# Thirlby



## Tony D

Sailed on her on her second trip from brand new,beautiful ship, the one and only air conditioned vessel I ever sailed on, she belonged to Ropners,horrible green colour she was though,we did what was called then the San Tanker run then, one trip down to South America and one to the East coast of the USA,twas said they did that so they did not have to pay us Yanky Bonus,twas about a nine month trip, payed off by mutual agreement in Rotterdam a few days before xmas, some sculldugery by the owners went on there, had to pay me own fare home.
:bur:


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## jd0459

Hello Tony
I sailed on her twice the first time i joined her in Greece and ended up down the carribian doing the island fling then venezula to canada and back down trough panama to mexico and then the states back down to panama were i went on leave that was seven months i rejoined her in stanlow and did another six on her she was a good can but was getting on a bit but had some good times on her


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## lakercapt

Think that was the only one time that Ropners were into tankers.
She was supposed to be a great improvement from their regular ships.
Bill


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## Tony D

She was certainly the best ship I ever sailed on, modern, air conditioned, good accomodation,good feeder best crowd I ever sailed with as well,I think she also had a swimming pool but my memory may be at fault there.


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## Larry Dev

When I was in Bowaters running from Cornerbrook Newfoundland to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore etc with newsprint. The Thrilby was in Cornerbrook with us on one ocassion, the crowd were fighting all the locals including the Mounties, I think her sailing was delayed until most of the crowd that were locked up were released by the Mounties. I hope they worked as hard as they played.


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## jd0459

Larry I Rejoined The Thirlby In 74 I Had Erlyer Paid Off In Panama She Was Atlantic Bound Then Wher I Rejoined I Was Told About The Fight In Canada 
Jd


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## jd0459

TONY D Wat a good memory you have she did have a swimingpool it was aft starbord side


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## Kipper Tranter

I think I must have sailed on the Thirlby towards the end of her life, (March 1980 - Dec 1980) it was dropping apart, the air con never worked, there was always problems with the piston rings and boilers breaking, infact the chief engineer was killed during my time on her. The swimming pool was a bonus though, all them months in the red sea.


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## pamick2

sailed on thirlby 1963 joined in cardiff up the gulf down to capetown loureno marques lisbon point a pierre trinadad liverpool paid off good ship great crew most from cardiff barry


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## Tony D

Another strange memory of Thirlby surfaces, another thing I remember about her,my cabin key was huge brass things like the keys to a bloody castle, not a comfortable thing to carry in yer wrangler pocket ashore,so everybody used to hide em on the air ducts in the alley way.
Memory is weird thing.


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## Nigel Wing

I recall working on Thirlby in the late 1950's early 60's at Falmouth Docks, I also saw her at Bandar Mashur, September 1964, while I was on British Resource.
Ropner also had another tanker at this time, Thornaby which was slightly older.
Cheers. 
Nigel.


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## KEITH SEVILLE

We used to look after the Thirlby on her voyages to Stanlow until she was sold for scrap.
I remember Captain Charles Tingle was the Master on most occasions.
Anybody remember him,who sailed with Ropners, if so any info if he is still alive.

Regards
Keith


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## greektoon

I sailed on the Thirlby twice near the end of her time with Ropners. May 1979 to Sept 1979 and Feb 1980 to Aug 1980. I was a deck cadet.

Captain Colin Tingle was Master on the first trip and what a remarkable man he was. Superb seaman and character. At least until a couple of years ago I heard he was still around, being present at the unveiling of a memorial on Teeside to lost Ropner men during the wars. (Check it out on the net under Billy McGee).

I have fond memories of the Thirlby and the crowd on her but being up the Arabian Gulf / Red Sea with no AC was no joke.


