TECTARIUS

About

Completed 1944 as Cahawba for U.S.M.C. 1947 purchased by STUK and renamed "TECTARIUS". 7-1959 laid-up Lough Swilly. 28-6-1961 arrived Faslane for scrap.

Also known as
Cahawba
IMO number
2245695
Call sign
GBMN
Construction number
278
Tonnage
16.678 ton
Beam
21m
Length overall
169m
Year of construction
1944
Year of renaming/broken up
1961
Service for Shell
1947 to 1961
Cargo
Class
Flag state
Home port
Manager
Shipyard
Status
Photo(s)

Comments

Sailors

Anecdotes

Date Visitor Anecdote
09/03/2009 - 11:25 Christopher Butcher

I also was a crew member on Tectarius in the 1950,s. I am now 73. On the Tectarius I was one of two Ships Stewards. I remember leaving the American or Canadian Northeast coast in late winter. The ship had been told to" go now or be iced in solid ,till next spring". We did go, but in the following days went through the worst storms that anyone on board could remember. I remember one of the deck Engineers saying it was worse than the seas in the film "The Caine Mutiny." The waves were like rolling foaming mountains. We headed straight into them & as they crashed over the ship they froze on the rigging. It was freezing and the ship turned white with thick encrusted ice. As the ship crested the waves, then bore down into the troughs, she would shudder from side to side going ever deeper till the front end sometimes disappeared before being flung up again. The engines stopped at one time & we were in danger. In our stewards cabin the porthole burst in & flooded the cabin floor with freezing water. The engines were restarted & I remember taking tea to the bridge officers dressed in a cardboard box & struggling along the centre walkway. Tectarius was a happy ship.