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AXINA

Submitted by Kees Helder on Sun, 04/19/2015 - 12:35
About

Completed 1958 as "AXINA" for STUK. 16-3-1978 arrived Kaohsiung for scrap.

IMO number
5032010
Call sign
MYGC
Construction number
1120
Tonnage
19.037 ton
Beam
21m
Length overall
170m
Year of construction
1958
Year of renaming/broken up
1978
Service for Shell
1958 to 1978
Cargo
Crude and white oil products
Class
A-class 19.000 ton
Flag state
Great Britain
Home port
London
Manager
Anglo-Saxon / Shell Tankers U.K.
Shipyard
Lithgows Shipbuilding Port Glasgow Scotland
Status
Sailing / Sailed for Anglo-Saxon / Shell Tankers UK / STUK
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Photo(s)

Comments

Submitted by Jimmy Arthur Moss on Wed, 10/14/2009 - 10:50

Submitted by Ian Kenworthy on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 22:07

Submitted by Ian Kenworthy on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 22:07

Submitted by Bernard Reynolds on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 01:42

Submitted by David Fryer on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 15:04

Submitted by Nigel George on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 11:05

Submitted by Alan Blair on Sat, 11/27/2010 - 18:22

Submitted by John Michael Reeve on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 19:04

Submitted by Ken Williamson on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 07:14

Submitted by Mike Carter on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 22:54

