Stories from a grumpy old sailor

Career change, 1993 Second winter in the Gulf of Botnia. Sailing between the North Sea and Sweden with timber and paper reels as cargo. The ship was fine but the work was boring. I had enough of sailing in ice and cold weather and was dreaming about working in warmer...

Summer of '84 Summer of ‘84 Mate’s ticket in the pocket, world here I come! …. 182 application letters later, reality sinks in. No mate-jobs available. Classmates were applying for jobs as ordinary sailors.  There was a crisis in the shipping industry. A bit desperate...