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Rewritten May 2011 while onboard M/T Ternvik
  M/S Katharina
I took this picture when we passed through Holtenau lock late spring 1987
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Friday 24th of April 1987 and I woke up on my friend's sofa in Helsingborg. My train to Oskarshamn left early in the morning from Helsingborg's South railway station. Back then there  were 2 railway stations in Helsingborg.
During the 80's they started to build a tunnel under Helsingborg and they opened the new underground station back in 1991 as Knutpunkten. Well, never mind, this was 1987 and I had to take the train from Centralstationen to Oskarshamn. My friend lived quite close to the train station so we walked down to the station early morning. 20 years old so the hangover wasn't really any problem, but of course, I could have felt better. And I can't say that I remember  looking forward to the train trip. I don't remember how many changes I had to do to come to Oskarshamn.
I checked internet  for old time tables, but no information to be found. Most likely I had to change train in Hässleholm and Nässjö. But seriously, I can't see the importance to know exactly where I had to change the darn train back in 1987. I changed train  and I had to carry my suitcase between the trains.
I suppose that you have checked out Aladdin's adventure onboard M/S Bellatrix and M/S Ewaria during the winter of 1986/ 87 so I don't need to  mention that this very winter was a winter with record breaking colds. At least it felt like it.
 When I left Helsingborg there was spring in the air. But when I came closer to the Swedish  East coast there were more and more remains of the winter to be seen. Lakes covered with ice, but luckily enough there was no snow.
 SCARED OF AIDS, LASSE? AIDS awareness campaign in Sweden and a typical sight in the mid 80's
Well, and thanks to my stupid pictures I'm sure that I passed Lönneberga on my way to  Oskarshamn. Well, I don't know why I took the picture. Maybe because I was expecting Emil to come running around the corner  any time.
Well, most likely because of the train station, the smallest station I had ever seen, just like a bus stop. So for sure, I was on my last leg on my way to Oskarshamn. I arrived to Oskarshamn in the afternoon. And I think we left for England in the evening with full cargo of wood. We were bound for Shoreham, well that's pretty much Brighton. It was 10 minutes walk in to the city centre of Brighton, the famous resort, from Shoreham. Well, my guess is that Shoreham is the port of Brighton.      went in to Brighton every time.
Summer time and nice weather so of course I preferred to be ashore. Sitting onboard M/S Katharina was nothing I wished for, the ship was old and there weren't really any recreation facilities onboard. We were 8 people onboard, 2 ABs and 1 Deck Boy. A Captain and Chief Officer and in engine we had a Chief Engineer and Motorman. We had one Cook but he  was drunk all the time. The first one managed to get food on the table, but the second Cook we got onboard outside Helsingborg never managed to cook any food. Well, the two first days, otherwise this guy was good for nothing.
Captain and the other AB was drunk most of the time and I can't remember any on eof them sober  at any moment. I have never experienced something like this before.
We had one Chief Officer, he was sober all the time. But he left us after a while and I can't remember him ever coming back. He also told me that he had never seen something like this before. We also had one of our Chief Engineers that was sober, I don't know where they found this guy. I don't know if the other Chief Engineer was drinking, but I could hear him walking on the jetty screaming. Of course, our Motorman and  Deck Boy were sober, except for when we went ashore, and we went ashore a lot while we were onboard M/S Katharina.
One time when we passed through the Kiel Canal our Captain told me that I was the only one onboard that he trusted. Motherf@cker, he was  dead drunk, yes, he could hardly stand up when he said it. I remember it like yesterday even if it was 25 years ago. Beautiful weather and Pilot on the bridge. Port bridge wing while passing  through the Kiel Canal and Captain had to hold on to something sturdy to avoid falling on deck. He started to slur something that went like:
 - Aladdin, you're the only one I can trust onboard. The other crew is only drunk all the time.
I was flabbergasted and I could not say a word for 30 minutes. - Is this joker for real? For sure, if I ended up on a ship like this today I would have turned around on the gangway. But back then, well, I was young and I can't even remember being afraid when they were sleeping on the bridge having no clue where they were. Well, anyway, back to Brighton. It was a nice walk in to Brighton, walking along the beach front in  the sunshine. One time I passed a very strange car and I just had to take the picture. I had never seen something like this before.
