# brits in ausi and nz



## John King

i was just wondering how many of you guys were jumpers regards jk


----------



## ALLAN WILD

Did three months in Mount Eden Jail in the 60s....sent home DBS. 
Then spent the next three months trying to get a ship, ended up in Everard's till the pool took me back on.
Happy days.


----------



## Phil Saul

John King said:


> i was just wondering how many of you guys were jumpers regards jk


Hi John,

I jumped out of the Federal boat Westmorland in '72 and lived in Auckland for two years.
Gave myself up and worked my passage back to UK in the Westmorland and then emigrated back to NZ in '77.
Best place in the world, despite the crap weather this morning.

Regards Phil (Thumb)


----------



## leejackman

I tried to dissapear in Rio but an agent found me(I just don't know how!) and somehow got me to the dock(I was in a stupor of course) the ship, the DRINA had already let go but the bosun went running down the deck shouting lower the gangway, once down, I jumped on to the gangway (a miricle in itself) later I flew to NZ and overstayed... the rest is history I'm still here in NZ


----------



## R396040

Shared a cabin for four months on St Helena with two others stewards in the 1950s. All they could talk about was Australia and how great it was and their intention of getting there someday to live/ Just wondered if they ever did and maybe surf this great site of ours nowadays old codgers like me !There names was "Roy" Rogers of Sudbury ? and Ned/Nick Scrimshaw, they would be in seventies by now.
Just a longshot, anyone know these guys ?
Stuart Henderson


----------



## leejackman

Hi Stuart... my late parents lived in Colchester and in the same street of a ROY who was a steward. He would be the age you are talking about, he used to sell stuff at boot sales after he retired. just a thought


----------



## R396040

*Oz/NZ*



leejackman said:


> Hi Stuart... my late parents lived in Colchester and in the same street of a ROY who was a steward. He would be the age you are talking about, he used to sell stuff at boot sales after he retired. just a thought


Hi Lee,
Thanks for your reply. Think my shipmate was named "Roy" after the same name d filmstar of real old westerns in those far off days, cant recall his real name but he definitely lived in Sudbury near a town centre pub which he was always on about. Guess that was our favourite topic of conversation when lots of ships were dry....
Cheers
Stuart


----------



## davyt

Hello John,re-jumping ship, I jumped the Huntingdon 18/12/65 in Napier, long story (not planned) made my way down to wellington to some girls I had gotten to know while spending about 6 weeks in port there they put me up over the festive season & I started work as a painter (brush hand) on 11th Jan 66. I got picked up on the 17/3/66 & got 60 days pending deportation. I did about 6 weeks in Mt Crawford then myself & a guy from Brighton called Dennis were escorted to Lyttleton & signed on the ***berland & worked our way back home during the strike.I was given all the overtime I wanted on the trip back only for NZSCo to take all expences we cost them in NZ a total of £51 odds & I paid off in drydock in swansea mid July with £13-9d-3d they never gave me a travel warrent to get home to saltcoats near Glasgow & I eventualy got home with £3 odds after being away around 15 month, but I wouldnt change a thing & I would do it all again given half a chance.those memories keep me going.Happy days they were.Davy Thomson Saltcoats Ayrshire.


----------



## Union Jack

*I was just wondering how many of you guys were jumpers*

Not a jumper myself but, when I was on exchange with the Royal Australian Navy in the late 1960s, I remember how I was shown what the Australians called *The World's Thickest Book*. They were actually quite shy about it, but I quickly discovered that what was a very thick book indeed was a detailed list of all the RN personnel who had gone on the run in Oz (marked as "R" in their Service Certificate,) running from late Victorian times right up to the date I sighted it, recalling that, at that time, some of those who done a runner at the turn of the century could still be alive, and theoretically liable to be recovered.....

Looking through it, there were plenty of entries where aircraft carriers had lost over 50 men during a visit, including one that sticks in my mind where the then ARK ROYAL had lost some 60 men during a visit to Fremantle in about 1964. Curiously enough, for a country which set, and still does, so much store on not "dobbing people in" (perhaps because so many of the original "settlers" were there because they had been "dobbed in" themselves), there was no shortage of names of those who been recovered following a tip-off, apparently usually from jealous Australian boyfriends!