Sailors

Name Job Period Details
Ian Kenworthy deck apprentice 1958 to 1959
Ray Carlson apprentice engineer 1959 to 1960
Barry Tilley assistant steward 1959
William Hilton fireman/greaser 1959
John Michael Reeve engineer cadet apprentice 1959 to 1960
Rex Young 2nd engineer 1959 to 1960
Jimmy Arthur Moss 5th engineer 1960 to 1961
Robert Butler catering boy/galley boy 1960 to 1961
John Rex Winsor 2nd mate 1961
Terence York catering boy/galley boy 1961
Charles Stobbart 2nd steward 1961 to 1962
Stan deckhand 1962
Geoff Walker assistant steward 1962 to 1963
Jim Russell deck apprentice 1962
Dave Wodworker deck boy 1962
Stewart Mccormick deck apprentice 1963 to 1964
Chris Robin deck apprentice 1963 to 1964
James Macintyre extra 3rd mate 1964
John Pearce 5th engineer 1964
Ken Graham 4th engineer 1964 to 1965
Vic Hubbert 3rd mate 1964 to 1965
Norman Williams 2nd cook and baker 1964
Robert H J G Lewis officer's steward 1964
Philip Ablett chef kok 1964
Bob Palmer 5th engineer 1965
Michael Rand 5th engineer 1965 to 1966
Mike Gray deck apprentice 1965 to 1966
Ian F. Boon chief officer 1965
Brian Knight engineer 1966
Mike Carter radio officer 1966 to 1967
Ian Mckay Beattie radio officer 1966
David Fryer catering boy/galley boy 1966 to 1967
Michael Mancey 3rd mate 1966 to 1967
Terry Smart 3rd engineer 1966 to 1967
Colin Lewis deckhand (d.h.u.) 1966 to 1967
Gerald W Brown 3rd engineer 1966
Barry Evans 5th engineer 1966 to 1967
Mike Rich 3rd mate 1967 to 1968
Roy Barker assistant steward 1967 to 1968
Alan Haynes 2nd mate 1967
Richard Lacey cabin boy 1967 to 1968
William Jones senior ordinary seaman 1967 to 1968
Des Mclindon deck apprentice 1968
Bernard Reynolds chief officer 1968 to 1969
Peter John Eastick assistant steward 1969
Peter Drummond efficient deckhand 1969 to 1971
John Bruce 3rd mate 1969
Simon Reilly 2nd engineer 1969 to 1970
Terence John Hunter uncertificated 3rd mate 1969 to 1970
Mike Nicholls radio officer 1969
David Cumming 5th engineer 1969
Eddie Collins steward 1969 to 1970
Peter M Morgan cadet 1969
Robin Buncombe 5th engineer 1970 to 1971
Colin Parnell 5th engineer 1970 to 1971
Roger Phillips 2nd engineer 1970 to 1971
Brian Charles P... chief and ships cook 1970 to 1971
George Fenwick 5th engineer 1970
Simon Heanue galley boy 1970 1st trip
William Andrew ... radio officer 1970 to 1971
Peter Gill 3rd mate 1971
Robert Lee catering boy/galley boy 1971 to 1972 catering boy/galley boy
Allen Higgins 3rd engineer 1971
Alan Blair 3rd engineer 1971 first trip
Mike Fred Fryer pumpman 1971
John Hudson apprentice engineer/5th engineer 1971 to 1972
Geoff Henderson apprentice engineer/5th engineer 1971 eng/app fiver
Robert Johnson deck cadet 1971 to 1972 1st trip
John Haywood 5th engineer 1971 to 1972
Leslie Payne 5th engineer 1971
Mike Hancock 5th engineer 1971 to 1972
Ian M. Bromley 2nd mate 1971
John Howarth efficient deckhand 1972
Thomas Malcolm ... 3rd engineer 1972 to 1973
Keith D Ellison... junior ordinary seaman 1972
Keith D Ellison... JOS Junior Ordinary Seaman 1972 Ist Shell Tanker
Mike Connell galley boy, steward 1972
Nick Emerson supernumerary 1972
Alan Waddington messman 1972
Nick Emerson 3rd mate 1972
Robin Guy cadet 1972
Derek Simpson messman 1972 to 1973
Alan Thomas Kennedy 5th engineer 1973
Richard Hesketh 5th engineer 1973 to 1974
Robert Currie 5th engineer 1973 to 1974
Glenn Campbell senior ordinary seaman 1974 to 1975
Colin Eke deck cadet 1974
Glenn Campbell junior ordinary seaman 1974 to 1975
Steven Clarke officer 1974 to 1975 navigating cadet officer
Geoffrey Forster 2 2nd steward 1974 to 1975
Robin Campbell-... 2nd engineer officer 1974 to 1975
Andy Murray navigation cadet 1974 to 1975
Colin Sandeman 2nd mate 1974 to 1975 1st and only trip with my wife. An 8 month itinerary you could not better: HK, S'pore, Pacific Islands, Aus, NZ, Vietnam, Bangkok, Japan,and Christmas Day '74 with gun boat and Huey escort up, discharge and down the Saigon River all in daylight only!!
Peter John Houghton 2nd engineer 1975
Michael Marsh 3rd engineer 1975
Paul Fuller 3rd mate 1975
David Warwick 5th engineer 1975
Mike Riley chief engineer 1975
Francis Geary engineer cadet 1976
Jack Beaumont master 1976
Herbie A. Battye 2nd officer 1976
Nigel Draffin 2 2nd engineer 1976
Andrew Price 3rd mate 1976
Arthur Halls Gr... chief engineer 1976
Phil Gunner radio officer 1976
Ashley Barnard 5th engineer 1977
Graham Lister engineer cadet 1977
Ron Dixon 5th engineer 1977 to 1978
Adrian Taylor 2nd cook and baker 1977
John McSheffrey deckhand 1977
Ben Palmer 3rd mate 1977
Ken Williamson able seaman 1978

Anecdotes

Date Visitor Anecdote
06/05/2017 - 22:05 Tony Dodd

I joined the Axina in Honolulu in January 1972 as 4/E. We flew out a few days beforehand and had a chance to go round Pearl Harbour and swim on Waikiki beach - "this is the life" I thought. She was a good ship in so many ways, well maintained, smart, decent accommodation, good food (Chinese crew if I remember correctly) and carrying white oils when I was on her. We ran on Shell Eastern routes, including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and various Pacific islands all from Bukom. Happy days. I paid off in Singapore after just over 4 months a happy man. That was soon to be overturned when I got my next posting!
10/06/2016 - 10:53 Alan Waddington

