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My first Bluey

29K views 76 replies 22 participants last post by  TonyAllen 
#1 ·
My first encounter with the Blue Funnel line was back in 1959 when I was in Liverpool as a boy rating in the Wellington Star I was very impressed by there lines powerful majestic ships , the next time that I can remember was in 1962 when I was put ashore sick in Shanghai and from my hospital window on the first floor I could see the ships I could be wrong but I seem to remember seeing AH on one of the shed roofs there are those on this site who will know and who will be able to put me right I,m sure .
The one thing I know is that I had a taste of the far east and I wanted to get back but being from London it was difficult to pick up a ship trading out east ,so when I got back to the UK I contacted the Blue Funnel line it took me a couple of letters to Mr Greenwood have I got the right name again I reckon I,ll be put right there if I,m wrong but then again we are talking 52 years ago so I reckon I,m allowed to forget a few names on my first attempt I got a letter back telling me that there where no position's available for an AB so back to the pool next leave I wrote to Liverpool again this time a letter back telling me to come to Birkenhead to join Agapenor I well remember walking aboard with my gear and standing on deck looking up at that Blue funnel I still remember saying to myself I,m on a Blue Funnel ship off to Java great voyage and a great crew little Edgar Owen my cabin mate a wonderful tough little welsh man I was in 4 blueys all good trips but I have to say the Agapenor was my favourite how wonderful to have experienced those long gone times best regards to all hands .
 
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#43 ·
Thanks Hugh for the info.As I have posted before I was not considered Blue Funnel material as I left Aberdovey with the report that my second best efforts let me down I have posted before why.I take this opportunity to ask any Blue Funnel men do they remember my cousin Derek Roberts who lost his life in an accident aboard a Blue funnel ship in Glasgow in the late 60s.Derek was from Ruthin and is buried at Llanrhydd church Ruthin.
 
#50 · (Edited)
Perseus, Pyrrhus, Peleus & Patroclus were 4 of a kind (class) as were Neleus and Theseus.

Save for Pyrrhus sailed on all of them either coasting or voyage.

Favourite of all was the "A" class Autolycus, followed by the "H" class Hector. 7 voyages on Autolycus

Oh for just more trip as it used to be - what would we all give up to do it all just one more time.

BW

J(Gleam)(Gleam)
 
#52 ·
John,
Neleus and Theseus had a third sister, the Nestor.

I had good times on Autolycus as well. Although only coasting in her, with a crowd of heroes from Scotland Rd, we smuggled eight young ladies from Du Barry's Bar in Belfast on board, and had a high old time with them over to Glasgow, where they disembarked, heads held high, 24 hours after we tied up in KGV.
Best Regards,
Pat[=P]
 
#55 ·
Thanks for that Dave another of our once great shipping company,s gone ,at least I have the memories and of course the chance to keep the memories alive on here with like minded good old boys, I reckon I have got a couple of watches on the wheel left in me given half a chance having said that if there was half a chance I reckon I would get flattened in the rush to get up the gangway best regards to all hands Dave
 
#58 ·
Shoreside Splicing

I tread warily here since I am looking back near six decades, but when I worked for just a few months with a rigging firm i did my share of splicing mainly wire trawl warps. We had the facilities there to hold the wire and thimble in a vice with special jaw attachments then the standing part of the wire would be hauled vertical by means of an overhead block and made fast. After the first tucks I am almost certain the strands were run up one after the other. A finishing touch was to lay the splice on an anvil and gently beat out any irregularities; all nice and tiddly.

Keith
 
#59 ·
I tread warily here since I am looking back near six decades, but when I worked for just a few months with a rigging firm i did my share of splicing mainly wire trawl warps. We had the facilities there to hold the wire and thimble in a vice with special jaw attachments then the standing part of the wire would be hauled vertical by means of an overhead block and made fast. After the first tucks I am almost certain the strands were run up one after the other. A finishing touch was to lay the splice on an anvil and gently beat out any irregularities; all nice and tiddly.

Keith
More or less Keith, except I always hauled the standing part horizontally not vertically. As for special jaw attachments, saw them used in Cammell Lairds rigging loft, but they mainly were using hydraulic swaging instead of splicing at that time.

Pat(Thumb)
 
#60 ·
After four deepsea voyages, followed by a coasting voyage, on the Glengarry, I requested a voyage to Australia before I left the sea. Calverley, who appointed R/Os, was non-commital and sent me coasting on several ships for a period of about seven months, then asked, "How would you like the Deucalion. She's going to Australia?" Then added that the Ixion, fitting out in Belfast, would be ready next month and that Reg Peaston, who was to sail as her 1st RO/Purser, was ill and that, if he hadn't recovered, I could have her.

