Masters FG Certificate of Competency

[David Howden]

Having fallen on hard times I will shortly be posting my Masters FG Ticket, my Discharge Book and Seaman's Identity Card on Ebay with a view to raising some much needed cash.

If any readers would be interested in purchasing these items before hand please email me at:

davehowden123@gmail.com

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi David.
That's a sad thing to hear at anytime but at Xmas even sadder, as we get older and our rescourses get lower we try many things to lessen the hardship. Like you we are struggling to keep up; even the cost of buying time on the net becomes tougher.
I wish you luck in your endevours to get some recompense for all those years at sea.
Cheers Des.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi David
Yes as said it is very sad to hear of your plight ,and i to hope that you will get something good for the Years at Sea,it certainly is not an easy thing to part with such memoribilia,and only wish that there may be something else of Value that you could perhaps put up for sale!
Just take a minute to think of what you are about to part with (no doubt you allready have) but take another wee bit of time out first!
I wish you well.
And also hope that you may have a Merry Xmas and a good New Year in 2012
Cheers and take care!

[happy daze john in oz]

It has often been said that the quality of a country can be determined by the manner in which they treat their senior citizens. From some of the commenst it would appear that there is a number of countries who do not give a dam about their senior citizens.

[corrientes]

As the others said - very sad. I hope what you get for them on ebay is worth their loss to you. Have you looked at the possibility of raising cash on them through a pawnbroker. You may get as much there if the broker understands what these things mean to a seafarer, and then you could later possibly retrieve them later as and when your situation improves. Which I sincerely trust it will. All the best to you and, if I may, wish you all good wishes and all you hope for in the new year.

[Capt Bill Davies]

David,

Under no circumstances should you part with your certificate as I feel you will regret it in the long term. You have a piece of history so valuable to you few outside the industry will understand.

I have several younger friends who parted with their certificate when STCW/renewal raised its head. The real Master's (FG) had one of the corners clipped off and this thing STCW Class 1 was issued to them. They were mortified and rightly so. Hold on at all costs it will be a talking point with the the Grandchildren. I only held my British Masters (FG) for a very short period but it was copied and a Liberian Masters issued on the strength of it. A very proud moment all the same.

Brgds

Bill

[Gulliver]

Very Sad to hear that David.
Sorry that your idyllic retirement in Thailand is turning sour.
I feel sure your extended family over there will really appreciate what you are doing for them.........

I wish You All the Very Best for Christmas and the New Year !

Gulliver

[Captain Kong]

Is there not a possibility that someone could buy them, clone them and then they would be sold many times over on the black market and then all kinds of people could have a MFG CERT. and go away to sea with it.
Just a thought.
OR you could could come back to the UK and get all kinds of benefits, a State Pension, MNOPFF pension and a house etc. and be better off?

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

Under no circumstances should anyone part with these irreplaceable documents. They are so easy to copy and doctor with a new identity which would mean some unqualified person let loose on a Ship's Bridge with the inevitable dire consequences. I am tempted to call for a "Tarpaulin Muster" to avoid this drastic action. I am donating my documents to the local Time & Tide Museum for future generations to see what we strove to earn in the glory years of British shipping.

[Gulliver]

[QUOTE=Captain Kong;76757]Is there not a possibility that someone could buy them,

Too right Brian.As I have hinted at in my last post, and I don't want to offend David,but I hope they haven't already fallen into grasping hands in Thailand?.....

Gulliver