I remember some times in the beginning of the 2001 or 02 and I was looking for a car in Bangkok. Yes, a stupid idea. I hate to drive and taxi is a very comfortable way of transportation in Bangkok. well, anyway, I was at the car dealer and I was looking at a Mercedes, don't ask me about the model. I'm really not good at cars and I have no interest. I have only had one car I'm my life and that was only trouble. Finding parking space, filling up gas and on top of that I had to drive. I seriously don't think that I will have any more cars in my life. But this Mercedes was swish and I thought it would be something for me to swish around Bangkok in. the car dealer opened the door and just by a look in to the car I knew that I wouldn't fit. Well, I can imagine this car in Brighton, and I can imagine how I would have felt after 100 km in this car. And is it a car? I don't know.      summer resort and also a popular destination for people going to England to learn English so there were plenty night life so we managed to keep ourselves busy.
But I really can't understand how this Brighton beach front has become so famous. Don't tell anyone, but I think it was for shit. Just take a look on the above  pictures and there are many places that I would prefer before Brighton as my summer holiday destination.
Even though this is 25 years ago, well, 24 years ago to be exact. But let's say 25 years and I still remember 3 things from Brighton. I got my Televinken in Brighton. I had an old Televinken & Anita record cover with me and I walked around Brighton looking for a  tattoo shop. I was surprised that it took so long to find a tattoo shop, hell, every guy in England is covered with tattoos so I had expected a tattoo shop in every corner.
Well, I found a shop and when I was ready I walked back to the ship. And I remember paying 35£ for the darn thing. Second thing I remember was that it was the first time ever hearing Beastie Boys. 1987 and I had bought RUN DMC's CD “Raising hell” during the winter of 1986/ 87. And excellent record and I  remember, after an almost full decade of bad music releases. Yes, I remember the 80's as a decade of poor music. But I must admit that I enjoy the music today, the typical 80's music, maybe because I'm getting nostalgic?
But RUN DMC's CD “Raising hell” was excellent and I  remember looking at the future of good music with a new hope.
So we were sitting at a pub in Brighton drinking beers enjoying ourselves. DARN! It is some good music they are playing. I asked the bartender if it was RUN DMC. - No, it is Beastie Boys I took off to the nearest record shop and I bought a copy of Beastie Boys CD Licensed to ill.    and when he goes on deck looking down in the water he found our Cook between the ship  and jetty.
That's the only time I had ever seen anyone missing the gangway and walking next to the gangway and in to the water. So the Cook had to wear a life jacket when he went ashore. Yes, what a crew the owner had found for his ship. During my time onboard there were 2 different Cooks and I can't recall ever seen any of them sober, always dead drunk    Sweden there were no rollers.
Well, we had a few litres of paint and we painted the fo'c's'le and I remember one evening when the Chief Mate came forward to the fo'c's'le. He was chocked when he ran in to me painting.  - ARE YOU PAINTING!? AND YOU'RE SOBER!
He was used to have drunken ABs onboard and he wasn't all that pleased with the ship. I remember going forward to  relieve the AB painting on the fo'c's'le. He was sleeping on deck after a wee bit too much to drink.
There was no paint onboard and Chief Officer ordered paint. Well, we got 5 litres of paint in Västerås but no rolls or brushes. We passed Helsingborg on our way to UK from Västerås and the owner had said that he would send rollers with the boat that would change our Cooks on the road.  We got a new Cook and rollers outside Helsingborg. You won't believe me when I tell you that he sent  used rolls. He had used the rolls on his summer house and then he sent them to the ship. These rolls were good for nothing when they came onboard.
The owner was a religious son of a bitch so it was very important to have a special flag when we were in ports. It was a religious flag, don't ask me what it was. Well, we never bothered to hoist his flag. We did it one time when he came onboard and then never again. The flag was important, but not food and a good crew. We got the new Cook outside  Helsingborg. Yes, the very same Cook that felt between the ship and jetty.
When he came onboard he cleaned the whole kitchen and the stores. He never had a drop, working hard and it was a pleasant surprise comparing to the other Cook that was drunk all the time. Well, this lasted until we arrived to Brighton. Our Cook was going ashore to buy postcards, or to get a hair  cut. Never mind, I  never saw him sober again.
