A Short Run Job - part one
by Published on 26th March 2025 11:14 AM
mv Lake Barrine.jpg
Foreword
Time and tide have made the exact details of this story, one of many of my wanderings, somewhat hazy. I have however, attempted to recall the events as best as I can from memory. I cannot remember any of the names of my shipmates on this particular voyage.
I was living in Melbourne at the time I received a call from The Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers, AIMPE, inquiring as to whether I would be interested in doing a ‘short’ run-job as 4th engineer from Fremantle in Western Australia to Sembawang Dockyard in Singapore. The vessel M.V. Lake Barrine, was to be converted to a drill-ship and supply vessel, which would operate off the coast of Western Australia. I was advised that the crew would get 3 days R&R in Singapore at The Cockpit Hotel at the end of the run. It was estimated that the run would take 10 days or so.
The MV Lake Barrine was a Bulk Carrier built at the Evans Deakins Shipyard in Brisbane around 1957. It was powered by a 4 Cylinder opposed piston Doxford ‘J Type’ Oil Engine. About 7200 gross tons and single screw. All accommodation was situated aft.
After flying from Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne and arriving in Fremantle, the first thing that I noticed as the cab slowly drew up to the vessel in Fremantle, was that, there was a somewhat large helicopter platform that had been constructed and attached to the aft end of the vessel. Memory, if correct, tells me that it weighed close to 130 tons. Someone suggested that the pad was there to assist in making the ship go faster and giving it a much smoother ride(!!) I recall that when we departed Fremantle the next day the general atmosphere was very upbeat. This was possibly due to the fact that most of the guys on board were busy planning what they were looking forward to doing or buying (or get up to!) when we got the 3 days R&R in Singapore.
The trip actually took 22 days. Some sort of mechanical breakdown occurred every two or three days. At one stage the main engine salt water cooling pump threw its hand in, and the stand by pump did not work too well either, despite the herculean efforts of the Chief Lecky. I do remember, that some wag had draped a gunny sack over the spare SW cooling pump with the words R.I.P. written in bold on it. Finally one of the ballast pumps was rigged up and used to circulate the required sea water.
If my memory is correct, the top piston was ‘fresh water cooled’, and the cooling water was piped to and from the top piston through a set of pipes which were inside the main crank case. Generally this set up is termed a ‘swing arm cooling system’. Every couple of days one of the seals on this swing-arm system needed to be changed. This necessitated physically going into the crank case to tackle the task. At best we were able to spend a minute or so before exiting the crankcase to take several gulps of ‘cooler’ engine room air.
A couple of days before we reached Singapore Roads the drinking water started to carry a faint smell of diesel, and when poured into a glass and left for a while tended to have a faint sheen to the surface. The practice of pouring a jug of the water through several filters used on the coffee machine improved it somewhat. Luckily the Captain organised several cases of bottled water to be delivered via the Pilot boat.
We picked up the pilot at around 20.00hrs and slowly moved into Singapore Roads, and reached our anchorage at around 22.30hrs. When the anchor was finally lowered, all the engineers in the engine room heard the rumble of the anchor chain, and a palpable sense of relief seemed to engulf all of us.
cont....
Michael Smith
Last edited by Brian Probetts (Site Admin); 26th March 2025 at 11:47 AM.
