# Bouyancy Tanks



## nick olass (Apr 30, 2009)

Most ships today are built with inner and outer hulls, but I remember going aboard ships, to measure up for bouyancy tanks, I then went back to the works to manufacture the tanks, then returned to the ship to fit them. We used a type of sheet brass [muntz metal] which was very easy to work with.
For some reason, the crew hated these bouyancy tanks, but I never found out why, because if the ship sprung a leak, the tanks presumably would keep the vessel afloat. This was in the 60s, and I for one loved the job, because it meant that I could go into the galley, where the cook would do me an enormous fry-up. Cor I can smell the bacon now just thinking about it.

Nick(Thumb)


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

nick olass said:


> Most ships today are built with inner and outer hulls, but I remember going aboard ships, to measure up for bouyancy tanks, I then went back to the works to manufacture the tanks, then returned to the ship to fit them. We used a type of sheet brass [muntz metal] which was very easy to work with.
> For some reason, the crew hated these bouyancy tanks, but I never found out why, because if the ship sprung a leak, the tanks presumably would keep the vessel afloat. This was in the 60s, and I for one loved the job, because it meant that I could go into the galley, where the cook would do me an enormous fry-up. Cor I can smell the bacon now just thinking about it.
> 
> Nick(Thumb)


I imagine these tanks for for very small vessels . A ship would not take up cargo space with bouyancy tanks .
Derek


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## nick olass (Apr 30, 2009)

Derek Roger said:


> I imagine these tanks for for very small vessels . A ship would not take up cargo space with bouyancy tanks .
> Derek


Derek

The tanks were only about 12" wide and hugged the sides of what I presume was a single hull. They were made in sections about 48" x 48" and followed the exact contour of the hull. I can't remember how big the ships were, but there were many dozens of tanks along both sides, sometimes stacked ontop of each other. Does this help you.

Regards Nick(Thumb)


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## John Briggs (Feb 12, 2006)

For me it deepens the mystery somewhat.
Lifeboats had buoyancy tanks but I have never heard of a ship with them.
You say the ship's cook would do a fry up for you in the galley so it was probably a reasonable size vessel. You also say you measured up for the tanks yourself, are you sure you weren't measuring lifeboats?
The crew probably disliked them as they had to be painted with zinc chromate and it was a fiddly & messy job.


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

Nick, 
Did you work for Gledhills?
They were a company in Liverpool which made all sorts of copper and brass tanks and cylinders, mainly for the plumbing, heating, and ventilation trade but also for marine use.
The main works is in Blackpool, and interestingly, the president of the company, named Keith Gledhill, used to be a purser on the Queen Mary.
I have only ever seen bouyancy tanks fitted in small craft such as lifeboats and launches.
Regards, 
Pat


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## John Hebblewhite (Jul 9, 2009)

Are we talking buoyancy tanks for wooden lifeboats. I remember these and they had to be removed and coated with boiled linseed oil. What a job.


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## nick olass (Apr 30, 2009)

Gentlemen, the bouyancy tanks were definately fitted snug against the insides of the hull of the ship and definately not the lifeboats. The ship was docked 'I think' in the Alexander at the bottom of Strand Road Bootle, we used to walk with the tanks on handcarts down the steep slope of Strand Road and into the dock. I used to work just off Strand Road in an engineers and ships chandlers called Manufactureres [Liverpool] Ltd, They no longer exist. Sorry I can't help you with the name of the ship, but a lot of the crew
spoke in a language I did not understand.

Regards Nick.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

I recall the dockyard copper smiths used to make up buoyancy tanks to fit the curvature of a navy whaler's or cutter's hull , usually snug to the bilges and under the thwarts.
They were tradesmen to be admired with the neatness of their work.
Can't say that the tanks would have an application on a ship of any size though.

Bob


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