Fashion

[j.sabourn]

Was on a ship that had built in car decks in two holds Duke. It loaded cars on the drive on drive off system with the various rules for same. Even though the cars had to be loaded by cranes or derricks, usually the latter. They were driven down to the dockside and therefore had fuel in the tanks. The law at that time said words to the effect that the hold had to be force ventilated every so many hours to rid the atmosphere of petrol fumes . However we found that doing so caused dampness as regards the cars and damage. So we played lip service to the regulations , and rarely used the extractor fans, and opened a hatch in good weather to air the hold out. Wonder what H and S would say to that ? However they weren’t in being at the time as their insistence on going by the rules would have cost tens of thousands in insurance claims. However in your case flooding a hold is a bit extreme. Cheers JS.

[j.sabourn]

Back to #10. Duke I assume that no. 4 hold was your floodable hold re for use in a ballast condition. Was the same set up we had . Ship was built by Mitsibuishi Yokohama. Shipyard specifications said that ship could sail with 2 holds out of the 7 empty, one of which had to be the floodable hold. Was my nemesis as the owners forgot about the rules and got the idea to sailing with cars ,they assumed a further 2 holds could go empty. WRONG. I resigned over their stupidity, could so easily have cost the lives of over 40 men, just another mystery of the sea. Who got the sack in your case . A junior engineer or the carpenter. Or did they get promoted and it was an insurance job? When one thinks back to instances like yours one starts to remember things. Would of in some cases have been better to leave the H & S man ashore in the office and try and Instill some common sense at the very top. Cheers have a good new year, it’s all in others hands now, whether capable or not remains to be seen. JS

[Duke Drennan]

If memory serves me correctly, it was an engineer that screwed up, not the chippy and I have no idea what happened to him. I don’t recall that anyone was fired. A similar incident happened later again when, after leaving NY, we loaded newsprint at Bowaters in Liverpool N.S. bound for Oz. In Melbourne, there was an oil overspill, how it happened, I can’t remember. All I remember was an attempt to cover up the incident by lowering the jolly boat loaded with containers of some kind of liquid to dissolve the oil. We rowed around the ship spraying the liquid around to clean up the mess. We weren’t too successful as I remember. Anyway, despite the screw ups, it was an otherwise great trip.

[David Cornes]

Can you remember the cargo general cluster lamps, looked like a Chinaman's hat, green enamal outer, white inside. They are now the latest fashion, on Quest TV, Chanel 37, salvagers, pay up to £350 for one lamp.
Reproductions are in evidence all over the place.
Vic

It was the Apprentices' job to maintain and repair them. Thank goodness they were only 110 volts, I received many an unexpected shock off them!