Anecdote

Nearly got caught in the Suez crisis 1956. Was bnd UK/Cont with cargo of crude from Basra when baloon went up. I handed the master - Capt JH Gay - a msg from the Admiralty telling all British merchant ships to stay clear of the canal. His reaction was to say "are you sure sparks?"!!! Within a short time there were tankers all over the sea (Gulf of Aden) not knowing where to go. Eventually we got orders to proceed UK/Cont via Cape Horn. The ole'man did not ask me that question again - by then I was pretty important aboard that ship!!! We got home to Liverpool just in time for Christmas - ah well.

During 1967 the Methane Progress and the Methane Princess were stopped from going to Arzew due to hostilities in the Middle East. It was decided that both vessels would go into Tilbury for drydock. There was good rapport between both crews of both ships. I remember going to a pub called the Haystack where a steward from the Princess used to do a Shirley Bassey drag act, he used to perform with a guy called Stella. Did a good steak in the Lobster Pot pub as well. Anyone remember this period on the Progress/Princess, would be great to here from you.

My first Joe Boat as an Appo after South Shields. Joined in New York and will never forget that the main cargo steam heating lines ran under my cabin.

This being my first trip as a seagoing engineer, I was not quite sure what to expect, but soon learnt that I had the right sense of humour when I was introduced to the term ERRDS, for those that do not know this is the acronym for 'engine room dobie draws'. Apparently the engineer that I relieved wore a pair for seventy eight cosecutive days, they were eventually buried at sea with due ceremony. Anyone remember this from 1966?
This term stuck with me throughout my seagoing days and is still with me even to this day.

Ik heb op de Kosicia gevaren van 16 juni 1961 tot mei 1962, bij thuiskomst in mei werd ik gelijk opgepakt en naar de marine in Hilversum gestuurd voor de koopvaardijopleiding.
Ik weet weinig nog te herinneren over die periode, misschien herinnert iemand zich mij??

Als ik mij goed herinner was het 1959 dat ik aanmonsterde op de Crania, een mooie tanker met, naar wat later bleek, een zeer betrouwbare Sulzer.
Het werd een reis om niet te vergeten.
Van Curacao via het Panamakanaal naar Australie, rond Australie en rond de Kaap terug naar Curacao en vervolgens via het Panamakanaal weer terug naar Australie en weer rond de Kaap naar Curacao.
Met 10 knopen waren wij in een half jaar tijd zonder storing tweemaal de wereld rondgevaren en had de motor slechts enkele dagen rust gehad.
De bemanning had het helemaal gehad en werd met de dag chagrijniger.
Niet alleen door de sleur en omdat wij bijna elke dag konijn te eten kregen (er was een konijnenplaag in Australie) maar ook omdat de dagdienst meende recht te hebben op overuren, die men niet betaald kreeg.
HOE ZAT DAT?
Omdat wij tweemaal westwaarts de wereld rondde werd de klok 's morgens totaal tweemaal 24 uur teruggedraaid.
Men kreeg daar slecht tweemaal 8 uur voor terug bij het passeren van de datumgrens,
dus meende men recht te hebben op 36 overuren.
De kapitein ging niet akkoord en adviseerde dit voor te leggen aan het kantoor.
Het antwoord was, dat de volgende keer andersom zal worden gevaren!

Vlak voor kerst 1960, kreeg ik opdracht met spoed te vertrekken naar de Corilla. De Corilla lag op Pulau Bukom (?) bij Singapore.
Na een vermoeiende reis van twee etmalen, o.m. een vliegreis van 36 uur met Quantas via Londen meldde ik mij tenslotte aan boord. Men reageerde verbaasd en vroeg mij wat ik kwam doen, want men had zojuist vernomen dat de Corilla uit de vaart zou worden genomen.
Zo had ik de eer om de Corilla naar haar voorlopige rustplaats (Eastern Ancorage) te brengen en werden het toch nog gezellige feestdagen met een uitgedunde crew.

