Vietnam war

[john walker]

Does anybody know of or heard of British seamen working in South Vietnam.In November of 71 I came across a guy in Conell House who had just payed off one of Shells ships running all the time from Pulau Bukom Singapore to ports in South Vietnam. He had done two trips of about 6 months and after each trip Shell would pay for either a flight home or board and lodgings in the seamans mission. He had become friends with Americans when running regularly to Na Bhe, Saigon and they had offered Him lucrative employment to work on small motorised boats laden with costly cargo/people running up the Saigon river. I thought He must be mad, he pointed out anybody who works on tankers working in a war zone carrying volatile cargoes for a pittance compared to what the yanks were willing to pay was mad. His intention was to work for about a year and earn enough to pay for a place in Thailand. I often wonder how He got on or if others did similar.

[Robin Ellis]

Many of us in Shell Tankers supplied the Americans with fuel during the war. Most of the ships were A and H class, around 18,000 tones. Two ships were damaged, one sunk. I was on one of the H class that did the vietnam run. Was very annoyed when Harold Wilson siad that no British took part in the war. Must dig out some pictures that others on board took at the time. Some of the crews were nicknamed "The River Rats" by the Americans.

[Stan Carter]

Nice to hear from you Rob, after so long... Hope all is well...

[john walker]

Many of us in Shell Tankers supplied the Americans with fuel during the war. Most of the ships were A and H class, around 18,000 tones. Two ships were damaged, one sunk. I was on one of the H class that did the vietnam run. Was very annoyed when Harold Wilson siad that no British took part in the war. Must dig out some pictures that others on board took at the time. Some of the crews were nicknamed "The River Rats" by the Americans.

I did similar runs carrying naptha and aviation fuel, as did thousanda of others to Da Nang,Nha Trang and Na Bhe I think the guys who earned the most were with Dutch Shell running up to Haiphong. That was true war mongering on the part of Shell by supplying both sides ??

[Tony Taylor]

Does anybody know of or heard of British seamen working in South Vietnam.In November of 71 I came across a guy in Conell House who had just payed off one of Shells ships running all the time from Pulau Bukom Singapore to ports in South Vietnam. He had done two trips of about 6 months and after each trip Shell would pay for either a flight home or board and lodgings in the seamans mission. He had become friends with Americans when running regularly to Na Bhe, Saigon and they had offered Him lucrative employment to work on small motorised boats laden with costly cargo/people running up the Saigon river. I thought He must be mad, he pointed out anybody who works on tankers working in a war zone carrying volatile cargoes for a pittance compared to what the yanks were willing to pay was mad. His intention was to work for about a year and earn enough to pay for a place in Thailand. I often wonder how He got on or if others did similar.

I was doing it in 74 on Hemisinus, we carried mogas, avgas, JP4, gas oil and avcat? as well as two large LPG tanks which took up most of the foredeck. Bukom to Nha Trang and Da Nang, returning to Singapore via Miri on some trips.

[Robin Ellis]

Yes thanks Stan. I live in a remote area and have only just got reliable internet. How are you?

[Colin Wood]

The Harpula was on the Viet Nam run with gas cylinders on fore deck. She came to OZ a few times for R and R

[Tony Taylor]

The Harpula was on the Viet Nam run with gas cylinders on fore deck. She came to OZ a few times for R and R

R & R in Shell? That's a new one for me. W & W more like. When were the LPG tanks fitted to Harpula, do you know?

[Tony Taylor]

The Harpula was on the Viet Nam run with gas cylinders on fore deck. She came to OZ a few times for R and R

I was on the Harpula in 1970 for 6 months. We did a run up the West coast of Aus. starting in Adelaide then Kwinana, Dampier , Port Hedland, Wyndham and Darwin. We needed R&R after that, especially after Wyndham. We went alongside with the pool filled with clean seawater as I recall the river there was quite murky. We were there about three or four days and it was non stop party, with local nurses on board almost continuously.

[Stan Carter]

#6, Hi Rob, Yep, keeping as well as can be expected due to age and ongoing health issues. But can still enjoy a new day with love ones.... Merry Christmas to you and yours... Stay well and safe..Regards, Stan...