# "Your most memorable trip to join a ship" ?



## Steven Lamb (Apr 18, 2009)

Years ago 4 of us flew out to join a bulker in Murmansk. Enroute we had to change plane in Warsaw then fly to St Petersburg for an overnight stay before flying onto Murmansk next morning. Anyway, we got as far as St Petersburg late on only to be told that we didn't have the correct entry paperwork, plus no agent available to try sort things out. We were then shoved back on the returning flight to Warsaw and rolled up there in the early hours. Luckily the taxi-man knew where there was some "Hunting Lodges" out in the sticks and drove us there. As luck would have it, the "Old Man" bent his visa card and we stayed there for 2 days whilst alternate plans were made by the company in London. The plan next was for us to fly all the way up Honningsvag - Northern Cape of Norway and join the ship as she came round the top. Off we went from Warsaw to Oslo and tried landing there in light sleet/snow showers late in the evening. On the descent into Oslo all appeared to be going well when suddenly the pilot banked the plane up suddenly and aborted the landing. Amidst the "gasps" the "Cool-Hand Luke" on the controls came over the tannoy and apologised saying a snow plough had got stuck on the runway ! Eventually we landed and changed planes for our next overnight stay in Tromso. Beers all round courtesy again of the Old Man - we were enjoying our trip so far !! 
Next morning we took off for Hammerfest and changed planes again there for Honningsvag. I remember a "Noggie" I was sat next to as we came into land say "Welcome to the beginning of the World" (Perhaps he didn't realize Spitzbergen was to the North!) We got 2 more days in this place before eventually joining the boat. Part of the fun of going to sea I expect.
(Fly)(Pint)


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## charles henry (May 18, 2008)

Flew from london to Cairo then train to Suez only to find ship I was joining had been delayed. Was used by the depot to "fix problems on vessels arriving in Suez
for the canal.
You havent lived until you went aboard a ship to fix its radar and found all the information and schematics were in Japanese, Swedish or hindu..... Went backand forward tween Suez and Pt Said for three weeks.
Discovered the tried and true diagnostic version, remove fuse, short it out, switch on, wait for fire, now you know where the fault is......

chas


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

I was asked to go to Split, Jugoslavia (now Croatia) on 23 Decemberto take some urgent parts to a ship about to be handed over from the shipyard to the owners. Car and driver were provided to take me to Heathrow to get a Lufthansa to Frankfurt in time to make my connection to Zagreb. There I would switch to a Jugoslav Airlines (JAT) flight to Split, the last such flight that day. 

At Frankfurt the Lufthansa people were having some problems with the passengers, who were mainly Jugoslav guest workers going home for Christmas. They were well liquored up and had masses of bags with presents etc, crates of booze, guitars, you name it. 

Further delay before we took off because the passengers would neither sit down nor fasten their safety belts. Once in the air we were given an ETA Zagreb that was about 1 hour after the scheduled departure of my connecting flight to Split.

Sure enough, we landed even later than that ETA and then the mad scramble to get through immigration and customs with my kit - fighting my way through all the drunks and their masses of goodies that so interested the Customs inspectors. By the time that I got cleared, another hour had passed and I had given up on my connecting flight. Eventually I found someone at the JAT desk who understood English (my Serbo-Croat not being up to the task) and explained my situation. 

"No to vurry, your flight waiting Gate 5, go quickly." 

"Have the bags been loaded?"

"Hurry, hurry, aircraft waiting."

And I did and it was - a JAT Caravelle with the rear ramp down. I boarded and found a seat. We sat there for a further half hour or so, with frequent announcements in Serbo-Croat, which I assumed were giving the passengers some explanation of the lengthy delay. There was a lot of singing and clapping, some dancing in the aisle but no sign of taking off. Bloody incompetent lot!

Eventually a young woman came up the ramp and I thought, "She's the one we have been waiting for, she must be someone high up in the Party." She came along the aisle, straight to me. "Are you Mr Stringer?" she asked. When I confirmed that I was, she asked me to go with her. We walked down the ramp to loud cheers and applause and many friendly slaps on my shoulders. At the bottom of the ramp she pointed to a suitcase and some boxes on a trolley.

