What did you do after the sea ?

[Steve]

What jobs did you take after leaving the sea, I went into airline business the flying type not the type that pumps up tyres. I lived abroad a lot HK, Los Angeles, Boston, then returned to live in Sunny Buckinghamshire.

Over to you ...

[sibby]

After I reluctantly left the sea I worked as a railway signalman for ten and a half years. I left there and got a job as an onshore gas and oil pipeline operator for a company owned 50/50 by Shell and BP. I retired from there after working for them for 23 years with a BP pension.

[Rob Pithers]

I did a Government re-training scheme, when the ship I was in got laid up. This was the second company to lay up their ships underneath me. I have been a Registered Gas Engineer for over 30 years now. Still going.
Rob

[Farmer John]

Estate agent (articled pupil)
Farmworker
Assistant Scientific officer (Experimental Farm)
Farmworker (getting arable experience and studying for "A" levels)
Student (HND Agriculture)
Farm Manager
Lecturer (Agriculture)
Lecturer (IT)
GIS technician (Geographical Information Systems)
Project Manager, Wetland Restoration Project (Stand in between two appointments)
Garden Centre (transplanting plugs)
GIS technician (Geographical Information Systems, back to finish the job)

And, so far. that's it. Still do voluntary work, mainly checking livestock.

Scratch me hard enough, there is a farmer in there, the sea had a hold but I didn't spend as much time on that.

It has been brilliant so far, never be rich but I enjoy learning new things.

[BobClay]

Technician at MOD Donnington

Encyclopaedia Salesman (utter failure at that)

BT pole climbing

The Cheltenham Mob

Network administrator/technician in a Devon Community College.

Hitman (but couldn't get any work )

Retired at 65 but still do a couple of hours a week fitting/maintaining/installing network and computers in village primary and junior school.

[John Rogers]

Left the sea and migrated to the states,after few months of spending my saving I applied to join the US Coastguard,they were kind of slow in getting me in the training cycle so I joined the Army to see the world. While in Basic training I get a letter to report for Coastguard training, my commander said forget them your in the army now. No regrets served for 30 years,most of it overseas.

[Dave McGouldrick]

Professional Layabout and observer of the missus spending my ill-gotten (correction: hard-earned) gains

[Naytikos]

Having become passably affluent by 'going freelance' at the earliest opportunity I one day found myself (together with late wife) in the Cayman Islands where the natives were (and still are) friendly and the tax system is the most civilised in the world.
I thought I was going to build a house and take it easy; that was nearly 40 years ago and the house isn't finished yet!
I have worked at the power-plant; repaired TVs, VCRs, and all kinds of domestic appliances; been chief engineer of a hotel; built an old people's home; gone into politics; and now run a cable-TV system. A couple of months ago someone said 'we need to talk about succession-planning; what will we do when you fall off a tower or just decide to stop working?'
That's as far as it went so when my contributions to these hallowed halls stop, you'll know it happened.

[Chris Isaac]

Marketing for a large computer company
Professional golfer
Paralegal and Barrister Intermediary.

[Quiney]

Joined Barclays Bank to sell insurance
Moved to GRE in the insurance field.
progressed to IT side where I did project management and resource management
Made redundant
Worked at a printers doing IT and selling
Took over my wife business (she was dying from cancer)
Still running the business 17 years later - making and fitting curtains and blinds.

[Kevjacko]

Decided never to work in the shoreside catering industry due to piss poor wages, shit hours, and terrible employers.
Took on a franchise with Snap On Tools.
Sold it back after 3 years went to work for them on the industrial side.
Left went to work for BOC managing industrial gases customer collect centre, and selling welding equipment.
Took welding tickets, did HND in business, ILM in management whilst there.
Got pensioned out on medical severance that they still pay me.
Rehabilitated myself after 2 x back ops, went taxi driving for 1 year (now there's an education)
Went to Air Liquids on NHS home oxygen contract.
After 5 years it got tendered out and won by BOC who because of TUPE law had no other choice but to 're-employ' someone they had deemed medically unfit 6 years previously.
Still there as Senior Technician 6 years later, and even with my history still a damned good job and company to work for.
Apart from a couple odds n sods and fill in jobs that's about it.

[Ian]

I left in 1965 almost by accident. I had enough seatime to sit for my Master's but just before that my father had a serious heart attack and was not expected to last more than few months. I got 6 months unpaid leave, without loss of seniority with the option of 6 months more.

I passed my Master's but thinking I would soon return to sea sought a temporary job to pay the bar bills. Saw an advert in The Daily Telegraph for MN Officers below some age with 1st Mate's or Master's to train as System Analysts, the company (then unknown to me was IBM). Commercial computing was fairly new then. IBM's UK head office had a 1401 computer with 16k of memory (washing machines have more today).

