# The Company Code Book



## John Briggs

How many remember the code book that the old man had in the ship’s safe?
Any radio message sent or received that was of a highly confidential nature was in code.
Such as – “Ship has been sold to Greek interests, proceed direct to Calcutta and advise earliest ETA”
If messages such as this were not in code they would be all around the ship before the old man ever saw the telegram.

I used to send a departure message immediately after departing each port with details such as
tonnage of cargo on board/loaded, bunkers and water remaining, ETA next port etc.
As this was 40 years ago my memory is a bit hazy but I don’t think this message was in code but was
certainly in a sort of shorthand.

I would love to know if any sparkies cracked the code and had a quiet little chuckle when they
handed the telegram to the old man.


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## surfaceblow

All of the messages sent to and from the vessel was in a company shorthand (code) then sent by the R/O. (The company did not want to pay for longhand messages). Over the years I got well verse in writing and reading the messages with out the need to reference the code book which sat in the bookcase behind my desk with another one in the Captain's Office. I would write all of my own messages and give them to the Captain who would proof read and make sure that they were sent. 

We also had a US Navy Code Book which was kept in the safe for military actions. Several times a year we would receive a massage that required us to decode and answer the message correctly. Most of these type of massages were to let us know that the code book was out of date and a new code book was to be used.

Joe


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## chadburn

surfaceblow said:


> All of the messages sent to and from the vessel was in a company shorthand (code) then sent by the R/O. (The company did not want to pay for longhand messages). Over the years I got well verse in writing and reading the messages with out the need to reference the code book which sat in the bookcase behind my desk with another one in the Captain's Office. I would write all of my own messages and give them to the Captain who would proof read and make sure that they were sent.
> 
> We also had a US Navy Code Book which was kept in the safe for military actions. Several times a year we would receive a massage that required us to decode and answer the message correctly. Most of these type of massages were to let us know that the code book was out of date and a new code book was to be used.
> 
> Joe


On British registered vessels it was my task during Exercises (if I was home pre 1981) to board and check the Admiralty publications held in the Admiralty or Company safe to ensure that they were up to date by doing a page by page muster and then signing off any changes, the envelope that contained the instructions on the action the O/M should take in the event of had a code word which on receipt of same the O/M would open and carry out the instructions.


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## Binnacle

John Briggs said:


> How many remember the code book that the old man had in the ship’s safe?
> Any radio message sent or received that was of a highly confidential nature was in code.
> Such as – “Ship has been sold to Greek interests, proceed direct to Calcutta and advise earliest ETA”
> If messages such as this were not in code they would be all around the ship before the old man ever saw the telegram.
> 
> I used to send a departure message immediately after departing each port with details such as
> tonnage of cargo on board/loaded, bunkers and water remaining, ETA next port etc.
> As this was 40 years ago my memory is a bit hazy but I don’t think this message was in code but was
> certainly in a sort of shorthand.
> 
> I would love to know if any sparkies cracked the code and had a quiet little chuckle when they
> handed the telegram to the old man.


Are you referring to the commercial codes such as Lombard which some companies used to reduce costs and provide a certain amount of privacy ? I never used it myself but remember on passages where a coded sitrep message was sent weekly to the owners. Recently on the R/Os Forum there was an interesting discussion on the subject. It crossed my mind that a code book would be handy if sparks had flipped and you were arranging white coated attendants and a relief at the next port of call (Jester)


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## makko

As an engineer, the only time that I saw a code book (Admiralty Codebook) was when the ship I was on was being sold and at anchor in Sigapore Roads. We were ordered to either return the codebook (embassy attache) or destroy it. It literally turned to dust in our hands and was deep sixed! The little I did see gave instructions for convoys and stuff - It seemed rather archaic.
Rgds.
Dave


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## John Dryden

''It crossed my mind that a code book would be handy if sparks had flipped and you were arranging white coated attendants and a relief at the next port of call '' that made me laugh Binnacle..hope the sparkies don,t see it(Jester)


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## Stephen J. Card

On board ICENIC there was a large brass key hanging over my desk marked "DEMS Gear" I knew what DEMS meant so one day decide to look in the chest stored in the mast house.... Top Secret Admiralty stuff.... about 100 yard of blackout cloth!!!!