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## ray.c

*ray.c*

hi guys, I sailed her in jan 61 to may 61, i think we went to mina and back
i think the skipper was a guy called colsdon, we tied barrels of fuel which 
broke loose when we went through the B of B in a F10 no body was hurt but it was hairy for bit.(Frogger)


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## Billy1963

KEITH SEVILLE said:


> I remember Captain Charles Tingle was the Master on most occasions. Anybody remember him,who sailed with Ropners, if so any info if he is still alive.
> 
> Regards
> Keith


Captain Colin Tingle is still with us as I saw him the other day. He will 83 next year. He is still as cheerful as ever and bright as a button, though suffering from Myasthenia Gravis, a muscle disorder, he does not let it get him down. He only gave up peddling his bike to the bookies the other year.

Photo's attach. of Colin at the Ropner Memorial unveiling in 2005


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## Tony D

You must have joined her on her next trip Mr Ray,I paid off her 18.12.61 in Amsterdam.
Just looking at me Discharge book the Captains signature is very blurred it could be F or J Hart?
I remember the Thirlby very fondly,my first real deep sea trip.
Another trick of the strangeness of memory I cannot recall the Captains name but I rememberthe crews mess room had those new fangled Glass plates(pyrex or summat) if you dropped on which I did,they shattered into a million wee cubes the flew remarkable distances,I recall spending an hour tracking them down and sweeping them up from the messroom deck.


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## magicred

I sailed on the Thrilby For 7 months.Joined her in Curacao from Glasgow.I was asst steward on her.We were chartered to Shell.Curacao was our loading port,we used to go to West Africa,then back,load for the Bahamas.Sometimes we used to do the Maracaibo Lakes in Venezuela.At one point our boat was like Noahs ark,A dog,ducks parrots and at one point a rooster.That only lasted about 4 days,it ended up getting fed to the sharks for ****ting in the mess room.Our crew consisted of cockneys, jocks,scousers.A real mixed bag oh and Arab firemen.We had some really crazy times on that ship.I could fill a book and that is only one trip.We paid off in Norway in November 1974.Suffice to say we had to get rid of most of the livestock before we came to Europe.


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## harryredvers

My first solo ship as a Marconi sparks in 1964. It would have been in the winter. It was also my first trans-Atlantic flight from Heathrow to New York where I was met at JFK by a taxi-driver who took me across the city to Penn State Station. He gave me some money there and I booked a ticket to Baltimore. Arrived in a very wintry Baltimore at about 2100 hours where I was met by a Dutch technician (probably ITT) who took me down to the ship and then expected me to fix a defective radar with him. Whether it got fixed or not I can't remember. The ship was ok, the run was ok (Shell charter - states coast). It seemed to be load gas oil in either Curacao or Maracaibo and discharge it in Bayonne or Baltimore. I don't seem to remember anywhere else much (perhaps Corner Brook Nfld). I don't remember the captain but the 2nd mate was a man called Paul Fineron who came from York and I think there was an apprentice called Bamforth from Hull. The chief steward was from Whitby and the grub seemed to be mainly hot dogs, but it was ok. The mate was a fart from South Shields who had got married to a much younger woman, and it showed, and the 3rd mate was a sound guy from Glasgow. The crew seemed to be largely Scouse and the bosun I remember as a really good guy. The chippie probably didn't think so because he duffed him up in his bunk one night. Ashore some of the crew were best avoided. When I signed off a few months later in South Shields (Smith's drydock) I realised Ropner was a good company, they gave me my rail ticket home. That was the only time that happened when I worked for Marconi.


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## trotterdotpom

Marconi were pretty tight, but i'm fairly sure I always got a travel warrant when joining and leaving. I seem to recall that it was a BOT requirement to return you to your homeport.

John T


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## jamesgpobog

Interesting looking ship. What is that awning cover on the aft deckhouse?


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## Ron Stringer

trotterdotpom said:


> Marconi were pretty tight, but i'm fairly sure I always got a travel warrant when joining and leaving. I seem to recall that it was a BOT requirement to return you to your homeport.
> 
> John T


John,

I believe that you may be right about the BOT requirement but I am certain that I *always* got a travel warrant from Marconi's each time I joined or went on leave from a ship. Even when I had signed on and was coasting and went on "Captain's Leave", I never had to pay my own fares; again when I went on courses I always received travel warrants. 

