| Also known as | San Fabian |
|---|---|
| IMO number | 5309683 |
| Call sign | GVCC |
| Construction number | 1235 |
| Tonnage | 19.349 ton |
| Beam | 21m |
| Length overall | 169m |
| Year of construction | 1956 |
| Year of renaming/broken up | 1975 |
| Service for Shell | 1959 to 1975 |
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HASTULA (1)
Sailors
Anecdotes
| Date | Visitor | Anecdote |
|---|---|---|
| 10/07/2014 - 17:22 | Nick Roberts |
I joined her as 2nd trip cadet in 1974 trading out east, she was not one of the regular "Siagon Flyers" of the time (which had been going on for some years?) - but we seemed to get our share during this trip.... A trip when the yanks had already left, found the tank farm alight from enemy attack. It was standard practice to put 2 or 3 rubber dingy alongside the ship while alongside, and in these sat bedraggled looking south Vietnamese troops who throw percussion grenades into the water at irregular intervals to "discourage divers placing mines on the ship"... I recall that as we were about to sail on one occasion, the engineers reported a "banging" on the side of the ships hull when the steering gear was been tested.... For whatever reason this was not reported to the Captain until after we had cleared the port, at which time we turned round and went back to the anchorage for a diver inspection. The official story was that the divers found a "dent" where they believed a limpet mine had been secured, but had not detonated properly! (Or did we hit the fenders a bit hard when we had left Singapore??? Who knows - but good story!!) It was about this time that Shell instructed all the ships to remove the "Shell" pectin from the funnel (though the names remained, along with the normal colour scheme!). This was apparantly to confuse the Vietcong who were apparently threatening to destroy Shell ships who, they said, were "supplying the enemy" (We were!). Sandbags were placed on the bridgewings, and flack jackets were supplied for the bridge team - along with UN "Blue" helmets (to prove we were "neutral"?). Of course these were not supplied to the cadets who were instructed to conduct the "cargo survey" while on the way up the river!! One of the other vessels I recall, did have a helmsman killed by a sniper on this run...? |
| 11/22/2012 - 13:59 | Rogerpalmer |
Transfered from Harpula at Calcutta April 71 to join Hastula in Tokuyama Japan as a 1st trip 2nd Eng.Joined at the same time as C.Eng.G.Brown,nice chap and very helpful due to my inexperiance he must have chewed through half a dozen pipes which he inveriably had in his mouth in the 3 months I was on the ship.Rejoined the ship again in March 72 for a further 6 months,more experianced this time around. |
| 12/30/2011 - 15:35 | Dennis Allen |
I served on this ship when she was the STS San Fabian, I signed on at Middlesbrough with my brother Ken Allen who was in the engine room. She was a nice clean ship with single berth accomodation. There were still lots of dirty ships with 4 to a cabin in those days. We were to load crude in Venezuela and be back home in six weeks so had plans to do a couple of trips in her. After six months of North and South America calling in at Curacao each way we recieved orders for Cape Verde then Banias in Syria then UK. As we passed the white cliffs of Dover we had a change of orders. We were to procedd to Harburg on the Elbe in Germany. Leaving Germany we headed back to Curacao, Icould go on about this trip for a long time in fact I am writing a book which includes 23 ships. We finally returned to Middlesbrough after one year and five days. I paid off with 256 pounds, I was rich. This six week trip took from 20th February 1957 to 25th February 1958, the longest six weeks of my life. Looking back more than 50 years I would love to be able to do it all again. |
| 09/27/2009 - 22:28 | James Henry Steen |
Hello. I'm interested in knowing friends who joined Hastula 1 in the year 1965-1966. Please email me...I've got more photos. |
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