Midge Ure – Life onboard so different from ships
I think the Submariner world is quite unique in terms of what we go through and the things you have to deal with as a Submariner. So, for instance, a Sailor on like a General Service type Destroyer or Carrier would have access to family the whole time they’re away.
When you know that somebody is going through a hard time in a submarine, 6 weeks in to a 12-week Patrol, you need to look out for them because if one person starts to become isolated, you don’t know the endgame, you don’t know whether they’re going to crumble, you really need to get them back on board, you need to cheer them up.
You might not like the person, and there’s people onboard submarines you do not like, I mean you can’t like every one of the 120 people onboard that submarine.
Simon: So, that’s quite a skilled thing.
You have to understand that you have to be able to manage that situation. You’ll have a couple of good friends on there. You’ll have your own little groups that you really … so, you generally find that when you sail, you’re put on a Watch.
There’s five or six of you, or probably eight of you on that Watch and you all sit in the wee dark hours of the morning and you’ve got 4 hours on Watch in an area where what else are you going to do? You’re going to sit and tell stories, jokes, …
Simon: That’s where the ‘dits’ come from?
That’s your dits. And then when you’ve been on a run ashore, you come back and you tell all those dits, maybe with a different Watch, you may be in a different Watch now. So, you get bonds with different people.
Some people you know to be a bit nutty, some people you know to be a bit eccentric, some people are very sporty, some people are very … and you just develop different bonds, so it’s almost skills for life that you’re able to work with people, up the way and down the way and manage and … I think you definitely wouldn’t get that; I’ve never worked in an office