m v faraday

[john walker]

#9.. The Chinese crew that I sailed with were out of Hong Kong but were very rarely residents of there. Some may think they were Hong Kong citizens they were not , they came from different provinces in China, the deck crew and engine crew and the catering crew all had different likes and dislikes as to food and appointed their own cook and chose their own manner of feeding. The ships I was on they were 10/- a month dearer than a Philippino crew. This was in 1969. JS

I sailed with both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese crews from the Peoples Republic of China (P.R.O.C.) in the mid 80's for about 3 years under the Hong Kong flag. A lot of the Hong Kong seamen had been born on the mainland and had fled over the border to H.K with their parents/next of kin during the mass exoduses of the 50's and 60's. I found the majority of them good professional seafarers and a lot of them had served on various U.K. shipping companies in the different departments onboard and really were reliable and competent. If I remember rightly they all had to be members of the Hong Kong Seaman's Union and have the correct certificate of competency. They were to become like U.K. Seamen, a victim of their own and Hong Kong's success. As wages and other benefits increased in the colony and on board ships the economic benefits of employing them became less and less. A lot of the Hong Kong shipping companies at this time were looking for preferential treatment to obtain charters from the various provincial and national companies in the P.R.O.C. The company that I worked for was a management company and decided to try to do the same. A lot of the initial crew had never been to sea in their lives and a few had never even seen the sea. The first ship I was on like this had an electrician who was supposed to be a lecturer on the subject from some University in shanghai. Theoretically He was great, in practise He did not have a clue. There were seaman who could not steer and a cook who was not capable of cooking any reasonable variety of Chinese cuisine let alone any thing else. Maybe ashore the lack of knowledge and incompetence could be bypassed in time onboard it was down right dangerous. All of these men came through a manning agency in China and initially the communes that they came from decided which guys got the jobs. They were all payed in U.S. $ with a percentage of their basic pay going back to the commune and they kept the rest plus there overtime which made them quite wealthy. They all flew out to join the ships through Hong Kong and after completion of the voyage (1 year) flew back to Hong Kong where they were entitled to a 3 day stay at the Mariners Club Kowloon, in dormitory accommodation to shop for all those capitalist luxuries that they could not obtain in the P.R.O.C. and were then flown to their home towns and cities from where they had come.
I also remember the difficulties of trying to feed different cultures with Northern Chinese used to eating wheat and mutton and things like steamed rolls with heavy use of Soy and black bean sauces for breakfast etc. while Southern Chinese were used to more chicken, pork rice and noodle with delicate flavourings and congee for breakfast etc. A lot of the men from central China seemed to eat anything as long as it had mouth numbingly amounts of chili and spices. Throw into the equation some British and other European officers plus a set feeding cost limit and at times I was close to pulling my hair out. Eventually a compromise was reached with the crew on this ship having a feeding similar to what you had. The Bosun/ Commissar/ Crew Committee would decide who cooked and what amounts. Some bright spark came up with what we called 'Chop Stick' feeding which meant I would advise the crew of the cost of produce like meat etc. In say Oz (Cheap) if we were loading there but say expensive in Japan. They would then decide what and how much they required. I would then order what ever was required. What this meant was that the feeding costs were within the budgets allowed. Any food costs that were not used went back to the crew as a bonus. This also meant that whenever the ship was at anchor/alongside the crew were always fishing (Free grub) which also led to problems . But that is another story.

[Captain Kong]

When I sailed with Chinese crews in Blu Flu
the North Chinese Hated the South Chinese and there was always trouble, fighting etc.
On Chinese New Year 196o, the Captain allowed them to use the Officers Saloon for a party. they were trying to kill each other with Fire Axes, Blood all over the saloon. We had to go in and separate them,
Brian

[Keith at Tregenna]

John post 5,The photographs that have been posted by Keith show the ship in the livery colours of Houlder Brothers the British shipping company. She was original registered in the U.K. According to the 'Ship List ' Houlders became a subsidiary of Furness Withy in 1911 but was still run as a separate entity until 1980 when the Hong Kong shipping company C.Y.Tung took over Furness Withy. She changed from the U.K. flag to Hong Kong registry in 1992 and was scrapped 1n 1993.

Pos of interest:

Houlder Line / Alexander SS Co.

