# Crew Radio Services - Sandford Mill Museum Marine Radio Exhibit



## Dimples82 (Aug 24, 2014)

I am trying to put together a display regarding the daily routine of an R/O from the crews perspective.
So far I have crew notice board versions of the MIMCO interflora ad, the Kay's ad, and a Disc Token adverts plus (SLT's - I even have one of GK Services), What I need badly is a copy of a Vernon's Pools advert to complete (I think) the set.
If you know of any others I would welcome copies other Notice Board ads for radio services to the crew from other companies


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Thanks Dimples. You just brought back dark memories of getting up at previously unknown hours of the night to get the bloody Vernons results, not because of any interest in football, but the prospect of becoming instantly rich to those who should have known better.

I can't help you I'm afraid, but I do remember putting up such notices (as supplied from the dark forces far far away in a distant Chelmsford) and I only wish I'd recorded for posterity some of the graffiti that appeared on said notices, now that would have made good reading. (X rated mind.)

(EEK)(Jester)


----------



## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Ha! I well remember on my first ship as a juniour we were called by another G ship on the Japanese coast - went up to 512 and he sent: vernons?

I looked at the chief - he laughed and explained it....


----------



## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

My distant impression is that although I did take the pools message on GTZM (and we did have a consortium on T/T Stonehaven - I came across a letter replying to a minor distribution of riches recently) it was mainly used by those simply wanting the results or who had a running entry made ashore.

In Conoco it had been company practice to buy the ship a Spanish lottery ticket until due diligence by the bean counters realised that should one actually draw El Gordo they would be left with a tanker stranded at the next port. Thereafter they bought every man a quarter of a lottery ticket. I never heard of a winner, though).


----------



## P.Arnold (Apr 11, 2013)

i supervised several full radio/radar ARPA interswitch installations (mid 80's).
When the R/O's joined, mainly from India, I would politely ask if they had sailed with the gear, some said yes, the others no. But very few, if any knew about Vernons. I think I spent more time explaining the 8 from 11 permutations etc than I did on the gear.

Interflora, I had one crew member (first tripper) who had been given the task of finding where I grew the flowers. Naughty Bosun.

Still trying to get wiser, but sadly failing.


----------



## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

I once received a haughty letter from a Mimco desk jockey pointing out that on my recently completed round trip from London to Italy I had sent no private messages, no Interflora, no Kays and no Vernons pools. It went on to lecture me about the importance the Company attached to revenue from such sources.

The ship had MF only and was back in City Docks every four weeks, so I replied asking the complainant if he could kindly explain how I was to send such messages in the remote event that one was given to me.

In retrospect, if the Marconi company was so dependant upon revenue from private radio traffic, it might explain why they went out of business.


----------



## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Wow...that's the first I had heard about R/Os being expected to tout for traffic!


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

They provided leaflets and posters for the notice boards pushing Kays, Interflora and Vernons. Said leaflets attracted much graffiti some of which was quite inspired ...:sweat:


----------



## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

heh....I just can imagine!


----------



## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

The beer mats were popular but I don't think they netted MIMCO a single extra brass Franc.


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

You may remember that old joke about Marconi starting a 'Singing Telegram' service. They insisted that when the sparks delivered a personal telegram he would sing out the text in a festive manner.

Walking down to deliver to a lady on the cruise he gave her the telegram and she insisted he sing it to her. He said he didn't really want to, but she insisted. So he struck up song:

♫ Your husband Fred is dead, ♫
♪ He died last night in bed. ♪

The service was subsequently cancelled. [=P]




----------



## Dimples82 (Aug 24, 2014)

Further to my original post above, has anyone got any paper work connected to Wallport Films ?, on some ships the Sparks was responsible.
When I was with Sanko I was responsible for showing the films, the projector and stowage of the films


----------



## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Walport is still going. Whether they distribute entertainment now I don't know but their mainstay is in making training films and onboard assessment systems.


----------



## Dimples82 (Aug 24, 2014)

Varley said:


> Walport is still going. Whether they distribute entertainment now I don't know but their mainstay is in making training films and onboard assessment systems.


Thanks for responding, that is good news about Walport still being in existence finding a new home for their talents since computers killed their business (sounds familiar). The movies were very important component to Crews well being.


