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27th April 2022, 07:53 AM
#11
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
On a btc tanker we had two sent to shields from manchester we signed on 19th dec 59 saIled 23 rd .....the bosun was having trouble with them ....they wanted away ...we laid off the london river as a new type plastic coating in the tanks was peeling of and could not allow ballast to be pumped out ...the new coating was sometingto do with anodes falling of tank sides ...as theywere held with iron bolts when they rusted through if the tanks were empty ...a spark caused gas to explode .....or a similar thing .....in split in yugoslavia .....the ist night we were only allowed to go to the international seamans club .....the manchester lads really set too....w e had to go on a bus and were not allowed to go into the town at all .....the result was the whole crowd followed and the place was destroyed .....the result was no shore leave next day.....we were discharging stern too the two miscreants were pissedout of there minds and as i came out the galley i saw one break out the big fire axe and start to hack at the fuel line ......cappy didnt like that ....i asked whatthe **** was going on and they said we will kill the mate ...isaw the mate coming along the flying bridge and told him one is hackin at the fuel line aviation fuel and the other is getting a chain stopper off to hit you with it .....the mate called the bosun and others and a mellee started theY were bound with a heaving line and the police arrived giving them a seeing to .....in those times yugo was commie folk could disapear any way nothing more was heard on the same trip a guy was properly cleavered by the cookab bloody mess for sure ......but 11 month was long enough to get myself a motor bike and still have money left.....a sure learning curve ....cappy R683532
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27th April 2022, 08:08 AM
#12
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
No, it was KG5 pool for me, but others came from all over.
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27th April 2022, 08:24 AM
#13
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
I think we have to remember that the Ellerman Group was huge.The Ellerman City Line had the passenger ships and larger cargo vessels which usually traded to Africa and the Far East. They had mostly Indian and Lascar crews ,and they were the ships many of us would have seen in South African ports for instance..Tne next biggest was Ellerman Papayanni Lines.They traded to Mediterranean ports mostly,and had British crews. The City of Ely,the subject of this thread was one such vessel.They tended to be slightly smaller vessels than the City Line ships and most had geographical area names ending in ' ...ian' for example ANDALUSIAN which was the original name of the CITY OF ELY. -the subject of this thread. Toward the end of MN days when City Line found themselves running out of ships (which they had sold )they used some of these Papayanni vessels renaming them into the City of....class and deploying them on their traditional South African/Asian routes. City of Ely,even after her brief City of Ely fling became Andalusian again before the inevitable sale to foreign interests.
Another famous member of the Ellerman Group was Ellerman Wilson Line which I think tended to be more short-haul UK/Continental/Med traders.
Those of you ex Ellerman group members will probably be able to expand on my thoughts about the group,which I believe I have talked about here to the best of my knowledge.
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27th April 2022, 09:01 AM
#14
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
i was SOS on the Andalusian Feb 1960, cannot read the discharge date in my tatty book. Would this be the same ship as the photo ? she looks smaller than i seem to remember. I was on the Egyptian, and the Lancastrian. I posted before, was the only company that i sailed on that offered a full English breakfast and also a curry, i suppose the curry was there when Lascars formed part of the crew.
R689823
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27th April 2022, 09:20 AM
#15
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
Keith Yr..# 14. Yes,she's the one Keith. O.N. 183768 3913 grt. Built 1950
ANDALUSIAN from 1950-1962
Renamed CITY OF ELY 1962-1964
Renamed ANDALUSIAN 1964-1966
Sold 1966
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27th April 2022, 10:32 AM
#16
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
I remember that all the clocks had Andalusian stamped on them, so yes it was a name change. The accommodation was very basic and noisy, over the steering flats and prop. Everything on deck was steam driven and often broken down.
I remember once, being told to go down into the chain locker when the laying device packed up. I was told to push and pull the anchor chain with a broom, so that it laid neatly. As the chain came in, I would try to push or pull it to no avail. It was caked in mud and crabs and all kinds of horrible things, that smothered me. The brooms would break and get jammed between the links, then I'd call for more brooms until there were none left.
Suddenly there was a loud shout, and the anchor was let go again with me still down in the locker. It was a terrible experience, with all the crap flying, bits of broom, crabs, stones and mud. Then it was dust and rust flying after the wet stuff was gone. I just fell down between the lockers and curled up in a ball.
Some ABs came down to help me out and said I was lucky to be alive. The Chief mate started ranting about the brooms being broken and flying out nearly hitting him. He then kicked me in the **** so hard I collapsed on the deck. I was in pain for week after that. The man was a maggot, I can't remember his name.
I wanted to complain about my treatment and the bosun sent me to see the Chief, so no change there.
A totally awful trip, and that's not the half of it.
I never had a bad trip on any ship other than that pile of crap.
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27th April 2022, 10:39 AM
#17
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
I can remember crap accommodation and the steam winches, i only did the one trip, timber hatch boards if my memory is correct. did you still have curry for Breakfast ?? I went from her to a tramper with single berth accom, even though it was aft, still luxury.
R689823
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27th April 2022, 11:35 AM
#18
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
No curry that I remember, and not a bad feeder. The only decent thing I could say about it.
Where did you go Keith? We did the Med, Middle East, Far East, Borneo, Malaya, and lots of places nobody seemed to know where we were.
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27th April 2022, 12:01 PM
#19
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
Just the standard Med run for me Johnny, as far as i can remember, not more than 6 weeks, so sounds like i was lucky. I certainly did not have as bad an experience as yourself. The other two i was on was about the same experience for me.
R689823
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27th April 2022, 01:04 PM
#20
Re: Ellerman line City of Ely.
Did you have to put a big jug of water, down in the cooks fridge to get a cold drink when he opened it twice a day? There were no fridges in the messes.
We used to sleep out on the after hatch when it was too hot in the cabins, but they were often blowing the tubes and we'd all wake up as black as Newgate's Knocker.
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