy", and not to be sneezed at.
Having said that, some of the deck crowd on that Achilles on that voyage, were overbearing bullies. I was punched in the face by one AB for neglecting to wipe clean the top of a bottle of HP sauce.
 
#13 ·
Pat I am glad that Mr Greenwood back heeled me when I was interviewed by him I don't think I would have lasted in Blueys and the bullies ,I went to Aberdovey outward bound and treated the place like a holiday camp and believe me it was after 9 months at the Indefatigable so my report was not up to what Blueys deemed acceptable looking back I thank him for that tho some of the ships I sailed on were not up to Blueys standards I was soon hardened to bullying and tho one pillock of a chief engineer on my first trip deep sea smacked me in the face no one ever got away with bullying me again and being only 5'6 inches tall I I learned to take care of myself.
 
#17 ·
Those first couple of years I kind of liked the travelling, and the sunshine, and the foreign ports and so on, (you come from an industrial town in the West Midlands, Cleethorpes is somewhere exotic … :eek:) but there's no doubt that most of it was sheer drudgery. It took me a while to figure out that if you're going to work at sea, you need to be a doing a job you enjoy.

So I looked around the ship, and saw the sparks, (a very rare thing on a midships accommodation tanker in those days.) As far as I could tell, he worked about 10 minutes a day, for super money. (Believe me I learned this was a poor assessment in later years. (EEK))

So that's where I set my sights.

There's an old saying: "You learn far more from your f**k ups than ever you do from your successes." I learned. :sweat:

(It's mostly said in jest fellow keybashers …. MOSTLY.) (Jester)
 
#19 ·
Those first couple of years I kind of liked the travelling, and the sunshine, and the foreign ports and so on, (you come from an industrial town in the West Midlands, Cleethorpes is somewhere exotic … :eek:) but there's no doubt that most of it was sheer drudgery. It took me a while to figure out that if you're going to work at sea, you need to be a doing a job you enjoy.

So I looked around the ship, and saw the sparks, (a very rare thing on a midships accommodation tanker in those days.) As far as I could tell, he worked about 10 minutes a day, for super money. (Believe me I learned this was a poor assessment in later years. (EEK))

So that's where I set my sights.


There's an old saying: "You learn far more from your f**k ups than ever you do from your successes." I learned. :sweat:

(It's mostly said in jest fellow keybashers …. MOSTLY.) (Jester)
You could always identify the sparks. He was the 'Go to' man for books and magazines, his desk had heel marks on it, and he was always first man down the gangway on arrival at any port.
(Jester)
 
#18 ·
When I left school in 1966, I wanted and had the qualifications to join P&O as a navigating cadet. My memory might be a bit corroded now but if I remember right you had to buy books and uniforms including a set of whites and this came to around £200 in those days. The salary was £204 per year. My dad just could not afford the £200 for books and uniforms so it never happened.
Sometimes things work out for the best as in 1977 I got into the oil business which was quite new then and as I progressed over the years from taking X rays and Ultrasonic inspection to being a Company Rep on all sorts of vessels such as Diving vessels ,Pipelay ,Rockdump ,Construction , Heavy Lift crane vessels etc etc . So eventually my wish to be at sea came in a round about way.
Over the 35 years I ‘m sure I earned lots more money than if I had started at sea as was my wish at 16 years old and as a bonus I usually got the owners cabin as the Company Rep although in the early days it was 8 man cabins with a shower and toilet in the middle.
Happy days as it turned out and still managed to visit and work in many different countries.
 
#20 ·
I was an Engineer and it was always 56hrs because you were always on watch.
Even when unmanned engine rooms came along you were still Duty Engineer, on the bells, for at least two nights per week in addition to daywork, I suppose you might get a half day at the weekend if you were not on the bells.
On my last ship, before retirement, the Engineers still worked 56 hrs per week.
 
#24 ·
Towards the end I noticed a lot of disappearances. The lecky disappeared, the fifth engineers disappeared, along came UMS and suddenly there are only four engineers. Cadets disappeared.

