The loss of the Indian Cargo Ship ss SAUDI in 1973 and her large 'Crew' ...

[Graham Shaw]

I'm normally quite good at using the Advanced Search facility on this site to find what I want,but not this time,so I'll write a new thread!

However, we were discussing recently about the comparative crew complement both on British and Indian owned vessels,compared with UK crews on a UK ship.
I said I would find a typical example,so here it is....

ss SAUDI- (ON 187383) was a 5,973 grt Cargo +12 passenger cabined vessel, built by Lithgows,Port Glasgow in 1956 for Mogul Line Ltd,and registered in London.In 1960 she was reflagged to Indian,registered in Bombay.

[While bound from Aqaba,Jordan to Cochin,India with a cargo of 6,400 tonnes of phosphate rock,the Indian steamship Saudi sank off Cape Guardafui,Somalia in Lat.11-55N,Long.51-25E on June 25th,1973 after her cargo shifted in heavy seas. There were 98 persons on board of whom 95 were crew members and 3 were wives.A total of 39 lost their lives ,only 59 being rescued.
The Master later stated that his vessel sank so quickly in the atrocious conditions that there was no time to launch any lifeboats.Everybody had to jump overboard into the sea......-from Lloyds List.]

As I would guesstimate the normal complement of crew on an Indian cargo ship that size to be 60 (for comparison about 35 on a British vessel), I would not hesitate to say the Master had signed far more supernumaries aboard than those 3 wives-perhaps the whole crew had taken their families,or perhaps the Master had invited his whole guest list on a wedding cruise,or he had illegally stopped off Jeddah to pick up pilgrims returning from Mecca ...who knows!
I'm not surprisied any boats were not lowered with all those people aboard,no doubt a lot of children too, all milling around and no doubt getting in the way of abandon ship. Tragic though really.

SAUDI 187383 1956-1973.onTrials.jpg Photo courtesy of Paul Strathdee Collection;Clydebuilt Database

[j.sabourn]

The deck crew alone would be about 16 Graham. Plus the 3 QMs plus deck sweeper upppera . JS.

[Graham Shaw]

Yes,and probably about 10 Eng.Off and 10 ER Ratings (she was steam), 15 cooks/catering-you know Galley Bhandari's Mate's mate's cousin etc ,2 Sparks,2 Lekkies.4 Mates,6 Cadets-we're getting about halfway to 95....I suppose.
Maybe they had commenced the outward voyage from India with a shore gang for maintenance. -"Bring your own chipping hammers,goats and palliasses,- pay is 2 rupees per week and all the curry you can eat"

To think my last ship was a 166,000 deadweight Bulk/Ore carrier with 27 total crew...

[j.sabourn]

You would probably be overmanned by today’s standards . What year was that ? JS

[Graham Shaw]

You would probably be overmanned by today’s standards . What year was that ? JS

Oh I agree.That was early 80's., Looking at a crew list We had ; Master,3 x Mates,R/O,C/E.2/E 2 x 3/E, 4/E,Elect,Ch Stwd,2 x PO,s ,6 AB's, 1 xER/Deck Fitter,1 X Motorman, 1 Cook and 3 Stwds/Messmen = 27
These days it would be half of that again.Not good.

Cheers !

[Tony Taylor]

Yes,and probably about 10 Eng.Off and 10 ER Ratings (she was steam), 15 cooks/catering-you know Galley Bhandari's Mate's mate's cousin etc ,2 Sparks,2 Lekkies.4 Mates,6 Cadets-we're getting about halfway to 95....I suppose.
Maybe they had commenced the outward voyage from India with a shore gang for maintenance. -"Bring your own chipping hammers,goats and palliasses,- pay is 2 rupees per week and all the curry you can eat"

To think my last ship was a 166,000 deadweight Bulk/Ore carrier with 27 total crew...

I lightened a 250,000 ton KOTC vessel with 18 crew

[happy daze john in oz]

I did read that with some of the ships between USA and China as few as 10 men on a 250,000 ship!!

[Graham Shaw]

I did read that with some of the ships between USA and China as few as 10 men on a 250,000 ship!!

Ah Me !.....now jump forward to 2050 (close eyes now -no peeking ,no not Peking!-and Imagine......)
News Headlines.Dateline 1st July 2050-."All Shipping now Fully Programmed and Automated-Even more Capacity available on Ships-No Crew Accommodation Required-and no catering costs. No maintenance staff required-all fixed remotely by built in robotic machinery in engine room programmed by shore computer staff. No bunkering stations required,all done by download onto fuel cell.No wreck reports-ships just don't collide anymore-or shouldn't,so no Maritime Safety agencies required-nor Researchers or recorders of wrecks...

No old -style Seafarers left. But for those who wish to learn about' how it used to be' this news agency recommends you can do no better than logging into Forgotten History-the British MN -Old Friends Plus site- a revered ex seafarers site dedicated to that'golden,misty-eyed' era of the post war era of Merchant Shipping,with such characterful ,well- 'dinosaurs' - such as top dog Doc Vernon, the FastAsleep in the Gallery Mike Hall, the strange but lovable Happy Daze and the Oracle JS,from opposite ends of that country,now a Republic,called Land of Oz,nor must we forget unforgettable antediluvian old salts like Geordie-to -the- core Cappy with his perpetually rocking about sailing ship avatar, Scouse RLT (not to be confused with a BLT) with his love of Titanic and seamanship quizzes,fair Maid Marian with her no-nonsense Ancestry searches-try to keep her on side-,Internationally domiciled marine engineer ,but always on the left of you Lewis ...you'll love all those characters-and many others.All gone now,but hopefully in perpetuity on the internet for time immemorial...."

[j.sabourn]

#8. Graham I think you can trace your roots back to Chad , remember him ? An artist of such wisdom he always had his nose over the fence looking for something but never knew himself what it was, not be confused with Kilroy who was already there, had been before and was coming again to a site in your neighbourhood. At least he saw all those decades ago to get out of Shipping and take up painting dirty words on walls , which later developed in to a thriving business for various councils in metropolitan areas. Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I remember seeing one of those Pilgrim ships from Jedda in the Red sea back in the 50s, she must have been below her marks, a bit like an Indian train with people hanging over the side, unless they were painting her sides. A bosuns chair on the funnel would have been part of the first class very dear.
Des