I was the mess man in early seventies great times wine women and song as they say
we were taking aviation fuel up the Mekong to Saigon each week , we were supposed to have military escort but never happened ,except for the occasion we had Shell VIPs on board that day it was like Farnborough air show with helicopter gun ships and fighters streaking through the sky .I will jog Robert E lee memory here , on one occasion I was cleaning the chief stewards cabin , I was playing his stereo full blast and dancing about with the vacuum cleaner I was playing birth of the beat Sandy Nelson , then suddenly there were three huge clangs and the whole floor shuck
under me , next thing I saw men running with fire extinguishers and shouting in chaos we,ve been hit I heard , apparently 3 shells or mortars had gone through the bulkhead of the carpenters shop right under my feet they had smashed through a load of tool cabinets and smashed the door off setting fire to stuff .At ne bae we could see the damage 3 holes big enough to put your arm through above the waterline ,
When at night at Ne Bae in Nam the ship swarmed with little Vietnamese wearing huge American uniforms and carrying guns as big as themselves ,search lights were employed scanning the water for viet cong saboteurs , every fifteen minutes a little boat would come around the ship and drop percussion grenades into the water to deter divers from placing magnetic mines on our hull and there was a huge clang .we got used to that noise . It was a great ship even the officers were nice , the captain
was a rather jolly fat man with red hair and beard used to call me lofty and as long as your job was done you could take it easy and no one was on your back , I particularly remember Mick Moyle ,such a funny man ,if you are out there ,give me a shout ,Halifax you xxxxx ,Dixie . the memories are good and I have the pictures to prove it , I recall so many crazy things that we did , no one would believe .
Did anyone do the dance of the flaming assholes on the shit house roof in Bugis street, I am not admitting to anything .if any one can remember I would be pleased to here from you ,bye Alan Waddington Mess man
09/19/2016 - 01:04 Robert Lee

i joined sts "axina" in singapore in 1972 aged 16,as a catering boy. we ran from singapore to siagon on a regular basis we once came under attack from vietcong forces useing mortors from the river bank shock horror but luck was on our side that day (they missed), i still 44 years on miss the ship, fantastic crew and of course the good times i would love to turn the clock back and do it all again, very happy times apart from the mortor attack summer 1972.
12/08/2015 - 21:26 Robert Butler

I JOINED THE AXINA IN FALMOUTH WHERE I NOW LIVE. IN 1960 WE VISITED THE STATES JAPAN NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIA INDONESIA THE DUTCH WEST INDIES BORNEO VENEZUELA AND THE PERSIAN GULF AND PAYED OFF IN HEYSHAM LANCS. IN 1961. By
09/09/2015 - 00:43 Colin Lewis

We run from Singapore to danang latrang and Saigon tanked up with jet fuel can remember steering her her down the river on the 4 to 8 watch great crew great times
01/09/2015 - 16:03 Simon Heanue

My first ship as a green 16 year old. Joined her in Singapore with full crew. Remember going to Saigon a couple of times and some of the deckies buying hand grenades from the yanks. Its now 2015 and I rejoined into the RFA 2 years ago
12/04/2014 - 01:29 Dave Wodworker

joined ship in channel dry dock Cardiff trip out to Dutch west indies and did a few runs into U.S. Bridgeport and Philadelphia the lakes run for a couple of weeks then tank cleaning and loaded white oil for Rotterdam.
paid off on reaching shellhaven
02/02/2012 - 22:54 Mike Carter

Whilst travelling up the South Vietnamese coast one black night, having finished my last radio watch of the day, I went on the bridge to make the ususal cocoa with Mick
Mancey the third mate. Mick was keeping a very keen watch that night due to no lights
on around the coast and a black night if ever there was one. I peeped at the the Kelvin
Hughes radar and saw a large target some way ahead near our heading line. Mick and myself thought this must be one hell of a sized vessel. Later on the vessel called us up on the aldis or their equivalent, cos` it was a huge light! Mick asked me reply on the aldis as I could send faster. We exchanged the usual where bound where from etc. He
then turned away and quickly disappeared, easterly direction I think. We found out later that it was the battleship USS Jersey, come through the Panama out of mothballs!
Joined on my 22nd birthday and left 10 and 3/4 months later, very interesting trip and
had a cracking bosun called McGookin from Northern Ireland, 2nd trip with him, used to drive him daft - happy days. Mike Carter R/O
11/15/2011 - 07:14 Ken Williamson

i steered her to the scrapyard in kaohsiung on 23.3.78.
02/23/2011 - 19:04 John Michael Reeve

