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Rockhampton Star ~ August 1973 in Seaforth Terminal, Liverpool ~ Photograph © David Fox

http://www.bluestarline.org/rockhampton.html#dfox

[David Fox]

A bit of white water for the Rockhampton Star (1973)on my first voyage to sea. And I kept my lunch and breakfast down.
David Fox

[A.D.Frost]

Remember this Dave.I wonder who got (stole)it when it went to scrap(re-cycle)

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[David Fox]

Wasn't this the one in the passenger lounge? Didn't it also say the name of the company the ship belonged to? Bermuda Shipping comes to mind , but could be wrong. All the ships had their own companies didn't they, sort of a tax fiddle or limited liability? Though it kept a lot of us in good jobs for a long time unlike some of the companies now that flag out (so to speak). A local telephone company comes to mind.

[David Fox]

No wonder the Rocky lasted so well, all that oil, boot topping,read lead paint and scavenge **** that got plastered on the after deck (and me) during my crossing the line initiation.
In the foreground to Port is King Neptune Clive (Omar) Sherrif 3/E. His outfit took quite a bit of Clive and Phil Catchpole's (4/E) time to sew together and paint but it didn't stop Clive becoming as messed up as myself. It took 3 weeks for the red lead etc. to work itself out of my pores and hair onto the bed linen. Imagine the H&S police now.
Thanks to Paul Talmage 2/E for taking the pictures and keeping the ladies midships.
Reading some of the old posts the Rocky seemed to have had a good effect and memory on everybody who had sailed in her.

Those were the days eh!

[A.D.Frost]

Dave, 'Rocky' was not part of the scam.You're thinking of Sailent Shg.Hamilton,Bemuda.(A brass plaque company)partly a tax dodge and partly to deflect criticism off such Premire British Shipping Co.as BSL building ships in Germany at the time,eg.HOBART,GLADSTONE,TOWNSVILE etc.(bare-boat charterd from Sailent Shg.to BSL and regersted in Hamilton)some thing similar to when they Sold/Transfered the 'A' Boats to HK (What goes around,comes around?)

[David Fox]

Joined Rockhampton Star 17/8/1973 sailed from Liverpool to Avonmouth HT.
Sailed 4/9/73 from Avonmouth FGN , calling at Rotterdam, Hamburg where Clive Sheriff 3/E, John Daymond 3/O and a couple of others decided to introduce me to the Zillatol, Winklestrasse and generally the Red Light area of Hamburg. Eye opener it was.

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Loading general.

At one hostellery that seemed to be in a underground car park in which young ladies were taking their dogs for a walk, the lady behind the bar looked as if she had either taken her top off to cool down or didn't have a clean white one for the evening so didn't bother. John our 3/O who claimed had studied German at school, said he would order the drinks as he spoke the lingua franca. The young lady in broad Geordie that even Clive could understand (Clive being from Sunderland) asked John to speak in English as then she would be able to understand him. Swarve John looked rather red faced after that.

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Panama for bunkers.
Crossing the line 'ceremony' initiation, call it what you will.

Cadet with his hands in a drum of who knows what.

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Clive Sheriff as Neptune up against the stern was in a similar state by the time it was over.
4/O R Hills in white boilersuit and Jim Harrington 5/E in blue boilersuit.

I understand Austin Chivers the master was not amused at the resulting modern art paint design afterwards. It was what you would call Distrupted Pattern Camouflage. Needless to say, I am sure the deck and hull plating in that area did not suffer much wasteage due to rust after that.
It took at least a week for the red lead/boot topping and other assorted liquids to surface from my pores, leaving pillow cases and towels red the same applying to Clive, but we are still here to tell the tale.

[David Fox]

After a major overhaul on a generator with the Chinese mechanics and taking Indicator Cards with the 2nd we arrived in Auckland NZ at the bottom of Queens Street, Queens Wharf, handy for the 'fleshpots' of Auckland. MaGleesons was it and a couple of hotels most favoured.

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Discharge of general, then Mt Monganoui at which I was given the weekend off to visit some distant relatives who took me to see and smell Rotorua.

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Think we also called at Napier to discharge at which there was a Shaw Savil Agents and in the window was an advert saying- TRAVEL SHAW SAVILL
to which some white crewed BSL ships lads had taken a pot of paint and added " BETTER BY FAR, TRAVEL BLUE STAR , obviously good company men who thought well of our Shipowner, and a bit of extra publicity never goes amiss.

One of the many parties we had, here is one with Phil Catchpole, Clive Sheriff and R. Hills 4th Mate (sat down). Wonder if he has as much hair now or wished he had.

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Phil was always a bit white faced due to the 12/4 watch, but not that white, obviously too near the flash. I photoshopped it as best I could, it just made the background darker.

Wellington was another port for discharge, I was really getting the Cooks Tour. It was here that one weekend Deck Cadet Stephen Harrison and I went horse riding amongst the hills of Wellington organised by one of the guests at an officers party.

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I didn't think at the time I would have a future Master acting as groom, or maybe owner.
But we had a good time and away from the ship.