"Are these yours Mr Stringer?" Receiving my confirmation, she spoke to a guy with the trolley and he loaded the stuff into the hold. "Didn't you hear them asking for the owner of the bags to identify them? You can go back to your seat now, Mr Stringer, the aircraft can now take off."

I went back on board to even louder laughter and cheers, more slaps on the back and many offers of open bottles of slivovitz. What a prat I felt.


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## Steven Lamb (Apr 18, 2009)

Ron Stringer said:


> I was asked to go to Split, Jugoslavia (now Croatia) on 23 Decemberto take some urgent parts to a ship about to be handed over from the shipyard to the owners. Car and driver were provided to take me to Heathrow to get a Lufthansa to Frankfurt in time to make my connection to Zagreb. There I would switch to a Jugoslav Airlines (JAT) flight to Split, the last such flight that day.
> 
> At Frankfurt the Lufthansa people were having some problems with the passengers, who were mainly Jugoslav guest workers going home for Christmas. They were well liquored up and had masses of bags with presents etc, crates of booze, guitars, you name it.
> 
> ...


Great Account Ron ! What did you think of the Slivovitz ?
Rgds
Lamby


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## paisleymerchant (Mar 15, 2007)

Flew to join a ship in Sao Paulo, when we got there the ship was in, but at anchor, seeing as we were not allowed to change crews at anchor we had to stay in a Hotel for 6 days, before the ship came alongside !

Were we bothered ?

Not likeley !!!


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## GBXZ (Nov 4, 2008)

Reported to Marconi Liverpool to join a Royal Mail Line in Salford. Transport was in the back of a Mimco mini-van complete with my bags and service bits. Love that Mimco.


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## dom (Feb 10, 2006)

*dom*

rush job to Barrow to join a ship,drunk,could'nt remember the name


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

dom said:


> rush job to Barrow to join a ship,drunk,could'nt remember the name


ha ha ha!...that sounds like the Dom I know ha ha ha
(Jester)


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## les.edgecumbe (Dec 24, 2007)

*MIMCo Mini VAn~*



GBXZ said:


> Reported to Marconi Liverpool to join a Royal Mail Line in Salford. Transport was in the back of a Mimco mini-van complete with my bags and service bits. Love that Mimco.


Mimco mini-van!!! splutter~splutter!!:sweat:
Blue eyed Boy or what?? 
In 22+ years it was "you catch the bus down the road a mile or so. Taxi, you are joking!?". Then you met up with the rest of the ships crew at the docks alighting from their taxis........


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

les.edge***be said:


> In 22+ years it was "you catch the bus down the road a mile or so. Taxi, you are joking!?". Then you met up with the rest of the ships crew at the docks alighting from their taxis........


In 1966 when I came ashore to work for Marconi a their Mill Dam base in South Shields, we had to catch the bus everywhere. You would be standing in the p*ssing rain at the bus stop with your tool bags (and maybe some spare parts or fitting materials), when the Kelvin Hughes radar man would sail past in his Austin A40 (the first hatchback?), splashing you with dirty water from the puddles. 

There were no company cars (only that of the manager) and only 2 vans at Newcastle. One went out along the North side of the Tyne, dropping off equipment and material at yards and harbours up the coast as far as Eyemouth. The other did the same service along the south side, to South Shields and down to Sunderland, Middlesbrough and even Whitby when required.

If you were an inspector (about 4 grades above me) you were allowed to use your own car in which to travel to jobs, claiming back a mileage charge. That was a perk not available to lower-graded service engineers. So go and wait at the bus stop and do your best to persuade the conductor to let you and your bags and parcels on board.


