Denis O'Shea

[Denis O'Shea]

SHIPS NAME AND SERVICE RECORD

Full Name

Denis O'Shea

Discharge Book Number

R708736

Department

RADIO

Your Rank/Rating

RADIO OFFICER

Which Ships were you on and When

Denis O’Shea, R708736

My ships and oil industry postings.

BRITISH TRIUMPH JUNE 1959 – FEB 1960
BRITISH ADVOCATE APRIL 1960 – FEB 1961
DISPENSER FEB 1961 – APRIL 1963?
OGUTA PALM APRIL 1963 ( paid off DBS Las Palmas 1964) )
BENHIANT 1964
OWERRI (HT)
SALAVERRY (HT)
LAGAN BANK (HT)
POOL FISHER (HOLYHEAD TO BARROW)
SHEAF FIELD (Worse ship been on)
KOYAN
KADUNA
MARY HOLT
SEKONDI renamed MAMPONG before heading to States from W.Africa
AL FARWANIA
AL SALAEIR
IBN HAYAAN
IBN KHALLIKAN
TOR CALADONIA
TOR BELGIA
STENA TRANSPORTER
STENA SHIPPER
ABATHAW FISHER
(Then transferred to oil sector)
All SHELL and BP platforms in N.sea (got permanent berth on Brent Delta after spell off Ivory coast on DAN DUKE and TRIDENT IV.
STADRILL
OCEAN BEN LOYAL
RETIRED FROM B.DELTA FEB 1996.

Notes:

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[cappy]

thats some ships denis ....suprised about your comment on the sheaf field ......an ore carrier which i sailed on in62 .......own cabin great feeder .....plenty ovies .......short trips ....quite new vessel but do remember she would take a roll then seemed to really struggle to come back ...not a good sea vessel why i dont know ......wasnt happy on her sea going qualities.......but liked everything else....what prob did you find with her regards cappy R683532

[Doc Vernon]

Thanks Denis
Well done and yes a good line up of Ships you had !
Great stuff
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

#2..That’s a bit strange for an ore carrier Cappy. Stability wise if anything they are very stiff , meaning they have a low centre of gravity and their righting lever if anything can be very sharp and fast. Your description fits a tender ship with a higher centre of gravity where the ship is very comfortable in riding the seas and much slower coming back which can be dangerous . They are purpose built to carry ore only , so the holds are very small compared with a normal ship. Must have been a design fault in the actual structure of that particular vessel. Maybe the designer had one too many and misused his T square. Where was she built wasn’t China was it , may have been another secret weapon of theirs . Cheers JS

[cappy]

morning john ...yes she had a tendency to struggle coming back up ...which once or twice had us looking at each other ......it will be interesting to see if denis found this and was this one of his reasons for stating ....the worst ship he was ever on .....unless andy main was chief steward lol cappy hope you are both well .....cappy

[j.sabourn]

Maybe all those empty capstan tobacco tins utilised for receptacles for his coughs and sneezes and their contents were misappropriately stowed. Pity the customs searcher finding them and thinking of his promotion on finding so much smuggled goods and then discovering their contents ughhhh. Serves them right for putting me in their little red book in later years. JS

[cappy]

Maybe all those empty capstan tobacco tins utilised for receptacles for his coughs and sneezes and their contents were misappropriately stowed. Pity the customs searcher finding them and thinking of his promotion on finding so much smuggled goods and then discovering their contents ughhhh. Serves them right for putting me in their little red book in later years. JS

probably TB john ..a lot of it about them years ........

[j.sabourn]

Another Good Company Servant must be long gone now. Cheers JS

[Denis O'Shea]

#2 Cappy it was the atmosphere on board was only on her for the trip from B.head to Sweden and back to Newcastle it was all cabin drinking and the Chief Steward cabin was across the alleyway from mine so before we sailed I asked him for a case of beer which was OK, when I came off watch at 2200hrs I knocked on his door to ask if he had forgotten about it, it appeared all of his lads were in his cabin having a drink I would have liked to join them as I had on all other ships I'd been on, instead I got a load of abuse from one of his minions over my request for my beer which was brought up to my cabin (bad start to the trip) I never saw anyone else from the engineers or mates, never went onto the bridge as usual on other ships, on return to Newcastle the pillock who had confronted on my first night was in the alleyway as I was leaving and started mouthing off again and took a swing at me he missed I connected and bent his nose slightly for him, on arrival in marconi office they had reported me for attacking said pillock which was taken as true. Has I had been shangied by L.pool office to take the ship because she had to sail that evening and I had only just got off my last ship I would be returning to L.pool to continue my leave, not so I was told to report to a rust bucket I had passed when leaving Sheaf Field so I resigned and went home. That is when I joined Ed's but left them when Blue Flu took them over and returned to Marconi until I retired. (seems a long winded explanation to your cappy) Den

[cappy]

Not long winded at all dennis .....a good precis of the time ...and interesting to read the more interesting tales usually come from other posts lol.....funnily enough we had a well known supposed hardcase family aboard from shields ruled by the oldest brother.....who sent a word out it was his cabin on sat night bring beer and dont not come ....he had a little record player which ran out of batteries so told one of his brothers to eff off and get batteries ...this in the middle of the atlantic.......the brother came back said he couldnt find any batteries ....the older one jumped off his chair ...smashed on the bulkhead.....picked up a leg and opened the younger ones head big gash ...later in the trip a big guy from jarrow ....got in a set two with the supposed hard case a street fighter,.....the jarrow lad was a true boxer .....and after a good scrap and alot of blood the jarrow lad had him truly beat......perhaps the struggle for the sheaf field to come out of a roll was something to do with plenty beer after the chief steward had been told 6 cans a night was needed ...and it was never a problem....lol happy days