Silver Lines Shipping Company!

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Tony
Very interesting post and also the attachments,i thank you for that its nice to see these old things on site,and certainly is something that may not only interest me but others too!
Great stuff mate!
Cheers

Gees you earned a lot those days haha! Not that long ago was it! Mmmmm!!

[David Williams]

Hi Vernon.
My only connection with the Silver Line,who
I think were owned by Tate & Lyle,is that
they owned a lorry depot here in Llanelli for
their sugar tankers,this was knocked down
and a housing site built in its place,thats where
I live.

Dave Williams.

[jimmyfry2]

Hi Vernon i sailed with silver line on the silver crag and the silver sand they were both iron ore carriers but they had a large fleet acid tankers,gas tankers,general cargo, ore carriers and a few car carriers that used to do the japan Australia ,west coast of the states the one name i remember on that run was the sig silver wonder if anyone as any photos of her,they were a good company to sail with ,i remember we went to a place called Almeria in Spain to load iron ore ,it was not long after they had made the film El cid there,any way we all went ashore ,and that was all i remember of Almeria because the full deck and catering crew went a drift and came to ,at sea and we had all lost two days!!any way when we got to Newport we were all sacked but none of us got a bad discharge.A number of years later i was working on the docks in middlesbrough and was in my local pub talking to George turner who was a river pilot on the tees and just happened to mention silver line,and he said that he had been a cadet with them in the sixties ,and it turned out that he had been one of the cadets who had tried to turn us to ,and to do our duties while we were all on the pop ,we had a good laugh about it its a small world is it not .A year later i joined the silver sand and stayed on it for quiet a few trips she had a great crew and a great skipper i only left to do my e d h ticket ,i went back to Almeria fr an holiday a few years ago but all i remembered was the castle were El cid was made great time had by all first time round i !!think!! jimmy the smoggy.

[John Small]

Hello Jimmy
I was on the Silver Crag December 1962 (joined Newport)
Left her April 1963 Birkenhead (Asst Steward)

WE did the South Africa Run to Pepel
Then back to Canada

As you said, a good shipping line/happy ship

[Gulliver]

Pix (courtesy of Photoship) of Silvercrag and Silversand:-
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20Sa/slides/Silvercrag-02.html
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20Sa/slides/Silversand-03.html

And two of the strange-looking Sigsilver!:-

http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20Sa/slides/Sigsilver-01.html
http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20Sa/slides/Sigsilver-03.html

[jimmyfry2]

Hello John like i said in my tale they were a good shipping company didn't hold things like going adrift against you mind you i think at the time i was only a deck boy and was led a stray by all the older guys,had some great times in the Waterloo in Newport over the years also if i remember correctly you could get a pint in the dockers canteen near the ore jetty in Newport ,jimmy

[Roy Coombes]

Gosh i forgot i sailed on her, must have been around january 1972 think we went from Teeside down to Morocco, coming back through the Bay of Biscay such a storm smashed half the bridge off i recall.........

[Colin Meiklejohn]

evening Doc.
I don't know if you have had much success with information re Silver Line. I have a copy of a book called "Looking for a Silver Lining" it was written by the last owner/chairman of the company, my cousin, Martin Barraclough. He inherited the company from his grandfather Old Barraclough. Its a little heavy for posting a long distance, but it is a fairly complete history of the company. There are a lot of stories of the company during the 1st and 2nd world wars in it, and various accounts of sinkings etc. The company was hard hit in wartimes. One thing he did was to get a few ex personnel to write accounts of their trips and memories. Its a serious and good book if you want to find out how things went and how the shipping industry was, through the years (mainly from a shore- side perspective). also what ships they had in service . quite historical.
If you or anyone else for that matter are interested in information re the company, I would be able to scan specific information for the website. The book, in addition to the office history etc has photos or paintings of nearly all the ships with and their details.
cheers
Colin Meiklejohn

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Colin
As this is quite an old post,iam sorry if i havent responded to others as well,but seeing as its revived,it would be interesting to see some of those old Pics you talk of in the Book Colin!
Also possibly a few pages of the ore interesting Articles of the Line!
Thanks again for all who have posted regarding this Shipping Line!
As said it just came up and i thought it may be of interest to some here!
Thanks again
Doc

[Tony Frost]

It is strange since the book was written by one of the directors at the time of the company's last built conventinal ships SILVER AVON & SILVER NESS that they are missing from the book?