DORCASIA (1)

About

Completed 1938 as "DORCASIA" for Anglo-Saxon. Arrived in Falmouth for lay up in the River Fal on 3-5-1953 and sailed under tow of the tugs Englishman and Merchantman for Newcastle on 3-1-1956. 1-7-1960 arrived Faslane for scrapping.

IMO number
1166531
Call sign
GJGT
Construction number
908
Tonnage
12.053 ton
Beam
18m
Length overall
147m
Year of construction
1938
Year of renaming/broken up
1960
Service for Shell
1938 to 1960
Cargo
Class
Flag state
Home port
Manager
Shipyard
Status
Photo(s)

Comments

Sailors

Anecdotes

Date Visitor Anecdote
01/07/2021 - 15:27 saw615

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 And wrote extensively about oil drilling in Venezuela, and refining in Curacao, and while the book is thoroughly out of date regarding current knowledge of oil extraction and refining, it provides a fascinating portrait of the oil workers and management, as well as technical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

04/25/2016 - 09:26 Vicki Doherty

I remembered recently that a mate of my father's - Tony Bishop from Strood, England - was (I think) First Mate on the SS Dorcasia, a Shell Tanker that called into Melbourne when I was a child. Our family went to visit him on the ship and had a tour of it. My two vivid memories are being inside the funnel (!) and seeing the rec room with the 'world's largest jigsaw'. The other memory is the 'duty free' goodies we went away with - Customs being non-existent in those carefree days! Someone might remember Tony, who sadly passed away some years ago. Cheers, Vicki, Melbourne Aus.

08/10/2013 - 04:26 David Barrott

I remember dry-docking in Bombay and finding the 40ft of bilge keel was missing. I believe it was found on the bottom of the dock at Stanlow.

05/03/2012 - 19:10 Gregor Addison

My father Charles Addison served on the MV Dorcasia in the late 50s. He remembers travelling up the River Hooghly in India to Budge Budge and has told me stories of going to Port Sudan, Venezuela, Curacao, and so on. I believe she was Scrapped at Faslane in the 60s. I know he has some photographs taken on the boat.