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Thread: Comorin Fire

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    Default Comorin Fire

    The Following was sent to me via John Strange from JS this is the best i could do as it was in PDF Form. Thank You

    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 29th November 2019 at 01:46 AM.
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    Default Re: Comorin Fire

    Thanks for that Vernon, not easy I know to get items such as this on site.
    Converting from pfd to Word is not always the best.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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    Default Re: Comorin Fire

    These pieces of info passed on to me by John Strange, via JWS some may find of interest
    Thanks


    The Irish Elm In 1970 was the Glendalough and was renamed previously various others . However in 1969 / 1970 was the Glendalough and registered under the Gibraltar flag, and owned by one of the Hong Kong’s shipping moguls sons, Harley Mullion. I beleive another of Irish Shipping was also bought by same for another son, it was arrested in Montreal and the Yugoslav crew had a good lawyer and the ship was sold to pay the crews wages. The Glendalough /Irish Elm I walked off in Japan as considered her unsafe. I always thought after leaving she had gone down in a typhoon, and had a guilty. Conscience on leaving as had managed to keep her going for 11 months. However found out by someone on the site that she had gone to the scrap yard shortly after I left. Who knows it may of even have been the author of the post itself who told me . The ship started off the time I was there in Rotterdam, where she was discharging Copra, needless to say all the waterfront cafes had to close due to the Copra bugs infesting same. Went to Gdańsk to load coke for Karachi. Needless to say again the charter party requirements did not match up with the ships capabilities so was a sleight of hand job to make it appear that it did. The Indian second mate went over the side in the Kiel canal and was last sighted sprinting down the road as we left the locks. He was never replaced, the Chinese third mate and myself were the only two Bridge watchkeepers for the next 11 months. The Chinese 3 mates brother was the Bosun and spoke no English so all communication was through the 3 mate. However it worked OK as I did all the 3 mates sights for him and he in return used to give me early reliefs and leave a couple of cold beers on my desk when came off watch. Needless to say going from port to port it always had to be planned to pick out the available ports in between for ports of refuge as water consumption was phenomenal due to leaking boilers etc. and was always on water rationing usually using buckets out of 40 gallon drums on the boat deck. The stories are to numerous to explain and most would think they were fibs. Beleive me if you haven’t experienced such ships you haven’t seen nothing. Saigon was another port of refuge but due to the armed conflict in the area we had enough sense to turn around and get out of the area before the end of the tracer trail came in contact with us, be as it was flat out at 3 knots. Regards John S. ps the masters name was Lundy and his knowledge of deep sea traditions had a few holes in them , as had been on the Irish coast for the previous 20 years or so. JWS
    >>>
    To funnel markings the owners initials were RD. The ship at that time had just a black funnel and he was supposedly looking for his own funnel marking. So previous to him coming on board in Singapore , which incidentally was another port of refuge , I painted in White the D backwards and the R using the upright of the D common to the upright of the R , so using the one vertical for both letters. He was over the moon with this, however I didn’t point out to him if you looked at it as a reflection in a mirror, it read DR. Was quite appropriate for the ship , which at that time had an arrest warrant stuck on the mast. However being outside port limits we ignored and went on our not so merry way. Only to meet up with again in Hong Kong , but again that was home waters for the owners. The actual company itself was run through a box office number in Ireland and was registered as Irish Ship Management , very similar to its original owners

    just out of interest I googled ss Glendalough and can find no reference to the ship as such. I had all the stability and shipyard papers for her building and even a photo somewhere. She was sailing prior to me joining with condemned lifeboats and no safety cert. and was the same when I left.
    One of the blades of the propellor was half missing and was capable of 4 knots with a following sea and wind. The mates cabin in the wardrobe was a light, a chair, and four optics screwed to the bulkhead. Must have been a hidey hole for my predessor. The chief engineer died in Singapore and was replaced by an Indian ditto the second engineer.The third engineer was the ex fireman’s cook.The master was from Ireland and so was the R/O one was catholic and the other Protestant. They would not even talk sociably together and I was piggy in the middle. I could not make the 12 months contract so was almost a year without a pay off.