Axina was the first ship I served on. I joined as a 'green' Engineer Apprentice cadet
in September 1959, and was on it for 7 months. During this period, and for the following 7 months aboard the 'Zenatia' I kept a detailed daily journal of every thing that happened to me aboard,the ports we called at, AND the names of all the people I came into contact with whilst aboard. Therefore I have many stories about the Axina and her crew. Perhaps your name is amongst them and you will know of the things, and personalities that I write about.

My journals are currently being professionally bound, and when I die will, I hope, be finding their way into the archieves of The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, as a record of life in the merchant navy of those times.

I cannot write this story here as space would not permit it. Nor could one really isolate a single personality or anecdote. One of the earliest however would be the Axina's first annual dry-dock. It was carried out in the Grayson Rolo Clover dock at Birkenhead in November 1959. A disaster was uncovered as the lubricating oil system had become contaminated. It had scored the bearings of the turbine engine and the huge gear system from engine to prop. shaft. The whole lot had to stripped out and repaired and some parts renewed. We spent a dark and gloomy five weeks in Birkenhead until we headed out with our cargo of 'white oil' to ports in the Meditteranean...and the sun.

Many more stories.
11/27/2010 - 18:22 Alan Blair

This was the trip that the "Axina" went MISSING on route South from the Gulf when the R.O. went " off the rails " and nobody knew that he was not transmitting.
The Chief Eng. heard the report on the World Service and reported it to the "Old Man"
Still have the cutting from the Glasgow Evening Times.
11/24/2010 - 11:05 Nigel George

joined in tokyo then singapore, then off to v/n and many others
11/15/2010 - 15:04 David Fryer

My first ship, joined at Tibury, first stop was Jarrow. Cookie said wash the pans (strap up)the crew were due to have curry I threw it out thinking it was slops.
(I had never seen or heard of curry at that time and even today cant stand the smell or sight of it)
12/11/2009 - 01:42 Bernard Reynolds

Da Nang 1968/69 We were discharging aviation spirit through a submarine pipeline which went up a river bed to the tank farm. Just after lunch there was a loud bang and a ball of flame from ashore. The American radio comunicator came screaming along to stop pumping. Somebody had blown up the pipeline. We were there for three weeks waiting for an American T2 to arrive so we could discharge ther rest of the cargo. All on double pay. When we went back there next time they told us some idiot had gone fishing with a hand grenade and blown a hole in the submarine pipeline while we were pumping avgas. of course this floated on the river and a cooking fire set it on fire.
While we were there the battle ship New Jersey was in action 5 miles off shore. She fire one round about every half hour and the whole ship shook everytime time she fired.
10/25/2009 - 22:07 Ian Kenworthy

Interesting to read the anecdote regarding Jimmy Moss. Don't remember him but I was on the Axina 2 years before him. Joined her as Deck Apprentice in 1958 at the builders (Lithgows in Greenock).I remember us all being excited at the first Shell Tanker with a streamlined funnel!! Was on her for 12 months - West Indies, USA, Canada and the Med. Happiest ship I was ever on.
10/25/2009 - 22:07 Ian Kenworthy

Interesting to read the anecdote regarding Jimmy Moss. Don't remember him but I was on the Axina 2 years before him. Joined her as Deck Apprentice in 1958 at the builders (Lithgows in Greenock).I remember us all being excited at the first Shell Tanker with a streamlined funnel!! Was on her for 12 months - West Indies, USA, Canada and the Med. Happiest ship I was ever on.
10/14/2009 - 10:50 Jimmy Arthur Moss

I am writing this on behalf of Jimmy Moss as Jim is not into computers. He recalls: I joined Axina in Falmouth in November 1960 as a 5th engineer. She was almost brand new then when I toured the world from Falmouth to Australia to Singapore and Japan, Venezula to New York. I can't remember any names but I recall the Chief Engineer was from Liverpool. I left the Axina in September 1961. Does anyone remember Jim?