Oldest ships sailed on ?

[Tony Wilding]

Makes you wonder how ships still sailed in such bad condition, *best wishes, Tony W,*

[Ivan Cloherty]

1914 "Swanland" but of course it is only logical that us "older" members will have sailed on ships that appear to be old today, but when we joined them they were not that old, so our minds are telling us that the ship is now nearly 100 years old but was in fact scrapped 58 years ago, but she was 43 years old when I joined her. So the question should really be "How old was the ship when you joined her"

[Roger Dyer]

Hi Ivan,

You make a very valid point, mate. Like most things in life, when we draw comparisons, it is all relative. Like Raymond (#81) I, too, am ex-'Port Dunedin'. As JOS, I only did the continent on H.T. articles. She was 33 years old at the time, I was barely 17. A fortnight after leaving her, I signed on the 'Port Huon'(1927) as JOS and spent a year on the Manz-run. Call it nostalgia if you will, but I have no regrets about sailing on either ship. Looking back at the time I spent on those two ships, as a very young man, I realise how significant the experience was in shaping the man I was to become, the man I am now I suppose. Whilst I realise that I may be drifting from the aim of the thread and without wishing to create dissension, I think you will agree that the 'Officers' accomodation on some of those 'old timers', whilst not the 'Ritz', was, generally, far better than what we lads on the lower deck ( deck, catering and E.R.) had to contend with...........and yet, were I able, I would go back tomorrow.

..................Roger.

[robpage]

M.V. Doulos 1914

[Glenn Baker]

Im pretty sure the oldest ships I sailed on were the Federal Steamship Companys ship the Durham, she was pretty old and i believe she was also sunk during the 2nd war and then brought up and towed to England in wartime with tugs and escort from Malta.

Another old rust bucket i sailed on was the Port Jackson, aft accomadation, twin screw I recollect we saoled her on one screw after a very bad Atlantic storm stuffed one of the propellor shafts, we were in dry dock at Panama for quite a few days.

Both these ships were happy ships , no air con , lousy food on the Jackson, the cook should have been lashed up against the mast and flogged., happy days . Glenn Australia

[Rodney Mills]

I too made a voyage on the Port Jackson, however, I did not go to Panama. I was a catering boy (Engineer's mess) , my very first trip, 9-2-54 - 15-1-55.

cheers, Rodney

[happy daze john in oz]

M.V. Doulos 1914

She was here in Oz a few years ago on her final voyage, no one prepared to offer insurance on her. Considering hre age she was in very good condition and of a good design.

[len mazza]

Hi,
I was on the Poole Channel,CEA, for a couple of months,coal burner,chain steering I'm sure, not an old ship at all,can't recall her being any dustier than other colliers.

Len.

Time,1958,Jan onwards.

[len mazza]

Hi,


Thanks Gulliver,now I canprove to the kids that she was an oldie.

Len.

[Robert T. Bush]

The "Estevan" was a Canadian lighthouse and buoy tender built on the Great Lakes in 1912 before the Panama Canal was
finished. Her attributes were a beautiful steam whistle that gave echoes from the echo boards on the British Columbia coast and
a fine steam winch for raising navigation buoys.

We went into nearly every inlet on Vancouver Island and the British Columbia coast between the Fraser river and Prince Rupert based
at Victoria on Vancouver Island. A hard worked ship and a happy one.