Yes it was !as far as the top gallant if i remember rightly(1963) :w00t:Polycell said:I joined up straight to Collingwood but....If I joined up at Ganges or St Vincent was it compulsory to climb the mast?
What if you were scared of heights?
Polycell said:So what happened if you refused?
Polycell said:lamptramp, I joined up at Collingwood in 1960 and our instructor was a three badge POGI. So I guess he fired the odd gun in WWII!!
We went to St Vincent for the day to climb the mast, why? I had no idea why but we did. Well some did! I didn't. I told our instructor I was scared of heights, he said go up to the first platform and come down the other side so I climbed up half a dozen rungs and came back down!! Nothing was said by the instructor or my class mates!
It was a little thing called " disclipine" when told to do,you did Fred. I too was feart of heights ( still am ) but climbed the effen mast , I wouldn't loose face with my fellow inmates.Had the same problem on Bellerophon when the accomodation ship was the Belfast, told to paint the masts and yard arms,not so high but with paint and brush in one hand whilst holding on with the other ( no elf & safety then)was a pleasure I could have done without.Polycell said:lamptramp, I joined up at Collingwood in 1960 and our instructor was a three badge POGI. So I guess he fired the odd gun in WWII!!
We went to St Vincent for the day to climb the mast, why? I had no idea why but we did. Well some did! I didn't. I told our instructor I was scared of heights, he said go up to the first platform and come down the other side so I climbed up half a dozen rungs and came back down!! Nothing was said by the instructor or my class mates!
thingy said:Polycell said:lamptramp, I joined up at Collingwood in 1960 and our instructor was a three badge POGI. So I guess he fired the odd gun in WWII!!
We went to St Vincent for the day to climb the mast, why? I had no idea why but we did. Well some did! I didn't. I told our instructor I was scared of heights, he said go up to the first platform and come down the other side so I climbed up half a dozen rungs and came back down!! Nothing was said by the instructor or my class mates!
Polycell, there was me thinking you you'd joined up in the late 1980s and were still skin! :biggrin:
This is what some Ganges students did to avoid Mast Class...
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When going over the wall failed they were threatened with having to train as Baby Stewards (notice Maxi77 allowing the baby stewards to serve him)...
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If all else failed they were paraded infront of Nelson Hall and shot, as this secretly photographed image revealled (taken on a brick phone. Acknowledments to Jnr.Seaman R A Fisk).
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Fred was NEVER skin, not even in 1963, and certainly not when I saw him last in Faslane about '72ish !!!!
Nutty, I agree that the Vinceys and G-Boys are the last vestiges of an elite manhood that roam the planet the likes of which shall never be seen again! :thumright:
Small mast compared to ours !!ha haGreenie said:![]()
Just as a reminder ---- St Vincent Sunday Divisions --every Sunday
I'm standing near the right hand cannon -was work ship party that week.[Arrow pointer]
Mast -- used to ''go over it '' about once a month . I used to climb it
to see the outside world cos you could see the Dockyard from it.
Happy days
:nemo: :nemo:
lesbryan said:Small mast compared to ours !!ha haGreenie said:![]()
Just as a reminder ---- St Vincent Sunday Divisions --every Sunday
I'm standing near the right hand cannon -was work ship party that week.[Arrow pointer]
Mast -- used to ''go over it '' about once a month . I used to climb it
to see the outside world cos you could see the Dockyard from it.
Happy days
:nemo: :nemo:
Nutty said:Polycell said:So what happened if you refused?
As with Lamptramp I do not think it was debatable, it was bit like saying I cannot swim and I am too scared to learn. It was who were you more scared of the Instructors and the ridicule of your mess mates or once over the mast via the half moon, that being the second platform up.
I think one or two may have been excused the Devils Elbow but most went out and over it rather than seem lesser mortals to their mess mates. It was not the PC world of 2000.
Nutty Circa 1961
PS St Vincent and Ganges may tease each other but we know that both are equal and far superior to the rest of the world, OK Booties and French Foreign Legion come a very close 2nd.
Greenie said:![]()
Just as a reminder ---- St Vincent Sunday Divisions --every Sunday
I'm standing near the right hand cannon -was work ship party that week.[Arrow pointer]
Mast -- used to ''go over it '' about once a month . I used to climb it
to see the outside world cos you could see the Dockyard from it.
Happy days
:nemo: :nemo:
whitemouse said:Nutty said:Polycell said:So what happened if you refused?
As with Lamptramp I do not think it was debatable, it was bit like saying I cannot swim and I am too scared to learn. It was who were you more scared of the Instructors and the ridicule of your mess mates or once over the mast via the half moon, that being the second platform up.
I think one or two may have been excused the Devils Elbow but most went out and over it rather than seem lesser mortals to their mess mates. It was not the PC world of 2000.
Nutty Circa 1961
PS St Vincent and Ganges may tease each other but we know that both are equal and far superior to the rest of the world, OK Booties and French Foreign Legion come a very close 2nd.
I can equate with this - I must have been terrified, but still did it, I'm sure I've still got the imprint of the rigging permanantly scored into my palms to this day .. !!
The other thing was probably the thought of my old man giving me stick (he was a crusher there in the year before I joined - you might even have known him Nutty, if you'd been unlucky enough to be under #9s ?)
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janner said:I got sent over the St Vincent mast in 1960 and I'm sure it was over one foot 3 inches tall
I remember some brave soul asking the Instructer what would happen if we fell...There's a safety net says he.... He was right, but it was made of steel hawsers, you would have come through like cubed beef