Tectus

I was on the T2 Tectus in 1954, across to Curacao and up the Maracaibo lakes three times and then loading fuel for the Navy base in Trincomalee in Ceylon. The firemen said once your east of Suez it is always a two year trip. three firemen skinned out. so I went fireman, the "stokehold " was like an ice cream parlour, the job was great , got an extra 10 shillings a month, just change the tips at the end of a watch, watch the waterlevels and read a book. We did Trinco and then Mena al Ahmadi then round to Shellhaven.
I met one of the Firemen in Liverpool a few weeks later, he was like a skeleton , just arrived back from Curacao. he was amazed that we were home so soon.. He said the gaol in Curacao you had to buy your food, they had no money and so they were not fed for a long time, then the Consul found they were there so he paid for some. then DBS home.
I liked her she was a good job when I was on her all hands were commedians, a very happy ship.

I sailed on the Tectus[ the ex canadian bridge ]bit of a surprise that old joe shell had ventured into the coal/iron ore biz, thought it would be a bit of a change being a tanker man . It sure was , i joined on its maiden voyage by helicopter at las palmas , think they had a problem already to be a G1 short . not sure i think we went to richards bay in s africa back to europe belgium/germany to discharge a bit of coal . Think we then went to sepitiba bay near rio in brazil ,picked up a couple of lumps of iron ore in each hatch ,bit of a ball there ,bit of a culture shock to be in port for 3/5 days instead of in and out tanker style.Then nice long trip then across to kure in japan ,then down to dampier in aussie to load ore for woolongong , great time there also , spent a fortune ,alongside for a week backloaded coal there , only half full leaving there ,back to richards bay to top up,then back to europe , aabenraa ,denmark .The novelty had worn off by that time .just about ready to get back to the real world , ie lightening/north sea stuff with the occasional r/r on an E boat .All in all it was a good trip ,glad i did it , they did ask me to go back as cpo a while later but said no ta .been there, done that, got the t shirt .

I hope i am talking to the right guy. Mike is a very tall guy. My nameis John Podger and i joined the Tectus in Abenraa,along with the new Bosun Jon Newall. I was a G1 and i had long hair. I remember Sepitiba bay. We had to go ashore by launch,i and another guy missed the launch back. We were logged the next day. We then took about about 5 weeks getting to Kobe in Japan. After that we went to Port Kembla,Woolongong in NSW where we had a great time. Richards Bay was next and then back Abenraa where you paid off. I stayed on with the bosun and a couple off thers. We sailed back to Richards Bay where the few who stayed signed off. A mini bus drove us to Durban where we stayed in a great hotel for3 days afyer which we flew home. I really enjoyed my time on the Tectus. I only sailed with Shell once more more on the Labiosa which was a forgetable time. Any i hope your doing ok. I really thought you were a nice bloke Steady as she goes