CLAN MACAULEY Saves the day

[vic mcclymont]

For those that have never loaded South African fruit, the fruit is pre-cooled in refrigerated stores adjacent to the berths.
This method ensures that the fruit arrives on board fresh and saves overloading the ships refrigeration plant.
On the night of January 29, 1958 at the height of the fruit season a fire broke out in the one of the pre-cooling chambers and spread rapidly to others. Fire engines and tugs fought the fire containing the fire to B and C berths, an adjacent storage shed caught fire.
The firemen fought to prevent the fire from spreading to the plant room that served the cooling sheds. despite their efforts the plant room was drenched and what remaining equipment that survived the fire was drenched in water. A berth cooling she survived the blaze but there was no until electrical and water connections could be remade.
Fruit was already at the harbour for export but time was of the essence, before the cargo perished,
Clan Macauley arrived in harbour to load a cargo of grapes and she had spare capacity. A decision was taken taken to load her but there were concerns that he refrigeration plant would not cope with a cargo loaded at ambient temperature.
With her plant operating at maximum capacity, the decision was taken to load her at nigh and seal the hatches during the day. Extra dunnage was placed between the layers of cargo in order to aid ventilation.
Needless to say the cargo arrived at its destination in excellent condition.

[cappy]

For those that have never loaded South African fruit,Needless to say the cargo arrived at its destination in excellent condition.

######thats an interestig story regards cappy

[robpage]

CLAN MACAULAY 164100 GBR
Year built Date launched Date completed
1936 07/08/1936 11/1936


Refrigerated Cargo Vessel Steel, Screw Steamer
Builder Yard Yard no
Greenock Dockyard Co Ltd, Greenock Cartsdyke Mid 425


Tonnage Length Breadth Depth Draft
10472 grt / 6118 nrt / 477.1 ft 66.2 ft 40.2 ft
Engine builder North East Marine

2 - Screw Two, T.3-cyl. (26", 42" & 73" x 48") engines made by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company Ltd., Newcastle, each with a Bauer-Wach low pressure exhaust steam turbine, driving twin propeller shafts. Total Power 1,586 NHP.

First owner First port of register Registration date
The Clan Line Steamers Ltd., (Cayzer, Irvine & Company Ltd., managers). Glasgow
Other names

Subsequent owner and registration history
1961 Houston Line Ltd., (same managers).
1963 Huntley, Cook & Company Ltd., London,

Vessel history
19/01/1941 Damaged by aircraft bombing, at Malta.
Remarks

End year Fate / Status
1963 Broken Up 18/11/1963
Disposal Detail
Delivered, at Glasgow, for demolition W. H. Arnott, Young & Company,at Dalmuir.

[Peter F Chard]

Along the same lines but about people and not cargo -- At the time of the earthquake at Yokohama ( early 1900's ) P&O had at least one, possibly two passenger liners in the port. With the cities hospitals out of action the only available operating theatres were on board these ships -- they were put to good use and performed many life saving operations on people injured in the quake. From then on P&O ships were never charged port dues when in Yokohama and amazingly this arrangement continued after the end of WW2. Regards Peter in NZ.

[vic mcclymont]

Hi Rob,
The Macauley was built at the Cartsdyke yard not the Mid yard.
It was announced on the 4th January 1935 that discussions had taken between Scotts', The Greenock Dockyard and the Town Council.
The agreement covered thetransfer of the mid yard to Scotts' and the Cartsdyke yard and the Garvel Drydock to Cayzer ownership. There were other non shipyard items included in the agreement.
Aafter the agreement had been concluded Sir Augustus Cayer, announced that "once we have saved our pennies we shall not go anywhere else to build our ships.'
The following year Cayzer an announced three orders for the yard Clan MacArtur, Clan MAcauley and Perthshire.
So with that info you can see that she was built at Cartsdyke.
Regards
Vic

[robpage]

The whole Cameron Class of ships had quite an interesting history , there is a section n them on Wikipedi \at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron-class_steamship , although thois includes at least one motorship . Clydesite at http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuil...p.asp?id=16106 just gives the builder as Greenock Dockyard , and I was not aware of te differences in the Greenock set up . The reference I used was http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=8448 and they cite Cartsdyke Mid Yard Number 425 . I have little clue to the three Cartsdyke yards ownership , but on cross referencing it out of interest , see that Scotts took the mid yard over from Greenock Dockyard in 1934 , in what I believe ws an exchange for Cartsdyke East . They seem to flag up Cartsdyke as three seperate yards the East Mid and West . I always thought as it as Greenock or Scotts . But as you point out the Cayzers were not well known for putting their pennies in other people's pockets . I had an interesting education on the Greenock ?Scotts history as I looked that through , Thank you for the information . Clydeships as far a sI know is contributer based as is Wikipedia , and this is not the first mistake that I have seen

[vic mcclymont]

Not a problem Rob. There are many sites that spout totally inaccurate information. The biggest problem is trying to get them to change the wrong info.
Vic

[robpage]

Despite working for Clan Line I never Dry Docked on the Clyde , and only docked there very briefly for less than 48 hours before sailing just North of Stroma on the way to Smith's North Shields , on the Kinnaird Castle . A memorable voyage , I was on the 12/4 watch and the second mate rang down so I could go on deck and see a fantastic display of the Northern Lights , a sight burned eternally in my memory . That and a quick couple of pints or so of McKewans Heavy and a deep Fried Steak Pie . On visiting Glasgow in much later years when the river was leisure not a business river I failed to recognise anything on a taxi run from Glasgow Airport into town then onwards to an industrial estate in Bellshill . It was not the Glasgow of 1967 at all !

[Sandy Kelman]

Sandy Kelman [Glasgow]
I sailed as junior engineer on the Clan McCauley on the "Orange Tanker" run (which turned out to be the dry cargo run!!). UK to RSA via
Canary islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, before the tourists hit the place. 1960. Around August. The madam of the local bordello used to
drive along the dockside with a very ancient truck, the type you only saw in very old Yankee movies, with the hand brake outside the driver's door.
The "ladies" sat back-to-back on two park benches on the flatbed, all dressed up with their mantillas & fancy parasoles. It was a very
impressive sight for a young nearly 20 y o young impressionable laddie.
Stan Steele was the 2nd engineer, a proper beast of a Dundee bloke. I still have the Christmas day menu. We had a chief steward called
McKenzie, an Englishman, who reckoned, with his name, he was the only genuine Scot on board. ( He wasn't!) But he was a good feeder.
Willie Bruce was the carpenter, from Buckie, with a junior carpenter called Glendinning, another young Scot.
McKenzie the steward's party piece when in his cups (which was very often) was to stand in the main alley in the wee small hours and bellow
at the top of his voice,
" ABANDON SHIP!!!!" repeatedly till he got fed up ducking all the odds and sods thrown at his daft head. The Chief Engineer was so invisible
that I doubt ANYone knew his name.
The cooling gear for the cargo was the place to cool the beer as everyone in the engine room had a niche melted out in the ice covering to
hold the Tennents Beer, which at that time, boasted a dolly bird on the can. The crew were Lascars and the crew's "bandari" was easily bribed
to make his special crew's curry for any of us who wanted it. It was a good trip all round, I reckoned.

[robpage]

I sailed with Stainless Stan Steel when he was chief on the Clan McTavish in 1970 , not a pleasant man to sail with , did not like apprentices , did not like English ,did not like Catholics , did not like ex cadets , did not like people who did not play football . Stan did not like an awful lot of things . He showed a degree of instability .