Back to B.A.
Rosario was even quieter on Christmas day than it had been on Christmas Eve; being a free day, some of us took a stroll after breakfast to see if there were any signs of life. Back home we would have seen children in the streets playing with their new bikes and scooters,here nary a child or adult was to be seen. After a short walk around the block it was back aboard and await Christmas dinner.
The meal itself was fairly pedestrian, some of the ships I had been on the Captain had laid on a feast and we had been served by the officers. This time it was us and them ,as per usual! We were given an extra ration of beer and a couple of bottles of Four Bells rum was sent to be shared by the crew ,so Christmas Day was a fairly boozy affair. It still rankled that the officers got such different fare to us though, we were fed well enough but we never had instant coffee ,crackers, biscuits ,boiled ham ,things you took for granted at home but were for officers only on most ships then.
Christmas night found me in Sandys? cabin ,drinking with him and Geordie, later ,when we were in our ?cups? we felt the need for some crackers and cheese, trouble was ,the said foodstuffs were locked safely away in the officers pantry. Strictly out of bounds for a deckhand. Geordie ,being on the cooking staff had access into the galley and Sandy ,being a steward had access to the pantry. There was a dumb waiter that lifted the food from the galley pantry to the officers pantry on the deck above, Sandy reckoned we could just about fit into the dumb waiter ,one person at a time, and we could pull each other up to the holy of holy?s and get us some cheese and crackers.
We waited until all was quiet and then Geordie and I(Sandy was spark out by then) hauled each other up into the officers pantry. It was a wonderland of food ,a gourmet paradise, there were Stiltons,Wensleydale ,Cheddar and Danish Blue; Jacobs cream crackers and a whole variety of biscuits. There was a York ham and turkey breast and salad aplenty. Geordie and settled ourselves as comfortably as we could and started our way through the meats, I sat holding the leg of ham and Geordie the turkey breast. We were in Seventh heaven enjoying the forbidden goodies when in walked the 2nd mate. I don?t know who was the more shocked, his eyes stood out like organ stops and he stood baffled at the sight before him. ?How the hell didja get in here ?? he gasped. We must have looked terrified, mouths agape and hands full of ham and turkey. I cannot remember if we replied anything coherent ,but he burst out laughing . ?Get the f**k out of here ,and leave the meat where it is ? We fled back to our cabins.
There were no repercussions ,but we had failed in our original objective,we never did get those cheese and crackers.
Back in B.A. we moored at a different berth ,thankfully, I did?nt want to run into the guy I had covered in paint the last time we were here. I went to renew my acquaintance with Rosa, I must have been a masochist , she was someone who I would never stand a chance with normally ,but I was like a moth to flame and I was happy to be burned.
We had a galley boy who was a Punk long before the Sex Pistols were ever
thought of. Ginger haired , weighing about 5 stone ringing wet ,and just about 5 feet tall. Little Ginger used to wear spiked wrist bands ,big hobnailed boots , well scrubbed denims and tartan shirts. His language was full of eff words delivered in a cockney accent. In his own words he was ?Effin ?ard? But you never saw him without a smile on his face.
Some of the older hands hated him for his cheek and when we were back in B.A. they were going to bring him down a peg or two. ?Only for a laugh like?
The manner of Gingers taking down was achieved in a way that most people would find obscene, to this day I sometimes wonder how he was affected by it ,if indeed it did affect him.
There was an American prostitute called Kelly who used to hang around the dock gates. She had been battered by life ,down in the gutter now ,she would do anything for a drink. She might have been pretty once upon a time , now ,she was broken nosed , bloated and her hair was bedraggled, her clothes were ragged and it was only her Chicago accent that identified as being a gringo.. I felt sorry for her the first time I laid eyes on her. How do you get so low? Some of the lads arranged for her to come on board on Saturday afternoon ; she was going to be the device which took little Ginger down.
Kelly had made a deal with some of the guys ,she was going to take Gingers virginity ?????in the recreation room in front of an audience. All the crew and some of the crew on another Houlder boat that was astern of us knew of what was to happen , Kelly was going to be paid by the audience and the star turn ,little Ginger ,was totally ignorant of what was about to befall him. I went along because I knew no better then, the room was packed to the rafters, Kelly lay like a great white whale upon one the banquettes ,awaiting her victim. Little Ginger was carried in ,laughing and giggling ,unaware of what was afoot. He blinked uncomprehendingly at the assembled men and then looked across to Kelly . ?Wassfeckingoinon? he yammered as he was stripped and lowered between the waiting thighs of the old W***e. I?ll never forget the look on Gingers face, one of great puzzlement and shame. The lads were screaming with laughter, I wonder what they think now/
New Years Eve in B.A. was fantastic, I met Rosa down La Boca at about 10.30 p.m. and we went for the final asado of 1960, this was one of the finest steak dinners I had ever tasted, the restaurant was crowded and the air was filled with expectations. Soon after we had finished dining the clocks struck 12 and the restaurant exploded into vibrant life ,poppers and streamers filled the air and outside a band struck up the conga and people poured out of the bars and cafes and joined the line of dances as it snaked its way along the avenidas, other bands and lines of dancers crossed and criss crossed their way through line. It was a magic start to 1961. It was also goodbye to my troubled love Rosa for we were off to Montevideo very soon.
