" NOT Having a Whale of a Time !"....mfv TONNA

[Bill Morrison]

Apart from the 5 stand by vessels mentioned others were as follows..
Silver Pit. 701159
Johnshaven. 701053
Burnhaven. 701005
Sandhaven 701027
Seaboard Caster. 714173
Seaboard Sovereign 714175
Seaboard Sceptre 714178
Seaboard Illustrious 308560
Seaboard Swift. 319982
Seaboard Sceptre. 714178
Veezea Topaz 715884.
A total of 16 stand by vessels in the North Sea. The only dubious privilige I suppose was that I had the choice of giving myself whatever discharge I wanted.
These do not include the other numerous vessels I served on which had totally different designations .
Some on site may recognize their names or not , I doubt if those working on the rigs would of been that interested trying to read the names of the ships they saw from the stable decks of their own work places , only wonder how they managed to work while standing on their heads during bad weather. Cheers. JS

John S. As you have pointed out before, most of those early " Standby Vessels " were escapees from the breakers yard. The wrecks of two are still on the sand at Balmedie, "Sheriffmuir & Ross Khartoum". I see from your list the " Seaboard Vessels" this one before your time. Seaboard Intrepid Bressay 1980.

[Graham Shaw]

At a bay in Melbourne area they towed an old submarine to the outskirts of Hastings.
It was meant to be set up as a tourist venue after being restored.
For some reason red tape has prevented this coming to be and in the recent wild weather in that area this poor old sub has almost capsized at the mooring in the bay there.
The zealous types who want it restored are now up in arms that all will be lost if something isn't done soon to at least anchor this vessel somewhere safer
It does look rather forlorn with it's rusty underside showing above the waterline.

Must be this one .HMAS OTAMA

[j.sabourn]

Think the Intrepid or a ship with the same name was with Seaboard when I was there Bill. She was a sister ship to the Illustrious one of mine , which was an ex fish factory ship , but was also certified as the oil recovery vessel for a certain section of the North Sea . I must say these ex factory ships were luxurious accomodation wise to the old trawlers. An oil recovery vessel for those unfamiliar must be able to lay a buoyed prevention barrier around an oil spill and able to recover that oil into tanks on the vessel. To do this she had all the barriers and buoys on board also a special craft for laying such. However must stress this did not give you any larger manpower than the usual 7 8 or 9 of a stand by vessel. Thinking back think the Intrepid also carried this certification as the Illustrious for a different area of the North Sea . Also think note think there were 4 such vessels stationed in the British sector.
Cheers JS

When with Seaforth Maritime did you have to do the offshore safety boat course down at Lowestoft ?.when I was mate there I did. A lot of the North Sea vessels I notice also have painted on side Rescue Area and such and were at times during quiet periods in the oil industry hired out as safety vessels . In effect every ship in the area of any disaster is a rescue vessel and should act as such, this is the normal practice of seamen.In the case of the Piper which is now 33 years next Tuesday out of the dozens of vessels in the area there were only two proper FRCs launched , both were seriously damaged with the loss of 2 seaman’s lives . What ever the reasons for the distinct lack of such boats at the time available , the crews of those vessels will have cause to remember next week
The Lowestoft course after a week playing around with boats in the North Sea you came away with a coxns certificate . Why pick on me as believe it was law that to be a member of a frc crew you were supposed to be under 40 , although that would have to be checked ? Maybe I just look young ? JS.

[j.sabourn]

Further to my memory turning over like a windmill starting up when the wind force is. 1. It was either the Tamito or the Famita , and I tend to remember it was the Tamito that the windlass was just there for show . There was no way that it could be utilised for use . Was always in the back of my mind running down the coast back to Aberdeen on a 4 knot ship that if caught on a lee shore you would of been unable even to drop an anchor or anchors to slow at least your progress of going ashore. Tying up for the short times in port that they were , it was all by hand better known as Norwegian steam. There were ships and ships as stand by vessels and everyone knew the state of them. I always pushed for ex supply vessels and this is finally what it came to before I sailed into the sunset for pastures new which were also better. Cheers JS