"Shen44" wrote in message
...
The wife and I took a trip on the Mt. Vernon Victory in the 80's - one
of the last Onasis tankers in service at the time. A friend of mine
was the Captain.


As I remember, she was one of the old midship house tankers, built on
gov'ment
specs. There were a number of them around, all of which had a good turn of
speed and some better than average accomodations, for US ships (which
normally
have worse than average accomodations ..... kinda like living in an
institution).

Shen

Onassis got big in the shipping business because he bought the left over
Liberty ships from the US government at the end of WW II for less than scrap
value. Probably pennies on the $1000.

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 05:35:03 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Shen44" wrote in message
...
The wife and I took a trip on the Mt. Vernon Victory in the 80's - one
of the last Onasis tankers in service at the time. A friend of mine
was the Captain.


As I remember, she was one of the old midship house tankers, built on
gov'ment
specs. There were a number of them around, all of which had a good turn of
speed and some better than average accomodations, for US ships (which
normally
have worse than average accomodations ..... kinda like living in an
institution).

Shen

Onassis got big in the shipping business because he bought the left over
Liberty ships from the US government at the end of WW II for less than scrap
value. Probably pennies on the $1000.

I know a guy who is a bizillionaire today because of buying surplus
aircraft from the government after WWII. Actually sold some back
during Korea for a very handsome profit.

He still has some AAF two seat trainers in storage. I've often thought
of pressing him to buy one and restore it.

Later,

Tom

Calif Bill wrote:

Onassis got big in the shipping business because he bought the left over
Liberty ships from the US government at the end of WW II for less than scrap
value. Probably pennies on the $1000.


G Maersk was another of these who made good from WW2.
Story goes, he turned over all his ships to US government at the
outbreak of the war with the stipulation that all those sunk would be
replaced at the end of hostilities.
Most of the ships were junk and all were sunk so that at the end of the
war he ended up with a fleet of "new" ships, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

otnmbrd adds:

-Maersk was another of these who made good from WW2.Story goes, he turned
over all his ships to US government at the outbreak of the war with the
stipulation that all those sunk would be replaced at the end of
hostilities.Most of the ships were junk and all were sunk so that at the end of
the war he ended up with a fleet of "new" ships, courtesy of Uncle Sam.-


Bilge- LOL, that's the outfit I'm working for now, alright! Hey...it's still
going on, check the link:

http://www.maersklinelimited.com/mll/fleet/mps.asp

I'm on the Phillips. After the charter to Sammy expires, Uncle has to refit
the ships to their original form, see: Maersk Constellation, or buy the pooches
with their 30 year old salt-water cooled engine rooms.

In fairness, A.P. Moeller-Maersk's mom was American, so I believe he has dual
citizenship...but Lordy is he cheap bastid!

On my first Maersk ship, I was rootin' around the machine shop and found a
repair kit for a six-inch crescent wrench...the worm gear, the movable jaw, and
the pin, all in a plastic bag.

I wandered around dumbstruck for an hour that they would pay a guy two hours
to repair a tool that they could replace for 5-10 bucks.

These people spend zillions on crap, but whine cry and wail about our wages
and overtime.

And then they go wail and whine to the unions and the Coast Guard and anyone
else who will listen about how hard it is for them to fill the jobs...why won't
anyone take these jobs?

If ya can't figure out what the problem is, then its' highly likely that you
are the problem.


Cheers;


Mutiny is a Management Tool
Select Your Tattoo while Sober