A friend of mine was 3rd on an MSC cable ship in Portsmouth, NH. He got notice from MEBA his application for group 1 status had been approved and he was now group 1. He goes to this ex navy chief engineer and tells him he is quitting and he would like his license out of the license rack (we put our real licenses in the racks then). This ex navy asshole says, “You will have to wait til your relief gets here and I’m not unlocking the license rack.” My buddy says, “I have my car at the gangway. I’ll take that fire ax over there and chop the thing off the wall if you don’t give it to me now.” This chief then says, “Since you put it that way I’ll get it for you.”
I sailed with this same chief engineer on a different ship and he was an asshole. No offense to any ex navy sailors out there
I remember one time I was getting relived and my relief showed up to the ship by morning coffee. The company I worked for at the time paid both oncoming and of going officers the same day rate so a proper turnover can take place. So after a 2 hour turnover I see the old man at lunch and ask when he would like me to come and get paid off. He says “I have you till 1700 so come up then” OK no big deal. At 1700 I head up and he hands me the voucher and discharge. I proceed to tell him that he only paid me until the day I was getting off. He said yeah today you get off and that where the pay ends. The company had non union mates and union everyone else. He was furious when I showed him the contract that says if we are not paid off by 1400 then we get the next days pay.
When I quit Turdwater they had an officers meeting while I was off the hitch before I turned in notice. I already had my next job lined up so I went just to get the days pay and have the opportunity to vent my frustrations with management. All the big wheels from the CEO on down were supposed to be there. We ended up being blessed with a VP’s attendance the rest of corporate “couldn’t make it.” After the usual company line about how awesome they are and how they’re about to buy Chouest because he’s going out of business the floor was opened for questioning. After a few softballs from some people I brought up the main reason everyone was attending what about raises. I spent the next hour badgering and arguing and calling bullshit on everyone reason he had why we weren’t getting a raise. The area manager operations managers and port captains all at times try to step in and rescue the guy. I shouted each one of them down in turn and requested the man himself answer. His phone rang eventually and of course he had to take the call. We went on break after that and I got cornered and threatened by all the bosses. I told everyone of them as loud as I could in earshot of the VP they could all kiss my ass. I assumed I was fired and was shocked when I was called for crew change the next week. I went and turned my notice in and they gave me a raise and begged me stay. There was no going back after all the stuff I said so I declined and have been happy with my new job ever since. The VP I accosted just happens to be the CEO of Turdwater now.
Years ago I was doing some relief work for a smaller company in N.Y. Harbor. The Captain was a Grade A Ass, I finally told him to call the company and have them setup a relief for me.
Well, the mate told me a couple of days later that the Captain had told him that he never called the company. A couple of days later we stopped to hang on at a dock that I knew had a working pay phone, this was years before Cell Phones. 0
I told the Mate that I was going to go to the phone. I already had my bag packed. As I was throwing my back on the dock the Captain runs on deck and I thought you were going to the phone, I said I am and I am calling a cab as I quit! Right around then he heard a noise from the E.R. and yelled / asked WTF was that noise. I told him that the noise was the air tanks being blown down so he would not try and sail without a Chief onboard.
I knew the owner of this company personally and called them as soon as I got to the phone telling them what I did. They were pissed at the Captain for not telling them that I wanted off and actually thanks me for blowing down the air as that Captain would have run without a Chief watching the E.R.
I had been waiting for 2 months for them to find someone foolish enough to relieve me on a less than desirable ship owned by a company near death. I had badgered the office so much they finally told me I had to go thru the captain for all further communication. He was a horse’s ass and told me he wouldn’t pay me til they got someone on board. The chief mate was a friend of mine and I told him to tell the capt that my relief was on board and would sign on as soon as he finished helping rebuild a pump which we couldn’t sail without. I packed my stuff went up and shook the capts. hand got my pay, told him that my relief would serve him well and he’d be right up as soon as he cleaned up. I was walking off and the captain said, “What’s this man’s name?” I told him, "Casper"
The chief mate, now retired captain, remains a good friend of mine. He said the old man damn near had a stroke after searching for Casper and calling the office inquiring about Casper.
[QUOTE=Tugs;98316]Years ago I was doing some relief work for a smaller company in N.Y. Harbor. The Captain was a Grade A Ass, I finally told him to call the company and have them setup a relief for me.
Well, the mate told me a couple of days later that the Captain had told him that he never called the company. A couple of days later we stopped to hang on at a dock that I knew had a working pay phone, this was years before Cell Phones. 0
I told the Mate that I was going to go to the phone. I already had my bag packed. As I was throwing my back on the dock the Captain runs on deck and I thought you were going to the phone, I said I am and I am calling a cab as I quit! Right around then he heard a noise from the E.R. and yelled / asked WTF was that noise. I told him that the noise was the air tanks being blown down so he would not try and sail without a Chief onboard.
I knew the owner of this company personally and called them as soon as I got to the phone telling them what I did. They were pissed at the Captain for not telling them that I wanted off and actually thanks me for blowing down the air as that Captain would have run without a Chief watching the E.R.[/QUOTE]
I forgot to mention that the Tug that I was on was a Canaler and had a retractable Wheel House which was powered with a Air over Hydraulic ram, much like what you would find on a single ram gas station lift.
