OneGuyFromBarlick

Stanley,
I had exactly the same thought when I read the post.

I saw that today.
I don't think anything they come up with would entice me. A nice relaxing cruise with no worries, that's me.

Stanley,
Needs must when the Devil drives. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Stanley.
What, was it a small triple expansion engine. I know they didn't have condensers, and they exhausted directly up the funnel, which made a puffing sound. Hence puffers.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpspr ... lspark.jpg

The original Vital Spark. Puffer.

Stanley,
Whenever there is a world disaster, there is always an opportunity to gouge out something from it.
The song "Blame it on the Kellys" springs to mind.

Stanley,
The same applied if you passed away at sea. However, they put you in one of the fridges and brought you home, as long as no crew member protested. Didn't want a body stored with the food.

For those that go down to the sea in ships.

Ships always carry an electrical engineer recognised by the green behind their braids.

Stanley, I.S.O. protocols stipulate isolation procedures, I.S.O. Started in around the year 2000,With ISO 9000. Just taking fuses out became non compliant, and our friends at H.S.O. can now hand out hefty fines for non compliance. What you did was standard safety procedure at the time, and made comm...

Stanley,
I understand what you say. You were taking the precaution of ensuring safety. These days with the I.S.O, Protocols in place the idea behind it, is so there are not any accidents.

Chinatyke'
Like you say standard procedure.

Stanley I don't understand people like that. Respect is something you have to give before you receive it. Wearing nice smart clothes doesn't make you a manager. When I was at sea, I always remembered that my world was the length of the ship I was on, and that everyone's life, onboard was in the hand...

Stanley,
He looks like he is watching paint dry.
Like you say absolutely no idea of what you are attempting to do.
Oh well must be some Mothers son.

Stanley, Been there, got the T shirt and seen the video. Lol. When I was doing Boiler and Compressed air tank, pre inspections, for Lloyds inspectors. In the back of my mind I always thought, what happens if something goes wrong whilst I am in there. All in a days work, I suppose, the not so glamoro...

Stanley,
Gotcha. Still not a job for the faint hearted.

Stanley,
Was the photograph taken in the boiler flue, or in the underground flue to the stack? Either way an unenviable task. Not a job, for a claustrophobic.

Stanley,
My first thought was, things can't be that bad. Life will get better. LOL.
I have been there, mainly on oil fired boilers for pre inspection. Tube cleaning, Dirty horrible job, but necessary.

Stanley,
It makes the job far easier when you have guys you can rely on.
That is what the ticketing system was intended for. Examinations to a level of competency.
Though there one or two who slipped through the net. However it wasn't long before they were caught out.

Stanley, You just brought back a memory. I was on a reefer once carrying bananas from South America we were in the Western Approaches when the sparks got an order to weigh anchor. We anchored for four days, and then fuel for the generators was starting to get low. The decision was made to knock off ...

Stanley, As the guys got promoted, to 4th and 3rd engineer, they were pretty well grounded in their watchkeeping duties, there was great peace of mind knowing that. So, it appears not much difference, between shore based engineers Donkeyman. boilerman. Oilers and greasers, etc etc All engine room ra...

Stanley, That is interesting ! When I joined the M.N. as a Junior Engineer, we used to stand to attention, when talking to a Chief, and sometimes to a Second Engineer. Discipline/Supervision, is good for control. However, when you have subordinates, who are Mavericks, it was my ticket on the line. A...

Stanley.
Well you learn something new everyday.
I always thought that mill engineers were ex navy men, Royal and Merchant navy.
I am extremely surprised to learn that there wasn't any formal qualifications involved.
Surely that would affect insurance?

That has all changed now Stanley. When I did my tickets it was all under the B.O.T examiner of Marine Engineers auspices. You started with a second class part A, done at a nautical college. Then Part B. Done on board a ship. Second Engineer. This of course done over a number of years. Then you went ...

Stanley. The new shipowners used to own a canal cruiser company somewhere in Yorkshire. They wanted to bring their previous shore based engineers, on board, no tickets or seagoing experience. The engineering superintendent who had spent his life in a canal based boatyard, had never been to sea, and ...