# Far East Odyssey



## Dugie (Dec 9, 2006)

Here's a poem I finished recently which may bring a tear to any True Blue Flue mariner.

FAR EAST ODYSSEY

She’s a lady of the sea, built by Caledon, Dundee,
An “M” class, strongly built, just off the stocks,
Our first port is Penang, then on and round Japan,
And in four months we’ll be back in Gladstone docks.

She looks dirty through the rain as we come on board again,
But the bosun soon will have her “tarted up”,
“Soogie” - that magic brew, and the efforts of the crew
Will get rid of all the city grime and muck.

Tomorrow we sign on, and next day we’ll be gone,
Down the Mersey past New Brighton to the sea,
Look out for Irish ferries as we pass North of The Skerries
And we’ll leave the coast of England on our lee.

We hope that Biscay’s kind and then we can unwind
After double watches and the recent storm,
The sun should soon peep through and the sky will turn to blue
And the breeze will then be balmy, soft and warm.

Through Port Said with all it’s bustle, and the salesmen with their hustle,
Ships in convoy passing North Bound fully laden,
We hope for cooler weather soon with a nice South West monsoon,
But first we’ll fill our tanks and shop in Aden.

It’s a dry and arid land, just barren rocks and sand,
But a busy and strategic bunker port,
The bumboats sell transistors and gifts for mums and sisters,
Cameras, binoculars and goods of every sort.

Then we pass the fairway buoy and head for Minicoy,
The winds are brisk and raise a heavy swell,
The ship rolls with heavy motion as we cross the Indian Ocean
And we’re spraying o’er the bow and for’ard well.

It’s almost dawn of day as we’re passing Pulau Weh,
And at six “the Bos” and crew are turning to,
Topping derricks, getting ropes up (and the crew are getting hopes up!
For a run ashore to “sink a beer or two”.)

Soon we’re sending out our ropes under Penang’s green clad slopes 
Watchmen, tally clerks and ******* - they’re all there.
The betel juice is spouting and Tamil voices shouting
And the poor old mate is tearing out his hair!!

In eight and forty hours, though we’ve been delayed by showers 
The pilot’s off - we’re heading down the Strait,
The weather’s hot and sweaty as we tie up to the jetty
At Port Swettenham, which is Kuala Lumpur’s gate.





No chance to go ashore, then we’re off to Singapore
Where at least there is no tiring graveyard watch,
But an hour from dawn’s first light till ten o’clock at night
There are two gangs of dockers in each hatch.

We complete the full discharge alongside and by barge
In a rush to finish cargo while it’s day, 
We head for Horsburgh’s light in the middle of the night
A few hours after “Full Away”.

We pass the coast of Sarawak, then through the Strait of Balabac,
Then on past Mindoro and Luzon,
We dodge a strong typhoon before we reach Lei Mun
Then we’re safely in the harbour at Hong Kong.

The next day around noon we’re alongside at Kowloon,
With derricks topped and gangs in every hatch 
While junks festoon our offshore side, and sampans scull against the tide,
The cargo soon is discharged with dispatch.

Nathan Road is clad in light, a shopper’s true delight
Silks, watches, custom suits and much much more,
And when we’re working cargo watches with gangs in all the hatches,
The vendors will be knocking on our door. 

Our stay is all too short and soon we’re leaving port,
Past Whampoa, through the inlet to the ocean,
Then we’re heading past Taiwan and steering for Japan
With a South East swell and gentle rolling motion.

We view Fuji’s panorama then on to Yokohama
And orders come to load in Otaru,
Where we load in snow and sleet and long for Swett’nam’s heat,
Then we’re heading south to load in Shimizu. 

We load in Kobe too as is usual in Blue Flue
Then head for Commie China and Tsingtao
The Commies think we’re spying and that our country’s trying
To overthrow their leader Chairman Mao.

We’re glad when loading’s done for we’ve hardly seen the sun
For a week, and it’s bitter cold at night
But we’re heading south again in force five and sleet and rain
To where the skies are shining blue and bright.

To Hong Kong once more where we get some time ashore
We can wander round and marvel at the prices
We see wooden chests and watches, and exotic things in boxes
And the air it smells of rain and eastern spices.







I won’t bore you with reports of all the homeward ports,
Where we loaded to our marks with eastern goods
We loaded rubber bales and spice, tinned pineapples, bags of rice, 
Hides, tin ingots, and more rubber and exotic tropic woods.