Ik ben direct na het behalen van mijn bakkersdiploma's, 1963, gaan solliciteren bij de Shell.
Ik deed dit omdat 2 broers van mij ook op een tanker vaarden: de ene broer vaarde als chef kok bij de Shell, Rinus van der Graaf. De andere broer vaarde bij de Caltex als 1e machinist, Lucas van der Graaf.
Toen ik bij de Shell werd aangenomen was er geen baan als koksmaat. Ik ben toen aangenomen als Jongen Algemene Dienst (de hutten etc. schoonhouden).
De Korovina vond ik persoonlijk nogal een verouderde tanker. Veel deurtjes hingen er een beetje half bij.
Ik heb toen reisjes gemaakt naar Duitsland, Zweden en Engeland. Toen de Korovina naar Indonesie zou gaan ben ik afgemonsterd.
Toen heb ik bij de Caltex gesolliciteerd als koksmaat. Daar heb ik een tijdje gevaren op de Caltex Amsterdam. Een mooie tanker en daar had ik het goed naar mijn zin. Maar omdat ik erg veel zeeziek was en wat ook niet onbelangrijk was; "ik had verkering".
Je mist je meisje dan wel erg. Zeker als je veel zeeziek bent.
Toen heb ik besloten om te stoppen met varen.
Ben toen gaan sollicteren bij Unilever in Vlaardingen en heb daar 40 jaar gewerkt. Nu ben ik 63 en mocht met mijn 56ste stoppen bij Unilever. Ik geniet lekker van mijn vrije tijd maar denk soms nog wel eens aan mijn vaar periode. Blijkt wel, anders zoek je niet op internet naar je oude boot de "Korovina".

From US Navy archives the following story was extracted:
At 0010h, on April 12, 1967, the privately chartered 9,000 ton British flagged Shell Oil tanker M/V AMASTRA had been holed by an external explosive device while moored in the POL transfer anchorage in Nha Trang Harbor, Vietnam.
The AMASTRA was preparing to off load aviation fuel for military aircraft when the explosion ripped open a four by six foot jagged hole at the waterline near the fire wall between the engine room and the boiler room.
The engine room, fire room and the after pump room flooded in twenty minutes causing the AMASTRA?s stern to settle to the harbor bottom leaving the rear decks awash.
Another Shell Oil tanker, the Dutch flagged M/V KARA from ?s-Gravenhage, Netherlands arrived and moored port side to the AMASTRA. The KARA provided auxiliary power and steam so AMASTRA could transfer 640,000 gallons of fuel to the KARA. The AMASTRA's damaged area was thirty feet below the water line and required a twelve by twelve-foot patch.
In the early morning hours of April 13, USS ?Current? ARS-22 arrived at Nha Trang. Shortly after arriving, the work boat was placed in the water and a salvage team departed for the tanker to survey the damage and plan a course of action. Commander Service Group Three salvage officer Commander J. B. Orem was designated Officer in Charge of the AMASTRA salvage operation. USS ?Greenlet? ASR-10 as well as Harbor Clearance Unit One's HCT-3 staff members were also sent from Vung Tau to assist during the re-floating operation.
Floodlights were secured on USS ?Current? ARS-22?s rails and directed into the waters around the ship at sunset. Armed sentries were posted during darkness to defend against any attempt to attach an explosives charge to USS ?Current? ARS-22's hull. Early each morning, USS ?Current? ARS-22 weighed anchor and moored starboard side to AMASTRA. At the end of each day, USS ?Current? ARS-22 departed AMASTRA and re-anchored in the center of Nha Trang Harbor for security.
Prior to transferring fuel oil to the KARA, USS ?Current? ARS-22 diver LTJG Vince Weis along with a HCU-1 diver wearing shallow water diving gear went into the AMASTRA's engine room, filled with dangerous gas fumes, to close a set of valves that allowed AMASTRA's oil cargo to be transferred to the KARA. USS ?Current? ARS-22?s crew rigged salvage pumps and compressors then transferred them to the decks of AMASTRA. After the ship?s divers maneuvered a fabricated patch into place to stop the inflow of sea water into the engine room, the salvage pumps were started and the AMASTRA began to show freeboard. The spaces on the AMASTRA that had been flooded were cleared with the help of thirty to forty Vietnamese and Filipino stevedores.
With the loss of power for refrigeration, combined with the hot climate of Vietnam, an estimated six thousand pounds of spoiled meat and vegetables were removed from AMASTRA to a barge then dumped at sea. While ashore hiring the stevedores, USS ?Current? ARS-22?s Operations Officer LTJG Mark Lusink in a conversation with local villagers was informed that the AMASTRA was mined by the South Vietnamese to prevent it from sailing to Haiphong, North Vietnam. Shell Oil tankers did not travel to North Vietnam.
The initial investigation indicated that a Limpet mine of approximately 80 to 90 pounds of explosives was used. In view of the close proximity of 150 yards to the beach hamlet of Truong Tay, a known haven for local pilferers, black marketers and other questionable individuals, the investigation determined that the explosive charge was most likely delivered from the hamlet area by a swimmer sapper. The Vietnam war was certainly a strange and crazy war. The majority of the 43 man crew was removed by local Army landing craft about half an hour after the explosion. They spent the night at the American Army Officers' quarters at Camp John McDermott in Nha Trang.
On April 22, 1967, USS ?Current? ARS-22?s salvage crew successfully raised and dewatered the AMASTRA. The fabricated patch was removed and a more permanent steel patch was constructed. SFM2 "Ace" Acfalle, one of USS ?Current? ARS-22's ship fitters, spent the better part of two days, without any rest, welding the metal patch to the AMASTRA to make it seaworthy.
The AMASTRA was towed by commercial tug to Singapore for dry-docking and repairs.

