Anecdote

Had Great Dry Dock Time Singapore Wages For Fun,Only 16 At The Time What An Experience...Joined Borneo-Paid Off-Rotterdam

The Acteon was the ship I sailed on in the beginning years of the 70's.
It had a fixed route on Saigon during the war, we where checked all the time by small patrol boats full of South Vietnamese soldairs. They where throwing granades under the ship to keep away divers. Sometimes the next morning there where some dead guy's on the small land strip near the ship, awfull to see but daed as a doornail.
I've met my ex-wife in Singapore that time, and lived with her for five years. All I have left is my memories and a wonderfull son. Shell was the best employer i have known.
greetz Hans

Joined Hyria or as she was known in those days the "Saigon Flyer" with my wife in September 1974 was just settling in when was taken off with an emergency appendectomy in Singapore end of October 1974.

I joined the Amoria in the summer of 1969 my last trip as an apprentice traded in the far east for the whole trip which included ripping the bottom out whilst under pilot in Da Nang on the Vietnamese coast, made it back to Jurong shipyard in Singapore and had a great drydock whilst they fixed her up.

Juni 1965; De aanvaring met het Franse passagiersschip Cambodja op de rede van Singapore en de daarna maand durende dokperiode in Singapore.
Van de aanvaring (ongeveer 07.00 locale tijd)zelf heb ik niet meer gemerkt als een
stevige schok, ik liep de 12-4 en lag net zoals dat heette te kooi.
De hele bak bas ontzet, maar dat was nog niets vergeleken bij het gat in de romp van de fransman, waar een forse vrachtauto door naar binnen had kunnen rijden.
Het meest frappante waren de bussen met haarlak die bij ons aan dek lagen.
Maar de maand Singapore is voor mij een onvergetelijke ervaring geworden.

I am interested with all who was on the ZAPHON on the the first vovage,and have you any pics. my pics I have may be of interesting to you
Will from Wisbech

joined ship @anchorage alaska april 1973,ship had diffulty getting along side because of ice,but down on the engine control platform the temp was 100f should have known there was going to be a problem as the temp got hotter and hotter on are way to singapore when the sea temp at one time was 97f in front of the boilers it was 169f bottom of enginroom 160f coolest place control platform at 139f but the worst bit was when blew tubs recorded temp of 195 - 204f ,the problem was caused by one of the boiler side caising burning through and we were unable to repair it with out a complete shut down

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??