MV Loradore

[johnbell]

I sailed on the MV Loradore as Radio Officer in the mid sixties. A round-the-world eight month trip and I lost my 21st birthday when crossing the date line. The trip was memorable in more ways than one. The Old Man was Capn Openshaw. Anyone out there I may remember?
John Bell

[Ivan Cloherty]

I sailed on the MV Loradore as Radio Officer in the mid sixties. A round-the-world eight month trip and I lost my 21st birthday when crossing the date line. The trip was memorable in more ways than one. The Old Man was Capn Openshaw. Anyone out there I may remember?
John Bell

Welcome John, as they say grab a tinny and enjoy, no doubt someone on site will be in contact with you. Bye the way did you ever find it?

[Gulliver]

Welcome Aboard,John.
welcome.gif


m.v. LORADORE (O.N. 187778) 8,077 grt cargo ship built 6/58 by Gray, W.Hartlepool. For Owners : Maritime Sg & Tdg Co (Michalinos) & Co. )Ltd London .
(Sisterships were CASTLEDORE and RIVERDORE)

History
　
　
66 Sold Argo (Hellas) Sg Co Special SA Piraeus ,Greece.Renamed ALIARTOS
70 Sold . Velos Cia Maritima SA Piraeus ,Greece Renamed THOMAS A.
75 Sold Montrose Nav Co Ltd ,Piraeus,Greece.Renamed IRENES BANNER
Fate:
Fire at Dawes Is anchorage, Bonny River 19.1.78 & beached [Constanta-Port Harcourt, with cement]-during the ‘Great Nigerian Cement Ordering Insurance Scam’(my wording !)*

* a bit more about the cement-from another posting of mine on this site-:



Quoting a bit of history:-
“A major scandal that had international implications and reached the highest levels of government and the business community took place in the mid-1970s; it involved the purchase abroad of construction materials by state agents at prices well above market values. Rake-offs were pocketed by public officials and private contractors. Other scandals in hospitals and orphanages shocked the populace, while corruption in importing medical drugs whose effective dates long since had expired revealed that even the health of Nigerians was at risk.
Inefficiencies compounded the impact of corruption. In mid 1975 , 400 cargo ships--250 of them carrying 1.5 million tons of cement--clogged the harbor of Lagos, which had been paralyzed for fifteen months with vessels waiting to be unloaded. To compound the error, spoiled and inferior-grade cement was concealed by mixing it with acceptable material for use in public building projects. Later, buildings collapsed or had to be dismantled because of the inferior product. New roads washed away because of bad construction and inadequate controls. In these scandals, as in others, the culprits were a combination of Nigerian businessmen, government officials, and foreign companies. Few people and few projects seemed exempt from the scourge. “




　
　

[Jack Jenkins]

I was sent by the pool to the Loradore at North Shields round about mid 62,took one look at the engine room and went back to the pool who promptly told me to bugger off and find your own ship......LOL

Jack

[john paul]

I was very interested by Jack Jenkins comments regarding the Loradore's engine room, I travelled over night to London then to North Shields to join her,taxi stopped at the shipyard gate and driver asked if I wanted to join or not as the last bloke turned round and went home. Had tea and turned is as on watch at midnight.

A 4 cyl. Doxford with attached sea water,jacket water and lub oil pumps, Scotch boiler,Cochran composite boiler and all steam aux's and for a tramp ship reasonable clean and tidy, AS john Bell said an eventful trip but down below most things ran very well,we had breakdowns and stoppages but from memory nothing major
One stoppage was caused by the top end bearing failing on the steering engine due to lack of lubrication when on auto steering,the repairs was straight forward but the vertical heaving due to the swells tested the stomach.the C/E came to see how we were getting on,dressed in whites,slipped and slid on the deck result front white back covered in oil and water, the second and myself could not help but laugh which did not make matters any better.
This is only one incident from an 8 month trip.
She was the only job that I sailed on that had LaMont feed pumps,like a weirs keep the oil up to them and they worked a treat.
I enjoyed my trip a lot and went back for another on but that is another story

[Al Williams]

My father GLYN HUBERT WILLIAMS from Holyhead sailed on her in the fifties. His comments ‘Greek tramp, deplorable conditions, went on hunger strike because of poor and scant food’.
Would be interested to hear by chance if anyone knew him back in the day.

[Graham Shaw]

Welcome Al. 'Tis to be hoped someone may have known your Dad.....and the Loradore !
Regrettably,some of the London Greeks were not much better run than the actual Greek flagged ships themselves,as I'm sure many would agree.

For others reading this fairly old thread it's great to see some of the old longtime contributors to this site. Wow ! Gulliver and Tony Morcom.Where are you now Tony Morcom of Houlder Brothers ?
We still have a few good 'oldies' left here now,but the good-natured banter we all had has sadly turned into often unseamanlike sniping ....guess you just can't get the good crews these days!

Where also is Chris,forgot his surname,of Lamport & Holt and a Gallery moderator I think. Lived on the Wirral.What happened?201610031212110.LORADORE1958md.jpgPhoto courtesy of Malcolm Cranfield

[Captain Kong]

My shortest ever Voyage was on the CASTLEDORE.
We signed on at Cornhill shipping Office in Liverpool,
Articles stated, ..... a voyage not exceeding two years or unless the vessel arrives in UK or
Continent
We joined the ship the following day, 10th October 1957 to sail

We dropped the derricks and battened down
, She had a contract for TWO YEARS , B.A with coal from Rotterdam
and Rotterdam with grain from B.A.
On the way out on deck to let go I noticed the Articles posted in the alleyway, the

, words or Continent had been crossed out" ,, That would mean a Two Year Voyage
All hands down the gangway, Captain screaming
Let Go.
We telephoned the UNION and the Shipping Master at Cornhill, they came down and confirmed that the Articles had been altered, and so they had to pay us off, We all got One Months wages for it.
[ but no leave pay]

[John Bell]

The OM asked me to help out in the engine room so I helped the 2/e to put piston rings on some of the cylinders. I also did a lot of painting specially the tricky bits on the lifeboats. I earned a lot of overtime on that trip. As John Paul said the engine room wasn't the best. The food was as good as any other ship I went on. The OM asked me to go back for a second trip but I wanted more than two weeks leave having been out for 8 months and had four months leave due to me. I think after a couple of months I got bored at home so phoned Marconi's and asked to put to sea again. They obliged and commuted a lot of my leave into money. If I was a writer I could write a book just on that one trip. I'm glad I didn't go back because I heard she hit problems. I walked into my local Chinese 9 years later and my cabin steward was the new owner, he gave me the story.......

[John Bell]

Nope I'm still only 20