Jack

PS The RAN asked me if I would like to transfer at the end of my exchange service and, although I declined the kind offer at the time because I had really good reasons for returning to UK, I must admit to having thought about it a few times since - especially on days like today!


----------



## DURANGO

davyt said:


> Hello John,re-jumping ship, I jumped the Huntingdon 18/12/65 in Napier, long story (not planned) made my way down to wellington to some girls I had gotten to know while spending about 6 weeks in port there they put me up over the festive season & I started work as a painter (brush hand) on 11th Jan 66. I got picked up on the 17/3/66 & got 60 days pending deportation. I did about 6 weeks in Mt Crawford then myself & a guy from Brighton called Dennis were escorted to Lyttleton & signed on the ***berland & worked our way back home during the strike.I was given all the overtime I wanted on the trip back only for NZSCo to take all expences we cost them in NZ a total of £51 odds & I paid off in drydock in swansea mid July with £13-9d-3d they never gave me a travel warrent to get home to saltcoats near Glasgow & I eventualy got home with £3 odds after being away around 15 month, but I wouldnt change a thing & I would do it all again given half a chance.those memories keep me going.Happy days they were.Davy Thomson Saltcoats Ayrshire.


Hi Davey , as soon as i saw your post i knew who the fella Dennis was that you mention his name was Dennis Williams i sailed with him many times over the years and i stayed at his parents house in Brighton quite a few times , he was Canadian by birth but was brought back to the UK when he was very young , i last heard from him in the early 70,s in fact as far as i know he went back to Canada and i would think he most likely stayed there he lived with my brother and i in essex for about six months whilst he did one of those goverment traing courses for carpentry small world all the best .


----------



## LEEJ

Just to put it into context lads, for those who are anti - immigrant, these guys are illegal immigrants and some posts on other threads would accuse these boys of abusing the system. If they were from certain parts of the world that is.


----------



## davyt

*jumping ship*



DURANGO said:


> Hi Davey , as soon as i saw your post i knew who the fella Dennis was that you mention his name was Dennis Williams i sailed with him many times over the years and i stayed at his parents house in Brighton quite a few times , he was Canadian by birth but was brought back to the UK when he was very young , i last heard from him in the early 70,s in fact as far as i know he went back to Canada and i would think he most likely stayed there he lived with my brother and i in essex for about six months whilst he did one of those goverment traing courses for carpentry small world all the best .


Hello Durango,thanks for the wee reply.just to be sure it's the same Dennis.This guy got 6 mths for taking a car & crashing into a road block in NZ.I think he was a steward but worked his way back home on deck as a D.H.U.He wore glasses & had a wee goatee beard,would put you in mind of Freddie & the dreamers front man, He was some character & I remember he had a big tattoo on his back of two sharks encircling a ship I think it was ? If you ever hear from him ask him if he remembers the trip home or me.merry christmass Davy Thomson.


----------



## DURANGO

davyt said:


> Hello Durango,thanks for the wee reply.just to be sure it's the same Dennis.This guy got 6 mths for taking a car & crashing into a road block in NZ.I think he was a steward but worked his way back home on deck as a D.H.U.He wore glasses & had a wee goatee beard,would put you in mind of Freddie & the dreamers front man, He was some character & I remember he had a big tattoo on his back of two sharks encircling a ship I think it was ? If you ever hear from him ask him if he remembers the trip home or me.merry christmass Davy Thomson.


 Well Davy it,s not often i,m wrong but i,m wrong again[ blast, ] but still a big coincidence because the Dennis i knew lived in Brighton and he to skinned out in Kiwi i beleive it was for a girl as it often was [ sorry about that but there i go again jumping in with both feet ] it,s such a shame that we all lose touch over the years, i remember many years ago i was approached by someone that i used to work with very ocassionaly shoreside and as soon as he saw me his first words where "i heard a message on the radio a while back this fella who was at sea in the 60,s is looking for you " and he even mentioned the part of east London that i used to live in and i,m sure that it was Dennis but there you go at the time the fella who heard the message had no way of contacting me this was before the days of such wide use of the mobile phone anyhow all the best Dave .


