Buries Markes

[cappy]

I was on the La Chacra Aug 68 to Feb 69,good ship fecent company good feeders and reasonable overtime,The skipper was a very distinguished gentleman Captain Eyre - Walker
.

Was along side the la chacra i guess in 58 or 59 in oz it may have been an older vessel but was a smart looking craft ...but more likely when she was new .....cappy

[j.sabourn]

What a name to call a ship . La is also masculine I believe . I can imagine how and what sort of nickname she had , or even a person who had problems pronouncing French words . JS

[cappy]

buries marks i was in an ore carrier in 1960 believe she was buries marks...name of Mabel warwick....did they have like a german cross on the stack ....pretty sure they did ....all the ore carriers great feeders plenty overtime own accom....back to a tramp after them ...not a happy bunny ..cappy

[Graham Shaw]

cappy Yr.#23 re MABEL WARWICK.
You're right about the white'swastika' on the funnel, cappy.She was the fourth- to- last ship built at Grays,W.Hartlepool before they closed down in 1961.
She had a sister-the JOYA McCANCE
INFOLINK with pics for MABEL WARWICK.

MABEL WARWICK.jpg

Phota taken at Vitoria ,Brazil ,1966 by Edson de Lima Lucas,Shipspotting.com

[cappy]

i went to the pool shortly after returning from skinning out in oz i was given the allurity ex empire domby ....built 1944 ...a great little vessel one of everards ....asmall tanker bunkering vesssels in the tees ...out of shields ....and wished to go foriegn as in later months of the year she went out the tyne fully laden then
turned into a submarine

i paid off and went to the shields pool ...he gave me a chitty for a vessel at the ore quay ......when i looked at the chitty it appeared to say mabul wahad.....i thought jeez they are giving me a bleeding arab vessel now......so was pleasantly cheered to see the mabel warwick which looked brand new signed on oct..1960 buries marks.....ist time own accom a 5 star food....bags of overtime ....victoria in brazil i i recall .....cappy..R683532

[Philip Ellacott]

Greetings Phil, A voice from the distant past.I also joined BM in 1968..La Primavera and was on La Colina with your goodself in 1969,then La Pampa,La Estancia,La Loma and finally Bulk Eagle where my sea -going career came to an abrupt end when I had an argument with a Munck Loader in Martinique.Munck Loader 1,Paddy nil��I went to port,my right leg went to starboard and that was the last we ever saw of each other.Oh dear,how sad ,never mind.We last met in South Shields just before my last and nearly fatal voyage..It was good to hear of your own career development and I certainly envy you that...are you in touch with any of the other BM gang or South Shields crew for that matter.All the very best for now,

Paddy

Great to hear from you Paddy. I Kept in touch with Ian Burnett for a few years but nobody else. You probably remember Martin Phipps. He and I used to relieve each other as mate on Norman Lady until her last fateful voyage. After Norman Lady was handed over to the Norwegians in 1984 I didn't fancy going back to chemical tankers so decided it was time to pack up. Would you believe I became the 'man from the Pru' for the next five years followed by sixteen years with South West Water. As others have probably found working ashore seems very mundane after many years at sea. In 1996 Angela and I moved to Spain. We don't live on the coast, but in a cave house in the foothills of Andalucia, and we love it. I'm afraid we find the news from UK rather depressing lately, and hope our four grandchildren are not brought up to be Woke snowflakes. I think as we get older it is more difficult to accept the changes. Anyway Paddy it was terrific to hear from you. Obviously we all knew of your terrible accident at the time. Did you not work in the London office for a while after your recovery. Let me know what you been up to since. Kind regards, Phil

[Jo Stanley]

Hi Friends,
I've come across the story of what I think is the first woman butcher on any ship, La Cordillera in Feb 1948. Her name was Maud Ellis and she was 21.
I know there were women galley staff on the company's ships after WW2, but I wondered if the woman butcher tradition continued in Buries Markes after that? She was an ex-Wren.
Maud was sailing with what I think was Buries Markes first ever woman doctor too. They were off to Brazil. Dr Margeurite Sheare of Morpeth. By any chance were there any stories still circulating about her in your time, please?
Dr M sheare cropped sunday express.jpg
I think she didn't sail for very long. She just wanted a one-off experience of sea doctoring after being made a very young widow..
A ship of adventure for 15 women 3 feb 1948 YP.jpg
Thank you for being prepared to help me. I'm interested in writing this up for Lloyds Register Heritage and Education Foundation's website, Rewriting women into maritime history.https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/whats-on/rewriting-women-into-maritime-history If you let me know if you know anything about Buries Markes women you'll be helping educate a lot of happy people.
Appreciatively, Dr Jo Stanley

[j.sabourn]

There were various stories floating around about Buries Markes who were the first I believe in British shipping to experiment with more female crewing than normal. I was lead to believe the early female members were mostly ex Wrens. Whether it was a success or not depends on who one talks to, most of those who I listened to had the usual gossip about a lot of them who became pregnant , but a lot of seamen have the usual tendency to be born with wishful thinking due mainly to long periods at sea out of sight of female company. I myself apart from stewardesses have only sailed with one female 2 mate , she didn’t last too long I believe and finished up,as a personnel officer for a marks and Spencer’s ,,this was not Buries Marks however. The good thing the females brought into the industry was a huge upgrade in domestic living standards.When men only ships were floating around any accomodation was acceptable when females appeared on the scene it was bad publicity for the shipowner to show women living under such conditions. JS.

[Jo Stanley]

Thank you for this. Interesting!
I do know someone who married one of the BM women domestic pioneers, a cook. No, she wasn't pregnant. yes she was a Wren. And she could cook just fine.
One of things women did - include wives on board - seems to be that they were good at making social life more social, like celebrating birthdays and packing lot of tourism into runs ashore. That's got to be a bonus.