THAUMASTUS | Helderline.com

THAUMASTUS

Submitted by Kees Helder on Tue, 04/21/2015 - 11:54

About

Completed 1945 as White Sands for U.S.M.C. 1947 purchased by STUK and renamed "THAUMASTUS". 7-1959 laid-up Lough Swilly. 3-7-1961 arrived Blyth for scrap.

Also known as	White Sands
IMO number	2247390
Call sign	GDTS
Construction number	125
Tonnage	16.478 ton
Beam	21m
Length overall	169m
Year of construction	1945
Year of renaming/broken up	1961
Service for Shell	1947 to 1961
Cargo	Crude and white oil products
Class	T2
Flag state	Great Britain
Home port	London
Manager	Anglo-Saxon / Shell Tankers U.K.
Shipyard	Kaiser Inc.Portland Oregon USA
Status	Sailing / Sailed for Anglo-Saxon / Shell Tankers UK / STUK

Photo(s)

Comments

1036-562-145

Permalink Submitted by Mike Offord on Fri, 07/11/2014 - 10:41

1271-562-9014

Permalink Submitted by Geoff Doherty on Sat, 10/15/2016 - 12:08

Sailors

Name	Job	Period
Derek Greenhough	2nd mate	1947 to 1948
Patrick H. Tann	radio officer	1949 to 1950
David Brown	edh (ab)	1952 to 1953
Geoff Taylor	junior ordinary seaman	1953 to 1954
Kenneth Hodgson	5th engineer	1953 to 1954
C.j.h. Ennion	deck apprentice	1953 to 1954
John E Coulthard	5th engineer	1955
David Michael Oakley	apprentice engineer	1955 to 1956
John Michael Co...	2nd mate	1956 to 1957
David Golding Zig	deck apprentice	1957
Colin Mclean	deck apprentice	1957 to 1958
Frank Kneebone	deck apprentice	1958
Mike Daymond	apprentice engineer	1958 to 1959
John Williams	5th engineer, 4th engineer	1958 to 1959
Mike Offord	deck apprentice	1958 to 1959
Leslie Henry Stocker	able seaman	1958 to 1959
Barrie E. Dakers Bas	5th engineer	1958
David Golding Zig	deck apprentice	1958
G. Curnow	crewman	1959 to 1962
Ken Woad	deck apprentice	1959

Anecdotes

Date	Visitor	Anecdote
10/15/2016 - 12:08	Geoff Doherty	Joined on 25th July, 1958 when ship was laid up in Firth of Forth, she was basically a dead ship at that time with nothing, absolutely nothing, working on board. About 5 of us, all engineers I think, were put on board with a drum of diesel fuel and told to get the ship working asap so she could sail to Rotterdam for dry dock. The diesel was to get a generator working so we could have power and lighting. There was a superintendent in part time attendance but he stayed ashore in a hotel, we lived on the ship whilst we got it ready. Over the next few days we got her working as a skeleton crew joined and we sailed for Rotterdam on 29th July. The ship was in dry dock from 4th August until 25th September when we set sail for Fao in Persian Gulf. I remained on the ship until 19th April 1959 when I was paid off, coincidentally in Rotterdam. Hard work but thoroughly enjoyed it. .
07/11/2014 - 10:41	Mike Offord	Joined Thaumastus as a 2nd year apprentice 1958 in Rosyth where she had been laid up with a cargo of fuel oil. Sailed to Rotterdam and then spent four weeks there, firstly heating up the cargo so it could finally be pumped out, then tank-cleaning, followed by a complete dry dock and refit. Things must have been looking up for Shell. During the docking, we watched the nearby launch of the SS Rotterdam, Holland's new trans-Atlantic liner, by the Queen. Thaumastus then embarked on a world-wide tour, crossing the Pacific twice - once from Singapore to Anacortez, then again from Curacao to Sydney. For some weeks we were stuck on the Paldju-Singapore run. It happened to be the time when Surkano took over Indonesia with some violence, so we were evacuating Dutch familes and their belongings each trip, kiddies, wives and refinery staff and all their stuff to Singapore. At that time, we dare not lie alongside at night, so moved off and anchored in the lagoon durinbg the dark. My most vivid meory is of what appeared to be 12-year old "soldiers" all hung about with hand grenades and machine guns, stealing everything not welded down. Mike Offord