Michael Wilson
Michael belongs to: The Doxford Engine Friends Association
Michael was born in West Sussex and went to school in London. He came to the North East to study at South Shields Marine College. He is an engineer in the merchant navy.
Michael was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 26 January 2006. The interview took place at Sunderland Museum and lasted 25 minutes and 9 seconds.
Changes in the merchant navy
"It’s changed beyond all recognition"
It’s changed beyond all recognition. I mean, now paperwork, official, officialdom, inspections, vettings, it’s gone beyond being an enjoyable job to becoming very much a chore- whereas we’re being monitored by goodness knows how many people, so there’s probably as many people monitoring people today as what there are in the merchant navy, which is, makes life extremely difficult and in consequence, you become far more reluctant to do anything because you become very much liable for any errors that go on so it does become, it’s hard, it’s hard and it depends if you’re given backing from your, the company you actually work for, and the outfit I work for I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t trust them to give me any backing at all, so it’s not a particularly pleasant situation to be in. I mean I certainly wouldn’t recommend anybody to go to sea nowadays.
Michael has 16 memories in the memorynet:
Michael's memories with a Lifestyles theme:
Training and apprenticeship- Following his father to sea
- Changes in the merchant navy
Michael's other memories:
- First voyage and New York
- Leisure time and crew sizes
- Living conditions in the merchant navy
- Communication from sea
- Safety at sea
- Meeting George Gardner in Shanghai
- Joining the Doxford Engine Friends Association
- Decline of the British shipping industry
The Doxford engine at South Shields College- Students at South Shields College
- Apprenticeship agreement
- Photograph of michael
- Continuous Certificate of Discharge
This memory has these themes:
Change | Lifestyles | Work
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