Bangladeshi War of IndependenceIndo-Pakistani War of 1971

S.S Mahseer.
We were anchored in Chalna when the war started.
Just before it happened they tried to take our passports But the old man Dereck O'byrn told them to go forth and multiply.As we were the oldest ship there we travelled down the river without any pilot in case there was any mines etc been laid
m. Scary time I must add.As the wife was with me she was scared. I had been offered a job with Mis. overseas , but the dead bodies etc in Chalna river put my wife off.0
All the pilots jumped on the "hands across the ocean " gifts from USA and went west at great speed

Ron the batcave

Ron, Aboard the Eucadia, The Chief Engineer had his wife and two young daughters they where only aged around 5 years old, I often wonder what become of them two little girls, All i can remember was they where Scottish, You never know they might read this thread one day they will be middle aged woman know around 50 years old. There father the Chief Engineer was a very worried man indeed quite understandably, I think if this war would have lasted more than a few days as in at sea, They would have been taken off and flown out of a war zone, Talking of witnessing the victims of war, We went back into Karachi after the attack by the Indian cruisers had hammered the port all the gun positions on roof tops and the infrastructure railway lines railway wagons fuel tanks water tanks cargo sheds where strewn with casualties the port was a right mess, Couldn't discharge and get out of there quick enough. In the 12 months the voyage lasted i can only remember ever being tied up in Bombay/ Karachi/ Djibouti/ Aden/ And homeward bound in the Port of Beira Mozambique. We were on the hook in Aden for 6 months on and off, We couldn't enter India with Pakistan cargo or enter Pakistan with Indian cargo, So after the Brits pulled out of the Suez crisis in 1969 they left a contingent of Gurkha,s as a peace keeping force based in Aden our only safe haven. A day in the life of a Merchant Seaman, Terry.

P.S This is worth a view operation python 8TH DECEMBER 1971' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1nPEm9_VQI

I sailed with Captain Houston from 1978 to 1983, he was Master with Onesimus Dorey's of Guernsey then, a small coasting company based in Guernsey, but all the Masters were from Northern Island. He never spoke of the attack on the Harmattan to me, however I learned of it from other crewmembers.

Mark

RLT
Watched that UTube video, don't know when it was made but the arrogance? of the maker (supposedly Indian) with comments such as "the stupid Pakistani navy" shows that even to this day there remains bad blood between the countries.
I was in Karachi in the 80's loading molasses and we had Indian junior officers who were not even allowed onto the jetty to read the draft. I was standing at the rails with the Indian 2nd mate watching a bunch of raggedly dressed workers drag the filthy loading hose across the filthy dock and when I commentated on the state of the place the 2nd Mates comment was "if the Indian air force had been allowed to do its job properly then Karachi would have been wiped out"'. Asking how he thought that his reply was that he learnt it from his father who was high up in the Indian Airforce. Asking him why, with his family connections, he had not joined the Air Force his reply was that apart from not likening the discipline of service in the armed forces, he was frightened of flying!!!!
In all I was in Karachi 3 times, once discharging grain, the above time and once when working as Port Captain for the Greeks and those visits, along with an Indian pay off where customs helped themselves to our cameras and pay off bottles, convinced me that I would never in a month of sundays ever consider visiting both countries voluntarily .
rgds
JA

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Originally Posted by Mark Cable

I sailed with Captain Houston from 1978 to 1983, he was Master with Onesimus Dorey's of Guernsey then, a small coasting company based in Guernsey, but all the Masters were from Northern Island. He never spoke of the attack on the Harmattan to me, however I learned of it from other crewmembers.

Mark

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Hi Mark. Ionly ever found one member of the Harmattan crew, Robin Marsh the ships lecy, I recieved a lot of info n the incident from him and his own personall account, It doesnt suprise me Capt Houston never spoke of the episode because as his sister who gave me all this information said he never spoke to anyone of the turn of events, I also have a PDF File containing his own personal account of what he done after the attack hw tried his utmost and conducted himself impeccably in vain may i say to take back command of is ship right up until she was wrote off and grounded for scrap, It was left this PDF File in his last will and testimony to his sister i take it he never married the old lady over in Larne in Northern Island sent me a copy of what he wanted to remain hidden away for his family only, I have had permission to put the file on wherever i want as in internet, But it is a 32 page document that answered a lot of questions for me personally, And i dont have the computer savvy to post it ...........Having said that half of me doesnt want it in the public domain, It is a heart rendering story and is the original document that he would have handed to both the cargo holders agents For insurance purposes and of course J@C Harrisons, As far as i am aware there is only me and a crew member from the Harmatten left on the planet,who i have only been told of but never had contact, If there are any other survivors out there i would obviously be overjoyed to correspond with them. Regards Mark Terry.

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Originally Posted by John Arton

RLT
Watched that UTube video
In all I was in Karachi 3 times, once discharging grain, the above time and once when working as Port Captain for the Greeks and those visits, along with an Indian pay off where customs helped themselves to our cameras and pay off bottles, convinced me that I would never in a month of sundays ever consider visiting both countries voluntarily .
rgds
JA

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John, I couldnt agree more, And if you read Capt Houstons personal account, After he was the last man to leave the struckin ship, His crew those who survived where flown back to the U.K. He stayed with his ship until late January 1972, Going aboard with Pakistan high ranking naval officers authorizing cargo salvage and pumping out ballast to try and stabilize his ship still in the hope of taking back his command, Not to be unfortunately, One of the last statements he makes in his personall account was the fact that the crews belongings nd ships bond had been emptied out missing at a very early stage in the saga, That tells me a lot also no respect at all for the British Seaman who lost there lives. Regards John Terry.

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Originally Posted by Doc Vernon

PLEASE NOTE This Article is being posted on behalf of Red Lead Ted







. Nevertheless, the squadron commander(K-25) B.B Yadav confirmed the engagement of two separate contacts and the supporting Petyas were able to intercept a message ordering the Shahjahan to assist Khaibar but the Shahjahan replied that she could not do so due to some problems!

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I located Venus Challenger in Feb 2001. I have dived that wreck for past 15 years not knowing the true identity of this ship. Just to inform all here that the ship remains intact with no signs of a massive explosion as mentioned above. The missile struck the bridge and most of the superstructure is destroyed. If the ship was carrying ammo the damage would have been of a different nature.

Hello Terry,
Not a survivor myself but my brother Ken was one of the 7 fatalities, as it happens after years of me trying to track him down, one of his crewmates who was on the ship that night moved into the street where we live a couple of years ago but he is not in the best of health, he remembered my brother but seemed reluctant or unable to recall much of the incident. I know it,s very personal to you but if you could forward the captains account it would be very gratefully received and treated with the utmost respect, hopefully it would answer just some of the many questions that my family and myself have had for the many years since it happened.
David

Hi David.
Welcome to the site, sorry to hear that your brother was killed in the incident and your family had to wait so long for news of him. I'm sure that when Terry reads your post he will be in touch.
Cheers Des

Hi Terry, I am in touch with a survivor of the Harmattan, Steve Wordsworth, who was a steward on her. I met him on holiday in Corfu many years ago and we used to meet up every year until I stopped going a couple of years. Steve doesn't use the internet a lot but his wife keeps me in touch with him through facebook. He never spoke very much of the incident. I shall pass this on to Anne, his wife.