Icelandic Cod Wars

lawros left foot · Jun 23, 2016

Was any other,ex Matelots on here involved in this?
What with the fishing discussion on the Euro referendum thread, and England getting them in the next round, i was curious of other ex sailors memories

I was a 16 year old sprog serving on HMS Yarmouth for the third and final spat, just the last three weeks or so, we got rammed by the Thor, and came back with the fishing fleet to Hull for an unbelievable weekend, as every dry dock in the country was full of rammed Frigates. The boozers in Hull gave free beer to any of the ships company who were in rig, at 16 I was the drunkest man (boy) in the world, I crawled up the gangway, and was promptly charged with returning on board drunk. The result, 7 days number nine punishment, and a £10 fine, and I had a kit muster to ensure I had replaced all my uniform I had given away to anyone who wanted it.

AmexRuislip · Jun 23, 2016

lawros left foot said:
Was any other,ex Matelots on here involved in this?
What with the fishing discussion on the Euro referendum thread, and England getting them in the next round, i was curious of other ex sailors memories

I was a 16 year old sprog serving on HMS Yarmouth for the third and final spat, just the last three weeks or so, we got rammed by the Thor, and came back with the fishing fleet to Hull for an unbelievable weekend, as every dry dock in the country was full of rammed Frigates. The boozers in Hull gave free beer to any of the ships company who were in rig, at 16 I was the drunkest man (boy) in the world, I crawled up the gangway, and was promptly charged with returning on board drunk. The result, 7 days number nine punishment, and a £10 fine, and I had a kit muster to ensure I had replaced all my uniform I had given away to anyone who wanted it.

May have been a hard time for you, but I bet you enjoyed it all

Swillis · Jun 23, 2016

lawros left foot said:
Was any other,ex Matelots on here involved in this?
What with the fishing discussion on the Euro referendum thread, and England getting them in the next round, i was curious of other ex sailors memories

I was a 16 year old sprog serving on HMS Yarmouth for the third and final spat, just the last three weeks or so, we got rammed by the Thor, and came back with the fishing fleet to Hull for an unbelievable weekend, as every dry dock in the country was full of rammed Frigates. The boozers in Hull gave free beer to any of the ships company who were in rig, at 16 I was the drunkest man (boy) in the world, I crawled up the gangway, and was promptly charged with returning on board drunk. The result, 7 days number nine punishment, and a £10 fine, and I had a kit muster to ensure I had replaced all my uniform I had given away to anyone who wanted it.

What's a number nine punishment?

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jun 23, 2016

Seem to recall it being a big deal at the time in the UK. Gunboats called in and all sorts. Seems like a throwback to a more innocent age now.

Doubt there will be a single tabloid that can resist making a cliched Cod/God front page pun in the run up to the game.

lawros left foot · Jun 23, 2016

AmexRuislip said:
May have been a hard time for you, but I bet you enjoyed it all

We went back to Hull in77 for the Queens Silver Jubilee, as the Royal Yacht escort, after Hull counsellors requested us.
Another very memorable weekend, and I've always had a soft spot for the city

Thunder Bolt · Jun 23, 2016

Swillis said:
What's a number nine punishment?

Stoppage of leave as opposed to sevens which was stoppage of pay. I wasn't in the Cod war, but got two days nines and two days sevens just for being 5 minutes adrift, when I missed the bus back.

Swillis · Jun 23, 2016

Thunder Bolt said:
Stoppage of leave as opposed to sevens which was stoppage of pay. I wasn't in the Cod war, but got two days nines and two days sevens just for being 5 minutes adrift, when I missed the bus back.

Oh not so bad then, thought it was something severe. Are they still allowed to stop pay, seems very harsh.

lawros left foot · Jun 23, 2016

Swillis said:
What's a number nine punishment?

Stoppage of leave, extra work, and just general buggerance

Swillis · Jun 23, 2016

lawros left foot said:
Stoppage of leave, extra work, and just general buggerance

Just read somewhere about the punishments, I doubt they still have the number 1 punishments.

tiberious · Jun 23, 2016

lawros left foot said:
Was any other,ex Matelots on here involved in this?
What with the fishing discussion on the Euro referendum thread, and England getting them in the next round, i was curious of other ex sailors memories

I was a 16 year old sprog serving on HMS Yarmouth for the third and final spat, just the last three weeks or so, we got rammed by the Thor, and came back with the fishing fleet to Hull for an unbelievable weekend, as every dry dock in the country was full of rammed Frigates. The boozers in Hull gave free beer to any of the ships company who were in rig, at 16 I was the drunkest man (boy) in the world, I crawled up the gangway, and was promptly charged with returning on board drunk. The result, 7 days number nine punishment, and a £10 fine, and I had a kit muster to ensure I had replaced all my uniform I had given away to anyone who wanted it.

