Drink

[Robert George Young]

While at sea was any drink consumed ?
Trying to get head round dad being away so often and at sea and still being an alcoholic.

I know he drank heavility when ashore.

I wonder if these names mean anything ?
Remember the names of the Merch bosses he had influence with....
SMITHY and REAGAN

Probably Salford, Manchester or Liverpool

Thankyou

[Red Lead Ted]

Hi, Rob, Myself and a lot of guys i sailed with while actually at sea where allowed 4 beers a day, If you wanted it you could by a bottle of spirits duty free, But a lot of seaman not all never drank while keeping sea watches as was in my case , Different ball game once you docked somewhere and all where on day work you would usually have a run ashore at night, Then the drinking sessions started ................ Dont forget in our day a ship could be in a port for days or weeks discharging and loading cargo. Alcoholics at sea where in abundance and it was as with any profession with time on your hands and isolated an easy road to end up going down there are a lot of guys i new not around to tell the tale today through the drink, We all make choices in life sadly some good men succumb, One drink is to many for some people and ten is not enough. But it wasn't unique in your fathers case Regards Terry.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Robert you don't say what era your dad sailed in, 40's/50's/60's/70's etc

In the 40's seamen may have drunk quite a lot ashore, they had faced north Atlantic weather, submarines, bombers, and Axis Navy, whilst carrying ship loads of explosives, ordnance, high octane fuels as well as goods to keep the country running, seen their mates blown to smithereens whist sailing a couple of hundred yards from them, then whilst ashore enduring women spitting on them and giving them white feathers because they were not in uniform. The majority of seamen did not drink when the ship set sail and this was enforced during WWII

In the 50's most companies limited ratings to two small bottles of beer a day and officers one bottle of spirits per week, when there was an issue you had to consume it and not allowed to accumulate it. Again a majority of seamen did not drink after departing port, same in 60's and 70's

Dry ships and dry companies started to appear in the late 60's and breathalisers and drug kits started to appear in the 90's

Maybe your father was an alcoholic, maybe he wasn't, but just appeared that way because he consumed a lot in a short time, he may have been totally teetotal when at sea, a lot of seamen followed that path.

What drove them to drink?, numerous things, a lousy Master, a lousy mate, or second engineer, terrible weather for days on end, lousy food, little overtime, family problems magnified by lack of news (no mobiles or i-pads in those days), the reasons are endless including dry ships where when ashore they could become intoxicated by the smell of the barmaids apron until your brain and body adjusted (very common on Scandinavian ships most of which were dry-ships even in the 50's and the crews from top down got pizzed on a couple of beers and were known as Scandyhooligans)

So don't think of him as an alcoholic but as someone who may led a troubled life and found solace looking at the bottom of a bottle, unless you've been to sea and experienced some horrific weather when you are not sure you are going to reach the other side or not, it can be difficult to comprehend the actions of others

[Captain Kong]

Many ships were Dry Ships, No alcohol at all, no cans of beer, no spirits. some companies allowed two cans a day.
On the Liners, like Cunard and Canadian Pacific, they had crew bars known as Pig and Whistles. or The Pig. Draught beer on tap, in the 50s Eight pennies a Pint, Wrexham Lager, sup as much as you wanted as long as you didnt fall over.
Depending on the port you were in then to the nearest Bar or to a well known Bar where the women and etc was.
Some Bars around the world were well knows to Seafarers. ,
Montreal, House of Scouse, Joe Beefs, Vokeland*Bar,
New York Market Diner
Buenos Aires, Texas Bar, Marina Bar, Light House Bar, and so on.
Lagos Nigeria, Apapa side, Tombo Marys bar
Cape Town, Navigators Den, Del Monaco and more.
Durban, Playhouse.
Fremantle, Autralia, P&O Hotel bar, Orient Bar.
Melbourne, Sir Charles Hotham , Chloe's , etc.
Sydney, Monties Blood house, Mary Bashems , Jacksons. The Tilbury, the Bells, etc.
Auckland NZ , Ma Gleasons, etc.
and so on around the world.

Brian ,who kept the Barmaids happy.

[Jim Brady]

Hi Robert when I was at sea it was 2 cans of beer a day,not kept in the fridge right from the store-room so you can imagine how warm it would be in the tropics.I never bothered with it like most on board, so if you were at sea for 3 weeks that would be 3 weeks without touching a drink. sooner save my money for going ashore and then the drinking started.We were never allowed to buy a bottle of spirits,some ships you were given a tot of rum once a week.Deck Officers and engineers were allowed a bottle of spirits a week I think it was.Later on of course most ships had bars selling draught lager.Passenger Liners had a crew bar known as the Pig & Whistle which was open every night.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

When I was on Tankers, a Seven Month trip was normal and some times a lot longer, in all that time never got a shore, especially in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf.
our ships became DRY after the EXXON VALDES Disaster in Alaska and so the bars were removed and the ships became Dry, The Captain had a breathalyser kit and if he suspected anyone drinking alcohol he was instantly Sacked.
Brian

[Keith Tindell]

I had been on ships in the 60s where we could have more than 4 cans beer, on rare occasions no limit, but my experience was that most did not drink at sea, mostly working 12 hours a day with overtime, half way down a can of beer i would be asleep. When there is talk of cans of beer, they were the small cans that i recall, mostly heineken or orangiboom, probably not spelt like that !!, kt

[Red Lead Ted]

Hi, Brian hope all is well in your world mate, I know you and Ivan done the rounds in Pakistan, As is well documented i was caught up in the 1971 Pakistan / Bangladesh war. I remember getting served xmas dinner while along side in Karachi by the Deck officers including the skipper, They the Pakistan authorities allowed us 2 cans of tennants lager before locking up the bond again, Only one seaman took them i didn't see the point in trying to enter the party spirit with 2 beers all over xmas and New Year. Not the only dry one i had another day another dollar Regards Terry.

[cappy]

#on a shell tanker i was in they were brewing there own ...it left the inside of a galvanised bucket shining like a mirror the doctored it with lime juice ...had a wee taste it was like i guess domestos to be ...but they drank it but they managed to get it down ......cappy

[Captain Kong]

When I was in the Gulf in 1977, anchored off Rastannurah, Saudi Arabia, the Arab Customs would come on board at anytime, The anchorage there was 40 Miles off shore. They would search the ship from top to bottom searching for alcohol. The Bond locker was always Welded shut by the engineers before we got there.
The next ship to us was a Dutch one named THAMES, the Arab Customs found one empty can of beer in the garbage can.
The Ship was Confiscated by the Saudis, and the crew sent back to Holland, The Dutch Master taken ashore and given 200 Lashes in Public and the Ships Agent ashore, who had never even seen the ship was also given 100 Lashes in public. There was hell to play with the Diplomats.
Dangerous place is Saudi for alcohol.

But in Dubai, when I was staying in a hotel waiting for my ship. the bar was full of Saudi Sheiks who fly in by helicopter and drink whisky straight from the bottle. with a girl sat on their knee and lighting cigars with thousand Dirham notes.
Brian