----------



## Ron Hamilton

I jumped ship in 1951from the Australia Star in Wellington & did some of the hardest work in my life in a timber mill for a mth before being picked up ,I had not been motivated by love/lust , it was purely financial plus I was half deaf from chipping decks with a'windy hammer' for a mth & the blokes on the wharf were getting twice my pay for the same job ,this was during a protracted wharfies strike & the ship hadn't moved for 5mths ,so when I was released from Mt Crawford after a mth & escorted by a big cop back to my ship I recieved a rousing cheer from my old ship-mates (very humiliating !) . The skipper gave me a V.G for ability but could only give me a Good for conduct in my discharge book , the only blot in 10yrs . Nevertheless I migrated to Aussie in '59 for 10yrs But eventually moved to N.Z. my shangrila in '69were I have been happily esconced since . Ron


----------



## Donald McGhee

I jumped ship in Wellington from a Bank Boat and was deporteds 6 months later, returning after 3 months to get married to the young lady I had met in the interim.
Been in NZ now for 40 years and have citizenship etc. love the place, love the people and wouldn't go back to UK for quids, too expensive, too much water under the bridge now, so here I am and here I stay. Not that I have any gripes about UK, just feel here is better.
Yes, NZ and Aus are full of ex merchant seamen who "ran away to land". I live in New Plymouth and it's the best place I ever lived in, without any doubt.
(Pint)


----------



## redgreggie

great stories, I was on the Dorset, Federal Steam Navigation, first 'real' trip I had done, prior to this I was on a couple of tankers but only stayed a few weeks.

I did the uk coast on the Dorset and then was offered to do the deep sea trip to New Zealand, so glad I did, best trip ever, to the best country I visited.

good crew as well, I was galley boy, worked for a good cook, from east London, and a great baker from Leigh-on-sea if I remember correctly, though he was Polish I believe.
the stewards were a good bunch, one skinned out in New Zealand, he met this girl, think she was in love with him, anyway her father offered to put him up, think there was the offer of buying him a shop to run or something like that.

often wonder how he got on, if he's still there.

that was back in 1966, got back to the uk during the seamans strike.




ray...............in Batley.


----------



## voyagerx1

Northern Star,early 1973, Sandy, a stewardess, Mandy, an A/S,(queen) and Larry, the bronzie king from cabin '42,(started a an A/S but because of mixing with passengers in the passenger bar and not turning to, was eventually put in the galley washing pots) all went missing in Sydney, Sandy and andy rejoined in Brisbaine, next port of call, but not Lareey, he waited untill the ship was out on a two week cruise and got them to fly him to Suva, Fiji,from Sydney,nearly a week awol, he went missing in Suva, only to be escorted from The Ocean Monarch in Latoka, Fiji in a byboat, Officer and M/A. Our skipper asked if they could return him to the 'Monarch', they were on their way back to Sydney, we were still cruising, they were to fy Larry home from Sydney wioth the usual referal in discharge book, lol. Larry though they wre going to let him work on the 'Monarch' he had mates on the ship but when he found out they intended shipping him out he went nuts and smashed up two public rooms on the 'Monarch' apparetly, they flew him home from Sydney, not heard what happened to him after that. PS. he had so many fines for his crimes that he had no moneywhen he got shipped out so I believe. anyone comment on this story... I was A/S, mostly officer steward on the way out to Aussi.......the trip home was another story....... hope you can decypher this story......


----------



## oldbosun

I jumped with Ginger Bulbrook from a Bankboat in Christchurch NZ in about 1947 or 8. He was deck boy, I was JOS. I think we did it for a lark more than anything. 
We very quickly got nicked and kept in jail until the ship came back to the coast a few weeks later. 
We went in handcuffs under escort of two detectives from Christchurch to Dunedin and we had to pay the two cops return fare plus a night in a hotel for them.
Good thing it was a long trip because we didn't earn much in those days. Ginger made 7 quid a month and I made 12 1/2 quid.
Captain Peter Stewart was very good to us and told us that if we were adults he would have left us there. Gave us both all VGs too. A 100% Gentleman of a Captain as I remember.
Ginger and I never did sail together again but met up more than once in different parts of the world. 
Our Shell tankers passed in the night in the Red Sea one time in about 1955 and he asked me by Aldis lamp (via his 2nd Mate) if I would be his best man at his wedding. My 2nd Mate replied OK for me.
I did of course. Saw him once more when I was on Empire Star in Liverpool years later and never seen or heard of him since. Is he even alive? If he is, he'd be like me.....80 years old. Happy memories!


