Jim Currie
Member
That's the name! 'Queen Beams' we did the same.
We had old steam winches which had to be in double gear before we could lift the beams in and out. I ended up 3 months in a plantation hospital on a tiny island in the New Hebrides because of one of the 'King' variety. I was passing the hatch when the local crew boys were unshipping one. They had the winch in single gear and the beam was suspended on a wire bridle. The damn thing ran away with the weight and the beam landed on my left leg - still suffer from it to this day.
The most damning thing was though; I was just 18 years old and had been promoted to 3rd.Mate from Apprentice just two weeks previously. I was more upset about losing a pay increase of,from 85 pounds/year to 31 pounds /month (being a Scotsman).
In 1952 I joined a ship with the new MacGregor Steel hatch covers. We all thought we had died and gone to heaven!
We had old steam winches which had to be in double gear before we could lift the beams in and out. I ended up 3 months in a plantation hospital on a tiny island in the New Hebrides because of one of the 'King' variety. I was passing the hatch when the local crew boys were unshipping one. They had the winch in single gear and the beam was suspended on a wire bridle. The damn thing ran away with the weight and the beam landed on my left leg - still suffer from it to this day.
The most damning thing was though; I was just 18 years old and had been promoted to 3rd.Mate from Apprentice just two weeks previously. I was more upset about losing a pay increase of,from 85 pounds/year to 31 pounds /month (being a Scotsman).
In 1952 I joined a ship with the new MacGregor Steel hatch covers. We all thought we had died and gone to heaven!
