Fires on Board

[j.sabourn]

My year on Tankers used to get high when coming up to the 3ft 6 inch ullages with the crucifix. Fumes from Jet A1 or Jet A2 or just gasoline. Believe was why a lot of old timers liked the tankers always on a high if wanted, just go out and put your head over an ullage door. Was nearly sick once with Naptha must be allergic to it. JS

[Captain Kong]

Hi John
The vapours of petroleum can give you Lukemia, it destroys the white corpusles in the blood.
Some times we had to wear BA sets if it was a certain type of volatile cargo. when we were loading.
We sometimes had monitors, a tube near the mouth to monitor what we were breathing in and this was connected to a meter on the belt. The results went to the Medical center and was analized.
We had blood tests every 12 months to test for benzines in our blood. It can cause brain damage as well
Crude oil is the most dangerous with the Hydrogen Sulphide gasses it emits it also contains every chemical and gas that is produced from it.
Years ago no one bothered, When we went on Tanker Safety Courses it was quite frightening at what could happen.
Cheers
Brian

[robpage]

We used to load a High Sulphur crude in Angola , it had to go to Port Arthur in Tx to be cracked . that was awful , the whole ship stank of Hydrogen sulphide , no external smoking either , even behind the red line . I think , and memory is fuzzy , that they used to bubble gas into the loaded tank , to get around some US duty , It was called Spiked Crude localy

[Captain Kong]

We did closed Loading on the VLCCs
tank Lids closed with PV Valves several feet off the deck. when the tanks reached a certain pressure the gas was blasted up in the air to disperse. Also the tanks were inerted with exhaust gases from the engine room. it went through a scrubber plant and then into the tanks the inert gas prevented explosions. and the whole lot monitored from the Cargo Control Room with mercury guages for the ullages.
Cheers
Brian

[John Arton]

The person responsible for the fire on the DFDS ferry has now been charged with arson resulting in £815,000 of damage. On the t.v. he is a typical lout, shaven head dressed in sweat suite and trainers. How he even managed to get a ticket is beyond me.
As for crude oil
First trip to sea, topping off at Halul Island using the cruciform sticks. No walkie talkies in those days just a talk back system on deck.
Me on port side, 2nd mate on stbd side, chief officer in control room. Ullages been relayed back to control room via talk back. All of a sudden chief officer screaming at 2nd mate to give him his ullage, I looked over and there was the 2nd mate prostrate on the deck shouting "hallelujah, I have seen the light" or some such rubbish. He had been overcome by the fumes and was off his rocker. My introduction to crude oil tanker loading.
Years later as Kong says, annual blood tests always included white and red blood cell counts for anyone on chemical or petroleum tankers.
rgds
JA

[William Gardner]

mv debreet in las palmas for bunkers kept waches i am sat onhatch having abrew talking to a old donkey man eginege man whoosh a load of stuff came out of the funeell i is that steam he said steam my arers that is fuel oil the biggest bang and flames a hundred foot in the air iran like hell aft bagging on all the cabbin doors shouting ships onfire got the bosun up it was flames onthe boat deck cabins alight flames running of the boat on to the main decktalkobout chahose all of asudden it whent out somebody in the enginge room shut the oil off the boat deck was still onfire and one of the lifeboats turned out that the fuel oil had gone down the galley skkkylight on to a solid fuel cooker and up it wentno body was burnt any bodey who saieled in lamports and holt rember it or heard about it 1961

[j.sabourn]

#13... That bloody 13 again... Brian who can I sue for brain damage.? JS.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi All.
Spent time on twelve tankers in the 50s, at a time when we used to go down to clean tanks with a bucket and wooden shovel after washing them out with hoses, later on we had Butterworth gear still plenty to scrape up. wearing a helmet with one bloke on the foot pump on deck.
Very aware of fires in those days. I paid off one tanker in Falmouth went up to the shipping office, when we got back to collect our gear the wharf was closed off, a drunk steward one we had sailed with had fallen asleep in his bunk with a lighted cigarette set fire to his cabin and burnt himself to death, not a pleasant thought after sailing with him.
AS for the fumes being deadly cancerous etc, ICI in Middlesbrough which processed crude oil into every thing, had the biggest cancer production if you will in Britain, thousands living in the area died of cancer and I wouldn't doubt the powers that be knew about it.
Cheers Des

[leratty]

I had three experiences of fire aboard each brought about by smokers. Two in their bunks, one I have mentioned before he was asphyxiated but god his body was so burnt by the smouldering mattress hardly recognisable & the smell beyond terrible. It permeated the accommodation for weeks. The 2nd was the same except he was saved by his neighbour though the cabin burnt out. Both had been drinking. The third was sailing across the Pacific & put down to either a wheel man after being relieved, or the one that relieved flicking a cigarette he thought overboard from the boat deck en route to the bridge, however it went on to a life boat cover setting it afire. Only quick thinking from the officer of the watch who smelt, then saw it saved serious ramifications.
In hotels-pubs no one or few takes any notice of non smoking rooms-areas.
My first trip ship, MV Suffolk, FSNC caught fire the trip after, I had joined another. She was in Auckland, she had explosives & amusingly race horses aboard....Anyway they, the harbour authorities, apparently according to the news clipping I still have, towed her to one of the islands nearby to extinguish the fire & unload the horses. The ship was saved.

Brian I was on the Shell chemical carrier Asprella. We had to have blood tests every three months. I was so glad to get off her as the smell was really bad it affected your breathing. Worse was we had to go down into the tanks without breathing apparatus (guess not supplied in those days?) after they cleaned tanks with the old 'Butterworth' system (they used to just pump the liquid overboard can you believe?) & shovel up the sludge which when you put your shovel into it would let out this really bad noxious gas which would almost have you fainting. The bloody bosun would never let you up on deck yet the illegitimate would not come down into the tanks either.
I never went on a tanker after that experience! Bet the Co knew what the health ramifications were to us deck whallas too. No H&S then where were those NUS cretins?

[Jim Brady]

Talking of tank cleaning this old guy near to where I live was always whistling,6.30 am going for his paper he could be heard everywhere much to the annoyance of people trying to have a lay in Sunday morning.Anyway we all know about people applying for industrial deafness benefit after having their hearing damaged through working in a workplace with very loud noise,this guy put in a claim because he reckoned he could not stop whistling.He claimed that after many years working on tankers and tank cleaning he was told to whistle whilst down the tank to let the people on deck know that he was still alive and from then on there he could not break the habit and it was damaging his health.Obviously his claim failed!!!
Regards.
Jim.B.