There cannot have been much in the way of reefer cargoes available so we took a full load of bagged milk powder to Peru.

[David Fox]

Well it was Christmas Day in the Workhouse as we crossed the Pacific Ocean at our regulation 17 1/2 knots.
Fred Frech the new 2nd Engineer asked me if I would take a watch for Phill the 4/E so he could have Christmas lunch with the lads. I had been on the ship about 3 month at this point, been on watch with all the watchkeepers and served a 4 year apprenticeship repairing ships so I had a bit of an idea what went on, so I did.
Prior to entering Callao I was asked if I would like to swap positions with Stephen the Deck Cadet, I would go on the bridge and he would see what Stand By was like down the pit.
So no boilersuit, but an ironed white tropical shirt, shorts and steaming bonnet. I had never worn my cap up to that point. It took me 15 minutes in front of the mirror trying to get it right. I mean nobody tells you how it should look, pushed back 'African Queen' style, a jaunty angle to the side in the 'Hello Sailor!' fashion, or in Parrot Face Davis style which means you cannot see unless you have a crick in your neck.
So up to the Bridge fully booted and spurred during the 8/12 with our German speaking 3/O (remember him?) John Daymond. As I come through the door onto the bridge, he turns, and says, " And you can take that off for a start" indicating my cap in not so many words. That was the 1st and last time I ever wore that cap in 10 years with the company, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.
So we thread our way through the Peruvian Navy (one half ex RN and the other USN, all past their sail by date). Judging by the state of Peru they would not have been able afford the oil to power these steam ships that were worn out anyway.

A few of us went ashore to sample the local cuisine and vintners offerings. We had what we thought and was told was pork in a white sauce, which we decided later must have been llama, bit tough, strange taste unlike pork, but pallatable. Wine, well, one for laying down, laying down and avoiding. I reckon the bosun could have made good use of it for cleaning paint brushes, but then after half a bottle you had lost your taste buds anyway, sort of numb they were.
Whilst ashore Phil bought a bottle of Pisco, a local fire water and was used to make Pisco Sours. Think he was attracted to the bottle as it was black earthenware with a face and the ears were two handles.
I had a wander round Lima of which Callao is the port. Talk about the difference between rich and poor. Fancy shops selling the latest fashions, lots of jewellery shops, yet many beggars in rags missing limbs holding their hands out for a few gozzonks. Definitely an eye opener for a 21 year old that had never been out of Britain before.

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When we moved down to Mollendo it was not much of a place, we used ships gear I believe and if the odd bag of milk powder came off the pallet on the quay, there would be youngsters quick as a flash have it a way and decant it into their own containers and bags to take home to the family.

One day when we had almost finished discharge and we were working on replacement of a main engine cam follower for a fuel pump, John Rendle 2/O arrived down below and asked how long it would be before he could have the engine. Seems that the Master Austin Chivers and Mate Harry Owen were ashore perhaps sampling what we had, with the Agent. We were discharging an innocuous cargo, almost finished, good lad that 2/O plus he had the German speaking 3/O, 4th Mate and Steve the cadet.
It seemed the wharfies had taken a leaf out of the Aussie & Kiwi's wharfies book, but a bit more realistic and some English speaking boss man had told Renders that there was a tidal wave coming, we had better stop cargo and you better get out to sea and head into it.
Hearing that from Renders , we got boxed up and prepared the engine for sea. Poor John perhaps changed his trouser for a darker colour and tried to look up what do you do with tidal waves. Command at last, but at what price fame.

If we had sailed, I would have loved to have seen the look on the Austin and Harry's face,

" I am sure we left the ship here"
"How many of those bottles of wine did we drink"?

" Whose got the keys, give them a plink, we might have got wrong Dock, it will blow the ships siren(that's if those ginger beers haven't shut the air off) and flash the Funnel Floods".

Fortunately for everybody concerned they returned to the ship with the agent and he got to the bottom of it. It meant an extra night in for the lads and another half days pay for the wharfies.

I think Tidal Waves beat Rain Checks any day.

Next instalment, Crossing the Pacific back to Kiwi.

[David Fox]

We were going back to Kiwi lightship but with a bit of paying cargo in the shape of 6 passengers.
Two married couples and a couple of young ladies who I seem to remember were teachers.
As we left at a reasonable time and very little pilotage Full Away was soon accomplished, there was a cocktail party for the passengers in the bar before dinner. Fred Frech asked the two young ladies towards the end of dinner if they would like to join the rest of the Officers in the bar for coffee and after dinner drinks. They accepted and given an open invitation for the voyage.
There was one night when there was a board game going on and drinks flowing that the day workers handed over to the 8/12 who kept things going until the 12/4 came off watch who decided at 6 am that it was time to call it a night before the stewards were up and about.
The ladies missed breakfast that morning and when they did surface were feeling a little under the weather to say the least.
On arrival New Zealand after passenger discharge we loaded a full cargo of NZ Cheddar at Port Taranaki, New Plymouth.

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Its surprising how that clipping has survived from early 1974, which was sent to Stephen by a young lady he met at the time.

Onward and upward to the USA.