# Bank Line - MV Ettrickbank & MV Myrtlebank



## hfjulian (Jun 17, 2007)

Hi all,
Does anyone have any information regarding the above mentioned ships?
I am after anything to do with the engines, and when the ship was built.
My grandfather was on them as 2nd Engineer from 16/6/42 - May 1946.
Thanks,
Hannah


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## John Crossland (May 11, 2007)

Hi Hannah,

Try the following

http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/

Cheers from Wainuiomata,
John


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Hannah
Ettrickbank was scrapped in 1962 and Myrtlebank in 1960


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## hfjulian (Jun 17, 2007)

*Thanks!*

Thanks guys, that website is marvellous!
Finding everything I'm looking for on this website, plus a whole lot more!
Thanks to both of you gentlemen!
Hannah (A)


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

MV Ettrickbank Doxford engine 4 cylinder 2S CSA 23 5/8" x 91 5/16ths".

MV Myrtlebank H&W diesel 6 cylinder 4S CSA 24 13/16 x 37 13/16ths"


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## David E (Jul 17, 2007)

*Myrtlebank*

I was an Apprentice in the "Myrtlebank" in 1949-1950.IF memory serves she was twin screw, with Burmeister and Wayne,blast injection injection diesel engines.Rated for twelve knots,she struggled to manage ten,and that with a following wind.There was a fixed routine at the end of a long voyage.The engines were stopped in turn and the inlet valves were overhauled.Failing this.there was no certainty that the engines would restart after the first port movement.The American pilots in the Panama canal blanched at the sight of her and insisted in a tug at bow and stern for the canal transit.Small starting air reservoirs limited the number of port engine movements that could be made.One of my happier memories,the engines failing to start as we moved remorselessly across Kiddepore docks,embedding ourselves in a "busti".
Unmodernised in 1950 she was a horrible 1925 relic-no running fresh water,baths out of buckets, that had to be heated on the galley stove.


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## the yard (Jun 1, 2005)

*Myrtlebank*

*Yard No.* 683 

*Vessel Type* Cargo Ship 
*Built* Govan Yard, Glasgow 
*Launch Date* Thursday 29 October 1925 
*Slip No.* 3	
*Handover Date* Tuesday 29 December 1925 
*Owner* Bank Line Ltd 
*Weight	* 5150 grt	
*BP Length* 420 Feet	
*OA Length* 434-9 Feet	
*Breath* 53-9 Feet	
*No. of Screws* Twin 
*Speed (Approx.)* 10.5 Knots 
*Propulsion* Two 1,550 ihp Harland and Wolff B&W Engines


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## KenLin39 (Apr 30, 2005)

I have a nice photo of the Myrtlebank but cannot post owing to possible copyright. Please PM me if interested. Ken.


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## John Campbell (Aug 30, 2005)

David E said:


> I was an Apprentice in the "Myrtlebank" in 1949-1950.IF memory serves she was twin screw, with Burmeister and Wayne,blast injection injection diesel engines.Rated for twelve knots,she struggled to manage ten,and that with a following wind.There was a fixed routine at the end of a long voyage.The engines were stopped in turn and the inlet valves were overhauled.Failing this.there was no certainty that the engines would restart after the first port movement.The American pilots in the Panama canal blanched at the sight of her and insisted in a tug at bow and stern for the canal transit.Small starting air reservoirs limited the number of port engine movements that could be made.One of my happier memories,the engines failing to start as we moved remorselessly across Kiddepore docks,embedding ourselves in a "busti".
> Unmodernised in 1950 she was a horrible 1925 relic-no running fresh water,baths out of buckets, that had to be heated on the galley stove.


David, you brought back vivid memories of this class of Bank boats in which I too served my time. Those who were apprentices on these fine vessels will recall the daily trudge up to the monkey island with buckets of water to fill the water tanks for the old man's bathroom. 
I will never forget looking down the engine room skylights and seeing the two agwallahs grinding valves on the top platform in a blue haze of fumes. These engine rooms were truly hellholes for the engineers.
Who could forget watchkeeping on the m.v.Clydebank the vessel on which I served six months — you had the smell of curry on the starboard wing as the galley was abeam the foremast and then when you shifted to the Port wing your nostrils were assailed by the foul smells from the crew toilets — they had no bathrooms and showered from a bucket on deck. we had no bathroom either but a compactum ( I think you called it - but I may be wrong ) which easily overflowed. 
Happy days
JC


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## David E (Jul 17, 2007)

John Campbell said:


> David, you brought back vivid memories of this class of Bank boats in which I too served my time. Those who were apprentices on these fine vessels will recall the daily trudge up to the monkey island with buckets of water to fill the water tanks for the old man's bathroom.
> I will never forget looking down the engine room skylights and seeing the two agwallahs grinding valves on the top platform in a blue haze of fumes. These engine rooms were truly hellholes for the engineers.
> Who could forget watchkeeping on the m.v.Clydebank the vessel on which I served six months — you had the smell of curry on the starboard wing as the galley was abeam the foremast and then when you shifted to the Port wing your nostrils were assailed by the foul smells from the crew toilets — they had no bathrooms and showered from a bucket on deck. we had no bathroom either but a compactum ( I think you called it - but I may be wrong ) which easily overflowed.
> Happy days
> JC


John
Memories,Memories. I was lucky that I escaped from the Myrtlebank in 1950 and spent the next two years in the Inchanga.A happy ship in a different world.Give Bank line their due, they gutted and modernised the accomodation in the Myrtlebank in 1952-I was in her,briefly, on a "hotel" basis in Colombo in 1952, waiting for passage home. The Forresbank,where I finished my time in '52-'53 had also been brought up to the same standard.The upgrading did not extend to the crew galley or the crew toilets,so the traditional watchkeeping odours remained.The Myrtlebank was not the worst ship I sailed in,that laurel rests with the the Lochybank,a decaying and filthy ex-Empire relic.
For all that,Bank line taught me well and some of the runs were briilliant- loading sugar in the small Cuban ports, in the pre Castro period:the copra passage through the Pacific Islands,nitrates from Punta Arenas and the India-South Africa circuit.Long gone 

Regards
David E


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## John Campbell (Aug 30, 2005)

David,
I agree ,although perhaps not aware of it at the time, we were fortunate to have served our time in Bank Line when we saw more of the world and learned our trade in a great company. 

Leaving the t.s.m.v. "Clydebank" I completed my time on a two year trip on the Eskbank - she was like a yacht and well run under Capts Eadie and then Capt Allan.

Yes you are right - the copra run and the sugar run between Auckland and Fiji were something else. I finished my career running crude from Rastanura to the Mexican Gulf on a VLCC and was thankful that I saw those exotic ports when I did. I was showing my family a pic I took of Robert Louis Stevenson's 
grave which I took in Apia in 1957 -what a momento that was.
JC


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