Must admit, one of the perks of living in the stokers mess was the middle watch stews they created.
The Merchant Navy ships I served on were always good feeders, it was part of the compensation for months away from home, we had large freezer compartments, separate meat/fish, vegetables, dairy etc - silver service - 5 course evening meals - breakfast to order - good lunches ( always a curry on the menu ). BBQ on deck in port/anchor - newspapers were hoarded, so we could have fish & chips takeaway style. On your birthday, you could choose the menu & usually had a cake baked. If you were working, or just before/after your watch, you could eat in the duty mess, otherwise in the saloon, in uniform. You had allocated seats - napkin rings engraved with your rank - you didn't want to sit at the Captains' table - conversation was invariably boring! Best tables were those with a couple of cadets - much livelier.
Unlike us then.
I had my 21st in Cape Town - I still have the Pewter Pint Pot I was given - one of the traditions was that the birthday boy paid for the booze on that night. As it was CT, a good run ashore, I got off quite lightly with the bar bill! If it had been Beira, I'd have been bankrupt!
Don't get me going about Cape Town. Cape Brandy!!!! Navigators Den!!!! What a night club!!! New Year 71!! all the Merchant vessels in harbour letting rip with their horns!!! Epic.
Oudemeester, Mainbrace, Lion Lager, Castle Ale, boerwurst, game biltong, Van Rijn cigarettes - ah yes - attempting a 72 oz steak challenge at a Steers restaurant ( and failing miserably ). As a young man, I just enjoyed myself in South Africa - only as I got older did I gradually see the real evil in their system & the enjoyment vanished..........
We were warned off the Cape Brandy, it being a locally brewed cheap brandy!! (Rumoured to make you blind). Never put off by a mere rumour!!! That, mixed with Coke was quite acceptable - well - it got you drunk anyway!! I was only 19/20 when we hit Cape Town. Sampled a taste of Apartheid, we were chatting to a local who had been to uni in the UK and had qualified as a doctor, he was asking us about this and that. A policeman, politely, reminded the doctor about the rules and we had to part. It was an eye opener seeing signs on bars, 'whites only' and 'no blacks'. Shame as I thought it was a loverly country.
The real place to visit was Durban - not only a major port, but SA's premier holiday resort, massive hotels, more bars, restaurants, shark nets ( we used to anchor off, waiting for our berth, and the ship was invariaby circled by sharks, including hammer-heads! - all within a mile or two of the busy beaches ). Some great nightclubs, although going off the main drag was very risky - taxis the order of the day -everywhere, OK in daylight, but as soon as the sun went down.................
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