It is on the homeward run that the finish paint is done
And we no longer see the primer and red lead
The varnish sparkles in the light and all the brass is burnished bright
As we pass on through the Red Sea and the Med.

We catch a freezing winter blast and the sky is overcast, 
And we’ve long since changed our dress to blues from whites,
There are ocean swells aplenty as we pass by Cape Vincente,
And our eyes are searching through the rain for lights.

As we pass through Bay of Biscay we lay in our “docking whisky”
And Channel Fever soon runs through the ship
Approaching Holyhead we can’t see the fo’cs’le head
And the radar’s on, we’re watching every blip.

We pass The Skerries once again in patchy fog and rain,
But the pilot is on board and knows the way
As we pass by Abergele there’s a knot in every belly
For we’re almost back again in Liverpool Bay.

The tide is now just right and we’ll tie up before night
So we close the entrance at “Dead Slow Ahead”
We’re safely through the lock and into Gladstone Dock
With shouts of “Keep ‘er stern off the knuckle, Fred!”

The ship is soon made fast - and we’re back home at last!
Tomorrow we sign off and pack our gear,
We’ll catch a late night train and head up North again
We’ll be at home for Christmas and New Year.

I hope you like this rhyme and it brings you back in time
To the days when ships were ships and men were men,
When in every foreign port were British ships of every sort,
With names like City, Clan, and Palm, Cape, Port and Ben.

Dugie Mc Nab 2007
[email protected]


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## DAVIDJM (Sep 17, 2005)

nice one that dugie

I expect there will be be many who remember those trips and more.


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## eldersuk (Oct 24, 2005)

Excellent! No more to be said.


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

First Class ! Derek


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## Bill Davies (Sep 5, 2007)

Excellent Dugie, let us have a few more!


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

Dugie many thanks for the poem, Have we a new poet laurete on site.


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

Most descriptive!

Many thanks!

BY


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## Orestes (Oct 2, 2007)

Great poem,brings back fond memories of trips to the Far east.
Jim Quinn


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## Hugh Ferguson (Sep 4, 2006)

Dugie and I sailed together in the old-coal burning-Elpenor in 1948, he on his first voyage as a middy and I on my first as a 3rd mate.
Dugie later took up piloting in Aden but had to leave after the insurrection which occurred in 1966-he subsequently became a Harbour Master in Freeport, Bahamas which is where he took up the arts, painting, and writing poetry. A man of many parts!


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## Elaine FAHY (Nov 4, 2014)

*orestes aka Jim Quinn*

hello
do you by chance live in Port Pirie South Australia?? with a daughter called Meridith ????
regards Elaine


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## PADDY (Oct 6, 2005)

GREAT!!
Exactly the way it was.

Paddy


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

A very descriptive poem. Takes me back to an almost identical voyage I did in the Memnon in 1960, same ports, same cargoes,same weather, and same emotions.
Excellent.
Pat(Thumb)


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## DURANGO (Aug 22, 2005)

Golden days 
I still see "oe'r" the ocean a ship with funnel blue 
Reminding me of golden days and shipmates that I knew
Drawn from Greek mythology their wonderous names live on 
I still see Agapenor on her way Belawan
Perseus standing off ,in the great sea of Japan 
Antilochus wends her way through the gulf of old Siam
Pyrrhus forging onwards making way to Singapore 
Within our hearts Blue funnel ships live on forevermore.

A poem I wrote many years ago to take me back to the golden days of our lives


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## Woodbutcher (May 29, 2011)

DURANGO said:


> Golden days
> I still see "oe'r" the ocean a ship with funnel blue
> Reminding me of golden days and shipmates that I knew
> Drawn from Greek mythology their wonderous names live on
> ...


Dave,I must say old Willy Spokeshave could have taken a few lessons from you,keep it up.


