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Gravesend sea school

259K views 627 replies 327 participants last post by  256565 
#1 ·
Anyone out there go to Gravesend sea school? (the peanut factory!!!).I had some good laughs there, I was there December '80 till April '81, (X class). I belive the place has just about closed down now.
 
#47 ·
Other sea schools

do you have any info on any other sea schools
The Vindicatrix was the T.S. at Sharpness in Gloucester and during its time from 39-66 it put thru 70000 odd boys to sea. If you tap in on google and put the word Vindi up will come it's website. I was there in 55 so I must be an old hand to these sprogs who went to sea in the 80's. Mike. P.S. There was quite alot of rivalry between Gravesend and us, but of course we 'Vindi' boys are the best.
 
#6 ·
peter lewis said:
hi to you timo iwent to gravesend april to june 1975 like yourself good memories and many laughs apparently the old school is now a training school for police cadets how times change its gone from making young boys ito fine young men to making fine young men into b*****ds (*)) (Hippy)
I was there between October and late December 1995 when the RMAS put us Engine Room Ratings through our Motormans course.

They were discussing the place being used for police training then. I think a local college was to take over the sea school.

I also remember Pikeys riding through the grounds on motor bikes.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I was at Gravesend in 1960,I don't recal many laughs,hunger yes,I recal eating some exceedingly stale sarnies me mum had put up for the train journey about a week after I arrived,of course eventualy everybody had to give in to hunger and eat the stuff put in front of you at meal times.
Evey course seemed to have its tobacco baron that would sell single capstan at thrupence a go out on the focs'le head
The only redeeming feature I recall was discovering a pub called the Albion Shades that would sell us a pint of black velvet and not report us.
Got into a fist fight with the only other Geordie on my intake and we both nearly got turfed out without our preciouse discharge book but I managed to stop me nose bleeding and he managed to realign his jaw and pretend to be the best of pals when the instructer caught us.

Did yers still sleep in those cells in the 1980's?
Happy days.
hee hee.
 
#366 ·
I was at gravesend july 57-oct 57 the snap was crap then, the cells was the same, the baccy barons was active , I was one of them 3d each but only Parky's. Mc'greber was the skipper and i remember a bloke name of Faulkner as an instructer. the lads from the vindy came up that year for a sports day best part being the boxing mill we had at the end of the day great days, great memories. Danny Rafferty
 
#9 ·
Tony D said:
Did yers still sleep in those cells in the 1980's?
Happy days.
hee hee.
Don't know when they were built, but the accomodation we had was little buildings separate from the main building that shook everytime a train passed.

I'm sure that crack in the ceiling got bigger and bigger over the three months I was there.
 
#10 ·
I attended the NSTS Sept-Dec '68. I went down to the pool when I got back to South Shields and was given my first ship, the ore carrier Cape Howe. We sailed on the 17th Dec, 4 days before my 17th birthday and I was away for 6 months on that first trip.

I don't remember many details about the sea school, I know I got in a bit of bother because I wasn't very good at doing my laundry. A couple of scouse lads used to pick on me about it, until one night they decided to apply boot polish to my privates. I put up quite a struggle, as you might guess! They were so impressed with my efforts that we were the best of pals for the rest of the course.

I must have improved my ironing because I was later made up to Leading Hand.

I don't remember any names from the course, but the school was run by a Captain Adlam? (not sure about spelling) at the time. I do remember that we nick-named the school rules book "The thoughts of Mao Tse Adlam" inspired by Mao's little Red book of the Chinese cultural revolution.

Rowing on the Thames is one memory I have retained, it was bl**dy cold!
 
#481 ·
Cape Howe



hi,
Just spotted your thread and was pleasantly surprised to see you made your 1st trip on the good ship Cape Howe as i also made mine on her in November 1972 Newport ( Wales ) to Port Cartier ( Canada )
They made me peggy on my first trip what a nightmare that turned into, 6 weeks was enough for me but still some good memories i guess.
 
#419 ·
Sailor Factory


Hi Broady I was at Gravesend at the same time as you(Aug-Dec 78, I was the little Geordie in Dorm 1, must admit to start with it was a very daunting experience, but what later transpired was the beginning of some quality friendships and a great life on the ocean waves for me
 
#446 ·
I t was peanuts in 1959, I think it was because when you were finaly allowed out you had to be in twos like peanuts in a shell.the only change made to the building was changing the screws from female to male.What a dump but i enjoyed every minute of it, got my discharge book and railway warrent to liverpool, turned up at the pool the same day i left gravesend and was given my first ship. SS ulster drover, a cattle boat trading between Liverpool and londonderry a 600 ton coal burning hulk. stuck it for 6 weeks then went deep sea with orient line the Oronsay was refitting in liverpool
signed on as bell boy grat times
 
