CHIEF STEWARD

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30482, 2 July 1964, Page 2

CHIEF STEWARD

Five women are employed on board the Norwegian motor vessel Vingrom, which has been discharging Nauru phosphate at Lyttelton. This is a norma] arrangement for most Scandinavian vessels but in the Vingrom one of the women has the rank of chief steward. She is Miss Tonny Servold, of Oslo, who was a ship’s cook before taking her present position.

In British vessels, a female chief steward would be almost unheard of but the Vingrom’s owners have two women chief stewards in the fleet It is not uncommon to find women filling this job in other vessels of the Norwegian Merchant Service, according to those aboard the Vingrom. Miss Servold, an attractive. fair-haired woman of middle age, flew from Norway to join the Vingrom in Auckland before Christmu and baa a normal service contract for 18 months.

Miss Servold, whose English is fairly limited, did not appear to consider her role unique and obviously makes a good job of it According to other members of the Vingrom’s crew, men in the galley appeared to work to her instructions quite amicably. To attain the position of ship’s cook or chief steward a candidate has to attend a special school in Norway. Decade at Sea

Most of Miss Servold’s 10 years’ seafaring have been spent in cooking and before thia she was employed tn restaurants asho.e. One of the Vingrom’s stewardesses is narried to the ship’s electrician and another is engaged to the second engineer. On previous voyages, there have been as many as three New Zealand girls serving aboard the Vingrom at one time. The ship is a regular chartered trader and is frequently seen in Auckland, Tauranga, Lyttelton, Dunedin and Bluff. The trade from Nauru to New Zealand is perhaps a monotonous one but it appeals to Norwegians who have the opportunity of visit, ing a country which interests them.