Houlder Brothers & Co. was formed in 1856 in London and operated with chartered tonnage until 1861 when they aquired the GOLDEN HORN. Originally sailings were made to the USA and later to New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands. In 1881 the company entered the River Plate passenger and cargo trade which was eventually to become their mainstay route. In 1902 the subsidiary Empire Transport Co. was established and in 1906 the Federal-Houlder-Shire Line was formed with Federal Line and Turnbull Martin's Shire Line to operate services betwen Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Avonmouth to Australia and New Zealand, but this was later confined to Australia only. In 1911 Furness, Withy & Co. purchased a 50% share in Houlder Bros and withdrew from the Federal - Houlder - Shire partnership. In 1914 the British Empire S.N. Co. was established and in 1915 the Furness-Houlder Argentine Line was formed. A substantial holding in Alexander Shipping Co. was purchased in 1937 and complete control aquired in 1947. Ore Carriers Ltd was founded in 1954 and Warwick Tanker Co in 1960. The British Empire S.N. Co. was renamed Welldeck Shipping Co. in 1966. Empire Transport Co. was renamed Dee Navigation Co. in 1975. C. Y. Tung, Hong Kong took over Furness, Withy and associated companies in 1980 and the remaining Houlder Line ships were transferred to Furness, Withy (Shipping) Ltd.

LINK: https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/houlder.shtml

[happy daze john in oz]

Vernon, for many of us born during the war moving around from house to house was part of life then.
Maybe that was the start of my wanderings, who knows?
It was for so many during and for many years after almost a way of life.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Research thread seems to be getting confusing.
Will not bother further.

K.

[Maureen Wright]

Keith, was this the only Merchant vessel with name Faraday? As I explained in my initial story on the site, my Uncle Billy originally told his mum ( my grandmother) that he had been posted to the Faraday in 1940 ( hence they named their bungalow Faraday after his death) . When she was notified of his loss, she was completely unaware that he had been on the Kayeson. So I wondered why the “confusion”? Any ideas?

[Ivan Cloherty]

Maureen seamen moved from ship to ship, you could spend 6 days on one ship, six months on another, then two months on another, or like me end up on a 22 month trip without coming home. You changed ship for numerous reasons and in the war years even more so, as may be your vessel was sunk underneath you, you were rescued, taken to New York (nearest port maybe) and then signed on another ship in New York that was short of crew, so you may have set sail from the UK on the 'Faraday' and returned to the UK on the 'Kayeson' : just an example as I don't know the facts.

[Keith at Tregenna]

#16: Maureen, only on site briefly but will be back later, a quick part answer is yes,
a ship may be lost, broken up etc and the name can be used again, in the case here MV
and SS are a giveaway - motor and or steam. Added below is a CS, C for cable. The S, ship.

Will reply more fully ASAP.

Keith.

Added:

Wonder if it was this cable ship ?

She was a 5,529 GRT cable ship that was sunk on 26 March 1941 by bombs from an aircraft at a position 3 miles from St Annes Head on a bearing of 038°. Ninety miles of submarine cable were recovered from the wreck.

https://www.benjidog.co.uk/Tower%20H...0Farfield.html

.

[DeepSea]

Keith, was this the only Merchant vessel with name Faraday? As I explained in my initial story on the site, my Uncle Billy originally told his mum ( my grandmother) that he had been posted to the Faraday in 1940 ( hence they named their bungalow Faraday after his death) . When she was notified of his loss, she was completely unaware that he had been on the Kayeson. So I wondered why the “confusion”? Any ideas?

Was probably the Cable ship Faraday built in 1923 and lost 1941. A copy of the ships Crew Agreements held at Kew under the ships Official No. 147458 would confirm this if he was a crewmember. 1940 list held in BT381/852

Cable ship Faraday, 5,533grt (Admiralty) loaded with a cargo of cable at Falmouth bound for Milford Haven. On the 25th March 1941, the Faraday received Admiralty orders to join a convoy of thirteen ships, but due to the increasing bad weather this convoy only ended up with the Faraday and four other ships sailing. During the day the ships became separated in poor visibility and heavy seas. Through the squalling wind and rain Faraday was signaled by a naval escort trawler asking to stay as close to her as possible, but the weather made this almost impossible. The following day as the weather subsided friendly aircraft circled the vessel for a short time and by the early evening the ship was just five miles from Milford Haven when suddenly attacked by a German Heinkel HE-111 bomber off St. Ann’s Head, strafing and bombing the ship. The ship took two direct hits, one in the fuel bunker and the other in the boiler room killing eight crewmembers and wounding another eleven, two seriously, and caused a major fire in the oil bunkers forcing most of the surviving crew to abandon ship, but not before the ships DEMS gunners brought down the aircraft. A small party of men stayed on board hoping to save the ship, but the fire was soon out of control and the ship was abandoned. The survivors were picked up by the Belgian tug Exoos and landed at Milford Haven. The ships Master would die three months later from wounds received in the attack.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Thanks Billy, appreciated.

Keith.