Getting to Know Richmond an outside diameter of 18ft – 3inches.
A total of 534 Victory were built in various USA shipyards.
Talthybius was built by Permanente Metals Corp at their No 1
Yard, Richmond, California. Her hull number was 536 and she
was originally named S.S. Salina and launched in 1944.
She had a gross tonnage of 7,713 tons and a displacement
weight of 15,200 tons.
Looking back, I am pleased that I had the opportunity of
spending what was a short time in the merchant navy and
in particular serving with the Blue Funnel Line, who were
renowned for being amongst the best shipping companies at
that time. Discipline was very strict on board, which was good,
however there were certain restrictions that I didn’t agree with.
e.g. junior officers, of whom I was one, were not permitted
to socialise with senior officers and junior officers plus senior
officers were not allowed to socialise with the crew. I found
this to be a nonsense and it meant that you spent a lot of
time on your own which did not suit my personality type.
Some guys were very content with their own company but I
needed companionship. I did have a drinking partner who was
the Electrical Officer, and this was within the rules. He and I
would drink together at every opportunity and our tipple was
beer plus gin & tonic.
On the return part of the voyage I spent a lot of time off
watch teaching one of the Chinese crew English. The lessons
took place in my cabin and I would give him a couple of
beers and he amused me greatly with his pronunciation,
particularly with words beginning with “r” & “l”. Not long
before we landed home, I was instructed to stop this socialising
with a member of the crew and despite my objection, I had to
comply with the instruction.
One morning, shortly before we arrived home, I was in the
4th Mates cabin when the steward came round with morning
coffee. “I don’t believe it” I said, “chocolate biscuits, it’s the first
time I’ve seen chocolate biscuits after several months on this
ship”. “What do you mean?” said the fourth mate; “we have
chocolate biscuits every single day”. I was furious, as on the
engineers deck, we had plain biscuits such as, morning coffee
and nice varieties. I immediately went to the Chief Engineers
cabin and complained bitterly. He advised me to forget the
matter, as I was unlikely to change anything and I was leaving
the company at the end of the voyage, it would be better allround,
to let sleeping dogs lie.
During the voyage, I had noticed something else which
I considered to be discriminatory and unfair. Each Sunday
evening for dinner we had prime fillet steak with a fried
egg on top. It was obvious that the captain had the largest
steak and thereafter, they became slightly smaller as they
progressed down the ranks until at my end of the table, they
were noticeably smaller in size. Whilst this was grossly unfair,
it didn’t make sense because it was the lower ranks that were
doing the physically demanding duties whereas the Captain
and Chief Engineer mainly had clerical duties to perform.
Our electrical officer used to remark that the head cook
must spend ages trimming a little off each steak so that they
appeared smaller than those given to the immediate senior
ranking officer. What a nonsense and totally at odds with what
Blue Funnel had been announcing that as of about 1965, Deck
Officers and Engineering Officers would have equal status
and all signage on the entire fleet had been changed showing
Officers only whereas prior to this the signs used to read,
Officers and Engineers.
Looking back, I suppose I can understand why these
situations arose. After all Blue Funnel had a very strict
discipline on board, and there was social segregation between
senior and junior ranks as well as with other members of the
crew.
Whilst the Chief Engineer has four stripes as well as the
Captain, it is obvious that the Captain is in overall command
of the vessel and what he says, goes.
I recall on one occasion whilst we were in a Far East
port, we were carrying out essential repairs to one of our
steam turbine generators. Having spent many hours stripping
the generator down, we received a call from the Captain
requesting that we abandon the repairs and get the dam thing
back together ASAP. All involved in the maintenance thought
the Old Man had lost the plot and it wasn’t until dinner that
evening when
he explained
that he had
been offered
a cargo worth
£1m in another
port that we
realised the
wisdom of his
decision. We
could not put
to sea without
that generator
and the quickest
action was to
abort the repairs
and put it back
as it was and
then find an
opportunity
later on I the
trip.
Assistant Engineering Officer
Upon our
arrival back
Pownall pictured with Mother Lucy
in the UK, a
whilst on leave in May 1967.
personnel officer who offered me a stint on the Blue Funnel
ship Centaur interviewed me in India Buildings. This was a
relatively new vessel that sailed between Singapore and Sydney
Australia. I was very tempted but decided to stick to my
decision to move on, as I believed that I didn’t have the right
aptitude or temperament for a career in the Merchant Navy.