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

On pretty much most of the ships I sailed on we took it in turns to show the movies, although the sparks generally had to look after the film projector if it went wrong.
Films were pretty important, although Walport had a reputation for 'box fillers,' rather bad films that I suspect never did much in terms of circulation. One I particularly remember because I showed it, was 'Song of Norway.' Six reels of mind numbing banality.
But despite this the film show was looked forward to by most. Sometimes seeing a good film more than once on a passage. You also learned stuff ... how to splice a film (Walport provided a splicing kit) and how to slowly wind a film back onto the reel when it had gathered on a distorted rim and collapsed in a big pile of celluloid on the deck.
(Gleam)


----------



## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

And of course, the words of some on long voyages (or long between boxes) so that one could enjoy it with the sound off and audience substituting.

Song or Norway I missed (and it will now be on my list of never to watch, thank you). I do remember endless tuneless crooning after Paint Your Wagon (to me the same with the original soundtrack).


----------



## Dimples82 (Aug 24, 2014)

I had movies follow me around, the worst was Street Fighter with Charles Bronson James Coburn.


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Yes Varley I'd forgotten about that word substitution thing ... (==D)

I can remember us being in hysterics at some of the spontaneous dialogue that came out of that. If only that could have been recorded, it would have been a box office smash ... (LOL)


----------



## Wismajorvik (Dec 29, 2011)

BobClay said:


> On pretty much most of the ships I sailed on we took it in turns to show the movies, although the sparks generally had to look after the film projector if it went wrong.
> Films were pretty important, although Walport had a reputation for 'box fillers,' rather bad films that I suspect never did much in terms of circulation. One I particularly remember because I showed it, was 'Song of Norway.' Six reels of mind numbing banality.
> But despite this the film show was looked forward to by most. Sometimes seeing a good film more than once on a passage. You also learned stuff ... how to splice a film (Walport provided a splicing kit) and how to slowly wind a film back onto the reel when it had gathered on a distorted rim and collapsed in a big pile of celluloid on the deck.
> (Gleam)


Recollect using a match box to brake the feed reel when rewinding automatically, otherwise loops of tape flying everywhere. I managed once to splice a broken section wrong way round. Actors upside down and odd audio until the end of the reel. 
Annoying to watch a black and white movie in standard frame size but note the credits stating said movie was widescreen technicolor.


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

I do remember on a CP Ships the Philippino crew lent us a small 8mm projector with some 'pornographic' films which had somehow been rewound back to front and upside down.
So we spent about 10 minutes standing on our heads with cushions between the cranium and the deck, watching a young lady put her clothes on !!!

I think it's called 'irony.' :sweat:


----------



## Ian Hay (May 26, 2013)

BobClay said:


> I do remember on a CP Ships the Philippino crew lent us a small 8mm projector with some 'pornographic' films which had somehow been rewound back to front and upside down.
> So we spent about 10 minutes standing on our heads with cushions between the cranium and the deck, watching a young lady put her clothes on !!!
> 
> I think it's called 'irony.' :sweat:



With such films,owing to the positioning of bodies,it wouldn't make much difference if shown back to front & upside down! So I've been told,anyway (*))


----------



## Bill Greig (Jul 4, 2006)

I seem to remember another company supplying films - Cattermoulls, Anybody else remember them?
Bill


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Wismajorvik said:


> Recollect using a match box to brake the feed reel when rewinding automatically, otherwise loops of tape flying everywhere. I managed once to splice a broken section wrong way round. Actors upside down and odd audio until the end of the reel.
> Annoying to watch a black and white movie in standard frame size but note the credits stating said movie was widescreen technicolor.


In the latter years Walport provided a cinemascope lens with the projector for those films that required it. I seem to remember being on one ship where it had gone missing, so all those films were performed by very tall thin people. :sweat:


----------



## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

On the ships I sailed on it was the R/O's job to manage the Walport movie exchanges. I never operated the projector but when videotape came along the player was sometimes installed in the radio room, so I was expected start the show at the scheduled time.

One sunny afternoon alongside in Bandar Abbas, Iran, I set off with an able bodied cadet to see if we could find a ship to exchange Walport boxes with and somehow managed to get lost in the harbour, eventually finding our bearings but being the wrong side of some or other security check point. Unable to produce passports or any form of ID my interrogator suddenly pulled his revolver and pointed it right at my face and we were hustled into a small room, and later to an office with a desk behind which was the same lad who'd pulled the gun on us earlier. It was down to me to explain the mix-up as my able bodied cadet hadn't stopped bawling since the incident began, however our story was soon confirmed and we were now to be transported back to our ship, on the back of a Honda 50 motorbike, our gun toting friend piloting, me riding pillion and my still sobbing assistant sitting on the tail light. It was absolutely terrifying, bumping and wobbling all over the place but eventually getting up a bit of speed with fork lift trucks whizzing all around us, no crash helmets, but somehow we got back in one piece, although my assistant was walking funny for quite a while afterwards.

