I had the pleasure of sailing on steam and diesel ships, I think I recall that the “affectionate” names for either engineers were “Steam Queens” and “Spanner Wa*kers”. I have no doubt that my previous life (and fondness) of fixing stuff in tricky circumstances led me to Morgan ownership. Mind you to keep my hand in at acrobatic tinkering I have my own boat, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as hanging upside down in a tight space holding the wrong sized spanner.
I did one trip on a steam ship (supertanker) the rest on diesel. I found the steam experience rather boring.
I had the pleasure of working on two much older vessels which required "real" engineering to keep going.
Scraping a white-metal bottom end bearing on a marine diesel is not for the faint hearted.
Some interesting concepts too - a double acting diesel with rings top and bottom of the piston, oh and twin main engines located midships.
