CANBERRA PART SIX
I am surprised that no member have answered what the next day was at the end of part five. On Monday 27the September 1971 Canberra arrived at Nuku’alofa Tonga, so what was the next day on board? It was also Monday 27th September due to the international dateline,
A European crew member came back again with tonsillitis, as did a Goanese with Gastroenteritis, and another food handler. It was never far away, so we usually nipped it in the bud right away.
On October 1st October 1971 we arrived at Honolulu under the famous Aloha clock tower.
After leaving Honolulu, it was Captains Rounds and the captain himself came. He was one of the old school type masters, Captain W. B Vickers. You certainly stood by your beds when he came around. Masters of ships always command authority but Captain Vickers was more regimental than most, but only on board, and having known others in a position of hierarchy shore side, I was not bothered but none the less he commanded much respect. After all he could kick you off his ship. Some crew were petrified of him. I was not scared of him knowing that if I did my job, and behave he would have no reason to tell me off. And anyway, my boss the Surgeon was just as fierce as the skipper. I never called the captain or indeed any officer Sir, because none were knighted, so I called him by his rank as I did all merchant navy officers. And anyway, Captain Vickers had already commended me for spotting ships stores being smuggled ashore, so I was not too concerned about him, but he was not too keen on me that day however due to what was to happen next, but it was his own mistake rather than mine. He came in from the open deck, from Indian quarters aft, and the deck was wet. They always came that way. In those days Canberra had lino alleyways in passenger accommodation and my hospital. I always made sure my steward kept it highly polished so that you could see you face in it.
The ‘Old Man’ was wearing shoes with slippery soles, and because the outside deck was wet, as soon as he set foot on the polished lino inside he went down with a thud sliding along the alleyway on his backside. I was standing to attention in full uniform waiting for him to come in from the outside deck touching the peak of my cap slightly in a form of salute as he slid past trying desperately not to laugh. He was a very big man, and his weight carried him along. After dusting himself off, hobbling like mad, he suggested we did not polish the deck quite so much near the outside door. He could not say much because we were always told keep the alleyways clean and well polished. I suggested it might be wise to come to the hospital from the inside. A jumped up junior officer with him seemed more upset than the ‘Old Man’ calling me sonny. But I think I was older than he was. Anyway having made sure he was not bruised too badly (he had a lot of flesh there anyway!) or any broken bones, the captain hobbled out of the hospital to carry on his rounds. I went back to my cabin and burst out laughing still with the image in mind of this much feared man sliding along on his backside
I don’t know why it is that we always laugh when somebody has such a misfortune, but I do. That brings me nicely onto to another false teeth story. A set of false teeth landed on my deck from the Promenade Deck above, luckily not hitting the ‘Old Man’, that really would have rounded it off! The owner had been seasick. I washed them off then set off looking for the owner. Sadly many false teeth were lost this way. I went up on deck looking for a person who may have been able to touch nose with their chin. My Uncle and Grandfather were like that neither had any teeth. They looked a bit like one of the Muppet characters sitting in the balcony, Statler! Anyway, I found the person, a man. He was very grateful. I took him down to the passenger hospital where he was prescribed with medicines for his seasickness. The Surgeon praised my actions but not so happy that the ‘Old Man’ had told him about his sore backside, but it was a good job the teeth didn’t bite him as well
Quite a weekend that, two patients discharged, the ‘Old Man’ going flying, a man losing his teeth, and the next day, a Goan steward came in having been clobbered by an ashtray, according my diary. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but fights below deck were a common occurrence, myself having to patch them up. However, it rarely involved Asian crew. The Goanese are a very laid back race of people, very hard working, and rarely getting into trouble or causing trouble. In their quarters, many had sewing machines doing all our mending. They cut hair, and made little lifebelt things that they sold to passengers and crew, anything to make a few extra bob, which is why tips, were, and still are very important to boost their wages, which were very poor just as they are nowadays. They always returned because although their pay was bad, it was far better than at home. They also cleaned our cabins to earn extra money. We leading hands, and also some ratings had what we called a ‘Peak Boy’. This was usually a Goan steward. When we had an Asian crew change, they would come around touting for business. I also had a Laundry Steward or Dhobi Whalla. Just give him my laundry, and for an agreed price, he would take care of it.
We were much quieter now in both the passenger and crew hospital with less passengers than the ‘line voyages’, but I can’t remember how many there were on board. On Wednesday 6th October we arrived at Vancouver. When I lived in New Zealand I knew a nurse well. Her son lived in Vancouver, so he met me shore side and showed me around. The next day at sea was crew drill. I also had yet another member of crew admitted with gastroenteritis, and yet again one who handled food, and surprise surprise, a few passengers went down with it. Luckily we had already gone through the American inspection at Honolulu, our next port being San Francisco. But we had it well under control, and again unlike today, no media fuss. We arrived at San Francisco on Friday 8th October 1971. I had been there before on Iberia as passenger, so went down to Fishermen’s Wharf. Food on board was of course superb, even for crew like myself, but you have not lived until you have been to Fishermen’s Wharf San Francisco, well not in those days anyway. I sill have a menu at home, a huge thing, never seen such as massive menu in my life, but of course everything American is big. However the fish dishes was something else. We stayed there overnight, sailing at 1400 the next day under the Golden Gate.