Marine Engineers

[Invernahaille]

Doesn't look well maintained either.

[chinatyke]

A couple we knew back in the 1980s, who were in their fifties, used to take their holiday by getting a cabin on a banana boat to the Caribbean and back. I think they might have sailed from Cardiff. I wonder if many other people did that for holidays?

I know Fyffes sailed to Barry Island in the 1970s, perhaps they went from there.

[Stanley]

I once enquired about taking passage to Oz on a container ship and it looked like a good deal to me. The thing I remember is that it was only possible on a ship that carried its own doctor.
Live cattle travelling that distance is a crime against the animals in my opinion. It must be cheaper than slaughter in NZ and a reefer.
I've picked up Irish store cattle from the lairage in Birkenhead and they travelled well but of course only a short crossing and they weren't for slaughter but rearing so no other way to do it. The staff at the lairage were very good with them and showed me how they could identify individual lots among hundreds of beasts in a large pen. I was impressed by the organisation.

[Stanley]

Later.... He wasn't as lucky as we thought David. News this morning that the poor bloke has died.

[Invernahaille]

Elder Dempster where renowned, for their cargo passenger ships. Mainly on the African west coast trade.
Even Ellerman's big four, Cities of York, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Exeter. Where passenger cargo ships.
Tilbury to Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth.
Sir John Reeves Ellerman Jr. Retired to South Africa. He would always travel on his favourite ship the SS City of Oxford.
The last of the Ellerman Steamers.

CityOfOxford.jpg

[Tizer]

Writing about banana boats reminded me of how as a lad I would go to Preston to spot engines at the station and shed but sometimes, for a change, I'd go to the docks and look at the ships. In those days you could just walk in and wander about as you pleased! I've just looked on the web and see that `Preston Dock opened in 1892 and, at the time, was the largest single dock in the country' and `Despite never being a major port, Preston Dock was the first to introduce roll on roll off traffic and ferry transport. This led to the port holding the record for handling the largest amount of container and ferry traffic by the 1960s'. Visit Preston web site

[Invernahaille]

Tizer,
I never sailed in or out of Preston, but I have been there a few times, I think the last time I was there was, to board, the IOMSPCO ship Manxman,
Which had been converted to a nightclub. When I left I was mortified to see the condition she was in, having sailed on her to the I.O.M as a passenger.
Converting ships into nightclubs, simply doesnt work.
Yes, they make money for their new owners in the short term, but when the novelty wears out, they become a liability. The Manxman went on to be sold to a preservation society, and her history is well documented, earlier in this thread.
Another ship that comes to light, is the Duke of Lancaster, which is on the River Dee, in North Wales. There are some videos about it on, Youtube.
Same scenario.
Just a ghost ship now.
So sad.

[Tripps]

I learned about the banana trade from an interference case where Filipino seamen were holding inter-ship bible classes whilst in transit from South America to Europe, over the radio, and had chosen (perhaps at random) a frequency used by trans Atlantic aircraft. It took a while to work out what the language was, and to identify the company and ships involved.

[Stanley]

That sounds like an interesting bit of eavesdropping David!

[Tizer]

In the Balkan Baltic states (Latvia etc) they make a lot of money out of people coming from other countries to hold their stag and hen parties. These are now often on small ships and boats permanently moored in the harbours. I wonder if it gets around some kind of regulation?

[Tripps]

Have they moved - used to be in the Baltic.

[Tizer]

Thanks! It's not the first time I've made that mistake.

[Stanley]

Moving the Balkans to the Baltic sounds like a good idea to me.

[Invernahaille]

https://www.worldabandoned.com/wp-conte ... 24x641.jpg
https://www.worldabandoned.com/wp-conte ... caster.jpg
Photos of TSS duke of Lancaster,

[Invernahaille]

I also read about the PS Waverley hitting the pier at brodick.
That is one Ships Master who will not be in command of a vessel for a while.

[Stanley]

And quite right. Old ladies deserve better treatment Robert!

[Invernahaille]

It wasnt the damage to the PS Waverley.
You just cant go about injuring fare paying passengers.

[Stanley]

That also Robert, I didn't know any had been injured.
I mentioned troopships yesterday and this morning tripped over this in the archive.



The Beltana was used to ferry the Anzacs from Australia to Europe in the Great War.

[Invernahaille]

Poor guys. Gallipoli. What a fiasco.

[Stanley]

The Beltana leaving Brisbane with troops in 1917.

[plaques]

And when the troops were brought home the ships carrying the injured were held back until the landing quays where cleared of the general public. Thank you Mr Churchill master military strategist.

[Tizer]

Near the end of WW2 my father returned from his RAF role in South Africa aboard a troopship, the Canton. I think it later sank but I'm not sure whether it was enemy action or some other cause. Note the spotter plane on the catapult. The ship must have had guns because the RAF men had to play their part as gunners.

[Stanley]

You can see from that pic how effective the dazzle camouflage was.



My experience of HM troopships was the Empire Parkeston, Harwich to the Hook, a former German cattle ship I think. She was fast!

[Tizer]

Back to the Canton...When I was doing my family history research about 15 years ago I could find very little information on the web about the Canton and only two photos, the one shown above and another the size of a cigarette card. How things have changed, I now find much more! Here's one example: LINK which shows she was the P&O liner Canton (launched 1938), requisitioned by the Admiralty in October 1939 and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. The final paragraph of the history is relevant to my father's return to the UK at the end of the war: `On 10 April 1944 returned and used as troopship by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). On 28 September 1947 returned to owner.'

This web site has much more about the Canton and plenty of pictures: LINK

Incidentally, one of the web sites said the floatplane she carried was a `Kingfisher'. I'd never hear of such an aircraft but find it's the Vought OS2U Kingfisher: Wikipedia It has the unusual configuration of one big float under the fuselage and one small float under each wing. At other times the Canton carried a Fairy Seafox float biplane.

[Stanley]

You're right about the coverage of ships on the web Peter. I found no end of images of the Beltana from all those years ago and a diary of a bloke who did the trip to Europe on her which was the first clue I got that father had never been on her, his whole story of his WW1 experience was a legend! Fascinating discoveries and it made no difference to how I regard him. he did the best he could with the cards dealt to him. (Advert: See 'An Australian Life' on Lulu.com.)