----------



## vic pitcher

A couple of years ago I obtained copies of Articles of Agreement and Official Log extracts for Smith's CORNISH CITY in 1956 at which time I was Apprentice in her.

In the O.L. were entries regarding the skinning-out of the Assistant Steward, one Donald A- on 21st June 1956 at Fremantle. The Log entry referred to Donald's taking a taxi to the airport for a flight to Adelaide (where he was known to have a girlfriend).

I remember the incident well as I helped Donald with his bags down the gangway!

I recall Donald as being a likeable, popular shipmate, and I have often wondered how he got on, and whether he was successful in staying in Australia; perhaps one of our members knows something about him and can enlighten me?


----------



## joemack

I jumped ship September 1973, off the Iberic. Shaw Savill. Been in NZ ever since. Been back home a few times, granted permanent residency mid 80's. Got a question though for someone might know, how would I go about getting my discharge book back from back then? Any ideas?

Cheers
Joe


----------



## jg grant

I was on RFA Retainer 1959/60. We had two deckhands jump in Sydney but in Fremantle we were in port with an aircraft carrier and I heard she lost about thirty men.
I'm here in Auckland NZ quite legallyfor forty years. Regards Ronnie


----------



## ray morgan

I jumped the Neleus in 1961,in Freemantle,with Dave Wilson,sos,Phil Sillery,jos and Tony Lackey deck boy.I worked ashore for a while in Perth,then came home on the Dorset as galley boy,had a committee and carried on,on the deck.I later sailed with Phil Sillery on the Devis,but never seen Dave Wilson or Tony Lackey again,they could still be there.Last February I went to see the house which we all lived with elder brother in1961, in Victoria Park by Perth,49 years later ,it was hard to find,the estate,it was new in 61,not a tree in sight,now there are 50ft gum trees,my brother moved to Adelaide 1963,I took some photos of the house for my nieces and nephews,in Adelaide,Sydney and Melbourne,they lived there as kids.I gave the woman who lives there now a photo of the house in 61 when it was new.My brother who we lived with, jumped in 1951,he joined the OZ army and was wounded in Korea in 1953,he had 10 children died aged 47. funny were life takes you.


----------



## barrinoz

joemack said:


> I jumped ship September 1973, off the Iberic. Shaw Savill. Been in NZ ever since. Been back home a few times, granted permanent residency mid 80's. Got a question though for someone might know, how would I go about getting my discharge book back from back then? Any ideas?
> 
> Cheers
> Joe


Write to the shipping company. Skipper would have handed back your discharge book, complete with V.N.C. Give them details, dates, etc. 
1973 might be pushing it though. That's how I did it.


----------



## joemack

Thanks for the reply barrinoz, I'll give it a shot, as you say could be pushing it a bit, but you never know....


----------



## billmaca

Did it the right way jumped the Paparoa in Sydney than flew over to NZ paid the £10 fee and was legal in NZ, Did'nt plan to jump but the 2nd eng had a bit of a breakdown and it was landing on us. landed up I went ashore(Monty's)got drunk got angry and got out. first person I ran into was a nieghbour from home. Came home when my mother died intending to go back but met the wife the rest is history


----------



## FANTAIL

*Discharge book*



ALLAN WILD said:


> Did three months in Mount Eden Jail in the 60s....sent home DBS.
> Then spent the next three months trying to get a ship, ended up in Everard's till the pool took me back on.
> Happy days.


Allan can you tell me do you have your discharge book or what happend to it?