I figured I'd get out before the big man with the scythe knocked my door in the middle of the night. :eek: (Jester)
 
#25 ·
Another bloke with a cushy number, in Blueys anyway, was the Lamptrimmer.
He was second in command of the deck crowd after the bosun, but in reality, he was a sort of storekeeper, whose domain was the focsle. He handed out the paint and brushes, scrapers and chipping hammers, and was guardian of the bales of cotton waste and drums of paraffin. Once he had handed out the gear to the lads, he retreated into his lair, pottering round with ropes and whammies, passing the day quietly and peacefully until knocking off time, when the crowd returned the paint etc. Then he would clean the paintbrushes, lock up the focsle and head aft with another long strenuous day under his belt.
His only real bit of action was during mooring operations when he was in command of the crowd on the aft moorings.
A much sought after job, only granted to company stanchions.
(Thumb)
 
#28 ·
Hi Tony
I joined the Dutch merchant navy and that was more or less the same, which meant that you could be away from home for 4 months and only ac***ulated a handful of leave days. The masters of the vessels had a directive, that, if you would arrive in port, say, 01:00 hours on Sunday to speed up a little, so you went alongside at 23:55 hours on Saturday. That way, he was saving the company to pay you an extra leave day. Another thing was, that by looking at the menu, you knew exactly which day of the week it was. But never mind all that, I had a great time, and like you, I would do it all over again.
 
#29 ·
my first deep sea job was Galley Boy on the British Gull,turn to 0600hrs-1300 hrs, 2hours off after lunch turn to 1500hrs -1900hrs, then the cook and second cook would strip off and throw their gear at me for Dhobi, usually took me an hour or so total hours each week about 84 all for 12 quid a month, but I would not swap it for the world!!!galley sports once a week as well!!
 
#30 ·
56 Hours a week, luxury!

As a Bankline junior lecky in 1975 (dual junior engineer/junior elect role) it was 56 hours a week on watch on the 8 to 12 with the 4th, and off watch if the weather was good out on deck with the Chief Elect overhauling winches, and alongside pulling port watchs keeping cargo winches going, and the extra pittance was worth it for the next port call, or that extra days leave, this was back when the pound went a long way of course, so 65 to 70 hours was sometimes possible. When I went into reefer ships, I found as Chief Elect I used to pull 80 hour plus weeks regularly trying to keep all that early automation going, worlds first computerised ships, but also engineers pulled some long days also, trying to keep those fiendish Pielsticks going, no one ever complained either. When I eventually found my way into offshore drilling, it is a 84 hour week up to 100 hours for 4 weeks, but at sea the 56 plus was for 6 to 9 months continuous and usually they were calling you after your second week home pleading with you to join another ship. Time for the Monty Python skit now, used to dream of 100 hours weeks!! Like many wouldn't have had it any other way, after 45 years at sea and offshore did what was my final deep sea trip just a couple of years ago.
 
#32 ·
On this subject Pat mentioned the bully boys and as I posted being five foot and all of six inches I got to soon look after myself but someone always has to have a go,a certain bosun in the palm line a nutter for sure was such a one not only to me but all of the deck crowd but he soon learnt never work under me,once when rigging up the derrick forward I was putting the pin in the head block when oh dear me it slipped out of my hand ,let's say he crapped himself as it landed on the deck behind him ,he paid of in Lagos soon after but not due to his near accident but some mental problems so the router was and by the way the skipper was a right bastard as well he used his position to bully all the crew sadly he never came out on deck when we were working aloft.
 
#35 ·
I remember well the 56 hr week, i joined as deck boy in 1958, nice shiny new deck knife and spike, all the terminology from my time at Gravesend, where did i go ?, straight to the messroom as peggy. Accommodation on the old Treworlas was all aft, and crossing the Atlantic in early spring, and trying to get all the seamans grub aft, from the midship galley. the only good thing about the 56 was apart from the wheel man and possibly the look out, it was stand down at the weekend, but not for the poor old peggy, kt
 
#36 ·
Tropical hours

4am till noon tropical hours seemed a great idea in the likes of Calcutta at the height of summer. Pity it was only an idea as it usually turned out to be 4am till 4pm for days on end changing Doxford 75LB spherical bearings and cylinder liners.
 
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