In the first week I saw their Computer Librarian (a better looking version of the Windows Operating System on a PC) we have been married all but 50 years. After a few years I read that P&O had installed an IBM computer to run a passenger booking system I applied and was soon a Senior Systems Analyst. My father died 3 years later but I was now a computer wallah.

Ian

[Farmer John]

This thread is fascinating, the turn and byways that take us along roads not thought of that leave us somewhere we never thought of when home was something you wanted to flee.

[BobClay]

Given the history of the last 50 years it was bound to be interesting.

When I first went to sea in 1965 as an engine room rating, Britain was one of the leading seafaring nations. I pretty much sailed through the demise of that. Even more so in some respects as the job I ended up doing (Sparky) got overwhelmed by technology. The irony of that has never failed to amuse me.

How we all coped after being dumped on land flapping like a fish must have generated many a fine story.

[Tony Selman]

Came ashore in 1975 and trained to become a computer engineer (hardware) with a company called Burroughs Machines, which does not exist anymore. Computers were in their infancy then and we fixed the machines down to component level as opposed to chucking the whole thing in the skip these days. Logical move as I was an Electronics Officer at the time and the transition was relatively easy albeit completely different technology. In 1977 was transferred to start up the Burroughs distributorship in Saudi Arabia but that was not such a pleasant experience. Saudi was tough in the early days, the distributor was a rogue and my wife had a hard time. Transferred to a much better company which was the Data General distributor 1n 1979 and enjoyed that as Saudi was expanding rapidly and my career grew to eventually run the whole Computer Division After 7 years in Saudi I moved over to do the same job in Abu Dhabi until my son's education brought about a move back to the UK. Joined Ferranti Computer Systems as International Marketing Manager in 1985, stayed with them for a few years, went back to Saudi for a Division of Ferranti just after the Gulf War and stayed for 18 months. Ferranti went bust so became ME Marketing Director for consultants Kennedy & Donkin based in Dubai and that was a great job. K&D closed all their international offices down in 1996 and I was made redundant. Only job offer in the ME was to go back to Saudi and I had done my time there so my wife and I came back to UK and started our own business, a print and copy franchise. Things went well, we became franchisees of the year and bought another business in the same franchise locally. Sold up in 2007 and been retired in Kent since 2008.
Would never have predicted my career would go like that but then again that is probably true for most of us.

[Kevjacko]

Originally Posted by Farmer John

This thread is fascinating, the turn and byways that take us along roads not thought of that leave us somewhere we never thought of when home was something you wanted to flee.

Very true Farmer, folk still ask me now how I have ended up doing what I do when I started out as 'a cook at sea'

[john hardy]

gave it away in 1972, first job was as a radial arm driller, did various oil-petro chem shutdowns, worked for wm. press international in abu dhabi, bit of ship repair, laid concrete, steel fixer, steel erector, fried fish and chips, barman, scrap burner, moved to NZ in 1979 for 6 months, fruit picker, running a mobile sheep shower, went to OZ, spent 3 years doing power station shutdowns in NSW, moved to gods own country (queensland) did a bit of house painting, office furniture fitter/deliverer, welder,then spent 32 years in the mines as a fitter, and got welding, forklift and crane tickets, got retrenched in 2015 with a nice payout, retired in Bundaberg now, livin' the dream.

[Chadburn]

Originally Posted by john hardy

gave it away in 1972, first job was as a radial arm driller, did various oil-petro chem shutdowns, worked for wm. press international in abu dhabi, bit of ship repair, laid concrete, steel fixer, steel erector, fried fish and chips, barman, scrap burner, moved to NZ in 1979 for 6 months, fruit picker, running a mobile sheep shower, went to OZ, spent 3 years doing power station shutdowns in NSW, moved to gods own country (queensland) did a bit of house painting, office furniture fitter/deliverer, welder,then spent 32 years in the mines as a fitter, and got welding, forklift and crane tickets, got retrenched in 2015 with a nice payout, retired in Bundaberg now, livin' the dream.

Relative called Colin by any chance?

[Howard]

Joined a cross channel ferry company doing the same job for more money, more leave and an almost normal home life.

[bubba]

i got in total 34 tears with bp trying to remember name of 50/50 company they had a depot in inverness carted a lot of fuel to the raf stations from there i ended up doing 24 yrs with air bp

[Ray]

Retired after 49 years in the mn, now enjoying the life of riley.

[john hardy]

chadburn, no relation, but worked with him for CJB building oil rig flotation platforms at graythorp.

[Chadburn]

Originally Posted by john hardy

chadburn, no relation, but worked with him for CJB building oil rig flotation platforms at graythorp.

Thanks John, bit of a lad young Colin, had a smart Mk2 Cortina GT.

[sibby]

Hi, Bubba. I think the company you mentioned as 50/50 was British Pipeline Agency. She was owned by Shell and BP. It was the company that I worked for 23 years as mentioned in my earlier post.