# Ripping Off Passengers



## tedc (Dec 31, 2006)

In the late 50s there were tales of Radio Rooms ripping off passengers using the old "double counting" technique.

The words were counted and then charged for.

Then several of the words would be merged together, especially in the address, before the message was sent.

e.g. White Horse Road would become Whitehorseroad.

Did you see any of this?

I think some R/Os one one of the queens were shot for doing this...?

Also I understood that it was not unheard of for the ship's Bookies to ask the R/O to change the odd racing result...!

(POP)


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Like Ted I heard that about the Queens certainly. I can't imagine my chief with RML allowing that to go on myself.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## GBXZ (Nov 4, 2008)

Theft as a servant was the old fashioned term


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## NoMoss (Mar 14, 2007)

On my first couple of trips as a junior my chief did do this and split the money (not a lot) with me. Although I thought it was dishonest I didn't know any better and at the tender age of 17 could hardly argue.
I hasten to add that I never did it later in my future seagoing career.


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## Baulkham Hills (Jul 11, 2008)

It seems there will always be someone to take advantage of any opportunities. 
Many years ago I sailed with a master and he boasted that when he was 2nd mate with an ED's passenger ship, he adjusted the daily run distance lottery for the passengers to benefit some ladies he was friendly with. There were complaints about this to Head Office, both he and the master had to front to an interview to find out the truth.
His defense was that the Master had countersigned the daily run distance and so he must have checked it and verified it was correct. (what could the old man say). Anyway there was found to be no proof for the allegation but they transferred him to a cargo ship as C/O but he said he knew his time was up so left them a while later.
He was a master of corruption. Later with the company I was with he was involved in smuggling whisky etc to Ecuador and claimed he bought a house in the UK on the proceeds of one voyage lasting 12 months. (that's a story for another day).


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

Fortunately, not representative of seafarers in general.


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

tedc said:


> In the late 50s there were tales of Radio Rooms ripping off passengers using the old "double counting" technique.
> 
> The words were counted and then charged for.
> 
> ...


Please tell me this is just 'vivid imagery'. If not, then I'm dammed lucky to have got out of that Ivernia in one piece!
Pat(Jester)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Bad behaviour from people who probably would have cursed the stewards for their nefarious activities. I'm here to tell you none of this happened in Stevie Clarkes.

John T.


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## sparkie2182 (May 12, 2007)

I must admit..........

First i have heard of it.


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## IMRCoSparks (Aug 22, 2008)

I joined Queen Mary in 1961 as 6th R/O ( & most junior)
There was certainly something going on with the accounting, but the juniors were told it was none of their business.
In a way we were all part of the scheme as, aboard the Queens, there was a whole pecking order of tips, graft and kickbacks going on in ALL departments.
The stewards & waiters looking after us expected to be tipped.
The ship's "boots", whose job it was to clean & polish the shoes that the first class passengers left outside their cabins at night paid someone else to do that job, concentrating on his main job of being the ship's bookmaker. He relied heavily on the GTZZ press and whatever other info the R/O's could give him. I'm sure he paid for that service somewhere. After all, why not leave the 2nd named horse off the daily running and odds list ( crash of static!!)
The radio messenger ( there were two of them) probably earned more than the chief R/O as their job was to collect the outstanding bills for telegrams and ocean phone calls - with huge tips involved. They certainly kept all of that.
Most of the illicit money that came the R/O's way was not so much ripping off the passengers by exaggerated word counts but involved making ocean phone calls through WOO, Ocean Gate NJ. After a circuit was established we were handed off to the telephonists who placed the calls. The responsibility of accounting for the duration of the calls was up to the R/O. At the end of a ten minute call, the shore telephonist would be told by the R/O to only charge seven minutes , due to poor conditions. In a way, it was AT&T that was being ripped off, not the passengers.
I'm sure the illicit money involved was not a fortune but we were all caught up in the system that prevailed at the time. 
Any first tripper trainee who sailed with Cunard at that time was, knowingly or unknowingly, involved with the system. This probably also involved Marconi equipped liners - Mauretania etc.
In 1963 or thereabouts, there was a court case in Southampton involving a 2nd R/O ( who did the accounts) He was found guilty and was sacked. Whether it changed the system, I'm not sure.
Ken


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## hughesy (Dec 18, 2007)

I recall one of our teachers at Hull tech telling us a story of a movie star
I think it was Gregory Peck, who saw that he was being over charged for a telegram due to incorrect word count. Not sure what vessel may 
have been a trans Atlantic voyage.

All the best
hughesy


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