Transcript

As I say I worked in engine rooms and boiler rooms quite a lot. In those days I would think health and safety now would have a vast field day, because there was no hand rails or anything of the sort and you worked on a couple of planks over the vast empty space of an engine. This is before the engines were actually fitted, but you still worked above those – even after the engines were fitted. And if you fell down there in a lot of cases it was ‘Goodbye Mr Chips!’ That was it y’know! As it happened I fell down twice and survived the tale! But one of them, as I say ‘health and safety’ – we went to lunch and we were working on 2 planks when we came back from lunch-  the  riggers – the guys who actually put these planks up had removed one plank and just left one plank and I was coming up backwards, I was helping my journeyman, who was down the steps and we were bringing some more tray plate which is what we hung the cables on. I was walking backwards and of course the plank just wasn’t there anymore and I stepped off! Went down and hit the planks below, bounced off them and went down to the next level and hit that lot and of course the shot were ‘Below!’ – this was it! ’Man Overboard!’ – these were all the shouts and one of the lads had been on the second level down, looked up and saw me come hurtling down and he grabbed me by the shirt before I went to the next level. The seam on my shirt ripped right up to the top of the neck, but he managed to hold onto me and I managed to clamber onto his scaffolding and apart from bruised arms and legs and scratches and so forth I was ok! I was sent to the ambulance room – now there was a place! My goodness the ambulance room cured everything! And Fred the ambulance man had this yellow stuff, as it was know – yellow stuff, you got it on everything – it didn’t matter if you’d broken your leg – you got yellow stuff on! It cured everything from tonsillitis to warts I think y’know it was one of those things! And I used to think he must get it in 5 gallon drums this stuff because everywhere you went you get yellow stuff! Well I was plastered in yellow stuff when I went back on board and they said and they said ‘you been to see Fred?’ and I’d say ‘oh aye!’ But that was it. The second time the ship was just about due to start engine trials and huge steel wheels, which controlled the steam for to start the engines – they’d been locked all the time and the only way I could get up to where I was working was by standing on one of the spokes on the wheels and then clambering over! I mean there was no ladders or anything like that y’know in the particular part, you just had to get on and do it! And of course no body said well its an engine flash up the next day and I went in and stood on this thing – I was maybe about 10 or 12 feet up in the air by this and the steam chest wheel had been turned because it had been loosened and of course my weight on it – down I came again! Sprained ankle that time, but no problems. But there was a lot of things happen!