It was my first appointment as Second Engineer, and as such found myself  at 26 in charge of a relatively large number of staff.. The Chief Engineer was the late Ted Barnes, a gentleman of the old school, who treated his engineers like rather unreliable but likeable nephews. Watch keepers consisted of  the a 2^nd, Senior 3^rd and Junior 3^rd Engineer, each with a Junior Engineer, a fireman and greaser on each watch. Additionally there was a Junior 4^th Engineer with two Juniors on daywork who spent a great deal of time maintaining the Ruston generators. The all important refrigeration machinery was looked after by a Chief and 2^nd Refrigeration Engineer together with three refrigeration greasers. On the homeward laden passage one of the daywork Junior Engineers also kept watch on the fridge. Lastly, but not least were a Chief and 2^nd Electrician who had their time cut out with the numerous DC motors on the ship.
As 2^nd Engineer I had the luxury of a sink in my cabin and a forward looking porthole onto the foredeck. The latter had it's advantages at sea, for a cool breeze, but in Buenos Aires it overlooked the steam drum in which the dockers boiled the thousands of hooks on which the chilled carcasses of beef were hung. I did however have the advantage of having the full run of the passenger public rooms as well as enjoying the company of four or five passengers on my own table. As a consequence I also enjoyed the excellent passenger cuisine provided on these ships, rather than the good but rather reduced menu for lesser mortals.
It was an enjoyable period in my career when the Merchant Navy was much as it had been before WWII, with such luxuries as cabin stewards and silver service. Of full white uniforms, laundered and crisply starched by the ship's laundry daily.  Little did we realise that this was the end of an era before the grey reality of the modern shipping industry was to arrive, apart from the Disney World of the Cruise Liners.