Abandon Ship, who has had to (not Wartime)

[John Arton]

In 1965 Vickers Armstrong in Barrow built thecargo ship "Beaveroak" for Canadian Pacific. She was a lovely little job, Ice Breaker, Hallen Derricks, Bridge Control etc. and was the only White Beaverboat actually designed and built by CP.
Then Containerisation came in and in 1970 she was converted into a full cellur container ship in a small shipyard in Holland, where she was also lengthened. (The story of her conversion is a story of disaster in itself). I was a deck cadet on her in 1970 and sortly afterwards I was promoted to 3rd mate on her and spent the next 3 years off and on her.
In 1973 due to the short turnarounds and lack of cash she was in a pretty poor state, to such an extent that the Chief Engineer and (I think the captain) were so worried about her condition they were thinking of getting Lloyds in to declare her unseaworthy. To cap matters we had arrived in Liverpool to discover the electrician dead in his bed. Anyway the company got wind of the Chiefs idea and he was promptly replaced, along with a number of other engineers and if my memory serves me correctly the Captain also.
We sailed from Liverpool bound for Quebec on our usual run but off the Grand Banks encountered one hell of a gale. In the middle of it all whilst we were hove too, we lost all power due to the end of the main engine cooler falling off (it had rusted through) and the engineers were unable to stop the inflow of water into the engine room as the ships side valve would not close properly. (found out later there was plastic jammed in it from some unknown source that was preventing it fro closing properly). With the engine room filling up and no power to run the emergency bilge pump,this was on Good Friday, not the best way to spend Easter!!, the captain made the decision to abandon ship. The swellls were a good 10-15 mtrs high at this point but thankfully the wind was dieing away. It fell to myself to broadcast the Mayday over the VHF whilst the sparks did his bit on the old morse key and 2182.
A number of ships responded and the first on scene was a German Cargo liner that was going to take us all off. The Captain decided that as we were not in immediate danger of sinking that half the crew would go in the motor lifeboat to the German ship, then it would return to get the rest off us off. We actually managed to launch the lifeboat quite easily given the conditions and off it went towards our saviour. Halfway there sods law kicked in and its engine packed in. In a fantastic feat of seamanship the skipper of the German ship manouvered his vessel alongside the drifting lifeboat and got everyone off it uninjured, including our 60 year old chief steward, a renowned alcoholic.
This left the rest of us with only the rowing lifeboat left and a slowly sinking ship. None of us fancied trying the rowing boat when all of a sudden we heard a voice shouting in a German accent for us to come on down. Looking over the side there was a semi riged rescue boat with a two man crew in it from a German fishery research vessel that had come to our assistance. He took the rest of us off in batchs of 3 and I was the last off, leaving behind the Captain and Chief Engineer. I abandoned ship and never even got my feet wet. Climbing down the pilot ladder two great shovels of a pair of hands grabbed me off the ladder and plonked me down in the rescue boat and when we got to the mother ship the just hoisted the boat back up to deck level and I was able to step onto a dry deck.
The ship never sank, it was eventually towed into St. Johns, Newfoundland, repaired and put back into service, though thankfully I never sailed on her again.
The first set of lads were taken to Montreal whilst we ended up in Placentia Bay before being transported over to St. Johns were the Montreal lads eventually met up with us. The way the two sets of lads were treated by the Company is a story in its own right, one beeing treated like royalty after the German skipper threatened to go to the newspapers, whilst we were treated almost like criminals and hidden away.
To cap it all when we were eventually flown home, we were met by the Personnel Officer who told us all we were heros and would we like any cash to get home with, all said yes, were given cash and then had to sign for it to be deducted from our wages!!!!!, Will never forget that trip.
I never had a discharge in my book from that trip and in later years asked for back wages...no chance.
So has anyone else out there had a similar experience.
Rgds
Capt. John Arton (ret'd)

[Captain Kong]

Hi John,
thanks for the very interesting story, Fortunately I never had to abandon ship,
just one question , Did the Company stop your wages on the day you abandoned?. It seems that some Companies did.
Cheers
Brian.