Reg recovered in time and I sailed from Liverpool on the Deucalion (Captain 'Film Star' Kerr) during the evening of Monday, 8 January, 1951. We broke down in the Mersey, it took 43 days to reach Melbourne, and we ended up going round Indonesian islands loading copra. (The story of the voyage is told in my Kindle book, Last Voyage and Beyond.)

The Deucalion had been the Glenogle, built in Glasgow by Harland & Wolff in 1920, and was part of the Glen Line Fleet acquired by Holts in 1935. Glenogle, Glenapp, Glengarry, Glenbeg, and five other vessels of the same design, had been the largest oil burning ships in the world and all were twin-screw motor vessels. The Glenogle, which was renamed Deucalion in 1949, had a gross tonnage of 9513 and accommodation for twelve passengers.

The other Glen Line ships listed above had been renamed as follows: Glenapp - Dardanus (GDXT) : Glengarry, which had been renamed Glenstrae in 1939 to release her name for the ship building in Copenhagen - Dolius (GCXD) : Glenbeg - Dymas (GBZK).
 
#66 · (Edited)
I have always loved that term 'go down,' does anyone know how or where it originated?

India used the term too & still does.

As to Blue Flue, yes their ships always looked powerful & business like similarly well cared for though I never hankered to join one, nor a Ben boat either. Not sure why. Guess I just liked my delightful trampers often looking unkempt by 'line' ship stds but always enjoyable, as well you were never sure where you would wind up. Crews also had that feeling of being born under the wandering star as Lee Marvin sang. Yes sir would love to do it again.
 
#72 ·
MY FIRST BLUEY was the Liberty Ship 'Samite', and the preamble up to joining her was as follows.

30 June 1943. Collected PMG Special Certificate at Dundee Wireless College.
1 July. Received telegram from Alfred Holt & Co. to attend for interview at 54 Ullet Road, Liverpool, at 9am the next day.
2 and 3 July. Interviewed, medically examined, and accepted into the Company.
5 July. Joined the Merchant Navy at the Mercantile Marine Office in Dundee.
7 July. Boarded HMTS Queen Elizabeth in Greenock.
14 July. Arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

After sojourns in hotels in Halifax and Baltimore, we sailed in Convoy UGS.18, bound for the Mediterranean, and trouble.

MY FIRST POST-WAR BLUEY was the Liberty Ship 'Samnesse', the story of which is contained in my book, OUTWARD BOUND. I never had a happier time at sea, and the book is now available on Amazon in both Kindle and print formats.
 
#73 ·
Like you Geoff my first Bluey was the Automedon in October 1964,joining as a still wet behind the ears engineer cadet,what an adventure,apart from a school trip to Interlaken in Switzerland in 1958 I hadnt been far from home before.Three and a half months later my first voyage completed couldnt wait to get home to share my experiences with family and friends.Always maintained that being able to travel the world for nearly 30 years was the best part of my education(A)
 
#74 ·
elpenor my first 1955 chef bill johnson 2nd cook joe hughes 2n steward vince .
other lad ronnnie baker brian yates Arthur graham captain A K HOLE...
.ABs mcvicar norman wong ,brian blease "also sailed with his brother joe on the catalina star"first trip far east .the old world ..after a battered ore carrier that was my first ship .they where a dream 9 trips in all ..memories
 
#75 ·
My first was the Achilles. I joined her in Birkenhead as first trip deck boy on December 24 1958.
I was seasick, homesick, and shocked to the core by the realities of life at sea as a 'Peggy'
I swore I would spend the rest of my life working on a farm if only I could escape.
There was no escape, but strangely enough, I went back for more.
(Sad)
 
#76 ·
We all now know that Blue Flue was something which would not last. Realisation came to some sooner than others; and some still pine for its passing, almost thirty years since the last ship of the fleet paid off.

I'm simply grateful that I knew it. It taught me much. It taught me, not least, that nothing tangible lasts forever. It also taught that certain principles have a value which does last forever; and the extent to ehich any one of us might value those principles is a personal matter entirely. I was in the company only for the first 12 months of my working life; and I haven't the slightest doubt that other readers in other companies learned farmore than i did in that time (Sept 1959 - October 1960).

First ship - Jason - Farmer Gould of Tyn-y-Gongl, Master.
 
#77 ·
I went from a snotty nose kids the education I never knew from a catholic school.from 90% of all the shipmates.that if you did your job without moaning you got respect .first time ashore in singapore was taken down to bugis street for an outdoor meal and looked after by the wise old heads .from swapping books with the guys on almost every thing you could think off ,"some naughty ones as well".they were the foundation for the rest of my life. fellas from wales. scots. the isles.cocknies.geordies.scousers .the old UK that we lived in.alass I was loured away by a lady when i should have known better ."never worked out the long run anyway"hut eat path I have taken since has been of my own choosing .hat of to all you blues out there Tony
 
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