Unsure of how to handle the
situation I was in or why this young lady was sitting in our smokco room at 3am
had me perplexed. Not exactly a good time to start chatting someone up as I had
to be back in the engine room within the hour to do a log report, and as
the young lady was black , if caught with her socializing I would face jail.
Such were the rules back then. By chance I heard a noise in the galley and made
my way around the corridor to it and met Jerry the steward. I was able to ask
him to 'escort' the lady away from officers quarters etc and this he had no
hesitation in doing so when I introduced her to him. It appeared she had
been to a New Years party in the crews bar and somehow got lost
.
Other new experiences I discovered
was the excessive heat in Capetown, which seemed to bounce off every corner of
each building which towered over you with a deep blue sky above, along with
Table Top mountain overlooking all of Capetown. The shipping agent arranged a
trip to the top for those able to and this was truly spectacular and certainly a
must for anyone who visits the city. Steam engines were still in service back
then on the Cape and this made the activity on the docks a wonderful site to
watch , many of them built in Britain by North British works but to a
3'6'' gauge , the same as New Zealand and some Australian States at that
time.. The locomotives along with steam tugs working in the port made for
quite interesting smells drifting through the accommodation when the wind was in
the right direction.
We sailed next to Durban on the
Natal coast. This dangerous stretch of coastline is renowned for freak waves
breaking ships backs as wind currants cross tidal currants creating the
occasional high wave with deep trough taking ships by surprise. Thankfully we
did not experience this , but on arrival at Durban two sailing days later we
were told we would be going to anchor yet again as there was industrial action
ashore and berthing would be a problem as it was for about another 80 ships
already at anchor. Once again it was anchor watches allowing more time on deck
to look at other ships looking at us and a spot of fishing. A swimming pool had
been built on the aft deck near the steering gear house made from canvas and
supplied by sea water . It had a cooling effect and certainly far safer than
jumping in the ocean ,however afresh water shower was necessary to remove any
small nasties that got into the pool with you. The lines went out and we caught
mackerel, catfish and shark, including hammerheads. These were about 12-24" long
and one just had to get out of their way when you landed one as they would bite
your toes so you let them bite the ropes then whack em hard on the head. We had
bar be que most days with the fish we caught saving the chief steward or purser
on his budget for evening meals. On one of these days we saw the
Queen Elizabeth sailing out of Durban, a photo show the second electrician Carl
watching her from the starboard quarter of Montreal star. After about four
days of bobbing up and down going nowhere we began to notice the ships
anchored behind us were moving closer to us. On closer inspection we found it
was US that was moving backwards!! . A check of our anchor revealed a serious
problem , the windlass -the machine that drops and retrieves the anchor had a
huge crack in it and was loosing traction on the chains, so alarm bells were
rang for stations and we had to start engines and leave our anchorage . For the
next ten days we kept moving the ship out to sea , stopping and drifting back
towards Durban so we were safely away from any collision but close enough to get
into port for cargo and repairs when our call came.
Eventually we arrived alongside ,
one of my photos shows Durban's skyline taken looking aft with the ships
red ensign blowing in the wind . During our 4 days in Durban the shipping agency
arranged a tour of the Tribal villages called The Thousand Hills and
Valleys. The radio officer called Brian had a regular girlfriend in Durban
whom he had arranged to take on the tour. As I was the only engineer who could
go-being the night man , as all others were busy on repairs during the day
he asked me if his lady friend should bring afriend to make up another
couple. Seemed fine to me I thought, what have I to loose ...... in a
manner of speaking.. and 'green' as the hills we were to
visit. We arranged to meet them in Durban for a drink then head to
the rendezvous point for the start of the tour. Brian and I were sitting
in the 'whites only' bar when his lady friend showed, an attractive slim long
haired brunette wearing shorts and white tee-shirt, and her companion
which turned out to be her mother wearing a long skirt ,cardigan, late
50's curly grey hair style , enough 'make up' to have used up the Japanese
whaling fleet and gold rimmed glasses!!!! I just glared at
Brian , was this a set up or what!! After introductions I sat and
thought what excuses I could make to get out of this bizarre situation. I was 21
and this very nice lady was older than my mother!!. The
drink flowed fast.
We arrived to join our other party
of seafarers all going on the tour , some were Russians , some Australians
and a few Americans from a US Navy ship in port. To say I got some looks
is quite tame, and I was waiting for someone to offer me a lollypop and tell me
to shut up.
On reaching the village it was very
interesting. Huge mud houses the size of a mansion had been built by these
people and their heritage went back many hundreds of years. The men in their
warrior costume, women were all topless in their native attire,, I
took this as another tease from Brian as am sure he had been here before and
several dances were performed for their guests. I did take photos of the day but
being a family site have not posted any and leave it to your imagination what we
experienced .
Arriving back at the ship we sailed
next day for East London -a small coastal port south of Durban -photo shows
part of this small port where more of our general cargo was offloaded ,
then sailed the same day for Port Elizabeth , our final unloading port in South
Africa. The Chief Engineer reported that repairs to the windlass in Durban were
not satisfactory and more work was needed and could be done in Capetown with
shoreside help, so we sailed back to the Cape this time in ballast where by
several tanks are flooded with sea water to keep the ship lower in the water and
more stable for deep sea passage.Our orders were for Australia but still not
clear where or for what. Repairs effected , the ships made ready for
its next long voyage, we departed Capetown heading out into the wide
expanse of the Indian Ocean, our destination would be Hobart ,Tasmania, 21 days
away.
Next week I will tell you about how
I managed to send the Chief Officers mail back in time, knocked the third
engineer out , evacuated the swimming pool and gave the second engineer
the best laugh he had had in 12 years of sealife.
This is the home of the WALLACE TRICKETT /LRU Print Collection
The Collection relives The old LANCASHIRE bus fleets
,Railway Locos ,Commercial Company Vans(Inc HOLLANDS PIES )
and Wagons of Days gone bye.
Click on the tab on the main menu to view and purchase via PAYPAL
