Wednesday 17 May 2023: Speaker, Mr John Orr: Topic “My life at sea”
John left school in Larne at the age of 14, got a job as a delivery boy and relished the freedom of cycling all around the town. In the course of his travels, he fell into conversation with a seaman from one of the ships docked in Larne harbour. Persuaded to go to sea he undertook a course of basic training at the Merchant Navy college in Gravesend and age 15 found himself on the SHELL oil tanker, St Vibex, en route to the Persian Gulf. He easily recalled travelling through the Suez Canal, past the remains of ships sunk during the Suez crisis. In the Bitter Lakes his shipmates pushed him over the side caring not that he could not swim because the water was so saline that he would not sink .
An impressionable youth each port of call was an adventure into a different culture with the opportunity to purchase trinkets and souvenirs from the hawkers that lined the quays. At the time he was earning £13.00 per month and rationed himself to £2.00 per week pocket money. With 300 Players cigarettes cost 3 shillings and 6 pence on board, it was more than enough to keep him in fags, although he has long since given up the habit.
John’s fascinating talk ranged over the many ships he had sailed in, and the many different jobs he was required to do as a deck hand. From splicing ropes to sewing canvas and painting the masts ,to keeping watch and steering the ship in heavy seas, he recounted his enjoyment of a life that took him all over the world.