What were you frightened of at sea? Mike Allinson 6

There were various things that maded me frightened. As a young deckie  was frightened of the weather because of the moutainous seas rolling down off the ship and I thought every one was going to crash on board. But the ships were very good sea ships and did climb over most of those massive waves. Later on as I became in charge I got more worried when we got into bad conditions, in among the ice fields and so forth.

 

How much did you earn?

Back in 1950 is when I first went to sea as a deckie learner I earned £3 and 15 shillings in old money per week and that would go to my mother. But then I had a pounded share of the trip and also a share of the liver money. Depends how much money the fish brought when we landed it. Sometimes, my first trip to sea I remember it well I picked up £12 for three weeks work. I was astounded, I've never seen so much money. Unfortunately it deterioated for there a bit. I ended up earning £2, £2.50, sorry £2 Ten shillings it was back then. My fourth and fifth trip I owed money because I had to pay for various things like my gear and income tax and so forth so I finished up owing £9 to the company. Later on when I became a skipper there was alot more money to be earned.

 

Did you enjoy working on the trawler?

There was times when I enjoyed it. When I as catching an awful lot of fish that was great. When I was not catching alot of fish I was not very happy. And when conditions got bad I was not very happy because I was the one responsible that the ship should stay safe and catch fish.

 

Who made the rules on the trawler?

Well, to tell you the truth back in the 1950's and 60's I made the rules. As the skipper they were rules laid down that I had to follow. Once the ship sailed I pretty much decided what and when.