Back to Basics
It seems that you had to be pretty hardy to endure the stay in Belfast, especially in late autumn and early winter.
Contrast a fully air-conditioned and provisioned ship with this account…
Robin Chalmers writes…
We had no accommodation on board at all. No laundry or food services and only minimum power. The boilers and generators
were shut down. Everybody stayed in shoreside digs (Cunard gave us a weekly allowance to cover living away from the ship)
I think the ship was back alongside the pier after about eight hours. The two engineers on board at the time had to
start the emergency generator which I do believe took quite some time to get fired up.
George Peterson adds…
I was on the second 6 weeks of the lay-up with Jimmy Wilson and missed all the excitement. The one thing I remember was
there was not one cup or tea making facility left on board when we arrived.
We cut open a T-pol container [liquid soap] and used it to boil water for tea. Then we unscrewed the wellglass shade
from the working alleyway light fittings and used those as cups. The tea was great if you didn't mind the bubbles.
Hands That Do Dishes…
George's mention of Teepol, the liquid soap, brings back some memories. When you think of liquid soap, banish all
thoughts of any claimed gentleness of washing-up liquid.
This stuff was an industrial cleaner supplied in 5 gallon drums. If the neat liquid came into contact with your skin
it could act as an effective hair remover! The way it could foam seawater says it all.
After every meal the kitchen porters would scrub the galley deck with Teepol and then hose it all down with hot sea
water. You soon got to know when to avoid walking in the galley, because this liquid would strip the polish off your
shoes. It would eventually dry with a greyish-white film all around the edge of the soles.
Getting any kind of shine back on your shoes was almost impossible until they had fully dried, which could take a
couple of days! If you polished your shoes last thing at night, the white perimeter would show through by next morning.
It paid you to have an absolute minimum of 3 pairs of black working shoes.
Although “vulcanised” soles were becoming available, in those days the soles of shoes were mostly sewn on
and regular dunking in this liquid would soon rot the stitching. I imagine that in these “health & safety”
days, Teepol is but a memory, or very much reduced in strength.