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## ben27 (Dec 27, 2012)

good day dugie.m.2nd jan.2008.08:43.re:far east odyssey,great poem.its like being aboard.it was a hard working ship,thanks for posting.regards ben27


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## backsplice (May 23, 2005)

I would like to hazard a guess but was that about the MENELAUS or the MENESTHESUS I remember them coming alive at Caledon Dundee
what a great bit of verse well done from a Ben Line lad


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

backsplice said:


> I would like to hazard a guess but was that about the MENELAUS or the MENESTHESUS I remember them coming alive at Caledon Dundee
> what a great bit of verse well done from a Ben Line lad


Or it could have been Machaon or Maron, both were built at Caledon. I joined Maron in the Caledon yard in Dundee in July 1960 for sea trials. We then took her up the coast to Lossiemouth were we anchored while a party of boys from Gordostoun School came out to the ship in a couple of whalers. The school had adopted the Maron, and these pupils were given lunch in the saloon, and the grand tour of the ship. Us deck crowd were sent down below to sweep up shipyard detritus in the holds, and to keep us out of sight of these public schoolboys.
Then the seamen's strike broke out and Holts had the Maron steaming round the top of Scotland for several days until the grub ran out, and we headed into Glasgow, where we all bailed out and went home on the train.
A pleasant little trip, but not worthy of a poem, or even a limerick!
Pat(K)


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

Early July of 1960 I sailed in Memnon from Birkenhead for the Far East. The sailors' strike was just beginning and (if my memory is right), after we had left the berth at Cathcart Street we moored (whilst awaiting the level at an hour and-a-half before high-water) end-on in Alfred Basin, rather than alongside in either the North Lock or the South Lock (where some might have been persuaded to jump ship and join the strike). Getting under way again, we (that is, Captain Radar Robb and Pilot Ovey Small) careered at a speed faster than usual stern-first through the (relatively wide, at 100 feet) North lock and out to sea with our crew complete.

There was some unrest, but not much; but the strike was a hot topic of conversation. I remember hearing that the crews of other Blue Flue ships had been invited to join their ships by way of coaches from outlying points; in order to break through the picket-lines at the dock gates more easily. One such was the Astyanax (I think), where the point for joining the coach was at West Kirby Station. The news (received several days later) was that "The crew joined the Astyanax at West Kirby", whereupon somebody (Baldrick? Trigger?) asked, "How the F-and-L did they get the Astyanax to West Kirby?"


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

I well remember the strike of 1966 but, and maybe it is age, I didn't realise there _*was *_a seamen's strike in 1960. I sailed from Avonmouth on 21 June 1960, from Southampton on 26 July and again on 30 August without any hindrance or disputes as far as I recall. I was attached to Liverpool depot and travelling to and from the ship each time and cannot think how I could have overlooked the reported delays to ships; the Queens for example were often in Southampton at the same time we were. Must have been travelling in a time warp.


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

Barrie Youde said:


> Early July of 1960 I sailed in Memnon from Birkenhead for the Far East. The sailors' strike was just beginning and (if my memory is right), after we had left the berth at Cathcart Street we moored (whilst awaiting the level at an hour and-a-half before high-water) end-on in Alfred Basin, rather than alongside in either the North Lock or the South Lock (where some might have been persuaded to jump ship and join the strike). Getting under way again, we (that is, Captain Radar Robb and Pilot Ovey Small) careered at a speed faster than usual stern-first through the (relatively wide, at 100 feet) North lock and out to sea with our crew complete.
> 
> There was some unrest, but not much; but the strike was a hot topic of conversation. I remember hearing that the crews of other Blue Flue ships had been invited to join their ships by way of coaches from outlying points; in order to break through the picket-lines at the dock gates more easily. One such was the Astyanax (I think), where the point for joining the coach was at West Kirby Station. The news (received several days later) was that "The crew joined the Astyanax at West Kirby", whereupon somebody (Baldrick? Trigger?) asked, "How the F-and-L did they get the Astyanax to West Kirby?"


Was Harry Hands bosun on her that trip Barrie? He was when I did a voyage in her Oct 59 to Jan 60.
And who was C/O ? when I was there he was a burly, bearded bullying wretch whose name I have forgotten.
Regards, 
Pat(Thumb)


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

Hi, Pat,

The Bosun was Mike Brabander.

The Mate was Peter Broomfield (no beard, not a bully). A forceful character, but decent with it.

Best,

BY


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

Thanks Barrie, I think we had this conversation before, but the memory is getting a bit wonky. 
Harry Hands was a good stick,but getting on a bit. Perhaps he'd retired when you were on the Mermnon.
Regards, 
Pat


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## stellaleon (Dec 3, 2014)

Nice poem.I really like it


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