MacGregor Hatches.

[John Arton]

On the beaverfir in London, we had an O.S. decapitated by the MacGregor hatch cover on no.1 hold. The hold was almost full and he had been down in it doing a bit of cargo theft and instead of coming out via the booby hatch decided to come out over the hatch coaming. To close no.1 hatch covers the crew would just release the clamps and let gravity do the rest, unfortunately the guys head just got up above the coaming when it came into contact with the rolling cover with the hatch cover winning the contest.
MacGregor's supplied the largest, at the time, hydraulic hatch covers to one of the last ships to built on the wear, a geared bulker/container vessel for TMM, a Mexican outfit
Rgds
J.A.

[j.sabourn]

#10.. Never even noticed the one along Marine Avenue and I shifted house down that area. In 1969 from West Monkseaton , at the far end of Marine Avenue as it was on Whitley Lodge Estate, better known as Debtors Retreat. I have always managed to live near a pub , in West Monkseaton it was just up from the Beacon, and in Whitley Bay midway between the Briardene and the Kittiwake. So had the choice of two, just in case got barred from one. Don’t know if you knew Ollie Armstrong a chief engineer offshore was an ex electrician but got the permit to sail as chief. He lived on the other side of the Kittiwake , he is the one who had to take the can for the ER fire I mention in the post on trust, he’s dead now so no harm in repeating his story . He was a member of the funny handshake club, also the Old Comrades club in Whitley Bay, and used to lead me astray. Cheers JS..ps Bill my cousin who I believe it was you who said you knew as a lecturer at the Marine School , his son still lives I think along Marine Avenue and has his medical practice there. Cheers JS
PS went back to Des post on high coamings and obviously put the following in the wrong place so hope doesn’t cause too much disorientation , JS.

#13
The grain regulations were / are imposed primary to prevent the loss of stability through the loss of GM due to free surface effect. Every type of grain has a different stowage factor ranging from flaxseed to your Maizes . To prevent free surface the object is not to give one, so before loading you have to prove on paper to an Inspector that the ship will in the first case fill up , and 2 if any free surface is encountered due to the settling of the grain that every effort by means of feeding the space has been adhered to , and that the ship can maintain a positive stability throughout the voyage. I once loaded 5 different types of grain on a regular cargo ship , all with different stowage factors , and had to build bulkheads in tween decks just to minimise free surface effects, it was a hell of a job, on a bulk carrier it would have been a piece of pizza. To make matters worse it was not to long sfter the Ambassador was lost and we had the same Inspector for grain cargoes. He sat on the Quay in a caravan the whole of the loading to make sure the ship filled out . Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Ivan.
One thing about the USS ships was that the coamings were all at waist level. It wasn't until I visited a ship in Sydney many years after finishing my sea time that I came across, and couldn't believe the height of the coamings. Everything on the ship was at an enormous height off the deck compared to what I had experienced, even the windlass was massive; would have taken a week to paint.
Des

[j.sabourn]

#13... Des you may have found that the height of the coamings were on purpose to fulfill the grain regulations . Which stated that the lower hold had to be fed from a feeder containing at least 5% of the total capacity of the lower hold , the hatch area was your feeder on a bulk carrier. There were no tween decks like a normal ship , and the hold was much smaller , you usually had upper wing tanks for when in ballast condition , which could be utilised as cargo space in the eventuality you were looking for cargo space , and the manhole doors in these tanks taken off, feeding also into the hold. Bulk carriers were specially built to cut back on the costs of fitting a ship out to comply with the grain regulations and make the Mates job easier. Ha !!! And Ho ? Cheers JS.

[j.sabourn]

#7.. Graham if you had of had a safety officer present you would of had 3 signatures to give , one for receipt of the elastoplast, and two that there was no loss of time involved. And 3 to sign the accident book confirming you had done the first two. Cheers JWS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
I just remembered the ship with the huge coamings was one I visited in Sydney, the Global Mariner, belonging to the I.T.F. she went around the world teaching seamen about their rights. She had a huge cinema screen down the hold showing some bloody awful pictures of ships that were practically rusted through but still trading with mainly Indian or crews from countries with no Maritime laws, plus many others that the I.T.F. had stopped from sailing.
I vaguely remember that she was in a collision and sunk. I have a picture somewhere If I find it I will post it.
Des

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I knew I had a pic somewhere, having dinner must have tightened the mind up. Some of the crew with me fourth from left, plus some of the old Sydney Vindi boys.
Des


GLOBAL_MARINER_VISIT_AUGUST_99.jpg Global Mariner.jpg

[Ivan Cloherty]

#16 Sunk! must have all being watching the cinema down the hold