PLAGIOLA

About

Completed 1954 as "PLAGIOLA" for C.S.M as a bitumen carrier. In 1955 as "PLAGIOLA" to STUK. 30-3-1974 arrived Valencia for scrapping.

IMO number
5279450
Call sign
GTMC
Construction number
671
Tonnage
15.780 ton
Beam
20m
Length overall
160m
Year of construction
1954
Year of renaming/broken up
1974
Service for Shell
1954 to 1974
Cargo
Class
Flag state
Home port
Manager
Shipyard
Status
Photo(s)

Comments

Sailors

Name Job Period Details
Dennis Burrell efficient deckhand 1954 to 1955 deckhand s o s
Gert Gerritsen apprentice engineer 1954 to 1955
Johnransome cabin boy/assistant steward 1956 to 1958 Sailed Plagiola between 1956 to 1958
Hugh M Macleod apprentice engineer 1956
Ian Robertson deck apprentice 1956 to 1957
Albert Arthur Wild galley boy 1956
Charles Stobbart assistant steward 1958 to 1959
David Michael Oakley 5th engineer 1958 to 1959
Graham Willliam... 4th engineer 1958
Stanley Roberts apprentice engineer 1958 to 1959
Terry Hales able seaman 1958
Bob Bushen catering boy 1960 to 1962
John Johnston deck apprentice 1960 to 1961
Derrick Owen King apprentice engineer 1960 to 1961 last ship
Jack Raine 5th engineer 1961 to 1964
Thomas Otto Kane senior ordinary seaman 1961 to 1965
Stanley James S... catering 1962 to 1963
Nick Tottie catering boy 1962
Nick Tottie catering boy 1962 to 1963
Robin Ritchie engineer cadet 1963
James Alan Collinge 3rd officer 1963 to 1964
Thomas Malcolm ... 4th engineer 1963
Graham Darling 2 assistant steward 1964 to 1965
John H Lightfoot 5th engineer 1964 to 1965
Roger Giles 2nd steward 1964 to 1965
Les Albrow deck apprentice 1964 2nd ship. Tar carrying ship. Between Curucao and US East Coast encountered many hurricanes. Towed to repair berth at Hoboken due to stripped turbine.
John Pearce 4th engineer 1965 to 1966
Richard Graham ... deck apprentice 1965
John Shead able seaman 1965 to 1966
Alan Haynes 3rd mate 1965
Robin Trusler apprentice deck officer 1965 to 1966
George Retford 5th engineer 1965 to 1966
Derek Balmer apprentice 1966 to 1967
Mark Bentley Bayliss assistant steward 1966 to 1967
Roger Taylor radio officer 1966 to 1967
Alan O'neill deckhand (d.h.u.) 1966 to 1967
Peter Devine assistant steward 1967 to 1968
Patrick.smyth deck apprentice 1967
John Barry Bichener 2nd cook 1967 to 1968
William Nicol 1 catering boy 1967 to 1970
John Bruce deck apprentice 1967
Michael Mancey 3rd mate 1967
John Barry Bichener assistant steward 1967 to 1968
Derek Jackson 3rd engineer 1967 to 1968
Martin Fearon able seaman (grade 1) 1967 to 1969
Iain Mccoll cook 1968 to 1969
Don Owers 2nd engineer 1968
Dave Sparrow Terrell 5th engineer 1968 to 1969
Ron Miller deck apprentice 1968
Tony Stevens 3rd engineer 1968
Don Owers 2nd engineer 1968
Alan Colman assistant steward 1968
Anthony Lopez 4th engineer 1968 to 1969
Ron Miller 3rd mate 1969 to 1970
John Haywood apprentice engineer 1969 to 1970
Peter Gill apprentice 1969 to 1970
Ian Coulman 3rd officer 1969
Eric Phillips captain (commanding officer) 1969 to 1970
Hugh Smith deck cadet 1969
Donald Travis chief officer 1970 to 1971
Allen Higgins 3rd engineer 1970
Colin Osman 4th engineer 1970
Philip Longton ... 3rd engineer 1970
Lawrence Lawson... 2nd engineer 1971
Dave Olpin apprentice engineer/5th engineer 1971 to 1972
George Fenwick 5th engineer 1971
James D. Jim Auton 2nd engineer 1971 to 1972
Paul Burroughs catering boy 1971 to 1972
Norman Kevin Ca... catering boy 1971
Michael Hunt assistant steward 1971
Chris Spencer 2nd mate 1971
Michael James Shaw 5th engineer 1972
Douglas M.C. Renton master 1972 to 1973
Herbie Battye 2nd officer 1972
Tony Boswell senior ordinary seaman 1972 to 1973
Steve Roberts apprentice 1973
Eric Halcrow 5th engineer 1973
James D. Glover 4th engineer 1973
John Peter Hunter engineer cadet 1973
Eric Freeman 3rd engineer 1974

