The old steel bucket

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Gash bins was the first job after the ropes storage on most ship I was on The gash bin was a 45 gallon drum with the top cut off, holes in the bottom and sides for the rope two? for draining cut with cold chisel by a member of the crew I did a few of them, When you were clear of the port you fed the seagulls and then put the fire hose on the bin not a very nice job after a couple of weeks !!! in port, the longer in port the more gash bins were needed . all the gash was got rid of that way in my time The sea gulls were very hungry.

[cappy]

one of the saddest sights I saw was gash bins beingput on the quayside in Durban and a host of black kids fighting to get a handful of slopone little crippled kid was being pushed out the way by the majority so of course he became the favourite of us and we looked after him every night whenthe others had gone we fed him like a king gave him ciggies and jam littlebugger must have thought he won the lottery strange Louis you mentioning gash bins brought it all back that was1957 a canny while ago now hard sailors soft as sh..te regards cappy

[Richard Quartermaine]

That is a really good memory Cappy. This memory has stuck with me over the years:

"Leaving Halifax, NS on the ‘Lowlander’ in April 1947 we headed across the Atlantic Ocean to Mindelo on the island of São Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands archipelago some 400 miles off the coast of West Africa. Dropping anchor in the harbour, open boats came alongside with men begging for the contents of ‘rosies’, the crew’s affectionate title of the waste buckets from the galley and pantries. It was obvious from this that poverty and hunger was the lot of many of the islanders. This was later brought home to me when I later researched some history on these Islands and came up with this:-."

"São Vicente had remained uninhabited after its discovery by the Portuguese in 1462 due to its barrenness. Nine years earlier than our arrival in April 1947; that was in 1938, a coal bunkering station was established at Mindelo that attracted a rapid rise in the population from the workers initially employed. In the relatively short time to our arrival many steamships were replaced by oil fired motor ships. This main source of income seriously diminished, for along with São Vicente’s unyielding barren land, a series of famines occurred that culminated in the starvation of more than twenty thousand of its inhabitants in 1947-1948. Over two centuries from the year 1747, 100,000 inhabitants starved to death."

Cheers, Richard

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Hi Cappy, Hi Richard , I will could not be hard hearted its not me, I am only a person with feelings for others do you remember ginger blackmen Richard? in cape verde, I do, what happen to them? some thing I try to forget like staveing people with despair in they eyes.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Louis - we were only there for about half a day en route to Cape Town. The bum boats were alongside and they had buckets on ropes to put the gash in. very sad. Richard

[happy daze john in oz]

when visiting a house of ill repute? always roll your money up in your shirt sleeve to save the poor girls from becoming thieves.

I found the best place was in your socks, and even better if you could keep your shoes on though it often amde a wreck of the sheets.

[happy daze john in oz]

Things have not changed in many parts of the world, poverty and starvation still go hand in hand. Sadly very often in fairly rich countries with dictators in charge. But also many major cities where begging has become almost an industry.

[Rob Stafford]

Going into B.A. one time on the old Cortona. The pilot boat came alongside and the pilot was halfway up the pilot-ladder and level with the sewage outlet. You got it !!! A half pissed A.B. had been for the first one of the morning, flushed the toilet and the pilot copped most of it. The pilot boat was also the recipient of a brown mess, decorated with bits of white paper. The screams were unmerciful and cost the old man a couple of cases of scotch to calm them all down. The A.B. in question had to go down and help clean the deck of the pilot boat before the pilot would come aboard. I dunno who cleaned him but I reckon he didn't smell of roses for a while !!

[Sylvia Grinham]

[QUOTE=Wagga;111712]MV Orita, Atlantic 1970:

One of my jobs was to empty the ‘gash bins’. All the rubbish would just be thrown overboard. Didn’t matter what it was, it went overboard. When one of the crew wanted a bucket of sea water, he threw a bucket over the stern attached to a rope. It was a strongly made steel bucket. With the speed we were going it soon came to the end of the rope and ‘bang’, he was unable to haul it back in again. The rope was as tight as hell and you could almost play a tune on it. He ran up to the bridge to have the ship slowed so it could be hauled in but the First Officer said “No chance”. The bucket stayed there for days until it parted one night. It is a testament to the saying that “They don’t make things like they used to”. A plastic bucket would have lasted less than one second.

Dawber, Christopher (2012-01-27). RUNNING FOR HOME (Kindle Locations 1657-1663). . Kindle Edition.[/QUOTE

Did you ever know my late husband Stan Grinham at all? He was also known as "Goolie" and his best mate Roger was known as "doughnut"

[Michael Jobson]

I knew of more than one engineer (probably first trippers) who thought they could wash their boiler suits like this. I am sure they came out very clean somewhere in the ocean.