Anecdote

Neil Doyle @ SAN ROBERTO, Sun, 01/17/2021 - 01:17

1941
Capt. C W Allison
℅ G Clark
2/O T Bowkerwell/T O Davies
3/O T Smith

Apprentices:
J Deane, DA Doyle, FC Murphy, WF Hunt, JM Huke, WPC Mummery, A Gammon, White

saw615 @ DORCASIA (1), Thu, 01/07/2021 - 15:27

My father, Leo Walmsley, wrote a book called 'Invisible Cargo' (published 1952) about a journey he undertook to write an account of oil drilling, transport, and refining in the years immediately after WW2. He sailed as a guest of Anglo-Saxon on the Dorcasia (1) under Capt Byron Jones from Falmouth to Curacao. And wrote extensively about oil drilling in Venezuela, and refining in Curacao, and while the book is thoroughly out of date regarding current knowledge of oil extraction and refining, it provides a fascinating portrait of the oil workers and management, as well as technical information he gathered on the journey. He came back to England on the Theobaldus (skippered by Captain Murray).
Cheers
Sean Walmsley

John Brown @ NATICINA (1), Mon, 11/30/2020 - 15:44

Not a comment by me - inserted in error by someone else.

Ruella Farley @ EASTGATE, Sun, 10/25/2020 - 19:36

My grandad Stephen (Gray) Farley was on this ship the night it collided with the Circea. He wrote a book on his experience which the publishers Minerva Press went into liquidation and ripped him off so there are few copies of it. He's looking for some of his fellow crew members so as to have a reunion. Would love this to happen for him.

Colin McBain @ HYRIA, Thu, 10/22/2020 - 06:23

I joined , Paulo Bukum,Singers early 1975 .She was loading Avtur for Vietnam but that was cancelled due to events in Vietnam. Think it was same time we ended up taking that load to Kobe, Japan.
I awoke to alarms in accommodation amidships. went out facing aft in time to see some Chinese crew legging it ashore! Aya Aye summats up!
Turned out we were taking on fuel, pipe burst in engine toom and caught fire. Took a while but we got it under control.
Bit scary being on an Aviation fuelled bomb!

Robert Downie @ LIPARUS (2), Sun, 09/20/2020 - 07:25

4th pic is not Liparus its the Limatula in the English Channel 1977 i know as i was on my first trip plane flew all around us taking pics and later we got postcards onboard ....i still have one .....if you enlarge look at name on port bow side ....

Robert Downie @ PALLIUM, Sun, 09/20/2020 - 06:00

My most favourite ship and ships crew
Christmas Day 1981 we docked in Port Louis in Mauritius had breakfast as normal but our Chief Steward overruled the Captain about having a full on Christmas Day dinner and we ended up serving egg and chips then layed out a buffet for the rest of the day and night and had a great day in the Beaufort Botanical Gardens with its amazing waterfalll view Giant Lily pads and the male and female Giant Tortoises having a good bonk .....a guy did try to flog us a baby Tortoise ...i wonder if its still alive !! Thanks to our taxi driver
who sorted us out some naughty smoke from a tin shack in the hills full of it .....later after driving round the island picking pomegranates from trees in street we ended at the Seamans Mission for a few (lots) beers ...this was run by an elderly women who still saw the world from imperial age as the locals who worked there she called her little brown machines ......we did say dont come back to the UK and say that ....she just laughed
One day the word went round we were taking her to scrap in Karachi it was the rustyest hottest ship and was dying bit by bit so no surprise ....... who had the brass ships clocks away well i had the the one from the crews mess it still works and keeps great time .. The day before we paid off i was packing when the Chief Engineer whose name escaped me years ago called at my cabin and handed me a Metal plaque from the engine room weighing 19kg it was one of the ships regestration plates and he said yours if you want it and can get it home he had another being crated up as it was nearly five foot long ....i got stopped at customs in heathrow and they could not believe how much my case weighed once they found the plaque it made sense but still searched all my stuff and me too !! Next stop was Uxbridge Police Station for Customs Evasion the contents of a matchbox was a bit suidgy and powdery bit too ...i learnt a lesson that day never keep what you you can use and not get what you dont i leave it there ....... just before we arrived all alcohol was dumped over the side i can still see one crew member crying as we did but he didnt function much without it after that .
We left by little boat and as she slipped into the distance i took a pic i still have today.
STW to this day guys ....you all know who you are

