PATELLA (3)

About

Completed 1946 as "PATELLA" for STUK as a bitumen carrier. 9-1967 scrapped Brugge.

IMO number
5181581
Call sign
GLRB
Construction number
1316
Tonnage
8.277 ton
Beam
18m
Length overall
147m
Year of construction
1946
Year of renaming/broken up
1967
Service for Shell
1946 to 1967
Cargo
Class
Flag state
Home port
Manager
Shipyard
Status
Photo(s)

Comments

Sailors

Anecdotes

Date Visitor Anecdote
02/15/2017 - 01:09 Geoff Gill

My late brother, Peter Gill, served as Radio Officer on the Patella, and other Shell tankers, in the mid 1960s. He had a rather scary time on the Patella - which he recalled was not in great shape - when she broke down during the tail end of a hurricane in the Caribbean.

08/04/2016 - 14:59 Mick Worsfold

1964 , 8 weeks at training school VINDICATRIX Sharpness Gloucester , signed on for Shell at royal docks London . Flew in a twin engine plane from Luton to Lisbon Portugal for a hotel stop waiting for Patella to arrive and change crew. Off across the Atlantic to Curacao and up the coast of America to New York and Baltimore, back to Curacao then to Copenhagen ,shaft problems in the north sea ,drifting in the fog, limped into Sunderland dry dock , didn't fancy 3 months with no water so signed off .A real experience for me at 17 years old . I think it was a good way to grow up and se some exciting places .( New York worlds fair , Times square and the statue of liberty ,empire state building )

02/13/2014 - 16:22 John Deakin

One of the dirtiest ship I ever sailed on. In 1963 I was 4th engineer going from Cuarcao to Lisbon (one of the very view times she crossed the Atlantic). We sprang a major leak in the aft end right behind the boilers about two days sailing from the Azores. We had to do some emergency repairs to get into the Azores where we managed to demolish have of the small key. Smit Tac waited for some "salvage" but in the end gave up. I don't think by this time she was worth much!!

02/28/2012 - 19:51 Ken Heiser

Remember this one well, as if it was yesterday, Captain Charlie Owston Shell's answer to Captain Bligh.....say no more!!!!
Bitumen loaded at Curacao, discharged at Guayquil in Eqador for the new runway at Quito airport.
Patella was one to miss, the heat was intense, the cheese sanwiches made by the Steward I remember melted into the bread it was so hot, and the air conditioning was almost non existent.
Loaded trip from Curacao to Dakar and then to Lisbon. Crew change in Lisbon, removal of old crew before new crew joining, four new crew refused to join due to conditions on board, paid their own way home.
Captain McLean joined thank-goodness! Back then to Curacao where I left vessel, stayed at super hotel on beach for 12 days awaiting the Hinea. Shell Port Superintendent in Curacao trained me in scuba diving for which I was eternally grateful in my future career. The experience of diving off the coral reef at the north end of Curacao was a memory which I will allway's remember. If that Superintentent is still alive, thank you so much. When ever the ship I was working on was in Curacao, in my off duty time we would go scuba diving.