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## John Campbell

John Dryden said:


> ''It crossed my mind that a code book would be handy if sparks had flipped and you were arranging white coated attendants and a relief at the next port of call '' that made me laugh Binnacle..hope the sparkies don,t see it(Jester)


The Sparks on my first trip as Master _ flipped_ upon joining the ship in Singapore and it was an unforgettable experience I can tell you. We were enroute to Bahrain from Singapore on the Caltex Saigon . The poor chap had a severe attack of the DTs. We sailed from the anchorage shortly after he joined. When I called him from the Bridge I found him completely confused and told me he had wrecked the receivers station indicator pointer and refused to turn to and went to his bunk. Later as we sailed up the Mallaca Straits he was found on deck fully dressed in his shore going gear with his suitcases packed looking for the gangway. I confined him to his cabin under the watch of a seacunny .
I looked up the famous Medical Guide and there was precious little for me there except for Chlorapromazine which was utterly useless..Fortuneately I managed to get one of the Engineers to repair the receiver and by threats and cajolence we managed to get him to send our Departure cable at least three days late.

As we sailed on we managed to VHF a message to another overtaking Texaco tanker asking them to inform our Management that our R/O was unwell and that we request a replacement on arrival. As the days wore on he recoverd enough to send our ETA s etc and sure enough the attendants were there on the Bahrain Wharf when we berthed although I cannot remember if they were white coated. He was very truculent to us all and especially to myself which was most upsetting

I learned later that the poor chap returned to sea but was tragically killed returning to his ship falling from the gangway after a night ashore.

Re the H M Docs in the Safe - I remember having to take them all to the poop and burn them when our ship went to lay up in Brunei. These codes were used from time to time as test messages. There were two or three envelopes which were sealed and were not to be opened until orders were received from HMG.


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## chadburn

makko said:


> As an engineer, the only time that I saw a code book (Admiralty Codebook) was when the ship I was on was being sold and at anchor in Sigapore Roads. We were ordered to either return the codebook (embassy attache) or destroy it. It literally turned to dust in our hands and was deep sixed! The little I did see gave instructions for convoys and stuff - It seemed rather archaic.
> Rgds.
> Dave


During my MN Service and post MN Service I was a member of the RNR as an NCS Boarding Officer, it was something different. Rather archaic it may have been Dave but despite the size of the aircraft these days Convoying was/is still the best way to get the amount of material required over the Pond in the event of a non-nuclear War.


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## John Dryden

I did think there was an inkling of a yarn here John,glad you repaired the receiver but they were built like brick s**houses,fortunately!


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## makko

chadburn said:


> During my MN Service and post MN Service I was a member of the RNR as an NCS Boarding Officer, it was something different. Rather archaic it may have been Dave but despite the size of the aircraft these days Convoying was/is still the best way to get the amount of material required over the Pond in the event of a non-nuclear War.


Maybe it was that I was impressed by Hoagy's Defence Lecture and the implications of a nuclear air burst over the sea! As well, we had been clued up about the Tigerfish torpedoes and the microburst TX programming of them for one individual vessel.
Rgds.
Dave


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## Ian Beattie

I know Shell had their own five letter code which gave things like 3/O to be repatriated next port 4/E to tranship to whatever vessel in next port, but like all sneaky beaky sparkies we sussed them out and had lists of most of the meanings which had been gained over a period of time, and shared them too. Its much too long ago to remember what they were now though.
Cheers Ian


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## Butters

I have just been looking through one of my bookcase's and came across 'BENTLEY's Second Phrase Code - 1955 stamped inside is Purser's Office m.v.Waimea , which then reminded me that all Union Co., ships had Bentley's code books for communication with the various Company office's and agencies around Australasia. In later years I think Radio Officer's held these as cargo ships no longer had a Purser.

