One for the Tanker men

[j.sabourn]

The last time I was in Baton Rouge Des , was not too long before JFK was assassinated in Dallas. Talking to longshoremen in the local pub , he was not too popular in the Southern States and one told me if he ever crossed the Maison Dixie line he wouldn’t be going back , at the end of 63 I was home on leave for the final certificate and guess what was on the news. JS

[Ken Atkinson]

On the British Captain in 1952 we went up the Mississippi to Baton Rouge for a cargo of spirits foe Antwerp, when we got there people came aboard to check the tanks, they said we would have to go back out to the Gulf and clean tanks again, I remember great consternation among the mates and Skipper at the length of time it would take just to go back down the Mississippi and out into the Gulf and back., then the shore staff came back and said it was OK they would fix it with a slightly different mix or something . When we got to Antwerp only one wing tank was considered contaminated.
Des

Luxury. My father was on the previous 1922 British Captain. 3rd Eng.15/4/40 Birkenhead-27/6/40 Falmouth, Heinkel dropping bombs missed but British Chancellor blew up, 28/6/40 Falmouth-29/3/41 Manchester. 2/12/1941 Corpus Christie to Shellhaven with motor spirit and fuel oil mined and sank 30m NE Felixstowe.

[Des Jenkins]

Hi Ken
My brother was one of the lucky ones in the war, did Atlantic convoys on the Athel Chief then was in the the Med during the invasion of Sicily and Italy carrying aviation spirits, I believe he was in Barry when the Germans hit an ammunition ship, I think a few others sunk in the Harbour.
Des

[Chris Flatley]

We were using slop tanks - Gulf Oil, in the 60s - I never ever saw cargo oil dumped.

[John Bache]

Hi,I was deck boy on the ss derby a federal boat outward bound , the crews accommodation was aft ,we were cleaning tanks in the bay of Biscay and their was smoking allowed on the after deck, the wind was from dead ahead, one ab lit up a fag and there was a streak of flame about a meter long, didn't feel to safe after that.

[Peter Thomson]

There was a Berge boat also blew up at this time- I think it was the Berge Istra- (not sure). These explosions prompted a radical rethink in tank cleaning procedures which were, at that time, undertaken in a 'too rich' or 'too lean' tank atmosphere.

[John Arton]

Peter
Berge line suffered two ships explosion, berge istra and berge vanga, one of them sank with, if I recall correctly, loss of all but 3 of her crew. As you say these disasters led to mandatory fitting of inert gas and tank cleaning being carried out in an inert atmosphere with, if I'm correct, fixed tank cleaning machines avoiding the need for portable machines to be lowered into the tank.
Rgds
J.A

[Tony Taylor]

Peter
Berge line suffered two ships explosion, berge istra and berge vanga, one of them sank with, if I recall correctly, loss of all but 3 of her crew. As you say these disasters led to mandatory fitting of inert gas and tank cleaning being carried out in an inert atmosphere with, if I'm correct, fixed tank cleaning machines avoiding the need for portable machines to be lowered into the tank.
Rgds
J.A

The Berge Vanga was an OBO. I was on a lightening ship when we took on board about 6 or so relief crew for the Berge Vanga, they were with us for several days and enjoyed their time in our bar we found them to be nice sociable bunch of guys. They duly boarded the Vanga when we lightened her and she then proceeded to Rotterdam for final discharge and then were due to go to Brasil to load iron ore. We heard several weeks later she sailed from Brasil and subsequently vanished with all hands. I recall the news made more impact on us due to the fact we had been in close contact with some of her crew.

[Harvey Elliott]

Tony; there must be quite a few differences between acceptable standards and practices ashore and afloat, even within the same company. In the early 80's I was seconded from the Esso fleet to be Shift Supervisor at Fawley Terminal. It was common practice to wash and gas free tanks which had contained leaded gasoline, and then get the lads into the tanks to "goolie" out the water remaining as the last step before loading distillates. When I referred to this at a daily meeting inshore the refinery guys were horrified - as the standard ashore was that if a tank had ever contained leaded gasoline, even if 30 or more years ago, it was for ever a health hazard, and tank entry except under tight controls was just not permissible.
Regards, Harvey

[Tony Taylor]

Tony; there must be quite a few differences between acceptable standards and practices ashore and afloat, even within the same company. In the early 80's I was seconded from the Esso fleet to be Shift Supervisor at Fawley Terminal. It was common practice to wash and gas free tanks which had contained leaded gasoline, and then get the lads into the tanks to "goolie" out the water remaining as the last step before loading distillates. When I referred to this at a daily meeting inshore the refinery guys were horrified - as the standard ashore was that if a tank had ever contained leaded gasoline, even if 30 or more years ago, it was for ever a health hazard, and tank entry except under tight controls was just not permissible.
Regards, Harvey

In 81 I went on board a Mexican flag tanker in Middle Docks S. Shields, it had only ever carried Tetra Ethyl Lead, no one was allowed entry into the tanks at all, it was being stripped of anything useful before being towed into the Atlantic and sunk. Can you imagine the reaction to something like that these days?