Anecdotes

Date Visitor Anecdote
05/07/2021 - 18:44 Mark Bentley Bayliss

Sailed on her as assistant steward '67-'68

08/12/2013 - 11:35 Albert Arthur Wild

Signed on in dock st pool 9 2 1956 the whole crew flew out to Curacao flew to Shannon after about an hour port engine went on fire. Returned to Shannon for repairs. Then gander then new york then on to Curacao with the
Delay. The ship had left dry dock and sailed to Perth Amboy. They put us in the
Mission. Till she came. Back. Played off 10 Dec. 1956.
Flew Back home

B

12/02/2012 - 21:54 Don Owers

I Joined the Plagiola in Liverpool where it had just done a dry dock and boiler clean. Trouble is our luggage didna??t come with us when we left London so I had to catch the train back and fetch it. The 4th engineer was from the Orkneys about as far north of Scotland as you can get. He came running up to me before being introduced and, obviously in a great state of anxiety said something of which I could discern absolutely nothing. It might just as well have been Greek. So eventually I thought I better follow him down to the engine room to see if I could find the problem. He pointed to the turbine and made it know that it wouldna??t turn. Now this is pretty serious, turbines are suppose to turn , thata??s how they work, and if they dona??t turn you dona??t go anywhere which would be bad for my first second engineers job. So I assumed that the turbine had been bent, ita??s easy to do, because they can get hot on the top and remain cold on the bottom if they arena??t turned, so I stuck the turning gear in and rotated it a few times and then gave it a kick on steam and lo! It worked. All this on my first day and from there on it was never boring.

08/09/2012 - 23:57 Calvin Kent

I spent 5 months on the US and W.Africa runs shortly before she went to scrap. I remember the pumpman paying off sick in Curacao, (suicidal depression?). The heat in the bottom of the pumproom needed to be experienced to be believed, you were scolded by your own sweat.

03/25/2011 - 18:54 John Pearce

Terrible time repairing leaking heating coils standing in asphalt up to your ankles. Will someone correct me if wrong, did we have the divers down for a leaking double bottom tank in Newport News dry-dock? I remember the second engineer was B.S.Brown and was a real b.....d! Lost a stone in weight, and I wasn't very heavy to begin with! I recall the pump-man getting sick, always up to his neck looking after the dublex cargo pumps. Joined in Dublin and was pleased to leave in Jacksonville 7 months later.

04/06/2010 - 00:19 John Haywood

First trip to sa as engineer apprentice. Great shock! joined in New York in August, never experienced such heat before!! then the engineer apprentice's cabin was right above the steam pipes to the cargo (bitumen) heating coils, coo!! was like living in an oven. Still got used to it in the end & enjoyed it, good experience.

01/28/2010 - 22:07 Ian Coulman

I always remember the Plagiola as it was the 3rd ship I joined ar 3rd mate and I had my first cargo overflow during loading, yes bitumin, not a great cargo to overflow. But it was the best lesson I ever learnt and it never happened again.
Happy days!!

08/04/2009 - 04:16 Hugh M Macleod

Trading from Curacao to many ports on the East Coast of U.S.A. from Miami to Maine delivering Asphalt was a piece-of-cake. Particularly enjoyable was the opportunity to get ashore to buy records of Elvis and Bill Haley, and listening to this crazy new music called Rock and Roll, before we had ever heard of it in the U.K., and to take the music home with us at the end of the voyage, we were the bees knees.
One problem on board.Although built in Hamburg the vessel was fitted with mostly British equipment so we had two E.R. stores and workshops, one Metric and the other Imperial. Doing repairs meant two sets of tools, and often the two systems did not line up.
We left the ship in Dry Dock in Curacao and flew back to the U.K., one of the first crews to be repatriated in this way, 20 hours island hopping from Curacao, Martinique, Azores, Lisbon and London in a D.C.6,