Butters


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## John Briggs

Looking at all the responses I am now slightly unsure as to my recollections.
I know we had a Commercial Code book and this was used to shorten (and therefore cheapen) messages but was not for security purposes.
I also feel sure (but now I am starting to doubt) that I also had a Company Code book for secure and private messages.
Whatever the case I know that at least one Code book was kept in my cabin.


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## chadburn

makko said:


> Maybe it was that I was impressed by Hoagy's Defence Lecture and the implications of a nuclear air burst over the sea! As well, we had been clued up about the Tigerfish torpedoes and the microburst TX programming of them for one individual vessel.
> Rgds.
> Dave


Hoagy was indeed an immpressive chap, learnt a lot from him during the time I spent with him. Great sense of humour.


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## Ian Beattie

John Briggs be well assured that you are not losing anything - it was a sparky thing to break codes because its what we like doing - I later joined GCHQ and if it hadn't been for the Blessed Maggie I would have been a destitute sparker but she gobbed about the company OH JOY!! until then nobody knew anything about us -- I really enjoyed not twiddling a dial to follow traffic - just ask any sparker about sitting on a singular frequency - OH HOW I love the MAGGIE mega money in retirement 

Cheers Ian


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## John Dryden

Ian Beattie said:


> John Briggs be well assured that you are not losing anything - it was a sparky thing to break codes because its what we like doing - I later joined GCHQ and if it hadn't been for the Blessed Maggie I would have been a destitute sparker but she gobbed about the company OH JOY!! until then nobody knew anything about us -- I really enjoyed not twiddling a dial to follow traffic - just ask any sparker about sitting on a singular frequency - OH HOW I love the MAGGIE mega money in retirement
> 
> Cheers Ian


I know more than one ex sparkie to take the trip to the murky waters of state radio malarkey..question is who,s at the top,John Briggs or the unknown shadows who never go ashore?


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## Ian Beattie

None of us could possibly tell you as as the phrase goes "we would have to kill you" boom boom
Cheers Ian


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## Vital Sparks

The BP code book was hardly ever used in anger but words from the code did creep into everyday messages, KIZTO (meaning = full stop), KJIJX (meaning = several pages from the company manual about tank preparation before loading ATK) and at the end KACNY (meaning = Acknowledge Brittankol). Messages were then always signed Brittankol thus rendering the last codeword redundant. Non company code words such as LEFO (Lands End for Orders) were common.


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## andysk

chadburn said:


> Hoagy .....


Carmichael ?


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## chadburn

andysk said:


> Carmichael ?


The very man, when he left the FAA, his War Role (as a Reservist) was with N.C.S. which is where I met him and trained by him for the Boarding Officers role. We did a number of Exercises including the big one in 1983 (which the recently revealed Queens speech was for). They also had the Newsreaders of the day making video tapes of how the build up to War was going which were played every morning at the Morning Conference. We did go to "War" as I remember reading the "we are at War with the following Countries message" after it had been decoded by the NOIC who was the only person who had the relevant code book in his office safe. It was an interesting read comparing the Coded with the De-Coded message and the words used for each Country.


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## oldman 80

Codes and Code books:-

Well of course there was the Dems stuff which was carried on British ships from the time I went to sea and before that.
It seemed to progressively phase out - and for the life of me I cant remember when it was done away with completely.
Certainly that stuff was nowhere to be seen by 1980, long gone I suspect.
During the Falklands War and for some period after, I remember feeling rather uncomfortable that we no longer had it.

Company (Commercial) Codes - well yes we had them - sort of.
Probably it would be better to describe them as " unique message formats" as opposed to codes, although coding was their clear intention. Not much secret about them though, except perhaps at message "waypoints" - ie Portishead, and the like.
Well you wouldn't want to "advertise" too much with them, 
Would You ?


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