Not exactly a treasured memory but unforgettable nonetheless.

= Adrian +


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

5TT said:


> On the ships I sailed on it was the R/O's job to manage the Walport movie exchanges. I never operated the projector but when videotape came along the player was sometimes installed in the radio room, so I was expected start the show at the scheduled time.
> 
> One sunny afternoon alongside in Bandar Abbas, Iran, I set off with an able bodied cadet to see if we could find a ship to exchange Walport boxes with and somehow managed to get lost in the harbour, eventually finding our bearings but being the wrong side of some or other security check point. Unable to produce passports or any form of ID my interrogator suddenly pulled his revolver and pointed it right at my face and we were hustled into a small room, and later to an office with a desk behind which was the same lad who'd pulled the gun on us earlier. It was down to me to explain the mix-up as my able bodied cadet hadn't stopped bawling since the incident began, however our story was soon confirmed and we were now to be transported back to our ship, on the back of a Honda 50 motorbike, our gun toting friend piloting, me riding pillion and my still sobbing assistant sitting on the tail light. It was absolutely terrifying, bumping and wobbling all over the place but eventually getting up a bit of speed with fork lift trucks whizzing all around us, no crash helmets, but somehow we got back in one piece, although my assistant was walking funny for quite a while afterwards.
> 
> ...


I think I'd have charged an extra five bob for the projection services after an experience like that ... :sweat:


----------



## Wismajorvik (Dec 29, 2011)

5TT said:


> On the ships I sailed on it was the R/O's job to manage the Walport movie exchanges. I never operated the projector but when videotape came along the player was sometimes installed in the radio room, so I was expected start the show at the scheduled time.
> 
> One sunny afternoon alongside in Bandar Abbas, Iran, I set off with an able bodied cadet to see if we could find a ship to exchange Walport boxes with and somehow managed to get lost in the harbour, eventually finding our bearings but being the wrong side of some or other security check point. Unable to produce passports or any form of ID my interrogator suddenly pulled his revolver and pointed it right at my face and we were hustled into a small room, and later to an office with a desk behind which was the same lad who'd pulled the gun on us earlier. It was down to me to explain the mix-up as my able bodied cadet hadn't stopped bawling since the incident began, however our story was soon confirmed and we were now to be transported back to our ship, on the back of a Honda 50 motorbike, our gun toting friend piloting, me riding pillion and my still sobbing assistant sitting on the tail light. It was absolutely terrifying, bumping and wobbling all over the place but eventually getting up a bit of speed with fork lift trucks whizzing all around us, no crash helmets, but somehow we got back in one piece, although my assistant was walking funny for quite a while afterwards.
> 
> ...


Ah, Iran. Had a similar experience in Abadan while with a Lloyds surveyor and we ended up the wrong side of an imaginary security line. Neither had passports with us, (mine was in Teheran his was at home locally). After lots of palaver, warnings, threats etc I produced my international driving licence issued by the Iranian equivalent of the AA and was released. The other guy had to wait for his wife to produce his passport. Since the I have always ensured I carried some photographic id whether relevant, out of date or whatever.


----------



## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

Naytikos said:


> I once received a haughty letter from a Mimco desk jockey pointing out that on my recently completed round trip from London to Italy I had sent no private messages, no Interflora, no Kays and no Vernons pools. It went on to lecture me about the importance the Company attached to revenue from such sources....
> 
> .


Ironically I came across this letter from GTZM a few days ago whilst clearing out some old papers. I certainly never made a habit of pushing any of the services on offer but perhaps some of this might have been Christmas related...

Can't believe it was 54 years ago - they must have got the dates wrong!!!


----------



## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I used to stick those Marconi posters up but never really had any hassle with folk wanting to send stuff - they were all too tight. I liked it when the lads used to send flowers and would say "Just put something appropriate". I always put that soppy code for "Across the many miles of ocean that separate us ....." or something like that.


Remember those Marconi scientists that turned up dead all over the place? Maybe they should have been a bit more aggressive with the advertising! Glad I got out when the going was good. SSM and LOF didn't give a fish's tit about Interflora.

John T


----------



## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

I was the projectionist for "Whose afraid of Virginia Wolf" anchored off Lagos, all 5 (?) reels of it.
I was the only one there at the end. I mixed up the reels due to me not being TT in those days.
I should have got a medal or something.


----------



## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

johnvvc said:


> Can't believe it was 54 years ago - they must have got the dates wrong!!!


Both the signatories died only within the past 5 years.


