Chipping Hammers.

[j.sabourn]

In 1947/48 similar on the North side when another Greek ship the Zephros went aground next to Cullercoats. Excuse was she mistook a newly installed belisha beacon for the North Pier light. Would have been more believable if had been 1958 and Chinese and the ex Avonmoor. As a matter of interest any ROs on site, Cullercoats Radio Station was in Cullercoats at the time. Today it is about 5 miles away at Seaton Delaval . It would still be called Cullercoats Radio though wouldn’t it ?? JS

[cappy]

In 1947/48 similar on the North side when another Greek ship the Zephros went aground next to Cullercoats. Excuse was she mistook a newly installed belisha beacon for the North Pier light. Would have been more believable if had been 1958 and Chinese and the ex Avonmoor. As a matter of interest any ROs on site, Cullercoats Radio Station was in Cullercoats at the time. Today it is about 5 miles away at Seaton Delaval . It would still be called Cullercoats Radio though wouldn’t it ?? JS

##remember one on the black middens john cant remember her name but saw her there....could have been a smaller passenger type ..it wasnt port line but looked like the style of a port line vessel......cappy

[Lewis McColl]

On most cruise ships painting still goes on in many parts of the ship on a daily basis.
Clear varnish on the wooden hand rails is for ever being renewed, salt water doe sit no favors.


But some of the marine paints now on the ships hull see it use far less fuel as the paint allows less drag from the water.

Self polishing hulls, dry dock flooded as soon as possible while the anti fouling is still tacky.

[j.sabourn]

It took nearly 50 years for the rusty old keel plates of the Zephros to finally disappear. Would have made a good practice model to try chipping hammer skills on. The first set of leading lights are directly over the Black middens and think on picking up the second set if you are tardy there is a good chance of finishing up on, or used to be. I was in and out of the Tyne at various times on offshore vessels under the gross tonnage so didn’t bother with a pilot. However going in in bad visibility without radar would have been different. Cheers there but for the grace of God go I. JS

[Tony Taylor]

After I left the sea, I worked for a couple of years in the Marine Paint Industry and for British Torpedo Marine Paints.

was that the old British Paints company, subsequently taken over by Berger?

[Chris Allman]

Yes it was - I worked from the Liverpool Office most of the time, with the odd couple of weeks here and there in Newcastle.

[j.sabourn]

Tony what year are you talking about. There were two seafarers father and son both master Mariners from South Shields called Barton , the father was christened of course Dick Barton and was the master , his son was Mate and can’t remember his first name at the moment, and I was second mate , this was in the early 60s the son later went ashore and was a rep for British paints and used to do a lot of ship visits, and I remet him as was mate and was well the first one to receive visits from such. Did you know him. He was a very conservative man and well married. His father was of the old school and nothing would ever have changed him.. I remember them well as it was through force of circumstances that they sailed Together for that one trip. I said to the old man one time at a party time or something not to forget his son was in the bunch at the time, he blew his top., Son Son !! He said he’s the mate there are no sons on this ship.. there’s no characters like there used to be. Anyhow the son went to work for British pants as wanted to be at home. Cheers. JS

[Tony Taylor]

Tony what year are you talking about. There were two seafarers father and son both master Mariners from South Shields called Barton , the father was christened of course Dick Barton and was the master , his son was Mate and can’t remember his first name at the moment, and I was second mate , this was in the early 60s the son later went ashore and was a rep for British paints and used to do a lot of ship visits, and I remet him as was mate and was well the first one to receive visits from such. Did you know him. He was a very conservative man and well married. His father was of the old school and nothing would ever have changed him.. I remember them well as it was through force of circumstances that they sailed Together for that one trip. I said to the old man one time at a party time or something not to forget his son was in the bunch at the time, he blew his top., Son Son !! He said he’s the mate there are no sons on this ship.. there’s no characters like there used to be. Anyhow the son went to work for British pants as wanted to be at home. Cheers. JS

60s to early 70s, they were at Dunston, but were taken over by Bergers I believe and moved to Shieldfield in Newcastle, where they developed the early silicone sealants. My brother in law worked in the labs and was pleased with the move as he lived north of the river. I recall my old man being chuffed with samples of sealant, not readily available at that time, to fix cracked glass in his greenhouse. Its all a bit hazy now but I do recall seeing the torpedoe logo on paint cans.
There was another respected paint company in Sunderland called TOR paints, which went bust ages ago, some sort of scandal at the time. However there is still a TOR coatings company in Birtley now but they are not as high profile as previously.

[cappy]

##just as a matter of interest i sailed from the tyne on the british defender 23 of dec 1959 ...she had been in palmers yard and had what i believe was a polyurethane type covering down all tanks..it was said to supposedly stop corrosion ...if i remember correctly ...we hung arond the london river and i recall no bond aboard ciggy wise and a pretty miserable xmas dinner.....for some reason we came to pump out ballast for inspection ...the poly covering had come off in sheets and the ballast pumps were incapable of doing there job ....tis was about jan 5 or 6 ..we were really peed off ...the defender was one of the smaller tankers of i believe we still had BTC on the stack....she had been on the indian coast with indian crew before we joined ...the matresses stunk and we would not use them till new ones came aboard there was trouble before we got off to the indian coast one fellow attacking the mate with a chain stopper after been found with a fire axe in split as we pumped aviation fuel ashore he was trying to hack the pipe with a fire axe which was also aimed at the mate .....one guy got cleavered at sea up thre gulf ..3 hands went adrift in turkey ,,in them days .....on the indian coast we had the shits every couple of weeks or so which i believe was from the water in madrass bombay kandla dhaka bangladesh......we all lost big amounts of wieght...we turned away meat in one port as it came out in an open boat we were anchored of it was just a crawling mass off black flies i and were given dried fish...for weeks ...i believe it came from the newfoundland banks off canada salted and dried.....we had it steamed and them square shaped sausasges steamed....but back to the poly tanks i think it was to do with anodes falling of tank bulkheads and causing sparks which in turn had cause massive explosions.....any way better brains than mine will understand this ....and they think i would be worried about walking away in brexit......some chicken some neck....cappy ...PS did have enough pay off to buy a motor bike ......couldnt spend out in india or bangladesh......but did have a monkey which the old man new i had but said nix .....happy days looking back but not so much then....showed jacko the monk how to peel tatties but ..he left to many eyes .....and of course the eyes had to see us through the week......lol cappy

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It took nearly 50 years for the rusty old keel plates of the Zephros to finally disappear. Would have made a good practice model to try chipping hammer skills on. The first set of leading lights are directly over the Black middens and think on picking up the second set if you are tardy there is a good chance of finishing up on, or used to be. I was in and out of the Tyne at various times on offshore vessels under the gross tonnage so didn’t bother with a pilot. However going in in bad visibility without radar would have been different. Cheers there but for the grace of God go I. JS

###the leading lights are now expensive house properties i believe ...cappy

[j.sabourn]

That. would be a title to have Cappy, “ I am the leading light of North Shields”. JS
Before British Shipping became almost defunct, the scantings were reduced on new buildings on the strength of the paint types and anti corrosives. The scantlings for those not up with the meaning being the thicknesss of steel plating etc. cheers JS