New Recruit

[John E Powell]

Afternoon All!
Happened to be passing and stumbled over your site. In the 1970s I spent some time crewing aboard a trailing suction dredger, M.V. STONE MARSHALL, a 1965-built 1500-tonner. Nepotism got me my start as my uncle was 2nd Mate and his uncle was the agent. At the time Stone Marshall belonged to J.J. Riley of Longfield in Kent though she (and we) was later sold to Royal Aadrian Volker. We had a contract to supply aggregate for the construction of Thamesmead and used an old, very dilapidated ammunition wharf by Abbey Wood. We also ran into Lowestoft, supplying aggregate to a local concern.
I was aboard her on and off until she was sold on to a company in Terneuzen in 1977.
I'd be interested to hear of, or from, anyone who served aboard or knew her.

[j.sabourn]

Welcome to yourself as well John . The nearest I can get to that was in 1991 when I did my last job in the UK on a ship called the ’Chieftan’ She spent most of her last of life laid up In Lowestoft . I received a call from Briggs Marine of Aberdeen if I would do a 10 day job for them getting Botton samples for Westminster dredging who were looking to dredge for a certain type of sand . I joined off Dover , passed the skipper coming off over the bulwark and went straight to the bridge , think he was Greenpeace and the fishermen were kicking up about disturbing things . The Chieftan was a retired naval salvage vessel. The Southern part of the North Sea and the Thames Estuary and then back into Lowestoft to lay the ship up again . Made enough to pay all the fares and removal costs out to Australia so was worth having, 10 days after leaving I was ensconced into Australia , and 4 weeks later was working offshore out here. Enjoy the site it’s worth being on. Cheers JS

[Doc Vernon]

Hello John E
Welcome aboard here with all us old ex Seaman, hope you enjoy the site and also hope that your stay will be a long one !
Thanks for the intro, of your time at Sae.
Browse around there are many a good Tale to read!
Cheers

Just a wee bit about that Dredger

Stone Marshall - Grab dredgers - Equipment | Dredging Database (dredgepoint.org)

[j.sabourn]

#2. Further to #2 . My first ship was the Pacific Dart being run by a Fremantle company , they had a Swires superintendent in the background working in the office. He came up to me and said I am getting kicked out of the country and your not..? I said because I’m a landed immigrant and your not. The whole of the time I worked offshore out here , alien seamen of all ranks including OIM off rigs etc. were only allowed 3 months on the coast then had to depart the country and reapply for a visa. Today however this is not the case I believe , hence conditions ain’t what they used to be .wont get into that as that is/was political . Cheers JS

[John E Powell]

Thank you for your welcome and for the file on 'Stone Marshall'. I looked at the file and the details are about right except for a couple of points. The first photo (alongside the crane) is not of her unless she was radically altered at some time. The bridge superstructure is all wrong and she's way too short. They give two different measurements for her length, 48.21 metres and 278 feet (84.73m) and two different yards for her construction. I think they've conflated two similar vessels. The photos at the bottom are as I remember her.