If the journey involved crossing London by Tube, the rail warrant was endorsed "Plus LTE" (London Transport Executive) so that you were provided with Tube tickets by the railway ticket clerk.

Maybe your face had to fit. (Jester)

(Signed: the Blue Eyed Boy)


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## harryredvers

You may be right Ron. And you may be right too Trotterdotpom but leaving the Thirlby at South Shields has always stayed with me because they gave me an actual BR ticket, on the ship, a single one to get me home. I wasn't carping about Marconi Marine they were always ok with me. MIMCO depots and staff clerks are uppermost in my memory, here and abroad. I may have had travel warrants issued to me during the time I worked for them but usually I was summoned by telegram at home to report to X-depot at 0900 the following day and, more often than not it was to East Ham (for docks in London and Tilbury or overland journeys abroad or flights from Heathrow). This was an overnight train journey. The days of steam, night milk and mail trains post W H Auden and getting into KX Station before London was really up and about, and definitely before the Tube unrolled its metal-gates. Night bus from outside in Euston Road down to Trafalgar Square and then the Nr.13 from outside St Martins. Church, I think it was and sometimes in pea-souper fogs. Crossing London and peering from the no.13 gleaning all those significant places from primary school history lessons as it proceeded from Trafalgar Sq down the Strand and Fleet Street up Ludgate Hill round St Pauls past Bank to Bishopsgate and over Tower Hill up through the Minories and round Aldgate and the bottom of Whitechapel High Street into Commercial Road and thence along East India Dock Road and Barking Road to Canning Town and eventually East Ham. Then Padfield sorting everything out in the pay-book at Wakefield Street while you went to the greasy spoon nearby for a full London. So my memory sees me getting paid expenses/subs once I got to the depot. Everything seemed to be done through the pay-book and, of course, in accordance with BoT rules and regulations. It was similar whether joining at Cardiff (which included Newport, Mon and Swansea), at Liverpool, at Glasgow and at Hull. Of course it was different as an officer with Cunard R & E S; they sent a letter to my home or ship with a BR first-class warrant attached, joining or leaving, as part of the company's terms and conditions. Ropners of course were also following BoT rules and regulations and on that occasion treated me as one of their own and not as an adjunct. Even when I was free-lance at times I paid my own fares to get to a ship (including air-fares) but I was always reimbursed, either in company offices or on board by the captain. Ropner is the only time as a Marconiman I remember being treated as if I was a 'company' man - if you get me.


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## trotterdotpom

Roger, Harry. I did go through the "paybook" rigmarole too. I suppose, in those pre-computer days, there was no other way to do it. It seemed to work ok anyway.

When you paid off Thirlby, was it a full closing of Articles, with the Shipping Master on board? I seem to recall them dishing out rail tickets (supplied by the
shipping company of course). Maybe that's why they mistook you for a human.

Great description of the bus trip across London - let's hope some of the nowadays twits who can't get to the shops without a Satnav read that.

SN is having a positive effect on Ron - his recent posts indicate he's turning into a cynical Lefty.

John T


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## Pat Thompson

Greetings,

My Dad sailed as Mate in both Thornaby and Thirlby. I can remember waving to him when Thirlby, I think at the time, was northbound in Suez and I was southbound in 1963.


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## harryredvers

wrt nr.23. Yes it was a full closing of the articles. I'd joined her about 3 months earlier in Baltimore but she'd been doing the eastern states run for quite some time before I got there. I suppose she was due for drydock so they sent her back to UK. I seem to remember that Shell were averse to letting ships get in the qualifying period for US eastern seaboard bonus payments so you usually finished up getting a trip back over to Europe just before you reached it. Then they'd send you back over and start the grind all over again. But Thirlby had already done the time when I joined her.


