# unusual discharge of cargo



## malachy (Jul 10, 2006)

Please keep this clean!!!!! who can come up with the most unusual discharge of tanker cargo(spillage doesn't count) from ship to shore.
I'll start off with the discharge of crude into a hulk of an old tanker and then this was pumped into railway tankers and then I think transported to a refinery .(Split,Yugoslavia 1971 SS Cerinthus, Hadley Shipping co/Houlders)
Vinny


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## non descript (Nov 18, 2005)

I cannot match that story from “The world’s favourite Tanker”, but on the James Cook we took a part cargo in to Port Vila, in what was then the New Hebrides, but discharge was on the general cargo berth into a very small road tanker, that took about 6 minutes to fill and about 4 hours to disappear and return for the next load. All in all the operation took about 3 days, which was not bad, as Mrs Tonga was on board…Indeed it was at that time she took the picture of the *flying coconut*. (Thumb)


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## Plane Sailing (Sep 13, 2008)

Unusual cargo discharges eh? Got lots of stories about those but I think the one which still has me wakening up in a cold sweat was when I was C/O aboard a certain VLCC - no names to protect the guilty  - which had been hit by an exocet during the Iran Iraq war. The ship was destined for scrap but was bought off the beach and resumed trading - you can imagine the problems.

We loaded a cargo in Kharg Island for discharge in Santa Panagia in Sicily. The loading itself was a nightmare in its own right, but the discharge...... I lost all the main cargo pumps due to a variety of technical and mechanical problems during the discharge, the hydraulics for the ballast system packed up and the permanent ballast had to be put in using fire hoses 'over the top'. Ultimately I ended up with only the stripping pump working.

It took a full eight days to discharge the cargo and at the time I held the record for the longest ever discharge of a VLCC at the terminal - a record I hope no one else has the misfortune to ever beat.

Still, in those days we prided ourselves in our ability to be adaptable and deal with whatever problems we encountered. Changed days now methinks?


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

I was 1 A/E on a US Navy Military Sea Command T2 when the Boatswain came down the engine room and asked me if I had any spare empty five gallon cans. I showed him the few that I had. He explained that we had just received orders to drop off 25 BBLS of diesel in the Azores, and Boats thought maybe we could just hand it to them in five's as we went past.

We tied up at the town dock and shore workers brought aboard a 3/4 inch garden hose. We used a reciprocating steam stripper running very slowly to discharge our 25 bbls cargo. 

The hose just ran along the dock out into the street then lying between the tram tracks. We were there five days -- 5 bbls daily, pumping cargo only 9 AM to 5 PM. We followed the hose as it ran out onto the street and up a hill to a US Military Radar Station. The diesel was their emergency diesel generator fuel supply.

Greg Hayden


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## R831814 (Jun 9, 2006)

I was 2nd Mate on the Shell-Mex coastal tanker "Falmouth" many years ago. We had a period of taking Fuel Oil from Stanlow to a Power Station in Liverpool Docks. Can't remember which dock but I think it was just North of the Pier Head. 
We then left the dock, light ship, and lightened a larger tanker which was anchored in the Mersey just off the lock entrance. We took that cargo to Stanlow and repeated the process again. Talk about being knackered. Didn't know if we were coming or going (==D)


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## red devil (Nov 11, 2008)

In January 1970 I was an apprentice onboard the 16000dwt BP tanker "British Splendour" which loaded a cargo of crude oil for the Finnish refinery at Skoldvik which was running short of oil because of ice in the Baltic/Gulf of Finland.
We were assisted through the ice for many hours by the icebreaker "Voima" which left us at Skoldvik were the pilot walked out to the ship and climbed onboard by wooden ladder! The ice was so thick at the jetty we were unable to get alongside and the only part of the ship anywhere near was the bow.A decision was taken to leave her were she was and with shore help several lengths of hose were laid from the manifold through the centrecastle up the foredeck and over the bow to the connection on the jetty! I don't think a mooring rope was used at any time during this event and I still hate cold weather!!


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

Reg Mercer said:


> I was 2nd Mate on the Shell-Mex coastal tanker "Falmouth" many years ago. We had a period of taking Fuel Oil from Stanlow to a Power Station in Liverpool Docks. Can't remember which dock but I think it was just North of the Pier Head.
> We then left the dock, light ship, and lightened a larger tanker which was anchored in the Mersey just off the lock entrance. We took that cargo to Stanlow and repeated the process again. Talk about being knackered. Didn't know if we were coming or going (==D)



I seem to remember this process going on,the power station was at Clarence Dock, and in the early sixties it was converted from coal fired to oil fired. Cammell Laird carried out the conversion. I remember seeing that little tanker to-ing and fro-ing for a while. It looked to me a desirable job at the time, because I was courting and was'nt too keen on deep sea.
Regards, 
Pat


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## sidsal (Nov 13, 2007)

In 1952 I was 2nd Mate on the Esso Stockholm - 36,000 tons and one of the larger world tankers then. We traded from Aruba to east coast US ports and despite our supposed to have a month off after 5 months we were kept out there.
The refinery at Aruba was fed by a fleet of "mosquito tankers" from Amuay Bay Bay at the head of Maracaibo Lake. If I remember rightly the distance from Amuay Bay to Aruba was 54 miles. The crews pf the mosquito fleet were paid in dollars and when the pound was devalued their wages went up considerably. The powers that be had a brilliant idea - they laid up the mosquito fleet and had the Stockholm feed the refinery. You can imagine what a workhouse she was - loading - 4 hour passage - discharging. This went on until everyone was about to down tools so they would then send us on a trip to Boston or Bayonne or Portland. Then back again to the short trip.


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