Another Year Completed
One of the busiest days of the entire year would be ending the Autumn Mediterranean Cruise at Southampton. It began with disembarkations in Cherbourg, ahead of a mad dash across the English Channel and another disembarkation upon arrival at Southampton at around 2pm.
Bearing in mind the reduced speed limits from arrival at the Needles, off the Isle of Wight, crossing from Cherbourg to Southampton in under 5 hours was not hanging around! All the Southampton activity was ahead of the ship being transferred to dry-dock for her annual overhaul.
All had to be completed in the space of around 3 hours. With most passengers being put on a train to London, departing within the hour, their disembarkation process mostly involved dealing with their baggage. Unlike cruises earlier in the year, nothing could be left stored on board.
Paying-Off
With a crew complement approaching 700, dealing with their pay and paperwork had been developed into an art of quiet efficiency, just like any other activity on board. The catering staff were all dealt with in the Cabin Class Lounge and Cabin Smokeroom. As soon as the ship docked, shoreside staff would be setting up shop in these two rooms.
That day's roster had contained jobs to be done in addition to normal duties, all to make that day's commitments run as smoothly as possible. From 3pm onward, there was a steady stream of folk standing in line to retrieve their “Discharge Book”. For some, this had been handed-in upon signing articles maybe as far back as in June, ahead of the North Cape Cruise.
Your discharge book was your behaviour report for the voyage(s) you'd recently completed. The first thing you'd check was whether it had been properly endorsed, with “Very Good” stamped in their appropriate boxes. The opposite was known as a “D-R” for dishonourable report. Disgraced seamen were often sent home as “D-D-R” (Double dishonourable report) and would then have great difficulty in finding employment aboard another ship.
Decisions, Decisions…
At this point, you'd usually have to make a decision; that is if you haven't already been selected as standby-crew for the duration of the overhaul. Your choices are to simply sign-off or to sign-up for the next voyage. The former makes you “unemployed” in the eyes of the British Shipping Federation, so from that moment they are at liberty to assign you to any ship of their choosing.
With up to 6 weeks before the Caronia starts her next voyage, you can place yourself on the reserved list, but seek a job on another ship in the interim. For example, between my trips on the 1965 Summer Cruise and the 1966 Great World Cruise, I did a 42-day trip on the RMS Windsor Castle to Durban and back.
Cash Only!
The next job was to find the cashier desk assigned to your Articles Number. This would be the point where you got to know just how much cash you'd pocket that day. Back then, all payments were in cold, hard cash. All your earnings and deductions were explained and you'd then sign the form to confirm you understood it.
With any luck, you'd be able to drag your belongings up to the gangway by around 5pm. This entailed negotiating Customs at the shell doors and hopefully being met by friends or family on the quay. As you look back at the ship and and take pride in thinking of your time aboard, here was a brief taste of freedom!
If you can contribute any information, do please get in touch…