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## DMA

Did a Run Job in her 19-22 Oct 1966 Ellesmere Port to Cardiff.


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## trotterdotpom

harryredvers said:


> wrt nr.23. Yes it was a full closing of the articles. I'd joined her about 3 months earlier in Baltimore but she'd been doing the eastern states run for quite some time before I got there. I suppose she was due for drydock so they sent her back to UK. I seem to remember that Shell were averse to letting ships get in the qualifying period for US eastern seaboard bonus payments so you usually finished up getting a trip back over to Europe just before you reached it. Then they'd send you back over and start the grind all over again. But Thirlby had already done the time when I joined her.


Think the US Coast Allowance was paid by the Americans, but not sure as I never received it. They got it on "London Confidence" (Running between New York and St Croix), the only tanker I liked the sound of. I heard they spent the allowance on the makings of Harvey Wallbangers and Tequila Sunrises.

John T


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## Steve F

Thirlby was the worst trip I ever experienced. I joined her as 3rd Mate '68, along with with a full crew change in Curacao. From the moment we met at the pool in Glasgow there was nothing but trouble. We flew from Prestwick to Curacao, there was fighting amongst the crew on the flight to NY. The next flight the Capt of the plane threatened to jettison fuel and turn back to NY if the crew did not quiten down. When we got to the ship most of the crew dumped there bags and went to the "Mad House" leaving 6 months stores on the dock. 
For the next 6 months the tone of the trip was set. I swore I would never get on another tanker after that. 6 years later I joined Panocean, chemical tankers, and spent the next 35 years on various tankers.
The master on Thirlby was Finn, Mate Paul Fineron, 2nd Mate Oscar Metsukla, and me, Steve F, as 3rd mate


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## Binnacle

Tony D said:


> Sailed on her on her second trip from brand new,beautiful ship, the one and only air conditioned vessel I ever sailed on, she belonged to Ropners,horrible green colour she was though,we did what was called then the San Tanker run then, one trip down to South America and one to the East coast of the USA,twas said they did that so they did not have to pay us Yanky Bonus,twas about a nine month trip, payed off by mutual agreement in Rotterdam a few days before xmas, some sculldugery by the owners went on there, had to pay me own fare home.
> :bur:


If it was the close of the Articles of Agreement then you were entitled to your fare home being paid. However, as I suspect, you say "payed off by mutual agreement" that you requested to be paid off and the master agreed to pay you off, then you were not entitled to expect the ship to pay your fare.


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## bretwalda

Harry - I joined in South Shields in early August 1964 (after you)and spent the next 14 months on the ship - first (nearly) 6 months on U.S. East coast then Shell sent us to Madeira then Malta and Suez before spending the next 8 months out East so no U.S. bonus as usual. I had just completed a Marconi Mark IV Radar course at Cardiff so was successful with all the problems that arose with that gear on Thirlby. Air conditioning never worked the whole time I was on the ship! Old man was Capt Dekonski who was Estonian and who had a chicken farm (small holding) in Yorkshire somewhere. Kept a note of this voyage and it makes interesting reading nearly 50 years on. Happy days when you are footloose and fancy free. Paid off in Rotterdam late September 1965.


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## cyp greeky

my name is theodorakis yiacoumi mick the greek to my freinds i was pomoted to 4th engineer on the thirlby the chief was a great guy from donny i did two coastals onher my wife was withme ithen went deep sea on the stonepool same chief tingle was capt on thirlby also the capt on stone pool was l.b. poundshead great people shame about companey


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## Tim Parr

I was a first tripper on Thirlby, May 1973, joined in Abadan, then Mauritius, Burma, Columbo,
Day one out from Abadan the 4th Eng collapsed during a repair at sea. Buried at sea the same day.
As per other posts, no air con, no cold tap. 2nd Eng used to turn me too every morning to clean out the purifiers. Engine room hot has hell. A baptism of fire. Food was crap. Made good money though.


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