family and internet query

Hi,

Does a career in the RFA restrict you from having a family? I'm not ready for that yet but it would be nice to have the option in the future. I read somewhere that divorce rates are very high for people in the merchant navy. Would you say that this is a fair and accurate point? Also, do employees have access to decent internet on the ships? i.e. good enough for face to face Skype conversations?

Many thanks

 

Don't stand too close to RF transmitters.

Yes, but divorce rates are fairly high in the general population.

Not provided by the RFA. You can make your own arrangements.

 

The Internet is good enough for emails (so I have been told!).

 

That's if dii is working.

 

Internet is good enough for E-mails, and checking any simple website (But you better like playing solitaire, as you'll need something to do for the 2-3 minute page load times)

The good news is some of the ships are trialling at-sea wifi! the bad news is it's going to be uselessly slow (512kp/s SHARED AMONG THE ENTIRE CREW)

Lots of people use dongles, but they can go from good to crap depending on port, where you are on the ship, and the ships location.

When I was on Argus, you could always tell when you where getting close to land as their would be hundreds of young matelots cluttering the decks trying to get a phone signal.

*Edited for spelling*.

 

Young matelots even.

It's worse when a matelot can't spell matelot.

 

Well my married survived before inter-web and phones with no string attached, if we were lucky the skipper would allow radio phone calls, you could speak or listen and not both, so when bore down south I invented a box of tricks that let you use radio calls like a normal phone. There was always snail mail.
When I joined boats no comms was normal, heard bomber queens got telegrams?
So the trick is when you think of settling down is to chose the right partner and not the best media package.

 

Mid 19th century(nautical slang): from French, variant ofmatenot, fromMiddle Dutchmattenoot'bed companion', because sailors had to share hammocks in twos.

 

You're wrong. As ever.

Matelot translated directly from French as Seaman or Sailor. It was used long before the 19th century.

It was then adapted as slang for friend down the line.

To live in Matelotage is to live with your bed fellow. Basically same sex marriage before same sex marriage was cool. A practice carried out when dudes would wander off into the rainforest to live out the remainder of their years with their bum chum once they got sick of going to sea.

 

When doing a towed array patrol 'up North' on a surface ship we received 'familygrams'. A basic 1 line message from home saying all was well.
Any bad or emotionally sensitive one was not given to the intended recipient as there were no transmissions from the ship - bit like our friends in the subsurface branch.

I found out my wife was pregnant with our second child by use of the line 'by the way, the penny has dropped' in a familygram.
Straight to mess and rang the bell -'what's up?', 'missus is pregnant', 'how the bloody hell do you know that!'

And no, we hadn't been away that long - before anybody makes accusations!

 

Stoker on Fife got family gram that wife had just given birth while we were on med patrol , ship chopper to Gib and
next RAF plane out to be with wife and newborn.

 

You're right and Oxford University's etymology is wrong seemingly.

• MATELOT— noun Etymology: French, from Middle French, from Middle Dutch mattenoot, literally, bedmate Date: circa 1847 sailor
  Толковый словарь английского языка - Merriam Webster
• MATELOT— ˈmatˌlō noun ( -s ) Etymology: French, from Middle French, from Middle Dutch mattenoot, from matte mat, bed (from Late …
  Webster's New International English Dictionary
• MATELOT— /mat"loh, mat"l oh'/ , n. Brit. Slang. a sailor. Also, matelow . [ 1910-15; mattenoot sailor, equiv. to matte MAT …
  Random House Webster's Unabridged English Dictionary
• MATELOT— noun Etymology: French, from Middle French, from Middle Dutch mattenoot, literally, bedmate Date: circa 1847 British : sailor
  Merriam-Webster's Collegiate English vocabulary
• MATELOT— [ 'matləʊ ] ■ noun Brit. informal a sailor. Origin C19: from Fr., var. of matenot , from MDu. mattenoot …
  Concise Oxford English vocab
• MATELOT— [mate.lot] n [F, fr. MF, fr. MD mattenoot, lit., bedmate] (1911) Brit: sailor