I was wondering what experiences some of you guys had when you did your junior RO time. Fresh from Leith Nautical with my 2nd Class PMG in my hand (which I had to hand back when I got the general, something I wish I'd never done), I signed up with Marconi. Although Liverpool was my depot, I was sent down to East Ham, then onto the Bendearg in dockland (all gone now).
First trip (as a sparky that is) was London/Panama/Pusan/Kaoshuing/HongKong/London (back via Cape of Good Hope, Suez was shut). Done in less than 3 months (Ben boats were nippy).
I always remember the year as 1970 because we were taking messages about the troubled Apollo 13 spacecraft and lists of frequencies we must not transmit on (fat chance of that with an Oceanspan Atalanta set up).
Now I understood you were supposed to do 6 months as a junior, but Marconi then put me on a Stephenson Clarke coastal collier (just over the limit to require an RO), and I was on my own because they said I could take her on with only 3 months experience. From their point of view, fine, I'm taking another ship off the book. From my point of view, not so good. There was no HF and while I enjoyed plodding up and down from the Thames to the NorthEast, I can't say I learnt much.
Next trip a year plusser on a Bank Boat, that was a baptism of fire with only a distant memory of my 3 months as a junior (a distant memory because on the coaster (a flattie, the 'Horsham') I spent a large amount of time in the pub.
I do remember the radar though, a Decca, with the transmitter up in the scanner. They had mentioned the model on the BOT Radar course at Leith, but then said we would never see one. I saw one. Close up. (POP)
First trip (as a sparky that is) was London/Panama/Pusan/Kaoshuing/HongKong/London (back via Cape of Good Hope, Suez was shut). Done in less than 3 months (Ben boats were nippy).
I always remember the year as 1970 because we were taking messages about the troubled Apollo 13 spacecraft and lists of frequencies we must not transmit on (fat chance of that with an Oceanspan Atalanta set up).
Now I understood you were supposed to do 6 months as a junior, but Marconi then put me on a Stephenson Clarke coastal collier (just over the limit to require an RO), and I was on my own because they said I could take her on with only 3 months experience. From their point of view, fine, I'm taking another ship off the book. From my point of view, not so good. There was no HF and while I enjoyed plodding up and down from the Thames to the NorthEast, I can't say I learnt much.
Next trip a year plusser on a Bank Boat, that was a baptism of fire with only a distant memory of my 3 months as a junior (a distant memory because on the coaster (a flattie, the 'Horsham') I spent a large amount of time in the pub.
I do remember the radar though, a Decca, with the transmitter up in the scanner. They had mentioned the model on the BOT Radar course at Leith, but then said we would never see one. I saw one. Close up. (POP)