Yes, and you could not fire this kind of people. The trade union stopped any plans you had to get rid of these people. So they just followed the ships like passengers. And now, 2011, I don't know if I should laugh or cry. I cry for the members in the trade unions that are still members because of the solidarity. And I laugh at the trade union now when they lose all their members. The Swedish ship owners are changing from Swedish flag and thus they don't have to pay the member fees to the trade unions for their Pilipino crew. Under Swedish flag the Pilipino seafarers were  forced to join the Swedish trade union and the company had to pay the member fee.
The trade union made a lot of money on members, and most of them did not even know that they were members. Well, now they are desperate. Changing flag and the trade union offered the ship owners to have a full foreign crew as long as they paid the member ship fee to the Swedish trade union. The ship owners said no, and I read the latest news from the trade union. They were complaining that the ship owners refused to negotiate. And they are complaining to their members!! What the f@ck is wrong with these people? Back in the days it was impossible to get rid of the useless drunks and now they are willing to sacrifice all the hard working Swedish crew for foreign crew as long as the ship owners pay the member fees for the foreign crew. How stupid can you be? As we say in Thailand: Som nam na!! Motherf@ckers! 
Well, as the owner to a shipping company told me when I told him that I had only heard bad things about the company. - And it turns out to be the best ship I have ever been on. - Yes, we had to change! We only got useless drunks onboard. So as long as there is a demand for people with skills you don't need any trade union. If you want competent people is just to pay up. And in bad times you don't need the trade union, they will sell your arse if they have a chance to save their own jobs. And our Cook was a piece of work. He was sitting in the mess drinking one night and it looked like a pigsty. When he went to bed I told him to clean up. He was standing 2 meters from the table  stretching his arm towards the ashtray on the table knocking off the ash from his cigarette. Everything ended up on the floor.
- I'm only paid to clean the Officers mess room! I got a black out. - You little motherf@cker..... I grabbed his neck and arse and I used him as a rag wiping the table clean. Our Chief Engineer threw  a few punches at him in Germany. He had not been cooking for several days and we got fresh provision in Germany. Our Cook told us that he would make a nice dinner and he put 5 kg of deep frozen smoke-cured loin of pork on defrost in the oven. 30°C and then he told me to wake him up when the darn thing was defrosted and he went to his cabin for a POWER NAP and a case of beer.
Our Chief Engineer came and asked for the dinner and when he discovered that there wasn't any food he rushed down to our Cook's cabin. They returned to the kitchen. - Where is the f@cking dinner??!! - I told Aladdin to call me when the smoke-cured loin of pork was defrosted. I got yet another blackout. - You little motherf@cker..... It will take 2 weeks to defrost the meat in 30°C!! I grabbed him and I rushed out on the poop deck holding our Cook upside down in his leg. I held him over the gunwale when our Chief Engineer came running. - Aladdin, don't throw him over board!! He grabbed our Cook and he knocked him around for a while screaming at him. Yes, exactly the kind of crew the trade union did everything to protect, and now, the people that keep up their performance and thus kept their employment are f@cked over so the arses at the trade union can keep their jobs doing nothing. Well, anyway, back to Västerås. I only remember us going there one time and we stayed for a few days. Must have been a weekend and the Stevedores didn't work during weekends and w  e had a chance to go ashore. Yes, we never missed a chance to have a good time back then.
I don't understand how we could afford all these parties. It was not like we had any big salaries   back then. Luckily enough, or if it was bad luck, I had my VISA and MasterCard.
 DARN! I had less money when I signed off than when I joined the ship. Well, back then saving money wasn't one of our top priorities. I had been  ashore with the Deck Boy drinking all night long.
When I woke up I knew it had been an expensive night. When we had been ashore it was the same procedure the morning after, counting all the slips. I counted the slips, hmm, I was right it had been an expensive night. When I came to one slip, actually from the place we had spend most money according to the slip. This was back in the days and they had forgotten to put my card in the machine when stamping the slip. Yoo!! I got in a good mood and the agony was history in a jiff! But coming to the mess room was not a nice surprise. Our Captain and Cook had been  ashore and they had ended up at a pub frequented by the local  drunks.
