Assyrian army

Assyrian army

Monday, 13 February 2023

Cairn Line update

 Thought it was worth doing a separate post. 

Gilbert T Wallace actually wrote two books on the Cairn Line. I ordered his second one as well and it has arrived. The Cairn Line of Steamships and Nutical Tales Beyond Leith.

This one includes a copy of the crew list of the Cairnesk on 17th August 1951... and the author was a cadet on board. The 4th Engineer was my father, George Young... so they served together! The 3rd mate had the same surname and address as the author, so I assume he was related to the author.

A note on crews. Basically, you signed on for a voyage then were discharged at the end of it. Not sure what the current situationj is, should imagine Steven would know. So basically I assume you were unemployed until you signed on to your next ship.

I will quite happily state that, for anyone interested in tramp steamers and merchant shipping generally these are useful books. They both include a lot of background information... how many books carry the crew list and details of a tramp steamer in 1951...  I was astounded by the sheer size of the crew. It lists 70 people, though 20 of them were discharged earlier, giving a crew of about 50! 

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