Bay of Biscay

Crossing the Greta Australian Bight on a10,000 ton cargo ship, fine until about a third across then it hit. For three days we thought we were in a submarine. Cold food only and no one allowed on deck. A good many ships have gone down in that part of the world and little wonder when you see some of the waves.

When the Gothic was at anchor at Cape Town in January 1962 en route to Mombasa Royal Navy complement were organising the lowering of the Royal Barges that were on the after hatch. CMDR McC was overseeing the raising of the barge and obviously misread the cape rollers albeit they weren't significant. Up on the derricks was a barge swinging in gay abandon with yells of what were mostly useless direction. I was watching this as Commodore AV Richardson appeared at the rail overlooking the scene, shouted some commands, the swinging stopped and the barge plonked neatly on the chocks. He tuned around, and strode off. We weighed anchor and proceeded to the dock.

OOPS! 1952, not 1962.
Richard

Nookie Nichols, the C.E. when I joined the Clan Ranald , regaled us with tale when she was dispatched to Canada by the South African Fruit Board with only 500 tons of fruit onboard. It was an experiment to see if South African Fruit could penetrate the North American market.
The Ranald crossed the Atlantic in the worst storm ever, it was the time the liner (can't remember her name) made her maiden Atlantic voyage and ended up with a stoved in bridge.
The Ranald rolled at alarming degrees, she rolled so much that she lost sea water suction and the main engine and generators shutdown. The fire pump was rigged to provide cooling water to the generators, life lines were rigged in the E.R,. to allow engineers to move about.
He also stated that the accommodation front welds had parted at the main deck, sure enough a fillet had been welded across the whole accommodation front at main deck level.
The experiment was never repeated.
Regards
Vic

As already posted, in severe weather I always had confidence in the way the ship was being handled,
officers never seemed to take any credit, that's class, man.

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Originally Posted by vic mcclymont

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The Ranald crossed the Atlantic in the worst storm ever, it was the time the liner (can't remember her name) made her maiden Atlantic voyage and ended up with a stoved in bridge.

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Was that the Italian liner Michaelangelo? :-In April 1966 Michelangelo, under command of Senior Captain Giuseppe Soletti, was hit by an unusually large wave during a storm in the mid-Atlantic, which caused the forward part of her superstructure to collapse, or to be pushed backwards, and swept two passengers into the sea. One crew member died a few hours later and over 50 people were injured. When repairs were carried out after the accident, the aluminum plating in the superstructure was replaced by steel plates. Similar reconstruction was carried out on the Raffaello and other contemporary ships such as the ss United States and ss France.

Attachment 20631

That's what worries me about today's liners.Whereas the oldies mentioned above were strengthened or later modified to cope with probable bad weather or rogue waves the latest floating villages seem flimsily built What would not be enough imminent bad weather to make the old liners deviate from their course would now have them deviating hundreds of miles to avoid it.

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Originally Posted by Richard Quartermaine

OOPS! 1952, not 1962.
Richard

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Hi Richard.
I was about to correct you as I was on the RFA Wave Baron which accompanied the Gothic in 52 as far as Colombo.
Cheers Des

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Originally Posted by Gulliver

Was that the Italian liner Michaelangelo? :-In April 1966 Michelangelo, under command of Senior Captain Giuseppe Soletti, was hit by an unusually large wave during a storm in the mid-Atlantic, which caused the forward part of her superstructure to collapse, or to be pushed backwards, and swept two passengers into the sea.That's what worries me about today's liners.Whereas the oldies mentioned above were strengthened or later modified to cope with probable bad weather or rogue waves the latest floating villages seem flimsily built What would not be enough imminent bad weather to make the old liners deviate from their course would now have them deviating hundreds of miles to avoid it.

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Gulliver, many of the new breed do not go to regions of severe weather, but from what I have experienced with some I think they will most likely be OK.

Des. We did not proceed to Colombo as scheduled when the tour was cancelled on the Kings death and we continued direct to Oz because of cargo commitments. You must have been with the tour that followed in 1953.
I have written about the Gothic but I can't work out how to send PDF documents to PMs on this site. but if you would like to read my story 'A Journey Through Life' send me a PM with your email address and I will attach to a reply.
I saw my GP and Cardiologist of more than two decades for a stress test last week and presented them with a DVD of what I had done so far and thanking them for their many years of keeping my turbines running smoothly. At the same time saying to keep up the good work as I have more to add.
Cheers, Richard

Hi Richard.
It was in 52, but now I remember we sailed for Colombo and the Gothic was still in Aden bunkering. We went to Chittagong, Rangoon then Singapore, then back to oil the fleet. Will send private mail.
cheers Des