From US Navy archives the following story was extracted:
At 0010h, on April 12, 1967, the privately chartered 9,000 ton British flagged Shell Oil tanker M/V AMASTRA had been holed by an external explosive device while moored in the POL transfer anchorage in Nha Trang Harbor, Vietnam.
The AMASTRA was preparing to off load aviation fuel for military aircraft when the explosion ripped open a four by six foot jagged hole at the waterline near the fire wall between the engine room and the boiler room.
The engine room, fire room and the after pump room flooded in twenty minutes causing the AMASTRA?s stern to settle to the harbor bottom leaving the rear decks awash.
Another Shell Oil tanker, the Dutch flagged M/V KARA from ?s-Gravenhage, Netherlands arrived and moored port side to the AMASTRA. The KARA provided auxiliary power and steam so AMASTRA could transfer 640,000 gallons of fuel to the KARA. The AMASTRA's damaged area was thirty feet below the water line and required a twelve by twelve-foot patch.
In the early morning hours of April 13, USS ?Current? ARS-22 arrived at Nha Trang. Shortly after arriving, the work boat was placed in the water and a salvage team departed for the tanker to survey the damage and plan a course of action. Commander Service Group Three salvage officer Commander J. B. Orem was designated Officer in Charge of the AMASTRA salvage operation. USS ?Greenlet? ASR-10 as well as Harbor Clearance Unit One's HCT-3 staff members were also sent from Vung Tau to assist during the re-floating operation.
Floodlights were secured on USS ?Current? ARS-22?s rails and directed into the waters around the ship at sunset. Armed sentries were posted during darkness to defend against any attempt to attach an explosives charge to USS ?Current? ARS-22's hull. Early each morning, USS ?Current? ARS-22 weighed anchor and moored starboard side to AMASTRA. At the end of each day, USS ?Current? ARS-22 departed AMASTRA and re-anchored in the center of Nha Trang Harbor for security.
Prior to transferring fuel oil to the KARA, USS ?Current? ARS-22 diver LTJG Vince Weis along with a HCU-1 diver wearing shallow water diving gear went into the AMASTRA's engine room, filled with dangerous gas fumes, to close a set of valves that allowed AMASTRA's oil cargo to be transferred to the KARA. USS ?Current? ARS-22?s crew rigged salvage pumps and compressors then transferred them to the decks of AMASTRA. After the ship?s divers maneuvered a fabricated patch into place to stop the inflow of sea water into the engine room, the salvage pumps were started and the AMASTRA began to show freeboard. The spaces on the AMASTRA that had been flooded were cleared with the help of thirty to forty Vietnamese and Filipino stevedores.
With the loss of power for refrigeration, combined with the hot climate of Vietnam, an estimated six thousand pounds of spoiled meat and vegetables were removed from AMASTRA to a barge then dumped at sea. While ashore hiring the stevedores, USS ?Current? ARS-22?s Operations Officer LTJG Mark Lusink in a conversation with local villagers was informed that the AMASTRA was mined by the South Vietnamese to prevent it from sailing to Haiphong, North Vietnam. Shell Oil tankers did not travel to North Vietnam.
The initial investigation indicated that a Limpet mine of approximately 80 to 90 pounds of explosives was used. In view of the close proximity of 150 yards to the beach hamlet of Truong Tay, a known haven for local pilferers, black marketers and other questionable individuals, the investigation determined that the explosive charge was most likely delivered from the hamlet area by a swimmer sapper. The Vietnam war was certainly a strange and crazy war. The majority of the 43 man crew was removed by local Army landing craft about half an hour after the explosion. They spent the night at the American Army Officers' quarters at Camp John McDermott in Nha Trang.
On April 22, 1967, USS ?Current? ARS-22?s salvage crew successfully raised and dewatered the AMASTRA. The fabricated patch was removed and a more permanent steel patch was constructed. SFM2 "Ace" Acfalle, one of USS ?Current? ARS-22's ship fitters, spent the better part of two days, without any rest, welding the metal patch to the AMASTRA to make it seaworthy.
The AMASTRA was towed by commercial tug to Singapore for dry-docking and repairs.

