# Cargo brand



## Nova Scotian (Jul 2, 2006)

The other day I came across some packages of frozen kippers at the local supermarket which took me back to my time on the City of Winchester. 

As 3/0, I was relieved for breakfast at 0830 hrs. A strange arrangement which usually meant I was the only person in the saloon at that time. On one particular morning, the Old Man came down for breakfast, and seeing the kippers I was tucking into, ordered the same. The kippers in questions were part of a box that had been broached and I had removed from one of the tween deck freezer lockers.

"Not for you, sir", said the Goanese steward, "third officer only....is cargo brand". Needless to say, I shared my kippers with Old Man until they were all gone.

Quite a variety of "cargo brand" products would, for different reasons, go missing. On the same voyage the Leckie got quite ill from eating an excess of canned fruit that had found its way to his cabin. As an apprentice with Houlder's Shaftesbury, I remember most of the crew paying off with the same model Phillips radio when we docked in Liverpool.


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## funnelstays (Nov 19, 2008)

There was a lecky l rember used to wear a range of fine tailored garments of the same said brand when l was on the City of St Albans 74 Coasting.


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## AlbieR (May 18, 2007)

Cargo Brand reminds me of a funny incident many years ago. During discharge in the Arabian Gulf the second mate found a breached box of ladies disposable knickers, the really fancy ones all lace and pretty patterns. Good he thought, up the Gulf change them three, four times a day so no more dhobying of skiddies. Unfortunately he fell down the hatch in Kuwait and was sent to hospital, pleading with the lads to get a pair of ordinary skiddies from his cabin which fell on deaf ears. When he got back he told us that the nurse at the hospital was an American and as she cut his boilersuit exposing the ladies knickers he said, with much embarassment "they are not mine" to which she replied with a knowing smile "don't worry I understand are they your girlfriends?".


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## Neil McInnes (Jun 24, 2005)

Anchor Line Sidonia on the Galsgow USA run, with the delicateness from Scotland came in a wee Bottle, and caused HANGOVERS.


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## gypcoll (Dec 10, 2007)

Was on the Baltic Trader running out of Hamburg and down to Genoa to supply the yanks 6th fleet, had one complete hold of Becks beer, while in Bremen we had to put a shore security bloke down the hold, as the cases kept getting *lost* on board. When time to sail the shore security guy had to be lifted out by derrick, absolutely blotto, so much for shore security


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

#5 Must have been the fumes. Remember when all the Germans used to come to work with a little bag containing a few beers?

John T


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## 8575 (Sep 8, 2006)

trotterdotpom said:


> #5 Must have been the fumes. Remember when all the Germans used to come to work with a little bag containing a few beers?
> 
> John T


I remember catching the 0530 ferry from St Pauli in Hamburg back to the ship a few times. The cabin would be full of dockers munching on wurst of some sort and drinking bottles of lager and puffing away on huge cigars. Those smells will stay with me forever. Probably doesn't happen these days with box boats everywhere.


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## Annmckinnon (Jul 25, 2018)

I can remember the currywurst,bratwurst, frickedellen and all the sauces which used to smother them from our days in Bruggen with the RAF ,cross the border into Holland and it was chips with mayonnaise !!


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## oilkinger (Dec 17, 2008)

Storing ship once in the Australian navy I was in the chain gang when a large cardboard box marked "chocolate" was passed to me. Standing next to the ladder down to my messdeck I quickly sidetracked it down there. A few days later at sea it was time for a chocky feast. The box contained 6 large cans about 20cm in diameter x 30cm high. Cracked open a can and out came large chocolate "tablets" the same diameter as the can and about 2cm thick.
Well - we all grabbed one didn't we and sank the choppers in nearly snapping them off in the process. Hard - we couldn't even dent it. It was like trying to take a bite out of a train wheel.
We even hit it with a hammer. Couldn't even chip it. Later on we found out it was what the cooks used to make kai for the night watchkeepers ( about 40 per watch on a destroyer ). They threw one in a big urn with powdered milk and water, about 150 litres, and boiled it for hours. That was the only way to break it down. Oh well - live and learn. We did get 10kg of blue vein cheese once and the messdeck stunk for days. So did the breath of us stokers.


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