One for the Tanker men

[John Swan]

In the 50,s when I were a lad, apprentice with Common Bros. Newcastle. we regularly let the slops tank run down to almost empty. We would open the sea valve, amble down to the stern and watch till you spotted any crude coming to the surface then amble back and shut off the valve. When we went down the tanks to de sludge we had a special wooden Shute contraption which fitted through the rails to tip the buckets of sludge direct overboard, an awful job but used to get a tot of rum off the Mate when finished and we were only 16+. Remember selling a defunct Butterworth machine in Las Palmas to pay for a trip ashore, the guy must have thought Christmas had come as they were all solid brass, think I only got the price of a few beers and a bunk up for the night. Happy days.

[John Arton]

John
In 1967 as first trip cadet, after scrubbing out the wheelhouse and polishing brass work, my first real task was tank cleaning, humping those heavy Butterworth machines and attached hoses around with the deck crowd. After all the tanks had been washed it was then down into the tanks with plastic shovels and buckets to sweep up any remaining crude oil sludge. Clambering over pipelines and framing to get into each section of the tank bottom. The buckets of sludge were winched up to on deck by an air driven hoist and their contents dumped directly to sea. Stinking hot down the tank as by the time tank washing was completed we were in the tropics. Only ventilation being a water driven fan on deck which could have been described as giving a gentle breeze at the bottom of the tank. Shoveling up the sludge released all sorts of stinky gases which you inhaled to such an extent that by the time smoko came around you had lost all senses of smell and taste.
Elf and safety, your having a joke eh!!!!.
Rgds
J.A

[Colin McClelland]

Crude wash got rid of all that sludge and left the tanks quite clean.

[Des Jenkins]

John
You should have volunteered to do the steering, I used to be there fore 8 hours quite happy to let others do the tank cleaning, though on most of the tankers I was on I did my share of sludge cleaning.
Des

[Tony Taylor]

Crude wash got rid of all that sludge and left the tanks quite clean.

I vaguely recall that originally the refineries did not want to be lumbered with all that sludge, but when the oil prices were rising they suddenly realised that the sludge was 95% oil and that it was their sludge and they wanted it.