longest time between ports

[Micky Bodill]

57 days slow steaming from Newcastle New South Wales (Australia) to Bremerhaven Germany with coal. Bulk carrier Fenlock about 1986
Lovely trip with engine ticking over at 65 rpm, and the Animal House movie every week.
Am I the winner so far?

[Adrian Featherstonhaugh]

Crikey, I thought that I'd done some long trips at sea but looking at this thread it seems that some chaps have done some really long ones! I think my longest was as an Extra Chief on a self-propelled semi-sub drilling rig, Sovereign Explorer, on tow from Galveston to CCB, Bergen at around 49 days. Prior to that would have been around 36 days as a cadet on the SS&A fridge boat M.V. Illyric from Liverpool to Adelaide via Dakar for bunkers and the Cape of Good Hope. The Old Man took us on a great circle route so we were pretty far south into the roaring 40s and got battered by some ferocious weather - monstrous seas that took all the deck cargo clean off the fore decks and did a fair bit of damage to the cargo on the after decks as well. The stray cat that followed the skipper up the gangway in Liverpool docks did OK though - the crew fed it on steak and it had 4 kittens.

[j.sabourn]

How many thrusters did the Sovereign Explorer have Adrian. I assume they were used mainly for positioning ? Can’t remember seeing a self propelled one on the Ozzie coast as was the practice to take them off before arrival , otherwise the unions would of insisted on full engine room staffs. The accountants must have been into the small print and was cheaper to tow. Cheers JS

[Marian Gray]

57 days slow steaming from Newcastle New South Wales (Australia) to Bremerhaven Germany with coal. Bulk carrier Fenlock about 1986
Lovely trip with engine ticking over at 65 rpm, and the Animal House movie every week.
Am I the winner so far?

'Fraid not old chap.... check out Ivan's post#157

[j.sabourn]

If this had been the longest time away from home I knew an ex Runciman apprentice living in Canada who was never home or in the UK for over 5 years .The first two set of articles the ship was in the Far East and the 3 rd. set ran for nearly a year before ship returned to European waters . He had 12 months on ABs money .After getting a certificate he did one trip with Manchester Liners ,packed it in and emigrated to Canada and joined the Canadian Navy
I met him again in Toronto and he had , had a very successful career in the Navy. I had asked the wife what she wanted for her 65 th birthday and she said dinner in the Toronto Tower ,the tallest in the world at the time. Should learn to keep my mouth shut , a card and flowers would have been much cheaper.However remet Old shipmates as well. The same bloke think said once before during his time in Navy Brought his own destroyer into the Tyne on a Courtesy visit and as he had lived in Tynemouth must have done wonders for his ego. Well done.:He said he behaved in front of the Mayor at the Banquet. Cheers JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

'Fraid not old chap.... check out Ivan's post#157

That would be #153 Marian, but your memories good!

[peter pittman]

3 weeks from Panama to Wellington, plus two weeks from Liverpool to Panama via Cuaciaco (bunkers)

[David Varley]

Conoco made a 'thing' of taking Libyan crude from an SBM in the Gulf of Sidra to off loading tankers off the Caymans. I did that for six months in 1977 on Conoco Europe/A8NT. The only intermission was stepping off onto another company vessel to have a look at their central monitoring system. She was the only bad feeder that I encountered, fortunately the wine (all Spanish crew except me and my junior) was not and was free at meal times.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Adrian.
Having been down through the Southern Ocean on a leaking Union Co ship full of grain and hitting those storms, I can agree it was a Basward of a place.
Des

[masyerhussar]

scottish trader from japan to the great lakes possibly detroit with a break down for a week in formosa i think its was about 3 months we stopped in hawai less than a day no going ashore.