It was kind of funny to see the house dropping as I was walking away. The only way to get into the house once it was down was though a hatch in the Forepeak that lead through the Wheel House Settee.
A friend of mine was once Captain on a charter sportfishing yacht in Hawaii. Well the owner’s son got his 6-pack license so the owner wanted his son to have the job so he fired my friend on the spot. No notice, just, “You’re done.” My friend said, “Well can I at least go down to the boat and get my tools?” and the owner said yes. While there he stole all of the polo shirts with the charter company’s logo and the boat’s name embrodiered on them and drove around Hawaii giving them to the homeless. He said he was driving along and picked up this unwashed, rastafarian looking guy hitchhiking. He said, “I didn’t really want this guy in my car but I wanted him to have one of the shirts.”
The best quitting story I’ve heard was of a deckhand on a tug who worked for a captain who’s only source of entertainment was messing with his deckhands. He had quit once due to this guy and the company promised not to put them on the same boat but a few months later he was back on with cap’t happy. After a few days with the same old same old they where leaving the upper basin of Bonneville Dam inbound, he tells the cap’t to look at the stern of his drag side, the cap’t looks down and sees his deckhand flip him off, throw his gear which is in plastic garbage bags off the barge, flip the cap’t off one more time then jump in after his gear. He did not get his gear but made it to the beach and hitch hiked back to Portland . He went to work for another company the next week.
O/S “Jones” was a classic f#ck up. The Chief Mate had been after him for about three months. He’d write him up for everything. Being late, showing up drunk etc etc. He finally had enough of a papertrail where the office finally took notice and said, yeah, fire the guy on arrival in Norfolk.
The Chief Mate and Jones were on anchor detail coming into Thimble Shoals Channel and the Captain said something over the radio. The Chief Mate didn’t catch and Jones said, Holy Crap Mate! The Captain said drop the port anchor! They did. The Captain of course is now yelling into the radio, but the Chief Mate;s radio had a half dead battery. Jones said, the Captain said to drop the starboartd anchor. they did. Now the Chief Mate can see the Captain jumping up and down on the bridgewing. He asks Jones, What’s he saying now? To which Hones replied, " Pack you bags Mate, you’re going home with me".
[QUOTE=seadog6608;98506]O/S “Jones” was a classic f#ck up. The Chief Mate had been after him for about three months. He’d write him up for everything. Being late, showing up drunk etc etc. He finally had enough of a papertrail where the office finally took notice and said, yeah, fire the guy on arrival in Norfolk.
The Chief Mate and Jones were on anchor detail coming into Thimble Shoals Channel and the Captain said something over the radio. The Chief Mate didn’t catch and Jones said, Holy Crap Mate! The Captain said drop the port anchor! They did. The Captain of course is now yelling into the radio, but the Chief Mate;s radio had a half dead battery. Jones said, the Captain said to drop the starboartd anchor. they did. Now the Chief Mate can see the Captain jumping up and down on the bridgewing. He asks Jones, What’s he saying now? To which Hones replied, " Pack you bags Mate, you’re going home with me".[/QUOTE]
Back in the day it was well known that the Deckhands had your career in their hands as they were your eyes when docking. A favorite saying was “You Are Two Feet From Two Weeks Off”, meaning that you were going to hit something (probably very hard) followed by Two weeks off without pay, if you were lucky.
One old boat that I worked on had an AB that was in his mid 60’s (and in better shape than me). This AB was one of the best AB’s that I have ever had the honor to sail with. The Captain was a Screamer.
So here we are docking at Hess Dock with the barge on the hip heads and tails. The AB is on the bow of the barge calling out closing distances, I am standing on the bow of the tug and can here the Captain screaming at the AB. So, the AB looks at the handheld radio, puts it down and does this Old Man Shuffle down the deck towards the tug. The Captain is going nuts by the time the AB gets back even with the Wheelhouse. The AB looks right at the Captain and says “you are breaking up on the radio and I can not understand you”. He then turns and slowly walks back to the bow and picks the radio back up.
I worked with that crew for two more years and never heard that Captain yell at that AB ever again.
USS Shenandoah, early 80’s, before Yours Truly reported aboard (Jan 86). I still miss that ship. I made a Med Cruise on her and had a ball.
Dan H wanted to quit, and quit real bad. One problem: he was Navy enlisted, and his absence would be duly noted and while not necessarily missed, would be of administrative concern.
Dan and a pal cooked up a plot to escape from the oppressive confines of USS Shenandoah. Because, a brand new repair ship, nice and clean, and close to home, was such a shitty place to be especially at the end of the stagflation 70’s when nobody had a job and industry was closing and relocating to China. Remember Billy Joel’s song “Allentown?” Yeah. That. I joined the Navy in that atmosphere of despair. Knowing the economics of the time, Dan decided to be “smart” about his departure and make it a profitable exercise.
Dan bought an inflatable raft, sold it to a third hapless sailor, and planned to “steal” the raft and stage an escape with his pal. With the raft lost, third man’s SGLI (and private) insurance would pay off. Right? Right?
They actually pulled off the raft caper while the ship was at Whiskey anchorage but the raft floated right into the loving reach of Little Creek Amphibious Base where the two wanna be “lost at sea” casualties were picked up by the SEALs.
True story.
And we even talked about it at our reunion in Virginia Beach two years ago. Nobody knows where Dan is today, though.