John NZ


----------



## davyt

does anyone know a guy called Hughie McInally.He was ass/steward on the Huntingdon & jumped her in Napier Dec 1965.He eventually went over to Auzzy. (Woolengong) I think it was, with his girlfriend (Judy) He was from Ruchill in Glasgow.I lost touch with him years ago.I jumped the next night, after him & the 2nd cook, a wee guy called Pete. Cheers.


----------



## hedfour

I am not a jumper but in 1977 I came here to bunbury on the Jebsons - BRIMNESS, and have been living here since. Great place and a great life.


----------



## GWB

Not a jumper but having done numerous trips down under, singed up for 10 quid and flew out here with two ship mates in 67 and never looked back. Have been back to UK many times but Aussie will do fine.


----------



## ewenlowrie

jumped late 1969 of cymric best thing i ever did been here ever since was here 11 years before i went back to shetland got new passport and re entry permit no problem. great place to live never regreted jumping cheers lowrie


----------



## taff1954

Didn't jump myself, but...

Around 1949/50, one John (Jock) Ferguson, cook, jumped (I believe Sydney Star) in Auckland, along with a couple of others. They all got picked up some months later, by which time Jock had a job - erecting power pylons - and arrived in court **** and span in his new suit. For some reason, he was allowed to stay. A good thing he was too, because 27 years later I gave serious thought to jumping in New Plymouth (where I now live), to stay with the young lady who has now been my wife for over 33 years - his youngest daughter.


----------



## ghq

In the 60's I was on a ship WA State Shipping Service had recently bought from ANL and it was to go to Hong Kong to be lengthened by 40ft. As it was on the west coast trade to Darwin nobody carried passports. The word went out for all on board to obtain passports if owned or get one if not. When the ship did leave for HK quite a few of the crew were replaced as they didn't even have birth certificates let alone passports, having jumped from home boats years before. I t was, from memory, 1965 when we had to get id cards to sail to Australia on home boats and even after that I experienced, (by this time I was in Aus. legallyhaving married a local,) that I was on a AHTS on a brief survey contract,when we had on board two winch operaters who had jumped ship from one of HM's carriers in Fremantle around 69/70, I think it might have been HMS Eagle, anyhow they said that one of them had parked his car the wrong way, a common fault with poms in those days and had received a visit from the local constabulary who informed him they had their eye on the two of them and knew exactly who they were and whence they had come and make sure they kept their noses clean! I don't think it happens like that nowadays, but it certainly was an alternative to paying 10 pounds.


----------



## vix

vic pitcher said:


> A couple of years ago I obtained copies of Articles of Agreement and Official Log extracts for Smith's CORNISH CITY in 1956 at which time I was Apprentice in her.
> 
> In the O.L. were entries regarding the skinning-out of the Assistant Steward, one Donald A- on 21st June 1956 at Fremantle. The Log entry referred to Donald's taking a taxi to the airport for a flight to Adelaide (where he was known to have a girlfriend).
> 
> I remember the incident well as I helped Donald with his bags down the gangway!
> 
> I recall Donald as being a likeable, popular shipmate, and I have often wondered how he got on, and whether he was successful in staying in Australia; perhaps one of our members knows something about him and can enlighten me?


I too helped our deck-boy [Peggy] down the gangway and off the Cape York, in Auckland's Kings Wharf, March 1960. I can't remember his name but he'd met a pretty lass in Mt Maunganui and her call was stronger than the call of the sea or Lyles of Glasgow!


----------



## joemack

That's nice that, nobody helped me down the gangway, (Iberic, Mt Maunganui 1973)mind you it was pretty early  Took a train accross to Hamilton, then onto Wellington.


----------



## Bighenners

I was on the HMS Albion in Auckand in 1960,she was an aircraft carrier and quite a few jumped there and made a few quid working on the harbour bridge,especially the divers. Did'nt jump myself but scored myself a lovely wife in Wellington. Been married 51years. Joined the New Zealand Navy in 63,now living in Brisbane.


----------



## Ron Dean

A cousin of mine in the RN went AWOL just at the end of WWII. He'd been torpedoed twice and had met up with a girl in Oz. As the war was over he'd decided to stay. He was classified as a deserter and never returned to UK. I last heard (back in the 1980's) that he was happily married & had a family with the girl he had met.
I think that by this time there may have been an amnesty for deserters.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

I wonder if anyone ever jumped ship in Canada? I never heard of any, and anytime I was there, I found it to be a cold and dismal place.
Much like some of the posts that have emanated from there recently.


