The Southern Ocean

[Lou Barron]

Have any of you guys ever sailed down to the Roaring Forties well i have and i never liked it one little bit itb was on the German supply ship
After leaving the South Atlantic they sailed deep south to avoid any warship that was suppose to be in that area we was told we was on our to Singapore well anyhow it got colder and the seas got rougher but it was the cold that got to us having no clothes to keep us warm and only one blanket There was iceing started to form on the bulkheads
The Germans also felt the cold and they even gave us all one or two tots of Snapps Some of the guys got awful sick and the smell was bad even they rats must have felt it because they stopped running around
We was very pleased to get into a warmer climate

[happy daze john in oz]

Remembering that where you live, Dunedin, is not far from the South Pole, in fact the next port of call from where you are is the South Pole I believe.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Wrong John. It's Bluff for a sack of Oysters.
Richard

[Captain Kong]

I have done that a couple of times, Doing the great circle route round the Cape down south of Kerguelin and St Paul Rocks to get to The east coast of Oz and to NZ, It is the shortest route.
Snow and ice after leaving the tropics and then back into warm weather again.
Also been past Cape Horn three times and then down into the Antarctic Continent. coming back via the Weddell Sea past the South Shetlands and South Orkney Islands to Elephant Island and then north to South Georgia, followed by Tristan da Cunha. It sure can blow quite a bit down there.
Cheers
Brian

Its c c c c cold down there. south of Cape Horn.

[John Arton]

On the maiden voyage of a Panamax bulker, ballast Copenhagen to Tubarao in Brazil to load for Japan, the initial route for the Brazil to Japan leg given to us by Ocean Routeing took us right down to the Northern edge of the roaring 40's due to prevailing winds and currents would be in our favour. Fortunately we had a call at Cape Town scheduled, which the routeing outfit had omitted from their proposed route. This call was to drop off a load on Danish painters and guarantee guys who had sailed with us from the yard. The painters were there because it was February when she was handed over in the yard and no deck coating had been applied, so we took 3 painters plus the gear and paint with us. They had got the deck and hatches painted by the time we got to Brazil but for reasons I forget why, they were kept on until the Cape, along with the guarantee engineer plus a technician from the outfit who had supplied and fitted the radio station. Due to the radio station not being supplied and fitted by the yard, our supplier was not even allowed inside the radio room until the ship was handed over and the yard only gave us 48 hours to store the ship, get all the charts and publications on board along with all the galley and cabin stores such as crockery, cooking utensils, linen etc. There were 2 40 foot containers on the dock side and every item had to be hand carried up the gangway of a Panamax bulker in light, not ballast, condition. I was 2nd mate and nearly knacked myself carrying 30 chart folios along with a world wide set of Pilot books, Radio signals, List of Lights up that gangway and getting the bridge set up for sailing. The yard refused us any use of yard cranes to get any of the companys stores on board even the food stores. For three days we all lived on take aways delivered to us by KFC and Pizza Hut.
The radio room had initially 3 guys from Redifusion who were the equipment suppliers, ripping down bulkheads to install the radio gear. By the time we got to Dover outward bound they had the MF gear up and running and the HF gear in place but not completely wired up and tested. The VHF sets were all part of the standard bridge fit so we were partially legal I guess. By the time we were out into the Atlantic and past the Canaries the two radio technicians who stayed on board along with the ships sparks and ships electrician had got the radio station up and running so the radio technicians had a nice jolly down to Brazil and onto the Cape.
Between them and the Danish painters and Engineers they virtually drank us dry so the first thing that came on in Brazil was a pallet or two of Brahma Chop beer. WE slow steamed al the way to Japan taking something like 30 days or more, up through the Lombok Straight, going passed the Philippines to Kakagowa in Japan. After that is down to Aus to load coal for Europe.
rgds
JA

[Lou Barron]

Yes it is nice to hear from you guys who have sailed down into the Southern Ocean but i think it would be in better conditions than we had if you have plenty of good food and lovely warm clothes i think it would be no problem

[Richard Quartermaine]

It was a real thrill to see St Paul and Amsterdam Islands that my father used to tell us about on his trips in 1913 and 1924 on the SS Beltana and SS Benalla. We passed them a number of times in the 40s and 50s and the last time I plucked this from the waste paper basket. I remember one trip we had a following sea of enormous swells that must have taken some handling at the helm.
Richard