ships inventories

[joseph connor]

Does anyone know what happens to a ships log books,charts,flags buntings,bell, wheel,etc, when a ship is broken up,I have looked on line but can't get a good answer.cheers ,Joe.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Does anyone know what happens to a ships log books,charts,flags buntings,bell, wheel,etc, when a ship is broken up,I have looked on line but can't get a good answer.cheers ,Joe.

Ship's log books are usually lodged with the owners, as are scrap log books, movement books etc.Only those charts relevant to the scrapping voyage are normally retained on board, others are distrubuted amongst the fleet (if there is one), same with bunting etc. The foc'le bell has caused many a controvesy(if it has a name on it) twixt sellers and buyers and it usually disappears officially or unofficially before the last voyage and some retrobate officer may have one on his fireplace in his lounge, no names no pack drill, but it still gets polished!

As a point of interest a Master has just had his ticket suspended for endangering his crew. His crime... taking a ship from EU to Alang Beach in India and running the ship at speed onto the beach, which is the normal practice at that breaker's beach. However the master on this occasion filmed the action from the bridge and posted it on youtube with a commentary. Had he not posted it on you tube the EEC governing maritime body (in this instance the Netherlands) would not have known it was him but would have assumed that all crew were off and the yard had performed the beaching. So be careful, those of you still at sea what you post on youtube it could turn and bite you in the ass. He also apparently broke EU rules by delivering the ship from the EEC to Alang as that is not allowed under current EEC legislation, so he will also be fined, but not the owners as the Master was in command and not the company, so apparently it must have been the master who decided to take the vessel to the breakers and not the owners. Somehow I don't think so, but the beaurocrats do!

[John Albert Evans]

Joe,
In 1959 I was 2nd Steward on the San Florentino an Eagle Oil Shipping Comapny Ltd. tanker when the company was taken over by the Shell Tankers Group. The Captain was chatting to me one day and said well thats the end of Eagle oil now that Shell have taken over and offered me the house flag as a keepstake which I did, Over the years and moving house, like a lot of things it has got lost, heres a photo of the flag..Flag.jpg

John

[rigger]

Does anyone know what happens to a ships log books,charts,flags buntings,bell, wheel,etc, when a ship is broken up,I have looked on line but can't get a good answer.cheers ,Joe.

Joe I took the empress of France to scrap to Newport. South Wales just ran here up on the mud I rigged my first little house I bought with carpets from the first class cabins while on fire watch. Also took the esso Lambeth to scrap in hamburg. Got the chart room clock off the mate happy days. Bk

[j.sabourn]

As times and ships have changed so has probably the law according to the Gospels of the European Parliament, the legal affinity between master and ship used to be the Certificate of Registry, this would have the masters name and cert. number endorsed on at normally the Custom or Round house as known to seafarers in front of witnesses, this was akin to the deeds of your house and made the master accountable for the well being of vessel and crew, nowadays we see in the likes of the Costa Concordia and other vessels, the masters of which try to shed the blame on others. This is or was the job of the court of enquiry and not the masters Job. ( If a red line appears under this lot, I am still trying to get rid of). As today the legal aspects of maritime disasters apparently depend on the services of a good lawyer and the backing of a press wishing to afford all assistance as to blame etc. it is another quandary of our times. Personally I find it very undigestable that a European parliament can try to force its own man made maritime law on other maritime countries, especially as those making such legislature in most cases is not trained to do so. I always think of shipping as I was brought up in, and ever more will do so. Ivan is quite correct in his surmises but he grew up in the same world as I did. As an addition to this the only person on a ship who does not have a lien on the ship for wages etc. is the master, so if the ship is sold to pay the crews wages and all outstanding Bills, it would be advisable for the master to get a fast talking smooth mouth piece, that is if he could afford one. As regards stores and such after the owners taking off what they wanted, the normal practice that I saw when ships were sold was for the owners to give open house for all the rest, their largest worry was when the two crews met if they had to, and confidential information regarding the idiocrazies of the ship were passed on. I made this mistake once as was 1 seaman passing info. to another, I never did again as the new owners got 50.000 pounds knocked off the purchase price. Clear consciences come at a price. I would have said the info. passed on was also a safety matter, however safety also has a price as we all know. Going for scrap is another matter, and as said in earlier posts a good retirement fund could of been set up if had a means of getting the degaussing gear off the vessel. I am still using cutlery purloined in the 50"s off one vessel, and a dinner set in later years off another. Together with a lot of headaches off other vessels sold. Cheers JS

[Colin Wood]

Talking of de=gausiing gear. A chippy I new very well in Manchester told the story of when he was on one ship sailing down the Manchester canal. When he phoned his wife that night she told him she had seen him on tv and why was he loading stuff on a truck. Luckily no one else picked up that the crew had had a bonus tax free payment.

[Red Lead Ted]

Joe I took the empress of France to scrap to Newport. South Wales just ran here up on the mud I rigged my first little house I bought with carpets from the first class cabins while on fire watch. Also took the esso Lambeth to scrap in hamburg. Got the chart room clock off the mate happy days. Bk

Rigger, A skipper i got very friendly with on a Titanic forum, Who still works on the dredgers, That constantly trawl between New York and New Jersey, Sent me a dvd a few years ago of two ships he beached in India for scrap, Amazing to watch from the bridge when he gave the order finished with engines and to watch her beach seems like all in slow motion. Terry.