When I got back on board I went along to wish some of the lads a happy new year and found Sandy and Geordie having a quiet beer ,Sandy was in a petty sombre mood, he was having aggro with one of the other stewards and was going to sort him out soon. He?d been ashore and bought an open razor to do just that. I was horrified. Trying not to show my horror I asked to see the razor and he handed it to me ;it was a very well made razor, pearl handled and a long gleaming blade. I remembered the face on Johnny the gang leader in Glasgow. His gruesome features were caused by something like this. I stuck the blade in a drawer and snapped it off. ?That will save you getting jailed kid? I said as Sandy looked on shocked. I threw the broken pieces through the port hole and went off to my bunk.
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I had said my goodbyes to Rosa in the early hours of New Years morning, she was going back to her family in La Plata, I was a free agent for my last night in B.A. It?s a great city for walking , all over the town are little plazas filled with statues and fountains, the main street uptown is great for watching the evening paseo ,when the young men paraded in their finery ,hoping to catch the eye of one of the young ,chaperoned, ladies . I wonder if that custom is still carried out today.
Families start to come out around about ten in the evening and the pavement cafes are filled with diners .On the street where Harrods was there were some wonderful cinemas and I went to one of them that night and saw Ben Hur. The auditorium was huge and when the lights went down and the curtains were drawn back, I heard the sounds of a live orchestra playing the overture to a stage show. I had?nt expected anything like this but I enjoyed it ,it reminded me of the Pavilion when I was little .There were singers ,jugglers ,acrobats ,just as you would get on any variety show back home. There was an interval when refreshments were sold and then I heard this tremendous noise above my head and looked up to see the ceiling opening and there up above was the velvet black sky, sprinkled with stars. This was air conditioning Argentine style. The lights went down and then the movie show took over.
Leaving the cinema ,I took a slow stroll down through the main drag ,most of the bars were closed and ,as I crossed the square in front of the station I heard mt name being called in the distance. I stopped and saw little Bonzo weaving his way toward me, :?Are yer gonna ?ave a bife before we go ?? he asked.
I had just enough to get a bife lomo and there was a little bife van still open outside the station. Bonzo and I tucked into those scrumptious little feasts as we meandered back to the ship. More than forty years were to pass before I had another bife lomo.
We left B.A. and sailed down to Montevideo, on the way we heard that the National Service conscription had ended and some of the older lads were cock a hoop, they could pack the sea in now. I had?nt thought of them as army dodgers before, but if you were in the M.N. you could?nt be called up. Some of the lads were married and had to stay at sea else they would have called up to do two years in one of the services and would have been paid about 5 quid a week.
So there were going to,be one or two celebrations when we got back to Monte.
The German lads off the Cap Norde were there when we arrived and we fell into drinking with them again, the Reina Del Mar was also in port and the bars were full of the ?queens? off her. I went ashore with the deck lads this time and we had a great night ,no fights ,just singing and dancing and doing a bit of flirting with the ladies. One of the lads got so out of it that we had to carry him back, we put him on his daybed ,which was leatherette, just in case he was sick or worse, much easier to clean. He was so drunk that we could?nt rouse him and one of the lads had the crazy idea of playing the best prank I ever saw. Now the ceilings (deckheads) of our cabins had stringers running along them, (the underside of the steel beams) these were pierced every few feet and you could tie things up their. So ,all the movable furniture in Teddy?s cabin was suspended upside down from the ceiling, bunk was unbolted ,as was the desk and chair ,and all was hanging there as though the ceiling was the deck and vice versa. They let Teddy sleep on and woke him by making the loudest noises possible a couple of hours later. We were thronged at the door and portholes to watch the effect as he groped his way out of sleep and when he opened his eyes he screamed and gripped the sides of his daybed for dear life. He heard our screams of laughter and relaxed shouting obscenities ,he jumped up and said that it ?was Effin great!?
Next morning I went along to Sandys? cabin to ask what kind of a night he had had ,he was laying on his bunk when I walked in. His eyebrows had been plucked and he had the remains of make up on his face. I must have looked shocked ,he smiled and said ? I?m no longer Sandy Brian, just call me Sandra from now on?
I felt poleaxed, I had no words.
?I went on board the Reina last night , I was shown what I really am?
?Yer wot !!? I yelled, he just wiggled beneath the sheet.
?I?m a woman trapped in a mans body?. I felt something last night and I know who I am now?
I got out of there as fast as I could. I could?nt hack it then and I still can?t now.
I was thrown sideways by that event and I seem to have erased the rest of our time in Monte out of my memory cells. The Canaries would be our next stop and then it would be back to Liverpool.
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