Fred Newman
Fred belongs to: Royal British Legion Seaman's Mess
Fred was born in South Shields and went to Ocean Road School. He worked on the tug boats before going to sea in the merchant navy when he was 17.
Fred was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 5 December 2005. The interview took place at the Interviewee's living room and lasted 1 hour, 1 minute and 3 seconds.
Keeping clean
"Well, you know you had to keep yourself clean"
Well, you know you had to keep yourself clean, and you had to keep your clothes clean, so it’s what we called dobeying at the time, dobeying. You used to rub your clothes out and scrub your trousers, and do your shirts and iron your shirts and different things. Well, the ships I was on, they didn’t have any laundries. The new ships at the moment have laundries and you just go and put your gear in the washing machine and when it’s done you take it out, there’s like a blow dry, a blow dry machine. You used to wash your clothes and blow them dry, and then you used to iron them, there was an ironing board and all that there on the modern ships. But the ones I was in you just used to wash them through and just hang them up that was as far as it got.
Fred has 14 memories in the memorynet:
The catering boy's wages- Homesickness and adjusting to life at sea
- Training and learning the ropes
- The Hudson Bay
- Keeping clean
- Leisure time in the merchant navy
- Making music on the ship
- Lifeboat drill
- Icebergs and dangers
- The Seaman's Mess
Fred's accordion- Mess night
- Seaman's Mess
- South Shields Royal British Legion Seaman's Mess tie
This memory has these themes:
Clothing | Living Conditions | Work
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