@noelbutler1 Keith Murray Brown was the head Stevedore at the Wellington Store until it was shut around the mid 1970s - the stevedoring was consolidated with other companies for containerisation.. Keith moved to Auckland and my brother who was an IT at the port said Keith was manager at the container port until he retired. I think he died in the 1990s, his death was recorded in our SSA mesages at the time. Working under Keith's supervision for 18 months I can only say he was a very pleasant boss, approachable with good humour but definitely in control and well liked by all the staff. He did attend some of the SSA lunches in the early days in Auckland. I knew little of his days at sea as those things didn't come up at the cple of beers time on a Friday with the other stevedores. Ian Read, Passenger Manager, Wellington

@John Martin hi John , good to hear from you again. My first ship was also 1967 , but with Shaw Savill on Southern Cross. Thanks for photo, you probably see my photos on Salty Dog, which David has posted today. The Chilly Ho, on AureoI I knew, was Jesse Sandeman and she did write a book of her life, I have a copy of her book but it’s mainly about her life during the war years. She was with Elder Dempster, from 1955-1971 Perhaps, the chilly-Ho you knew was someone else. Jesse passed away many years ago now. Cheers Jamie

@John Martin hi John Enjoyed reading your tale of slight inebriation on the job, unfortunately for you as young cadet, you had a few “Hughies“ which makes you feel quite ill. I had rich experience for these too on many occasions at sea in my early days, recall many a time declaring “never again” but there was always “a next time”! One of my seniors in the Pursers Office introduced me to a Moscow Mule, as a great cure first thing in the morning, don’t think I could have faced a beer! The “mule“ was vodka based and had quite a “kick” to it! As result of requiring this “medicine“ quite regularly, I trained the Purser’s bellboy to make this concoction in my cabin! Requiring to drink a bottle or in some cases plural, before arriving in port, was quite common in my day. Never had the experience of visiting Lagos to stock up in alcohol but northbound from South Africa, if we knew we would sail on next westbound voyage, we would stock up in Las Palmas, recall Gordon’ gin was 10 bob a bottle and scotch was 12/6d - fags 10/- for 200! Did you ever sail on Aureol? I knew the Chilly-Ho on her in mid 60’s, she was from my hometown in Scotland. Thanks for sharing your memories, John, I am sure we had lots in common in these days? Did you remain in Catering for many years? Sadly these great old Elder Dempster liners taken out of service with the advent of airliners to West Africa, much as happened to Shaw Savill mid 70’s . Cheers Jamie

In late sixties we had two immigrant liners in Shaw Savill, Southern Cross, came into service in 1955 and Northern Star in 1962. Usually, Southern Cross travelled westbound from Southampton to West Indies, Curacao ( for bunkers) Panama Canal, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Fiji to Wellington New Zealand, then across the Tasman to Sydney, where we stayed 3 days, before homeward to Melbourne, Fremantle, Durban, Capetown, Las Palmas and home to Southampton. Northern Star usually sailed eastbound with same ports, sometimes stopping in Auckland before heading across the Pacific, with same South Seas ports, but heading to Acapulco, before Panama. On Southern Cross, we sometimes stopped at Fort Lauderdale, the predecessor of Miami, and Bermuda, if travelling eastbound. Many additional ports when we started cruising in SouthPac and Mediterranean.