Athel tankers

[Mike Sheppard]

Sailed with a Ch. Engineer 64/66 ex Athol Line from North Shields. Believe he had been badly burned on one of their vessels previous to these dates, don't think he was Ch. Engineer then. His surname was Candiotis anyone know him or which ship he had himself overcooked. Cheers John Sabourn

I sailed with John Candiotis on the Silksworth, he was a tall gangly Geordie , he was Chief Engineer, I think it was December 1970 , I did one trip and. Paid off, always remember him as a cheerful friendly type. I also sailed on the Athelstane, 14 months ,molasses Caribbean/Mexico /Peru to north east coast of America, good ports of call but not a good ship, we had four different captains ,only one was any good, captain Crook, one was a moody Welsh man and one was a mad Irishman , R.G .Gray, we usually carried blackstrap molasses but on one trip we carried invert molasses , we docked at the Bacardi factory in the Bahamas , word was that Bacardi put a lot of rum aboard ,we never saw a drop, the captain had the lot.

Mike Sheppard

[j.sabourn]

#51... Thanks Mike, I sailed with him in 64/66. He lived in Preston village North Shields, and I quite often had a pint with him in his local The Spread Eagle. Was on the Pennyworth and the Warkworth with him. Believe he was badly burned when with Athel Line. Would be nice to know if he was still alive. Cheers JS

[John Arton]

J.S. #52
The "Spread Eagle" was where myself and my mate from North Shields (whose father owned a fish wholesale business on the quay along with a couple of fish and chip shops in N. Shields) used to drink with a bunch of lads we played football with every Saturday, putting back into our bodies all those calories we had burned off during 90 minutes of running around chasing the ball.
They always had cheese bits and biscuits along with pickled eggs etc. on the bar for free.
Pretty sure that it is now a bit more upmarket though, have not been over that side drinking for years. My mate served his time with Shell, then joined Bank Line, met an Aussie lass and emigrated to Tasmania (I think as have lost contact with him)
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

#53... I wasn't a regular at the Spread Eagle but whenever I went to see Candiotis he took me there, this was in the 60"s. Your mate wasn't big Si Scott was it ? Si short for Cyril, big good looking bloke used to get all the girls at the Plaza in Tynemouth, he served his time in Shell. And the fishmonger on quayside wasn't called Boyle was he. Father and son both at sea in the 80"s both ex fishing skippers, Big Si and Leo MacGowan ex (Butterfield and Swires), and self used to be the 3 reprobates at Nellists in Newcastle. Come the end of the dole period we were all broke and had to put our papers in. Jackie Nellist was doing his nut as said we weren't ready, anyhow had no choice, that week there were about 20 up for second mate the rest being mainly from Shields, there were only 3 passes us three, Jackie was going around saying theres no justness in this world. I was the only one to get Writtens Orals and signals in the one week. Most failed their signals on purpose to get an extra couple of weeks at home. Cheers JS

[John Arton]

J.S.
re#54
No that was not him. Met him in 71 when we were both doing 2nd Mates at Shields. He father was originally from Fraserborough up in Scotland and my mates name was Kenneth Duff. Don't know were I got it from but I think I heard that he eventually ended up lecturing in a Tasmanian nautical college. On his grandmothers side he had relatives in Canada, Calgary I think.
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

If he was lecturing at Launceston my cousin would probably have known him, as after lecturing at South Shields spent the next 20 years lecturing there. He however died a few years ago after going back to UK. Spent the new years eve (97) at the Principles house in Launceston and as usual finished up talking of ships. His background was engineering in the RN and I thought I knew better than him, I didn't as my knowledge of a nautical mile was 6080 feet, apparently he worked to finer figures than us deck apes and proved it was 6079 feet and so many inches, 10 and a half I think. As said in a previous post there is always someone who knows better than oneself. Anyhow he displayed many bottles, and we drank copiously that evening, by the end of which I couldn"t of even said nautical mile. Cheers John S

[Alex Downie]

[REF POST #4

Hi Alf,
I a;lso sailed on two Athel tankers in the 50s and like you enjoyed them. We were on the molasses run,Cuba & US ports so good run,better than Abadan !!!!
I sailed on Athelcrest in 1952 and like you the OLD Athelviscount in 1954. In later years I sailed on Panoceans first ship the Post Runner 1971,they were all associated companies I believe though I didnt realise it at the time, she had a great crowd aboard,trip with palm oil Far East.
Long time ago now eh ? Cheers
Stuart

I used to regularly berth alongside the Athelbrook , in various ports in the West indies , she was a small steam ship with a reciprocating steam engine , some very good officers on board and excellent company , I think she generally carried Molassas , always good for a bottle of the smoothest rum I have ever drank , we only had Gordons gin to swap and the odd technicolour film , they were great times ! I hope the ship finished up in a Museum somewhere she was a work of art with an engine room spick and span and run like a Swiss watch