----------



## holland25 (Nov 21, 2007)

On the weather ships we used to get fairly new releases, but there was a small ,mandatory, subscription fee,our ever generous government. However if you were prepared to operate the projector you would be be forgiven the charge. On 840 pounds a year,two kids and a mortgage ,every little helped.I used to show the films in the seaman's mess and enjoyed every minute of it. I seemed to remember having to flick the film when it went out of synch and watch for the splodge at the top right hand corner of the screen when the reel was coming to an end. At the end of the voyage we used to play the best reels of all the films we had .Playing a film from a USB stick doesn't have the same magic somehow.


----------



## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

I once sent an order for flowers from the ship to my then girl-friend (now my wife) via Interflora for her birthday. Each of the greetings messages had its own 3-digit number, spelled out in letters - say 100 written as onezerozero. The messages were displayed in the catalogue in blocks of five messages - each block made up of five numbered messages, relating to a separate subject such as weddings, birthdays, Christmas, deaths and other topics. Using the code meant that the message was only charged as one word in the ordering telegram - a big cost saving.

The birthday greeting that I wanted to send was the first one in the birthday group: the code to be sent was, say, 126. 

I sent off the order and heard no more.

However when the ship returned to the UK and my girl friend arrived at the ship to meet me on paying off, after the usual fond greetings (!) she asked me what the Hell I was doing sending her flowers with a joke message. I asked her to explain and she said that when the flowers arrived at her home, she had been on duty at the hospital where she was a nurse. Her father had accepted them and on taking them indoors to put them in water to await her return home that evening, he had read the greetings message.

When she did get home she was met on the doorstep by her very angry father who wanted to know what the bloody Hell was going on. Completely at a loss to know what the problem was, he showed her the Interflora greetings card. The message read, "Congratulations! Delighted with the news. God bless you both."

He was convinced that he was about be become a grandfather without ever having given consent to an engagement, let alone having had the privilege of being the father of the bride. He had a good idea what his eldest child and only daughter had been up to but he hadn't expected things to have gone quite so far so quickly.

My girl-friend had a terrible time convincing him that she was definitely not pregnant and the message was all some sort of horrid prank, product of a warped mind. 

The answer was rather more prosaic - I had sent the wrong code - I should have sent code 121, not 126. Message 126 was from the next block of messages, the one meant for new births.


----------



## Steven Lamb (Apr 18, 2009)

Exchanging boxes with other British vsls in ports around the world could be quite entertaining in itself especially if you got invited into the bar ! As you can imagine lugging walport boxes around in places like Mombasa with the sun beating down was definitely thirsty work ! Getting 'press-ganged' into the bar on the likes of a Bank line boat could be mouthwatering ! On the other hand stepping onboard a BP tanker it was such a rigid atmosphere - you'd conclude business quickly and be lucky to get a cup of tea ! I always ensured anyone coming onboard to exchange was suitably watered and fed if they wanted a bite.

Happy days !
regards
Lamby


----------



## david freeman (Jan 26, 2006)

*It should not happen at Sea*



Varley said:


> Walport is still going. Whether they distribute entertainment now I don't know but their mainstay is in making training films and onboard assessment systems.


The ah! ' training films, as a BP Young cadet, and later engineer, at many a film show on board, I was entertained to all those training matters, and then the horror of horrors ''Fire down below''. I do not know how I remained sane and attended the BOT exams. All good memories, 'Just That''? though.


----------



## rknibbs (Mar 11, 2006)

I once went on board a Russian tanker in the Gulf. I was not allowed to see the radio office but other than that it was very friendly. The RO asked if we had films we would like to swap I said we have a couple of James Bond films that we had seen too many times. He said he didn't want the James Bond films because, 'the Russians always lose!'


----------



## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Remember those Walport safety films that used to precede movies. We used to keep a league of which department got the most maiming's and killings. Alas Sparky only over got two, a radar scanner switched while a guy was soojying it, and another sailor who grabbed the transmitting aerial. I figured them for confirmed kills though.

The engine and deck departments had a better score but it was the catering department who got the most !!! (Who can forget the bacon slicer film ???)


----------



## LucyKnight (Mar 27, 2013)

One of the tips I was given by my senior during the 6 months trainee time, as well as carry your own tools and multimeter, was buy a football fixture book from newsagents eg Smiths and take that with you. There were always two teams that were changed around though. It saved quite a bit of time. Typed the fixtures out in advance and then just corrected the two teams. I didn't actually have much interest in footy, not surprising since local team was Plymourh Argyle, but it was important for bonding on tankers.

Re interflora book and the pages of coded messages that could be used on the attached cards. I wonder who managed to think some of the them up. They were so corny, I'm not sure the recipients would have appreciated them.


----------