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## Alex Salmond (Mar 7, 2011)

Had lots of hair raising trips to join ships over the years ,especially in the later years with Blue Star where you mostly flew out to join your ship and flew home most guys bladdered/stoned and stumbling around trying to catch flights.
But a good one was the whole crew flying out to join the Almeda Star in Bander Abbas in Iran in 1983,we had to fly to Dubai to catch a flight to Iran but by this time the Iran -Iraq war had escalated and no flights were going to Iran from Dubai so we had to get put up in the Hotel there and wait for the Ship to pick us up and then back to Bander Abbas ,The only hotel they could get us in was this really flash one ,so we all stagger out of the bus in our scruffy old denims, flip flops etc into this marble lined lobby with waterfalls ,rich Arabs staring at us and a flummoxed agent we didnt care thought this was great,Down for dinner that night ,which was all on the company and got stuck into the grub,booze etc..Lobsters for dinner the lot (this only lasted for one meal when we tried again the next night the waiter shook his head and gave us our own menus which had about 3 things on it ,no lobsters obviously,(saying No No agent says No) course the Officers still had the fash menu ,but hey whats new??Anyway this Hotel had an English themed nightclub and a Sauna/massage area which was staffed by Thai masseuses who provided "extra service"at a cost we older guys headed for the Pub where we still charged all the bevvie to our rooms as they obviously hadnt got round to telling them we were on short commons but the young guys,galley boy ,deck boy and two young edh,s headed off to the sauna where they spent a lot of their time over the next few days availing themselves of te extra services,however three days later our wee holiday was over as the ship arrived and as we were all signing out the Hotel manager and the agent presented these young guys with a huge bill for all their extra services ,now obviously these guys hadnt a bean to their name so a furious skipper(MAD) 
had to sign for it on the Company,man was he pissed off ,the young guys had it stopped out of their wages ,it took them months to pay it off.We joined the ship and had to head back to Bander Abbas which was a whole story on its own as anyone who was there during that time can confirm..


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

My best was when we had to join the Mahout in Norfolk Viginia ; a full crew change .
Brocklebanks decided as a cost cutting move to send us all on the QE 1 as opposed to flying the crew .
All crew traveled by rail to Southhampton where we overnighted in a hotel and consumed the usual quantities of beer .
Next day joined the Queen Elizabeth as passengers ; Captain Sam Baxter and Chief Engineer George Black in First class the rest of us in Cabin Class except for the apprentices and |chippy who went ' steerage " ( talk about class distinction )
We were required to wear our uniforms in the dining saloons no doubt as a means of trying to impress the passengers .
The voyage to New York was a real holiday with the Lads opening and closing the bars .
On arrival in New York we were advised the Mahout had been delayed and we were all housed in a reasonable hotel close to Times Square with a cash allowance for food ( most of which was spent sightseeing and a couple of visits to the " Village " for more beer .
Eventually we were all put on a chartered bus and taken to Norfolk where we eventually joined Mahout and loaded coal for Japan .

The whole operation took just short of two weeks during which time we were on full pay and earning leave .

We had a great time however it was never repeated and charter planes became the order of the day . I often wondered if the person who thought up the " cost saving idea " lost their job ??

Happy Days Derek


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

> head back to Bander Abbas which was a whole story on its own as anyone who was there during that time can confirm


I managed to quite innocently get arrested there, held at gunpoint and banged up for a couple of hours while they checked my story out. This was around 1979 so before things came to a head in the region, but still, an experience I'll never forget !!

= Adrian +


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

One of the most interesting experiences was when required to join the Masheer in Trincomalee from Colombo to assist in bringing her back for repairs . I was transfereed from the Mahsud and joining entailed a taxi ride through the most beautifull countryside on some very poor dirt roads . I started early in the morning and arrived early evening . 
Jake Donnely had gone up the previous day to replace the Chief Engineer who had been hospitalised. When he arrived he found almost all the engineers with one exception to be ill or down with heat exhaustion and fatigue Jake and I along with the junior 5th Eng as watchmate worked 6 on and 6 off to bring her down to Colombo .
I have related the story of that voyage on another thread some years ago but cant seem to find it .

Happy Days Derek


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Joining ships always went smoothly for me, it was leaving that often became 'interesting'.


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## James_C (Feb 17, 2005)

Indeed paying off always seemed to be the more interesting, nothing to do with the vast amount of pay off beers consumed of course....


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## frankshipsea (Jun 28, 2007)

a group of us flew from norway to milan to join the m/t beau lots to drink on the flight then a mini bus to la spezia more drinking then got there and no ship arriving for a few days so we were booked into the hotel jolly in laspezia with food and drink supplied, bad mistake on the companys side.
we drank and had our fill of all laspezia could throw at us including the company of some fine italian women.
could not remember much of the last day but had a very cool welcome onboard from the old man as the agent give him the bill ,he was not impressed. but we did have a great time.