Of course, they had met a woman, I don't want to say a girl, which would have been a lie. This woman, 150 kg, yeah, you know, one of those drinking a bottle of vodka before you had a chance to say hey. 2, 8 meters between the back pockets and if she wasn't in Captain's cabin she was in our Cooks cabin. Yes, believe me, she wasn't fair. We were having  our lunch when the slapper started a strip show in the mess room.
- Please!! FER F@CK'S SAKE!! I lost my appetite. Later on in the afternoon we went to check out the pub and it was exactly as fun as I had expected. Well, we managed to find some disco in Västerås in the evening. Back then it was no problem to spend 2 or more consecutive days. Well, anyway, it was nice to leave Västerås.     be the place where we were standing on the bottom at low water.
I tried to find the place on internet. It is just passed Immingham bit I could not find our jetty. Well, this is 24 years ago and seriously, the jetty doesn't look like it will survive the weekend. But this was one of the few places where we didn't go ashore. It was in the middle of nowhere. But I went ashore in France, I don't  remember where we were, but I went ashore to practice my home made French. There was a lock and there wasn't actually very much going on in the town. I ended up on a disco on the beach as I remember it. I spoke with the Mademoiselle's and I can't say that they were very impressed by a lonely Swedish sailor.
I also remember the place as pretty boring so it was nice when we left the place. And I remember me taking the picture of our Chief Officer on the bridge wing, this I would have remember even if  I had not had the picture.
Otherwise I don't remember much and I can just imagine if I would have had a  digital camera and a computer back then. No need to save on the  film and I would have had notes of everything.
But one thing that I will never forget, and this is how I know that we loaded in Finland as well. On  our way to Finland I went down to the engine room to do my laundry. We had our washing machines at the entrance to the engine room. I tried to open the door but I could only open the door a few centimetres. So I had to use the other door.
I found the reason for the door not to open. The AB on watch was sleeping on the floor inside the door. So you can imagine how drunk he must have been being able to sleep in the engine room. And on the bridge was Captain, dead drunk and he didn't had a clue where he was. The 2 guys in charge of the ship were sleeping, what a disgrace and thank God nothing happened. Imagine a fire or if we had a collision.
 We discharged wood in London, and as I remember it we did it at least two times. I also remember that we spent many days in London having a good time. We stayed there during some bank holiday and a
 means we spend the whole weekend in London. Well, we were actually discharging outside London, but it was just an hour or so with the train to central London.
 We took the train to London every day. I don't think I have to explain for you what we did in  London. For sure, we didn't visit any wax museum or any big Ben, but I can tell you that we found many good clubs. We learned to known the city quite well. And the city learned to know us as well. We almost became locals on some of the pubs. But of course, young and handsome Swedes in town so nothing else was expected.
I remember one morning when I should return to the ship with the train. Well, of course I felt asleep and when I woke up we had passed my station hours ago. -Where the h••• are we?
I had to get off the train and I took the next train back in this time I managed to get off the train at the right station. And I remember the station being 3 or 4 minutes walk from the ship.   money problem. The ship owner wasn't trusted with the agents, in short, he wasn't creditworthy. So no cash from the agent if he didn't get the money from the owner first. The owner was tight-fisted, well, I don't know. I think that he just didn't have any money. But he  was religious so who knows. These religious sons of bitches don't mind having other people working for free.
Well, let me quote William S. Burroughs on the Words of Advice For Young People “If you're doing business with a religious son-of-a-bitch, Get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit. Not with the good lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal.” Of course, I had my credit cards. I remember one afternoon coming to London straight from deck. We had not had a shower or changed our working clothes. I don't know how it happened, maybe we went for a beer on the jetty and, yes, you know, after 6 or 8 pint it was never mind the shower. So we arrived to London and we approached on place and we knew already 200 meters away that we would be rejected. It was enough to see the bouncers watching us approach the door. So 25 meters away, before the bouncers had a chance to open their mouths, I asked. - Do you accept credit cards?
- Fer f@ck's sake. Yes and very welcome SIRS!!   But we were in desperate need of cash. Of course, I knew that I would never work for this ship owner again. I remember that we tried to sell motorman's shaving machine, tape  recorder and stuff because we had no money. I don't remember us having any success selling his stuff. But as long as my credit cars were working we had a good time.
