by Al » September 17, 2014, 5:32 am
I sailed in the 80s and 90s as a Second Cook for 3 different US companies. When I first started, we had a 4 man galley and everything we baked was baked from scratch. Breads, pies, cookies, cakes, everything. In the early days when I sailed, the shipping companies were run by ex seamen who knew what life was like on the lakes, being away from home 200 days a year. As time went on the crews got smaller and we went to a 3 man galley, and the Second cook had to help the porter with the Officers rooms so a lot of the baking went by the way. The Second Cook was called a Second Cook Utility. I understand now, most are down to a 2 man Galley and I do know some are only one person in the Dept. I remember a Steward I worked with who told me he was chewed out because his food costs were 2cents higher per man meal than the rest of the fleet. That was 50cents a day. There was no baking at all, except for frozen Cookie nuggets, frozen bread dough, and cakes that were frozen and were sliced with parchment between the slices. It killed the job because before that it was nice to bake and have the crew tell you it was good. I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas and the spreads we put out. I would bake a dozen pies and tons of cookies and it was really nice to put out meals we were proud of. There was Lobster tails, Turkey, and tenderloin and all the trimmings. Well the Bean Counters took over the world and out the door it went. By the way I knew Ben Couii pretty well. I first sailed with him when he was a Porter and swore he would never do anything else. He said he didn't want any responsibility. I didn't hear anything about him until about the last year I sailed when he was working in the fleet I was relieving in and I went for a visit. He was a great guy, and great to work with. There were some real good Stewards, a lot of mediocre Stewards and lots of Bad ones. I sailed with guys who served egg salad at lunch, put it in the crews Cooler for the night lunch for 2 or 3 days, then took it out and added eggs and mayo and served it again. Others who complained if the water in the sinks for washing dishes was too hot, because, "you don't need hot water to wash dishes, that's what soap is for". Not so good for sanitation. I loved the job when it was good and we baked, but the stuff near the end killed the job.
I sailed in the 80s and 90s as a Second Cook for 3 different US companies. When I first started, we had a 4 man galley and everything we baked was baked from scratch. Breads, pies, cookies, cakes, everything. In the early days when I sailed, the shipping companies were run by ex seamen who knew what life was like on the lakes, being away from home 200 days a year. As time went on the crews got smaller and we went to a 3 man galley, and the Second cook had to help the porter with the Officers rooms so a lot of the baking went by the way. The Second Cook was called a Second Cook Utility. I understand now, most are down to a 2 man Galley and I do know some are only one person in the Dept. I remember a Steward I worked with who told me he was chewed out because his food costs were 2cents higher per man meal than the rest of the fleet. That was 50cents a day. There was no baking at all, except for frozen Cookie nuggets, frozen bread dough, and cakes that were frozen and were sliced with parchment between the slices. It killed the job because before that it was nice to bake and have the crew tell you it was good. I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas and the spreads we put out. I would bake a dozen pies and tons of cookies and it was really nice to put out meals we were proud of. There was Lobster tails, Turkey, and tenderloin and all the trimmings. Well the Bean Counters took over the world and out the door it went. By the way I knew Ben Couii pretty well. I first sailed with him when he was a Porter and swore he would never do anything else. He said he didn't want any responsibility. I didn't hear anything about him until about the last year I sailed when he was working in the fleet I was relieving in and I went for a visit. He was a great guy, and great to work with. There were some real good Stewards, a lot of mediocre Stewards and lots of Bad ones. I sailed with guys who served egg salad at lunch, put it in the crews Cooler for the night lunch for 2 or 3 days, then took it out and added eggs and mayo and served it again. Others who complained if the water in the sinks for washing dishes was too hot, because, "you don't need hot water to wash dishes, that's what soap is for". Not so good for sanitation. I loved the job when it was good and we baked, but the stuff near the end killed the job.