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## bluemoon (Jul 19, 2009)

In the late 70's early 80's when joining a ship in Indonesia it was necessary to apply for a visa in Singapore which took 7 days to process.
Quite a number of us met in the bar of the Hilton at Schipol before flying out the next morning on a KLM "combi" flight to Singapore, with 6 stops enroute. On "combi" flights in tthose days "everything" was free - including cigarettes which the cabin crew brought around in packs of 5 on a tray.
Due to the processing of our visas we got 7 days/nights in a 4* hotel in Singapore with all meals provided as well as a daily "spending allowance".
After the 7 nights there it was a short flight with Garuda to Jakarta where another night was spent in an hotel before joining the ship the next morning.
A total of 10 nights enroute on full pay and all expenses paid, then on reaching the ship, knowing you had already earned 5 days leave.


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## Clive Kaine (Apr 8, 2008)

My most interesting experience was joining the P&O Bulk Shipping Division's OBO "Kildare" at Al Bakar in Iraq in 1976.

I was joining with the 4th engineer, and the plan as devised by the company was that we were to fly to Baghdad, where we would be met by an agent, spend the night in a hotel, then fly down to Basra the next morning for onward transportation to the ship. 

The flight to Baghdad went OK, arriving after dark, but on heading for the luggage reclaim, we were stopped by the immigration people. No visas. Nobody had said anything to us about visas. It was made clear to us that without visas we were going no further, and we'd have to spend the night in the airport transit lounge. So, somewhat disgruntled, we settled down in the transit lounge with several dozen other people, to try to make the best of it. The catering facilities were closed, so there was no way to buy food or drink. Among our fellow transit passengers was a large group of Hare Krishna devotees from the UK, complete with orange robes and shaven heads, on their way to an ashram in India. They kept us entertained all night by dancing round the room every couple of hours, singing, chanting and ringing their little bells, which was nice.

Morning finally arrived without either of us sleeping a wink, and, bleary-eyed and unshaven, we finally boarded the plane for the short internal flight to Basra. On arrival and collecting our luggage, which had miraculously made the journey with us, we were met by an agent (hurrah!), who put us in a taxi and took us to a hotel for lunch. The journey to the hotel was like driving through a huge armed camp, with troops everywhere, tanks and military trucks on the road and large bodies of men drilling on parade grounds. This was some years before the Iran-Iraq war, but it looked as though they were already warming up for it. This impression was continued at the hotel, where we were the only people in the entire dining room who weren't Iraqi military officers.

It turned out that Al Bakar was an offshore terminal. The agent explained that we were going to have to continue onward to a port called Al Faw, where a boat would then take us out to Al Bakar. After a delay of several more hours at the agent's office, he took us down to the souk, where he started negotiations with a number of taxi drivers to convey us to Al Faw. Eventually, an old Arab with an ancient, dusty 1940s Chevrolet got the job. He piled our cases in the boot, those that wouldn't fit were lashed to the roof with an old piece of rope, and off we went (the agent had wisely chosen to stay in Basra). It was already dusk by this time, which was a blessing, because as it got darker, we were no longer able to see the road passing beneath us through the holes in the taxi's floor. 

A few miles out of Basra, the tarmac ran out, and we bumped down a dirt track at insane speeds, expecting at any minute to see our luggage crashing into the dust behind the car. Eventually, after about three hours of this, we arrived at Al Faw, and after yet another interminable delay, we boarded a small tug for the three-hour passage out to Al Bakar.

Mercifully the weather was calm and the waters of the gulf were smooth as we slowly chugged our way out to sea, and eventually the lights of Al Bakar terminal appeared out of the darkness. We finally staggered aboard the Kildare at 4am, and I can honestly say I was never so glad to join a ship in my life as I was at that moment. I felt sorry for the two guys we were relieving, who were going to have to make the same journey in reverse.

After telling the Old Man about our experience, he was good enough to write a report to the company, and as a result they said they would never ask anyone to join a ship in Iraq again.


