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DESMOULEA

Submitted by Kees Helder on Thu, 04/16/2015 - 11:05
About

Completed 1939 as"DESMOULEA" for Anglo-Saxon. 1941 torpedoed by destroyer near Crete, towed to Suda Bay. 1941 torpedoed by aircraft off Suez. Towed through Suez Canal to Bombay. 11-1942 taken over by M.O.W.T (Anglo-Saxon) as storage ship Empire Thane. 1947 towed back to UK and renamed "DESMOULEA". 1955 laid-up. 22-3-1961 arrived Hong Kong for scrapping.

Also known as
Empire Thane
Desmoulea
IMO number
1167378
Call sign
GCXX
Construction number
920
Tonnage
12.120 ton
Beam
18m
Length overall
147m
Year of construction
1939
Year of renaming/broken up
1961
Service for Shell
1939 to 1961
Cargo
Crude and white oil products
Class
D-class 12.000 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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DONACILLA (1)
DONAX (2)
DONOVANIA (1)
DORCASIA (1)
DORSANUM
DORYSSA
DOSINIA
DROMUS (1)
DRUPA (1)
Photo(s)

Comments

Submitted by Bernard Reynolds on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 12:14

Submitted by Bernard Reynolds on Sun, 01/09/2011 - 15:16

Submitted by Hugh Brazell on Mon, 09/12/2011 - 23:25

Sailors

Name Job Period Details
William Loughlin captain (commanding officer) 1940 to 1942
Hugh Brazell deck apprentice 1949 to 1950
Tony Ramsey deck apprentice 1949 to 1950
Derek Senior deck apprentice 1958
Bernard Reynolds deck apprentice 1958
George Mackison junior engineer 1959 to 1960
James A. Taylor 5th engineer 1959 to 1960

Anecdotes

Date Visitor Anecdote
09/12/2011 - 23:25 Hugh Brazell

Voyages of a Tramp Tanker
1949 - 1950

Desmoulea

Owners: Shell Tanker Co.

Built: 1939

Rebuilt: 1948-1949
Rebuilding was required as a result of being torpedoed twice during the 1939-1945 war.

Tankers of the Shell fleet were all named after seashells which accounts for some of the peculiar names in their fleet.

I joined the motor ship Desmoulea at Falmouth, UK in mid-May 1949 for her second maiden voyage, serving as a deck apprentice. I stayed on the ship for 17 months before being relieved for leave at Barry, UK when the ship was put into dry dock for repairs and painting.
The following account of voyages is recorded inside the front cover of the copy of the Nories Nautical Tables in the Museum. The record serves to show the wide travel scale of a utility tanker ? small enough to enter most ports but big enough to be reasonably economical and capable of carrying cargos of mixed products at the same time, e.g., gasoline and diesel fuel. The 17 month voyage is shown on the following page. The ship was crewed by British Deck Officers and Engineers with Chinese crew members.

1949 - 1950 Voyage Record of the Desomoulea

Falmouth, England
to
Curacao, Dutch West Indies
to
Buenos Aires, Argentina
to
Curacao, Dutch West Indies
to
Barcelona, Spain
to
Aruba, Dutch West Indies
to
Turku, Finland
to
Kotka, Finland
to
Szczecin, Poland
to
London, England
to
Aruba, Dutch West Indies
to
Dublin, Ireland
to
Falmouth, England
to
Curacao, Dutch West Indies
to
Haifa, Israel
to
Abadan,Iran
to
Madras , India
to
Calcutta, India
to
Pladju, Sumatra
to
Pulo Bukom, Singapore
to
Brisbane, Australia
to
Gladstone, Australia

to Pladju, Sumatra
to
Pulo Bukom, Singapore
to
Tandjong Oeban, Indonesia
to
Soerabaya, Java
to
Pusan, Korea (the day war broke out)
to
Miri, Sarawak/Brunei
to
Pulo Bukom, Singapore
to
Balik Papan, Borneo
to
Miri, Sarawak/Brunei
to
Pulo Bukom, Singapore
to
Capetown, South Africa
to
Curacao, Dutch West Indies
to
Rotterdam, Holland
to
Bergen, Norway
to
Aalesund, Norway
to
Barry, Wales (UK)
01/09/2011 - 15:16 Bernard Reynolds

Connell House Singapore. I stayed at Connell House in the late 50's and early 60's when I was a D/App and 3/O. The Mission to Seaman organised many activities and there was a lovely swimming pool and bar. We were woken every morning with a cup of tea. The longest I stayed there was for 3 weeks waiting for a homeward bound ship. Being an Apprentice on ?9 a month we didn't have much money but after 3 days we got a dohbi allowance of $3 per day which was enough to have a beer and go to the Cathay cinema. If we were down to our last dollar we would wait until someone had lost some money in the fruit machine then nip in and win enough for a few beers. The Padre organised dancing lessons and a lovely Chinese girl taught me the Cha Cha cha. I later taught my wife and when we took our children on holidays we won quite a few prizeson this dance. One of the pranks we used to get up to in Singapore was to get into seperate taxis and tell the drivers whoever arrived first at our destination he would get an extra dollar. When senior officers did this the Company wasn't amused when one of them ended up in hosptal with a broken neck after crashing into a monsoon drain.
There is a web site for Connel House and several Shell Tankers Staff and other seafarers have made comments on it. Colin Mclean and I sailed home on the Tectus.
10/18/2009 - 12:14 Bernard Reynolds

Spent 6 months on the Indian coast loading at the shell terminal on Butchers Island, Bombay. Discharging at Cochin, Madras and Budgie Budgie (Calcutta).
When berthing in Bombay one time, the pilot signaled to a coal burning tug which was assisting us to berth to come in and push us into the Jetty. The tug Captain put his telegraph to full ahead. When he went full astern his telegraph link to the engine room failed. He hit with such a wallop that we spent 3 weeks in the dockyard having a plate rivited to our starboard side. Needless to say we had a good time.