[Neil Morton]

Nearest I ever came was on the "Canberra". We sailed for Australia in late December 1962 and had just entered the Med shortly before Xmas Day (if my memory serves me aright), when in the ealy hours the Staff Captain calls us to emergency stations. After closing my water tight door I went to my life boat. All the passengers were gathered on the boat deck. (I have told this story at greater length elsewhere so will not dwell on the details).Everyone was muffled up in warm clothes and lif jackets and the boats ran out. I recall that you could have heard a pin drop as we waited and listened to the wash of the waves below. After what seemed like hours we recieved the order to stand down.
I was later informed that the drama was caused by an electrical fault in a switchboard creating a great deal of smoke and incompacitating certain engine room equipment. All the passengers were taken off in Malta, also half the crew. I remained aboard to bring her back to Blighty on 19/01/63.
That was my shortest voyage and my last as that May I paid my 10 quid and flew to OZ.

[John Arton]

Captain Kong et al.
No they did not stop our pay when we abandoned ship, but there was a huge difference in the way the two groups of survivors were treated.
The guys that were picked up by the German cargo ship ( a cargo liner of one of the best known German outfits of the day) were treated royally on board but when the ship got to Montreal there was only a very minor Office boy there to meet them. The German skipper hit the roof and threatened to go to the newspapers, television etc. about the treatment of distressed Canadian Pacific seafarers. At this time CP in Canada was going through a rough patch with the press and provincial goverments due to the huge amounts of prime real estate it owned in the whole of Canada given to it basically, when they built the railroad. Most of the land was in prime locations in cities across Canada and they were just sitting on it and not letting it get developed. Plus the CPR had grown so big, it took the Vancouver Star (a broadsheet) the whole of its centre pages to shown a family history style chart of what CPR owned or had controlling interest in. I saw that edition and it certainly opened my eyes, they owned or controlled companies from the Far East to the U.K. as well as having a virtual stranglehold on the Canadian Rail Network. So any publicity was considered bad publicity and when Windsor Station in Montreal got wind that the German Skipper was going to blow the gaff on the lads mistreatment, they were suddenly whipped off and put in a very nice hotel and given virtual free hand to re-rig themselves.
Us, the other lot, on the other hand had a totally different experience. The German Reasearch ship that picked us up was abrand new 74 mtr. stern trawler, refitted to carry up to 50 scientists and to search the oceans for new deep water (down to 1000mtrs plus) fishing grounds and to see what fish was there. The Germans treated us royally, the ship was fitted out beautifully and despite having to put up with around 15 extra on board on top of the usual complement, cabins were given up, crew hot bedded etc.etc.
We were landed in Argentia in Placentia Bay. I may be wrong but I believe that the skipper of the German Trawler was ordered to take us there rather than directly to St. Johns Newfoundland, which would have been nearer. This was to avoid any chance of us getting our oar in first with the press over the reason for abandoning ship. We were met by, again, a junior office whaller in Argentia but some how a local T.V. station had got wind of the fact that we were being landed there and turned up wanting interviews. We were bundled into a couple of mini buses and driven hot foot all across Newfy to St. Johns, all the time persued by this t.v. crew. The only stop they allowed us to make was for fuel and a quick piss, no meal breaks or anything. Cannot remember how long the drive took but it was bloody long. We eventually lost the T.V. crew in St. Johns and were sneaked into the Holiday Inn late at night. Again we were under strict instructions not to speak to anyone and I am pretty sure that they had arranged a special seating area just for us in the dining room so as we could not mingle with the rest of the guests. It was prision but with comfy beds and decent food.
As we had no gear with us most of us by this time were pretty manky. Eventually after 24hrs we were told that that ec=vening we would be taken shopping for new gear. We were taken in through the rear entrance of a department store that had remained open for us alone and were told we could spend a max. of $120 each to re-rig ourselves. This just about got you socks, underwear, a pair of trousers, a shirt and a sweater and this was St. Johns in the Easter time, not the warmest of places.
WE stayed in the Holiday Inn for a couple of days until the rest of the lads joined us from Montreal and boy did feathers fly. They were dressed in leather etc having had virtual open ended amount to spend. We were definatley the poor relantions. We all stayed there waiting for the ship, which did not sink in the end, to get towed in by a Russian tug that had salved it. When she came in she wa a right state. The Russians had stampeded through all the accommodation helping themselves to whatever they could, this despite the Old Man and Chief Eng. still being on board.
Once she was brought in they started to repair her ande CP expected us all to muck in. Heated discussions etc and a repir crew from the UK flown out and all of us flown home, at last.
It took a couple of months but she did eventually return to service with CP before eventually being sold on in later years. Thankfully I never sailed on her again, though I do not have a stamp in my seamans book for a discharge from her.
Rgds
Capt. John Arton(ret'd)