# Page 5



## zebedee (Dec 19, 2010)

I have read the many posts on this string (Engineering Apprenticeships) with great interest. Many bells have been rung! I too am something of a dinosaur: I served my apprenticeship to ship repair and general engineering from 1950 to 1955. During this time I learned to operate all the machines in the machine shop: these ranged from a very old Broadbent lathe, with the phrase "war finish" in raised cast letters on one of the supporting legs (explanation to follow) to brand-new machine tools which I helped to install during the third year of my apprenticeship. The fourth year I spent as an "outside" fitter working on various ships. The fifth year I was back in the machine shop and then I went to sea as a junior engineer. In those days no technical qualifications were needed for Third or Fourth engineers. When I had acquired sufficient sea time I qualified for my Seconds Ticket as it was commonly known, although its official title was “Board of Trade Certificate of Competency (Motor) Second Class”. As the Trelawny class was virtually a pre-war ship with two Scotch boilers and the accompanying “three leg up and downer” removed, the total installed electricity generating capacity of 60 kW was more than adequate as built. And No! that isn’t my confusion of units nor is it a typing mistake: two dynamos each producing 272 amps at a nominal 110 volts works out quite nicely at 30 kW each! Well, 29.28 to be precise! I distinctly remember noting that 272 seemed to be an odd number which is how I remember it so accurately. Consequently the company employed no electricians and the Third Engineer was expected to display his versatility. As a result I declined to serve as Second Engineer until I had had at least one trip as Third Engineer. The company was good enough to humour me although they had no wish for a certificated Third Engineer as they still had several ships sailing with Dispensation Seconds. (further explanation to follow) I was appointed in 1959 to a brand-new ship then completing at Barclay Curle’s and at the completion of its maiden voyage I was promoted to Second Engineer being sent once more to the Treleven! I continued in the post of second engineer until 1963 at which time some falling cargo gave me a depressed fracture of the skull which paralysed my left side and terminated my career as a marine engineer. When I was finally discharged from hospital and started looking for a job, I discovered that my Second’s Ticket was no use whatever in helping me to find a shore based job. As the prospect of spending the rest of my life unemployed had no appeal whatever I qualified for a diploma in engineering and then added to that a management qualification. This qualification enables me to give a slightly different slant to this post compared to those that are already there. One of the things we were taught was that if a company had the need for say, 20 lathe operators , it did not look for 20 turners, it took 20 people and trained them in the essential techniques necessary to operate the lathes. It did not try to turn out all round turners nor did it teach them anything about any other machine tool. In the future if necessary they could be retrained either as more skilled operators or to operate entirely different machines. The corollary of this of course is that the skills available in the pool of labour are diminished. With hindsight, I suppose I was very lucky that my disability was entirely physical as opposed to mental and I was able to find a suitable position eventually as an estimator to a local foundry and machine shop.

Explanation one: prior to the 1914 1918 war, English machine tool manufacturers would proof-machine their castings and then leave them for two or three years before finishing them. Due to the war time demands made on them they had to cease this practice and so to maintain their reputation they branded them with the above legend. During my apprenticeship I had to attend technical College to ensure that I was allowed to continuing my apprenticeship uninterrupted by conscription, that is to say spending two years in one of the Armed Forces. From this time in technical College one of the few things I remember is the above reason for the label on my lathe. Apparently the delay was necessary to allow for what are known as “secular changes” to take place. The phenomenon given this name refers to the slight distortions that occur as the stresses and strains due to the casting process relieve themselves.
Explanation two: In the early 1950s there was a desperate shortage of second engineers: the action stations for engineers during the war was of course in the engine room and as this was in the centre of the ship it was the logical place at which to aim a torpedo. Cfonsequently the attrition rate amongst Engineers was appalling! To overcome the resulting shortage it was necessary to allow Engineers with sufficient experience to serve in the capacity of Second Engineers although they may have lacked the theoretical knowledge. Coincidentally, my first Second Engineer for my first two trips on the Treleven was the possessor of a dispensation, which explained why he wanted us to drill and tap a 3/16 inch thick plate to accept a 1/2 inch Whitworth thread!
Zebedee


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