----------



## notnila

Pat,when I was in the"Oriana"on her maiden voyage in early'61 in Vancouver,I met an English guy who had jumped in New Westminster.I forget his name but he told me he had been 3rd Mate on one of Ellermans"City of Something".At the time I met him he was married and working for a Ships Agent.


----------



## Bighenners

I am pretty sure that an AMNESTY was given a few years ago to all ship jumpers,that had settled in the Antipodes. There were that many,that some astute Immigration official made the suggestion.
I will look into it.
No problem nowdays though,just call yourself a refugee and your in.
I think the amnesty was given because of the contribution that Ex- pats had given to the economy,and the government did not have to pay the ten quid for their passage.


----------



## Bighenners

Thank you to all the subscribers to this website, my wife said that it has given me a new lease of life,and she did not realise the strong bond that seafarers had
even in their twilight years. A few years yet to go, I hope.
Best wishes from Australia. Keith Higgins


----------



## vic pitcher

*Donald's Skinning-Out*



vix said:


> I too helped our deck-boy [Peggy] down the gangway and off the Cape York, in Auckland's Kings Wharf, March 1960. I can't remember his name but he'd met a pretty lass in Mt Maunganui and her call was stronger than the call of the sea or Lyles of Glasgow!


A google search on Donald's name revealed his current address in South Australia to which I subsequently wrote. This provoked an immediate reply by phone from Donald who was thrilled to hear from me. Donald's intended marriage to his Aussie girl-friend gave him the entree to permanent residence. He is, of course, now retired, after a successful working life in Wallaroo. We are hoping to meet up when he next visits UK.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

Bighenners said:


> I am pretty sure that an AMNESTY was given a few years ago to all ship jumpers,that had settled in the Antipodes. There were that many,that some astute Immigration official made the suggestion.
> I will look into it.
> No problem nowdays though,just call yourself a refugee and your in.
> I think the amnesty was given because of the contribution that Ex- pats had given to the economy,and the government did not have to pay the ten quid for their passage.


Is this true?
I just read that the primary refusal rate for all asylum seekers arriving in Australia exceeds 70%, and that the 30% allowed in are immediately placed in detention camps until a further hearing decides their fate.
Is this just government propaganda then?
(Read)


----------



## adrianvare

jumped off Southern cross worked in the meat works outside Wellington. drank in the BISTRO bar and Sorentoes Coffee bar stayed for over a year , got caught , did 3 months Mount Crawford, deported , back 3 months later on Northern Star. still in touch with some of the girls from Wellington 40 yrars on ...great place do it all again.


----------



## barrinoz

Bighenners:Quote: No problem nowdays though,just call yourself a refugee and your in. Unquote.



Pat Kennedy said:


> Is this true?
> I just read that the primary refusal rate for all asylum seekers arriving in Australia exceeds 70%, and that the 30% allowed in are immediately placed in detention camps until a further hearing decides their fate.
> Is this just government propaganda then?
> (Read)


He's just winding you up, Pat. Refugees/asylum seekers are the current victims of the hang-em-high brigade (I'm not saying our man is). Everyone has an opinion, no one has a solution. The numbers coming into this country are miniscule compared to some countries but it makes for political skull-duggery, feeds a frenzied, lowest common denominator driven media and fans the flushed napes of the ********.
barrinoz.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

barrinoz said:


> Bighenners:Quote: No problem nowdays though,just call yourself a refugee and your in. Unquote.
> 
> 
> 
> He's just winding you up, Pat. Refugees/asylum seekers are the current victims of the hang-em-high brigade (I'm not saying our man is). Everyone one has an opinion, no one has a solution. The numbers coming into this country are miniscule compared to some countries but it makes for political skull-duggery, feeds a frenzied, lowest common denominator driven media and fans the flushed napes of the ********.
> barrinoz.


I see, so bighenners was just sh1t stirring then?
Not unknown in this country either.
regards, 
Pat(Smoke)


----------