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## Criffh (Feb 27, 2006)

Two joinings come to mind.
A number of officers were flown out to Calcutta to join T&J Harrison's MV Warrior, mid 1982. From there, we were supposed to stay in a hotel overnight, then fly down to Visakhapatnam to relieve the departing personnel. However, no palms had received their customary crossing with silver, and consequently no flights were available. We then spent several more days in Calcutta (in the Oberoi Grand, a rather nice old-colonial style hotel) before a flight was available. Off to the airport in two taxis, each of which broke down on the way. Checked in at the airport, with customs making a full inventory of each of our possessions, including serial number records of all cameras/lenses, radios, etc. Then it was off to the departure area, where we were greeted with the news that the flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Visak. Back through customs, where our luggage, which had been out of our site since we initially passed through customs, was thoroughly checked against the inventories. Then it was back to the hotel. Next, the news was broken to the ship, which was due to sail for Singapore that night. We wouldn't be coming! After another night or two in Calcutta, we flew to S'pore, and spend a few more days in a hotel there before the ship arrived, and some very miffed people were relieved.
My second memorable joining was PSNC MV Oroya, sailing from Port Glasgow on her maiden voyage down to Liverpool in 1978. I was to stay overnight in a Glasgow hotel, and one of the Marconi Glasgow Depot techs was to pick me up at 0600 the following morning, and take me to the ship. All went to plan, until we hit black ice at 60mph on the M8 motorway, not far from Port Glasgow. The car span around and went rear-first into the railway embankment, coming to a final rest on its side. We both managed to get out of the car, and police were soon on the scene. The driver was virtually unscathed, although I'd received a few cuts to my face and hands, so was a bit bloody. Nothing serious, so I declined the offer of a trip to the hospital. The two of us continued our journey to the ship by taxi, arriving on board some time after the ship should have sailed. All the PSNC top-nobs were on board, and were rather puzzled by my appearance. The car was a write-off.


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## gordy (Apr 18, 2008)

My Mrs got a 6 hour taxi trip from Gavle (Sweden) to Gothenburg and onward flight to get home in time for her brothers wedding. This was in the middle of winter so it was a two driver white knuckle trip. She left in the wee small hours. At breakfast the C/E asked if she'd got away ok, then added, "you should have gone with her, we're not sailing until tonight"!

The two of us joined a ship at Thameshaven (?) near the Ford plant. The taxi dumped us at the gate, and I think it was the Mrs 1st trip so our luggage was megga, I was scratching by head on how we were going to get it down to the ship which was miles away. A guy on the gate said "take the train". We turned round to see a wee shunting engine and sure enough they took us down.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

gordy said:


> My Mrs got a 6 hour taxi trip from Gavle (Sweden) to Gothenburg and onward flight to get home in time for her brothers wedding. This was in the middle of winter so it was a two driver white knuckle trip.


Some trip, some driver! I took the family by car from Gothenburg to Stockholm in the middle of summer and it took us all day from leaving the ferry at about 6.30 am until after 5pm. And it is a fair stretch onwards from Stockholm to Gavle. Mind you as a stranger and a foreigner, just starting a 1-month stay in Sweden, I was taking no chances with the speed limits.


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## alan ward (Jul 20, 2009)

Newly married and joining the Chrysantema with new missus in HK,as we flew over the harbour I told her` she`s not here `and she wasn`t.She turned up 7/8 days later after a week in the Shamrock Hotel on Nathan Road Kowloon.We had married on a shoestring and our honeymoon had been a week in Scarborough so this was like a free holiday,never forgotten.


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## martint123 (Oct 24, 2011)

Trip one.
Train down to Heathrow, across to Frankfurt, From there to Dakar and BA (with one crate of beer aboard). BA to Santiago and hotel, a bit exiting outside during the riots, dodging the water canon trying to get some grub.
Next three days trying to get a flight down the coast, got down to Valdivia and a two hour barge trip to get on board.

Two.
Phone call mid morning "can you do a trip at short notice" - sure says muggins.
Taxi arrives at lunchtime, to a local unlicensed runway and a flight in a chartered 4 seater Piper up to Plockton (sp) Scotland followed by a hair-raising taxi ride to join a tiny looking tugboat, bound for Montreal - not my most comfortable trip.


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