I beleive the chief officer who was killed on the Rapana explosion was Dave Camish.
I sailed with Dave on the lightening ships and was earmarked then for rapid promotion when he was second mate.I had left the company by then not much point in staying when they had thrown us out of the pension scheme and no paid leave and yet they still expected undying loyalty, unpaid field days with a considerable loss in earnings.

Op 9 mei 1964 voeren we volgeladen de baai van Mukalla (Jemen) in om bij het stadje Mukalla een plaatselijke "loods" op te pikken om ons naar een nabijgelegen boei met slang naar de wal te loodsen. We moesten kerosine en benzine lossen voor het daar vechtende Engelse leger.
Fatsoenlijke zeekaarten voor de plaatselijke situatie bleken niet aan boord te zijn, maar een fors vrachtschip dat in de baai voor anker lag was kennelijk voldoende richtpunt voor de kapitein om daar in de buurt te gaan ankeren. Het zeewater was daar glashelder en de rotsbodem heel goed te zien.
De 2e WTK die op het achterschip over de railing leunde maakte de ludieke opmerking: "Je zal hier toch omhoog lopen". Hij had het nog niet gezegd of het voorschip raakte de bodem en zaten we vast. Daarop gaf de kaptein volle kracht achteruit maar dat hielp niet, waarop vol vooruit gegeven werd. Daarna raakte de man kennelijk in paniek en leek de telegraaf net een jojo en dus manoevreren werd zwaar werk in de machinekamer.
Het bleek dat de boot op vooruit toch wat in beweging kwam en we hoorden in de machine kamer de bodem over de rotsen schuiven.
Ik stond als 3e WTK op wacht te manoevreren en stuurde de pompman de pompkamer in om die te controleren. Die kwam even daarna terug met grote ogen en drijfnat en vertelde dat de pompkamer vol liep met zeewater en kerosine. Uiteindelijk na overpompen van wat lading en fuel kwamen we los en gingen op een wat "veiliger" plaats voor anker.