Did you ever find the Golden Rivet

Thunder Bolt · Jun 23, 2016

Swillis said:
Oh not so bad then, thought it was something severe. Are they still allowed to stop pay, seems very harsh.

It is harsh, as you're not only not allowed out, but you have do some work like cleaning instead.
Yes, they used to stop pay. I was only on £11 a fortnight so to lose 2 days pay was a killer. To be fair, food clothing etc were all inclusive, so in effect, it was pocket money.

lawros left foot · Jun 23, 2016

tiberious said:
Did you ever find the Golden Rivet

Yep, and hid it a few times.

The Andy Naylor Fan Club · Jun 23, 2016

Tom Hark said:
Seem to recall it being a big deal at the time in the UK. Gunboats called in and all sorts. Seems like a throwback to a more innocent age now.

Doubt there will be a single tabloid that can resist making a cliched Cod/God front page pun in the run up to the game.

I can see it Tuesday morning, Roys boys beaten by The Hand of Cod.

lawros left foot · Jun 23, 2016

Thunder Bolt said:
It is harsh, as you're not only not allowed out, but you have do some work like cleaning instead.
Yes, they used to stop pay. I was only on £11 a fortnight so to lose 2 days pay was a killer. To be fair, food clothing etc were all inclusive, so in effect, it was pocket money.

Second class was the worst though, can't remember everything but a months nines, amonths sevens, a third of your pay cut, when you could finally go ashore, you had to talk a leading hand i( equivalent to a Corporal in the Army)in to escorting you, and you had to go in uniform, and be back by 10pm

knocky1 · Jun 23, 2016

tiberious said:
Did you ever find the Golden Rivet

lawros left foot said:
Yep, and hid it a few times.

No idea what your talking about. Can anyone show me where it is?

Eeyore · Jun 23, 2016

Doubt whether many on here under 45 will have any knowledge of them. My understanding was that the UK government was forced to back down when Iceland threatened to withdraw from NATO. Either way it was a huge embarrassing climb down and spelt a lot of trouble for our fishing ports.

It wouldn't be good for papers to go into Cod War jingoism. We lost all of them.

daveinprague · Jun 23, 2016

lawros left foot said:
Was any other,ex Matelots on here involved in this?
What with the fishing discussion on the Euro referendum thread, and England getting them in the next round, i was curious of other ex sailors memories

I was a 16 year old sprog serving on HMS Yarmouth for the third and final spat, just the last three weeks or so, we got rammed by the Thor, and came back with the fishing fleet to Hull for an unbelievable weekend, as every dry dock in the country was full of rammed Frigates. The boozers in Hull gave free beer to any of the ships company who were in rig, at 16 I was the drunkest man (boy) in the world, I crawled up the gangway, and was promptly charged with returning on board drunk. The result, 7 days number nine punishment, and a £10 fine, and I had a kit muster to ensure I had replaced all my uniform I had given away to anyone who wanted it.

Was on the Lowestoft. That fecker Thor got us as well. One ;person killed, on the Thor. The thing had concrete ballast in the bow.

lawros left foot · Jun 23, 2016

daveinprague said:
Was on the Lowestoft. That fecker Thor got us as well. One ;person killed, on the Thor. The thing had concrete ballast in the bow.

Took the bow of the Yarmouth before I joined it, she was fixed ,went back up theice, got rammed, and got atwenty foot gash by the after shithouse.
One of the Chinese laundrymen was, ahem, using the facilities at the time, came out like a bat out of hell, and legged it up the burma way pulling his trousers up and shreiking like a banshee in Chinese.

daveinprague · Jun 23, 2016

lawros left foot said:
Took the bow of the Yarmouth before I joined it, she was fixed ,went back up theice, got rammed, and got atwenty foot gash by the after shithouse.
One of the Chinese laundrymen was, ahem, using the facilities at the time, came out like a bat out of hell, and legged it up the burma way pulling his trousers up and shreiking like a banshee in Chinese.

After we lost a laundryman over the side on the old Ark Royal in rough weather, they started doing warnings in Chinese as well. Kind of surreal.
There was also a guy on the Lowestoft from Newry, who was a seaman on gangway duty. The XO from the American destroyer parked up in front of us came about to see our No1 (American term for XO) and our man from Newry took him down to a very confused Chinese laundryman.

ManOfSussex · Jun 23, 2016

I didn't realise there were 2 cod wars either. I'd only heard of the one in the 1970's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars

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