Anyone ever sail for J&A Gardner (Saint Bridget)

[Lewis McColl]

The old grey matter has just kicked in with a memory, absolutely nothing to do with a wee glass or two of an 18 year old single malt Knockando,lol I was the 4th engineer on this one at the time. The Autolycus that is.
Ship: AUTOLYCUS (487 feet) Holt's Blue Funnel Line
Port of Registry:
Liverpool
Net Tonnage:
-
Reg Tonnage:
-
Gross Tonnage:
-
Deadweight Tonnage:
-
From "The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald" dated 18th February 1972
ARDEER CARGO BLOWN UP
A coasting vessel, SAINT BRIDGET carrying a cargo of high explosive which had been loaded at ICI, Ardeer, had to be blown up forty miles south of Cornwall on Monday after part of the cargo leaked.
The SAINT BRIDGET had loaded nitroglycerine-based explosive at Ardeer last week and sailed to Falmouth where her cargo was being transferred to a larger ship destined for Hong Kong.
When dockers became affected by fumes it was discovered that part of the cargo had leaked on to the docks.
Government and ICI experts decided that the only solution was to blow up the now dangerous SAINT BRIDGET - if she had been merely scuttled, the explosive in her hold could have caused serious pollution in the sea.
A spokesman for the company said that ICI would compensate the ship's owners for their loss.
**************
Note :
Colin Matthews e-mails that the explosives, were being transhipped from the SAINT BRIDGET onto the Blue Funnel cargo vessel AUTOLYCUS which was anchored in the roads off Falmouth.
The nitroglycerine was found to be weeping onto the deck of AUTOLYCUS number 1 hold, and the AUTOLYCUS was instructed to move much father out to sea, as a safety precaution.
News of the incident was contained in the television news reports.

SAINT-BRIDGET-of-1953-J-A.jpg

Autolycus4-1949.jpg

[John F Collier]

Hi Lewis, what a sad end to a ships life and what a disaster if it was not dealt with correctly, there could well have been many
deaths there. It reminded me of a film I saw in the 50s "Wages of Fear" it was about truckers carrying nitroglycerine over bad roads and mountain passes it was a good story and a real cliffhanger. JC

[Captain Kong]

Stanley Baker was in that.
Brian

[John F Collier]

Stanley Baker was in that.
Brian

The film I saw Brian was a French made film set in south america, I don't think it's the same film that you saw but I think they
did make another version later that Stanley Baker was in, not sure about that but anyway it was a brilliant film. cheers JC

[Lewis McColl]

True John it could have been much worse. If we had sailed with that bad cargo we likely would not have been around today. We got battered going across the bay of Biscay.
There was a funny twist as well during all these goings on. It was my 23rd birthday on the 6th February. The Saint Bridget was alongside us, she was off loading the cargo to us. We were having a few drinks in the bar and got a carryout to my cabin so the party carried on there. Remember in 1972 things in N Ireland were not so good. Myself and the 5th eng were Belfast boys Loyalists. The Skipper and mate from the Saint Bridget were from Newry and Cork, shall we say they played for the away team lol. Early doors it was decided no Irish politics. That lasted about 4 pints in lol. About 1/2 an hour after the Bosun (big bastard Jim Dooley from Bootle) and a couple of AB's had restored order that was when the **** hit the fan re the cargo. The coaster was ordered to let go and move 12 miles? out to sea as where we. In the morning word came down we would be sailing further off shore to discharge what cargo we had already loaded. At the same time Blue funnel line instructed the Captain to ask for volunteers to stay on board as they only wanted enough crew to move the ship away from land while this operation was carried out. So me being a fecking Idiot, said I'll stay. So that was me and the C/Eng, Captain & Ch/off Bosun and a couple of sailors + an engine room rating & the R/Off. Well all went well as I am still here all went well. As it turned out it good move for me. The 3rd eng refused to re join so I got my 3rd eng's job out of it, the 5th eng got his 4 th eng's job. It was an eventful trip.

[Lewis McColl]

Just doing a bit of rummaging this morning and came across this.
The C/eng had his wife on board and she was complaining about chest pains. The old man sent out a message , any ships near us with a doctor on board. The Queen was on RY Britannia at the time on a tour of the far east. When the Queen is on board Britannia she is always escorted by the Royal Navy. HMS Arethusa sent her doctor across on the Lynx helicopter. Anyway turns out she only had wind. The Captain asked if he could send some of his crew across for a look around a cargo ship and if some of our lads would like they could have a trip over on the chopper for a look at an RN ship. Needless to say the RN found our bar and likewise our lads found the crew mess and officers ward room. Thankfully the pilot and winch men remained sober lol. Our old man sent a telegram to RY Britannia wishing her majesty loyal greetings. We got this back in return and Sparky made us all a copy.HMS Arathusia.jpgAutolycus4-1949.jpgScan_20170304.jpg