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Photograph of Sandy Kinghorn playing his concertina

Sandy Kinghorn

Sandy belongs to: Cullercoats RNLI & The Coble and Keelboat Society

Sandy was born in North Shields. At the age of 16 he began his maritime training and went to sea at 18. He is Lifeboat Visits Officer for Cullercoats RNLI and a member of the Coble and Keelboat Society.

Sandy was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 9 December 2005. The interview took place at Discovery Museum People's Gallery and lasted 46 minutes and 7 seconds.

Photograph of Sandy Kinghorn playing his concertina
Photograph of Sandy Kinghorn playing his concertina

Progress through the merchant navy

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"Well, you just keep your nose clean, and learn what you can and do your job"

Well, you just keep your nose clean, and learn what you can and do your job as, the Mate looks after Cadets and the Mate was the principal in charge, he gives you your jobs and tells you what to do, and you do it and get on with it and move on to your next ship, which was the Saxon Star. And then, when you’ve got your sea time in, which I got down in Tasmania, I was on the Saxon Star, and I’d got my three years in on the articles, which means that you’ve got to be actually at sea that time, you know, and then I was promoted as Fourth Mate and came home as Fourth Mate on the ship.

And then I was promoted to Second Mate of a little ship called the Dominic which ran up the Amazon, up to Manaus in Brazil, all up and down the Brazilian coast and then up to New York. That was a great trip, that, because I was Second Mate and I had big money, £30 a month. And that was big money. I think it was £32 a month by this time. And then back home to Liverpool and then I went back to Blue Star Line. This Dominic was an associated company and I went back to Blue Star Line as Third Mate, and then up through the ranks until I got my Mate’s ticket, then I went Second Mate of the Sydney Star for two years and then I went First Mate with a Masters ticket, and I was First Mate with a Master’s ticket for 11 years on different ships and eventually became Captain.

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This memory has these themes:
Roles and Routines | Skills | Training | Travel | Work

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