I also remember that we loaded some sand or stuff in England for Rendsburg, Germany. And when I searched the internet for info about the election I found out that this was the 11th of June. So we must have left London bound for this very place to load sand for Rendsburg, Germany because we  arrived to Rendsburg on the Friday 19th of June 1987. How do I remember that? Well, it is midsummer and we went ashore in Rendsburg for a good time.
Well, anyway, this was just a small village and I can't remember going ashore at this place. We loaded our sand and I remember when we left for Rendsburg, Germany, on the way out we ran in to some heavy swell. Just swell, there were no wind, but I think the Chief Engineer got sea sick. He came to the bridge just after passing the breakwaters. We had the swell coming in against us when leaving. - Can't we turn around and go with the swell? Chief Engineer asked. - Where the h••• do you want us to go? Up on the f@cking beach!? We spent the midsummer in Rendsburg, Germany. I remember it as we arrived on the Friday 19th of June 1987. No work during the weekend and we were looking forward to a fun weekend in  Rendsburg. No work during the weekend. So I had ordered money from the Captain and when the Agent came onboard he had brought 200 Deutch Mark.
- What the 
200 Deutch Mark, that's a lot of money, if you are going to buy chocolate! But not for a weekend in  Rendsburg, especially not if the whole crew is going ashore. 200 Deutch Mark, would not be any problem for me to spend this money in 1 evening.
Well, when you work for companies like this is good to have the plastic back up. For sure, without my cards I would have spent most of the time onboard. How fun  would that have been?
I had a very good time in Rendsburg. I only remember two places, one pub where we were talking with some girls looking like punk rockers. But I remember this as being on Saturday. Friday night and I ended up at a big house in a park. I could hear the music from far away so I went to investigate. I went inside and there were no light at all, pitch dark. - Hey!!!! Where can I buy beer?!!!! They put on a spot light over the bar and I had a bottle of beer in my hand before soon. When I got used to the dark I could see a stage and there were different punk bands playing and we had a very good time in Rendsburg. OK, Sunday was not as exciting. But they started to discharge us during the Monday.        hours to the lock in Holtenau and when we were out of the Kiel Canal we turned starboard and we were soon at the scrap jetty in Kiel.
Well, can't say that I expected much excitement in Kiel. Kiel was my last load port before signing off, I need to be home before the Roskilde Festival starts on the first weekend in July. If it had not been for the Roskilde Festival I might have stayed for another month or two. So it was nice that I didn't get stuck on M/S Katharina. It was not like I became a millionaire while onboard. I can't help wondering how I could afford to work back then. Going from ship to ship. It was  always party and I had less money when I signed off the ships then when I signed on. Party between ships and no worries about money.
And it was not like it was possible to live on the salary. I can't remember signing of any ship having more money on the bank coming back home back then. I don't remember how long we stayed in Kiel, but I was ashore for a walk. But no party, if you want party Kiel is not the place to be.     And seriously, I can't understand why I wasted all the film taking pictures of her in the dry dock. Maybe because I was signing off in the next port and I didn't need to save on the film anymore. I wish we had digital cameras and computers back then.      
It is not far from Kiel to Göteborg, maybe 24 hours or less. I don't know how much speed we made, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't any record breaking speed. And by the looks from my picture it looks like we arrived to Sweden and typical Swedish summer weather.   +++++++++++++++
Monday 29th of June 1987 and time to sign off the ship and I had had a very good time onboard. Plenty fun and it was an experience. But I can't help wondering how it would have been to work on a ship like this today, I would have been scared all the time. But when you're 20 you're never scared, only thinking about having fun.
And as no surprise there was problem to get my money when I signed off. I got money for the bus ticket and the rest would be sent to me. The Agent, well, I was not surprised, didn't brought any money for us in Otterbäcken. - The ship owner has no credit so we can't supply you with cash. I called the owner asking for my money when I came home and he told me that it was cheaper with Spanish crew. Well, I don't care. What an a-hole. He went bankrupt not long after and I'm not surprised. Well, anyway, I took the bus from Otterbäcken to Göteborg and had a good night out with my friends before taking the morning train back to Skåne. The reason for me to go home from M/S Katharina was the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.  OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it  be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
So
So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff! 
 Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
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