#14 ·
peter lewis said:
hi to you timo iwent to gravesend april to june 1975 like yourself good memories and many laughs apparently the old school is now a training school for police cadets how times change its gone from making young boys ito fine young men to making fine young men into b*****ds (*)) (Hippy)
sorry peter.... my daughter is a police cadet and she read your comments LOL
she says to tell you its barstwds like us(female police cadets) that make *****s like you stand to attention (Thumb) lol
 
#16 ·
jim im not a barsteward im a cook last time i stood to attention was probably at sea school tony d you mentioned the sea school once being a womens prison i had this conversaition with a old salt a couple of weeks ago i have since checked it out on the gravesend association apparently it was never a womens prison there is a good write up on the history of the school on the site
 
#17 ·
Must have been a prison of some kind we all slept in cells off landing with a open space from roof to ground floor in front,like HMP Slade, one does not recal safety nets lest some poor inmate decide to end the misery and leap to his death,anyway had someone done it one suspects the rest of us would have fell upon the corpse and devoured it,we was ****in starving all the time.
(EEK)
 
#18 ·
No, it wasn't ever a womens prison, I think the correct story is that it was built purposefully at the end of the war to train much sought after Merchant Seamen.
We're not use to the kind of hardship they endured back in the 40s, then they were probably thankful for a job.
No it wasn't a picnic, I was there back in 1963 or 1964 I'm not too sure, the old memory wears thinner year by year, the way you have to look at it is it was the gate-way into the Merchant Navy, possibly the best 5 working years of my life, giving me so many good memories.
By the way how many people who went to sea heard the phrase 'pass that tin..........................................'
It mystyfied me for many a day, now it amuses me when I think about it.
So if one day you have a passing thought about some-thing special that happened to you because of your sea days then just remember of the 'gratitude ' we should show the training school for turning us into something that was acceptable to our future employers.
Cheers.............to the 'peanut factory'.
 
#505 ·
Sea School



I lived in Gravesend for the first 16 yrs of, my life. The lads from the sea school used to pop into our youth club which was beside the railway crossing on the marshes.(Denton).
I never did know why we called the lads peanuts? (affectionately). Seems rude now but,it wasn't an insult at,the time..Although, some of the local idiots always wanted to pick fights with the lads.

Odd how a few years later I ended up sailing on a few merchant coasters.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Oh I don't regret it,I loved my time at sea but the overwhelming memory I have of Gravesend is being hungry all the time,and I was not alone in that, I was fortunate in that It was there Christmas period 1960 and we got a weeks leave which I recall I spent eating me mum out of house and home making up for it, and stocking up for the lean days to come
(*))
 
#20 ·
NSTS Gravesend

I was at the "peanut factory" left in April 1966 just as the strike was finishing. It was hell at the time, cocoa and spicy buns I seem to recall were the highlight of the day. I was in the catering school and learned much that i was able to use throughout my working life as a hotel manager, licensee and caterer.

Shaun Rennison. Hull
 
#409 ·
I was at the "peanut factory" left in April 1966 just as the strike was finishing. It was hell at the time, cocoa and spicy buns I seem to recall were the highlight of the day. I was in the catering school and learned much that i was able to use throughout my working life as a hotel manager, licensee and caterer.

Shaun Rennison. Hull
shaun are you still about was at seaschool gravesend april 1966/
Adrian goode
 
#21 ·
Ouch!

peter lewis said:
hi to you timo iwent to gravesend april to june 1975 like yourself good memories and many laughs apparently the old school is now a training school for police cadets how times change its gone from making young boys ito fine young men to making fine young men into b*****ds (*)) (Hippy)

Hang on Peter, that´s a bit rough!!
I was a peanut in 1972 , also "X" class and had some laughs and some misery there, but I was in the crew of the boat that won the Thames rowing regatta ( or similar name ) and it toughened us no end......

THEN I joined the Police in 1982 and ended up doing the Police training in Kent too, at Ashford!
Fact : If I had not been sorted out at Sea School & as a tankerman, I would not have joined the Police and had another wonderful career.

(Jester)

LOL Rick
 
#23 ·
Timo,

I was in X class 8th September 1980 to 12th December 1980. As you would of been walking in the place, I was on the way out to the train station. I would of been one of those shouting the saying "Peanuts your never going home" which was part of the banter at the time. By the time they were cutting your hair off, I would be at home.

"One more wakey wakey. One more rise and shine. One more bowl of frosties and freedom will be mine" (sung to the tune of Rule Brittania)

The term "Peanut" I was told derived back in the early days of the the school when a peanut seller used to sell his wares along the road down to the sea school, shouting "Peanuts" for sale. The name was then adopted by the inmates.
 
#25 ·
Never went to the sea school i was lucky got ship and learnt the hard way,But I do remember some of the young lads turning up to join the ship in their uniform issue,did the two departments have diifferent coloured shoulder flashes One young lad came on board from the shipping office in Falmouth ,he was full of vim and vinegar,had been a bosun or bosun`s mate at the school or whatever ratings you had there,thought it would count for something,he soon got let down with a bang poor kid.But he ended up being a good willing youngster
 
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