The worst ship you where on.

[Noel Kelly]

My worst ship was the RMS Essequibo but it wasn't the ship itself it was the Chief Engineer. His name was Kavanagh(spelling) and the Essequibo was his first ship as Chief and mine as 3rd Engineer. He was a drinker and I don't know what he was trying to do but he had me do indicator cards 6 times outward bound and 5 times on the way home. I was well acquainted with indicator cards when as Junior 3rd on the Deseado I assisted the Senior 3rd do them on 3 voyages but only once outward and once homeward.
Eleven times in a 3 month trip, and other little he wanted pissed me off and I asked for a transfer after one voyage. it was granted and I was sent to Belfast to join the Loch Loyal for her maiden voyage.
Matter of note, my Junior engineer on the watch was Keith Robertson who lives on the Isle of Wight and we are still in contact today.

[Ken Atkinson]

[QUOTE=Michael Black;433799]The sloop John B....... sorry couldn't resist.

Experiencing "channels" after a few months away as an engineer cadet and enjoying a beer with loud singing of "sloop John B" in a junior's cabin the master appeared and addressed the 2nd stew present with "officer's accommodation, crew get out". You might think that this was on a premier line but no it was a Ropner tramp in 1970.

[j.sabourn]

Did he still make your bunk Ken ? When I was 3 mate the 2 mate was 57 and both the mate and Master were shipmates during the war. The second mate being the bosun. Told me not to mix with engineers , told him to get knotted. These ancient mariners of that time were carrying on the way they were brought up. When communal messing was brought in a lot took early retirement. JS.

[Adrian Featherstonhaugh]

Hello Michael, I was 5/E on the last two trips the Icenic did before SS&A sold her (to a Greek company I think). The officers were all great guys and we had a blast on the Kiwi coast. Ch/Eng was Donald Macdonald, 2/E Alistair MacFarland, 3/E Baz Winters (now deceased), 4/E on the first trip was a bloke we called "Big W*nker", or BW for short, then an Irish lad called Lenny something. Tim Heales was one of the J/Es but can't recall the others. The 3/O was Brian Hickey - spent his ashore time with the Engineers as we were a fuill-on bunch of party animals. Have to say that it was one the best, if not the actual best, ships that I ever sailed on. Even DmacD said to the skipper that it was the best couple of trips that he'd ever done with a crew that took pride in the engine room, worked hard but also played hard.

[Adrian Featherstonhaugh]

Mine was the Atlantic Splendour (ex-Tibetan, Muirfield and then Salvia). She sank in 1991 but was already a wreck when I joined as 2/E in 1981. She was in Redcar discharging iron ore and had been sold to the Korean National Line. We were supposed to take her to Vittoria and load iron ore for delivery to Korea when the ship would be handed over to the new owners. The two diesel geny's were spewing oil everywhere, half the tubes in the ME coolers were plugged because of leaks. A number of standby pumps, e.g. M.E. SW & FW cooling, had no internals as these had been robbed to keep the "running" pump operational. While the new owners went for lunch we had to swap parts from one main boiler to the other so we could show that both boilers were operational (2 x Aalborg dual-pressure boilers). The pallister bearing was so worn down that there was barely any light visible between the tiller block and the steering gear rams......There was 10 year old crude oil swilling around in all three of the duct keels and the atmosphere down there was pretty "thick" - had to try and ventilate for three days before going down to work on a stuck hold bilge valve....No lighting of course. The forward pump room was "off limits" as the stairways were too corroded for safe access....... Oh yes, and we had scavenge fires that set the oil and paint alight such that there were 30ft flames on the scavenge belt!! Had to change two M.E. pistons at sea (one in the S. Atlantic and the other in the Indian Ocean) and the C/E, Peter Cheseldine, lost two fingers when they got trapped between the cylinder head (10 tonnes c/w exhaust valve) and a head stud. Glad to hand it over in Pusan.

[j.sabourn]

In my story Adrian the chief was hospitalised in a Singapore hospital, and the old man would not tell me what hospital he was in so I collared the agent and went to see him before he died with cancer he was only about 45 and was from Sunderland. JS .

[J Gowers]

Hi Adrian, J&J Denholms managed the Muirfield for a time and in my 10 years with them I managed with a bit of luck to miss it although I heard plenty of horror stories about her. Worse ship I was on was the Dalma but I do not think she was as bad as the Muirfield. How's the retirement going in France?

[Michael Black]

Hi Adrian, yes the Icenic was a very good ship to sail on, sounds like she was still a happy ship when you were on her. I was on her from March 72 to July 73 doing 3 deep sea and a couple of home trade and a run job on her. She certainly has been the source of some good memories for me. I believe she was sold in 78,.
Regards Michael