Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

Trip: Six and Seven

Call Sign:

Company: Shell Tankers

Specs: 12265 GRT 7500 BHP

Rank: R/O

Joined: Manila 3/9/70

Resigned Articles: London 27/10/70

Departed: Singapore 29/3/71

This was one of my first long distance flights, and going out to a place many could only dream of. I flew London-Paris then via Tehran, Bangkok, and Nohm Pehn (Vietnam) where I had to catch another flight to Hong Kong and Manila. It was Typhoon time, and the area had narrowly missed being hit. The place was lashed with rain causing some landslides. All I remember is a very wet taxi ride to the hotel, then later back to the airport again.

Arrival at Manila was rather disappointing. It was hot but very wet and humid, with heavy cloud cover. The ship was there a few days whilst discharging, so I could do a bit of exploring. Some of the other officers introduced me to the girlie bars in the Manila "red light" district, but I could not afford more than a beer or two! Even then, the dollar was all-powerful. Some of the signs outside the bars made one think twice about going inside anyway. "Check in all guns and knives before entering" was written beside a kiosk barring the entrance to one bar! Also just outside were various clinics offering help combating some of the more unfortunate social diseases! I was impressed by the colorfully decorated "Jeepneys" (jeeps and trucks used as small busses or collective taxies) of all sizes, as well as the apparent cheerfulness of people despite the poverty, mud, puddles and rain.

On this ship, I traveled 3 times around the world carrying lubricating oils from the big Shell oil refinery at Curacao. The route was generally Cape Town, Northern India, Singapore, Bangkok, Japan, Panama then back through the canal to Curacao. The ship was one of the older Shell tankers, with split accommodation. Engineers, crew, bar and saloon aft, Deck officers amidships. It was a steam turbine driven ship, which made for a very quiet vibration free ride. When fully loaded in heavy weather, the trip aft could be somewhat "interesting", as waves washed over the deck, even reaching the raised catwalk at times.

All the Shell tankers are named after a particular type of seashell, some of them quite rare. Every ship has an example of the shell it is named after, in a display box, sometimes tastefully lit, at some prominent point within the accommodation. Our one was displayed in the officer's bar. It was in an illuminated display case, set into the forward bulkhead. The ship was sometimes affectionately nicknamed the "Hemifoofoo" or sometimes just the "Trochus".

The radio equipment included a Commandant 400 watt SSB transmitter (which had recently replaced an Oceanspan 7), and the ubiquitous Atalanta main receiver. The standard Marconi reserve receiver, transmitter and Auto alarm etc were of course also present. The antenna was however good. Like all split accommodation tankers, the radio room is amidships, and the antenna was rigged from the foremast to the after mast. We therefore had a wonderful high T antenna, the downlead to the radio room coming from the middle.

We used to load the oil in Curacao "over the top" using a small hose leading into open deck inspection hatches to prevent contamination of the highly refined lubricating oils in the ships own pipelines. All valves were kept closed, and at least two valves must separate various grades. It was quite a slow process taking several days. The cargo was very valuable, so great care was taken to see it remained absolutely pure. This was why the "over the top" loading method was used instead of the much faster method of using the ships own pipeline manifolds. "Over the top" meant we took hoses from the shore connections directly into the tank inspection covers, thus preventing any possibility of mixing. We carried up to seven different grades in various tanks. I carried a few samples of the cargo in the radio room for various oiling purposes. One was very thin and clear like water. Another was a thick green colored "gunk", plus a few in between! The big work-up really occurred after we had discharged, and all the tanks had to be cleaned. This was a major undertaking, with firstly a hot wash with almost boiling sea water fired at high pressure from rotating "guns" placed in the inspection hatches. Then followed a cold high-pressure wash with seawater. Afterwards the crew would climb inside and use fresh water hoses to wash down the tank walls. Finally all traces of water would be mopped up by hand until the tanks were totally clean and dry. Before loading, each tank would be inspected both by us and then the Oil Company: to check that it came up to the high standards required.

I met a friendly radio amateur in Curacao who also had a private pilot's license. He flew me over to Aruba in a small Cessna. While he took a photographer around for aerial views of Aruba, I had a wander around the small island and a beer at the yacht club. The photographer didn't want anyone else in the plane who might obstruct his views whilst photographing. Aruba is small but picturesque with wonderfully clear water. It is a diving paradise, where many come to visit the reefs and see the beautiful marine life. On the way back we "wave hopped" only a few feet above the sea - and on approaching Curacao had to actually climb up over the low cliffs - very exhilarating! Some people having a picnic on the cliffs were somewhat surprised as we roared low overhead.

As Salty seamen, we sometimes visited some very interesting nightlife areas in Curacao when having an evening ashore, places the average tourist never gets to see! Even on a small island, you can experience things not to be found even in big cities. (Further descriptions deleted by the censor!)

Despite the huge oil refinery operated by Shell, there were some wonderful beaches on the other end of the island. Quite a number of tourist hotels did a good trade, and the main town of Willemstadt was very picturesque, clearly showing its colonial Dutch heritage. The refinery was on the opposite side of the island, a very rocky area with no beaches. We used to swim in a bay fenced off from the sea to prevent sharks or other undesirable big fish from entering. The water was wonderfully clear, warm and with lots of small fish swimming around the coral on the sea floor.

At the end of my last voyage on this ship we experienced a serious boiler fire whilst we were alongside in Singapore. It was around 2pm in the afternoon, and most of the crew was ashore, when suddenly sparks started to fly from the funnel. Within a few minutes it grew until it looked like a huge Roman Candle. Lots of Singaporeans fishing from the quay just suddenly and quietly melted away! I was just packing for pay-off when the fire alarm sounded. At first I thought it was a mistake, until looking outside I saw our firework display. Due to the shortage of manpower, I ended up playing fireman with a high-pressure sea water hose spraying over the rear accommodation and outside of the funnel. Not INTO funnel, as our small amount of water probably would not cool the fire enough. White-hot iron would just decompose the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen and probably make the fire worse. The shore-side fire brigade couldn't or wouldn't help (The excuse was that they couldn't get fire engines up the jetty). We ended up with a large harbor fire monitor alongside us, pumping thousands of gallons of water per minute up into the air and into funnel. It looked really spectacular. After about 2-3 hours of this, the fire was out, and it was all cooling down. The apparent cause was the engineers failing to wait long enough before opening the firebox door for a boiler inspection. It seems that soot in the uptakes was still hot enough to burn, and fresh air from the open door caused it to ignite. Next day, I was told that particular boiler was now one solidified piece of junk! Luckily, the ship had two, so it could limp along until the boiler could be re-built or a new one fitted - not an easy or cheap task at all.

I was totally wet and filthy, so I told the Captain I could not pay off before my gear was dry and clean. He saw the point, so I had a few days in the Cockpit hotel before coming home on company's expense. It was lucky the cargo was relatively non-inflammable lube oil, but it still played havoc with my adrenaline levels!