    I replied to John and gave the following on the one Ship mentioned,as possibly JWS may have been interested in the Pic.
    GLENDALOUGH - IMO 5426235 - ShipSpotting.com - Ship Photos and Ship Tracker

    Also gave this as was not sure as to which Ship it was earlier or later?
    https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?2839
    Cheers
    Senior Site Moderator-Member and Friend of this Website

    R697530

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    Default Re: Comorin Fire

    Couple bit more from JS for those interested

    John just checked official dates and joined the mentioned vessel July 1970 Rotterdam and left Kobe April 1971 which was only 9 months and not 11 as stated , only seemed longer ??? *Therefore the new funnel marking as shown was done about 4 months before I left , so would probably be about the turn of the year. Don’t know if it was ever registered as. The official funnel marking , if it was I should have claimed patent rights to get back some of the money I lost . Cheers JWS


    John just. Seen your picture of the ship. You can see my artistry on the funnel. This must have been taken about 1970. And is probably. The first and last sightings of my artistry. As I said the owner was made up with. It. He was on the market to buy one of China Steams passenger vessels and was going to crop off all the accomodation to convert to purely cargo. Think he had big hopes and little money or knowledge . Also was going to put the Glendalough on the Hooghly as a transport ship ferrying cargo to larger vessels in the Delta. As there is a 6 knot bore current , how he expected a 4 knot ship to cope amazed me. There were 2 masters jobs going I declined both , instead jumped ship in Japan. Have a good holiday , and if in Singapore Boogey Street is perfectly safe these days. *JWS

    - - - Updated - - -

    John a bit more of the drama of the Glendalough. I think people should not be under the impression that all things are beautiful when it comes to the shenanigans of some shipowners of the past who also had to be aided and abetted to a certain degree by ships staff. As regards the Glendalough to a certain degree I aided and abetted as knew the state of the vessel and still carried on. Today I am older and wiser, and often wonder if would still do the same today. However it was a job. Wealth wise the master was on 33 pounds a day, the chief engineer was on 32 pounds. Day, and I was on 31 pounds a day. The Chinese crew were on 27 pounds a Month. Morally it was wrong but imagine the same still applies today , in certain shipping.In Hong Kong which was another port of refuge the Articles had to be changed as were H.K. Articles of agreement, to cut back on costs the Chinese crew were sacked, and Philippinos were employed at 26 pounds a month. We were in for the usual fresh water. The shipping master called me over to Hong Kong itself as wanted to see me. His words were you have a British cert. what on earth are you doing there, my advice to you would be not to resign on , and go home. My reply was you pay my fare and I’ll go, we had had no subs and no allotments paid for the previous 2 months. He obviously couldn’t do this , so I resigned on much against my wishes. I lasted until Kobe japan about 2 months later. Even to get clearance out of Hong Kong I had to more or less perjure myself my submitting to the master my ideas of making the lifeboats and Davits serviceable , by giving him my idea of what could me done , which was cropping off the four lifeboats davits and replacing with 2 sets ( one each side with bigger boats) this was used to gain another exception to getting clearance out of Hong Kong, the boats as far as I am aware must have still been condemned when the ship was scrapped. The only way I could get off in Kobe was by threatening to call in the British Consul and call for a survey on the ship. Better late than never I suppose. I was only 33 years old at the time , it takes a lot more experience to sum up people, but you do learn as one gets older. Cheers JWS.
    Sent from my iPad

    - - - Updated - - -

    John a bit more of the drama of the Glendalough. I think people should not be under the impression that all things are beautiful when it comes to the shenanigans of some shipowners of the past who also had to be aided and abetted to a certain degree by ships staff. As regards the Glendalough to a certain degree I aided and abetted as knew the state of the vessel and still carried on. Today I am older and wiser, and often wonder if would still do the same today. However it was a job. Wealth wise the master was on 33 pounds a day, the chief engineer was on 32 pounds. Day, and I was on 31 pounds a day. The Chinese crew were on 27 pounds a Month. Morally it was wrong but imagine the same still applies today , in certain shipping.In Hong Kong which was another port of refuge the Articles had to be changed as were H.K. Articles of agreement, to cut back on costs the Chinese crew were sacked, and Philippinos were employed at 26 pounds a month. We were in for the usual fresh water. The shipping master called me over to Hong Kong itself as wanted to see me. His words were you have a British cert. what on earth are you doing there, my advice to you would be not to resign on , and go home. My reply was you pay my fare and I’ll go, we had had no subs and no allotments paid for the previous 2 months. He obviously couldn’t do this , so I resigned on much against my wishes. I lasted until Kobe japan about 2 months later. Even to get clearance out of Hong Kong I had to more or less perjure myself my submitting to the master my ideas of making the lifeboats and Davits serviceable , by giving him my idea of what could me done , which was cropping off the four lifeboats davits and replacing with 2 sets ( one each side with bigger boats) this was used to gain another exception to getting clearance out of Hong Kong, the boats as far as I am aware must have still been condemned when the ship was scrapped. The only way I could get off in Kobe was by threatening to call in the British Consul and call for a survey on the ship. Better late than never I suppose. I was only 33 years old at the time , it takes a lot more experience to sum up people, but you do learn as one gets older. Cheers JWS.
    Sent from my iPad
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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