angcorn@hotmail.com @ SAN VULFRANO, Sat, 09/19/2020 - 16:35

My father William 'Bill' Knight was a sailor on this ship in 1944. He was 16 years old.

Mark Perkin @ LIMNEA (2), Tue, 04/21/2020 - 22:51

First trip

Jaap Beaujon @ ROSALIA, Mon, 01/27/2020 - 23:36

My name is Jaap Beaujon,son of Cornelis "Cees" or "Boei" Beaujon, 3rd mate on the Rosalia when it was torpedoed off the coast of Curacao in the evening. They were slowly crusing in order to enter the harbor in the early morning with their cargo of crude oil from Maracaibo, Venezuela.Beaujon had the first evening watch and was in charge on the bridge with one helmsman when suddenly the first torpedo hit aft into the engine room.A moment later they could see the second torpedo heading straight toward them at mid schip.He jumped of the bridge on the opposite side.The torpedo hit and while the ship went down Beaujon swam underneath the burning oil and only surfaced by wiping the burning oil aside to get some air.Once out of the burning oil he floated all night feeding the sharks with his uniform buttons.There were two boats around but he could not get their attention. They left but by early morning they returned.By then Beaujon had drifted away and could not get their attention. He finally remembered that he had his officer's whistle in his pocket and used it to get their attention but at first at no avail. When they turned away to go back he once more blew his whistle at all his might and someone on board heard something. They started looking again. After turning the engines off and after numerous more whistle blows from Beaujon they finally found him and he was rescued. The last one of the 13 survivors........ His parents and family saw the burning ship from their second floor balcony of their home on the ocean front of Pietermaai. It was not until hours later they heard that it was the Rosalia but were relieved to hear and see their son alive together with his 5 month pregnant wife of their first son. I followed on September 21, 9146 as a Victory baby.
A number of years later when he was piloting a German ship into the harbor of Willemstad, he had become a harbor pilot, he noticed that the captain seemed to know his way around outside the harbor with the strong currents. After docking they went down to the captain's hut for a cup of coffee. While talking the captain asked him where he had worked during the war and Beaujon told him about his sailing on the lake tankers and being torpedoed. He asked the name of the ship, "the Rosalia" Beaujon aanswered. There was a silence......... Then the captain said .... "Juli 27, 1943 at10.40p.m....one aft and one mid schip's",...........There was a long silence........"I was the first officer on that submarine,U615, I fired the torpedoes". " How many survived?"..."13 , I was the last one rescued"............... The conversation did not last too long after that . They shook hands and my father left.
Thank you for allowing me to share this story on this date, 5 May, 2014, Liberation day in the Netherlands,in his honor and memory.He lived until the early nineties.
Jaap Beaujon from Aruba
PS. The U-boat fled toward Barbados and was spotted there some days later by US warplanes stationed there. They bombarded to force it to surface. The crew was allowed to swim and float away from the boat after which it was bombarded to sink with the captain(wounded?) on board. The crew was shipped to the US as prisoners of war and remained there until after the war.

Peter R Walker @ LNG FINIMA, Wed, 01/08/2020 - 15:50

Chief engineer for reactivation 1990

Thuan Van @ GADINIA (2), Mon, 09/30/2019 - 09:29

In July 1978 We were rescued by the Crew of the Gadinia when our boat engine broke down and we were drifting in the south China Sea for 43 days ! We had ran out of food and water. and had sick children aboard. If it wasn't for the Gadinia and crew I wouldn't be here today writing this. Grateful thanks to Gadinia and Crew. would love to get in contact with any crew members that wera on the same time as us.