# Worst Orders



## Vital Sparks (Sep 19, 2007)

The problem with tankers is that you almost never get to go anywhere nice so when you do it's a bit special. A vessel I joined in Singapore had for the previous few months been been loading there for discharge in Bangkok and the boys had got quite used to it. You can imagine how delighted they were and how popular I was when the first orders I received were for Grangemouth!

Similarly while on a regular run loading in Bahrain for discharge in Beira and Nacala you can imagine the reaction when I received orders for a part discharge in the Seychelles with cargo to be discharged into road tankers using the stripping pump and estimated at 2 - 3 weeks. We looked forward to this for nearly a month before it was snatched away and replaced by another visit to Beira.


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## spacetracker (Jun 17, 2008)

In a similar vein to the Seychelles story above, when sailing on a bulk carrier from Houston to a southern Brazil port with 60,000 tons of grain (forget which port but was reasonably modern and efficient with regard to discharges rates) I received new orders for Rio de Janeiro about 2 days prior to passing the place. Our UK crew had gone crazy in Houston where we had just had three weeks as the ship was arrested (papers "nailed" to the mast and all) and had to rely on the services of the immigration department to return several seamen prior to our departure. Captain swore me to secrecy (!) as he contemplated the potential problems of a visit to Rio. 

To cut a long story short there was only one small discharge "sucker" deeding direct into waiting trucks and we had a prime location in the port. Three weeks later a very tired and broke (and broken) ships complement were glad to get back to sea. Would have been a longer call if it had ever rained.

A further story with this discharge involved the mate losing a finger during a hatch closing mishap early in the stay. The third mate eventually came rushing up to the first aid room with the offending digit in his glove! Unfortunately our reaction times and modern surgery was not available to re-attach the finger and the mate returned home. Due to the length of stay there was no shortage of volunteers to fly out to Brazil.


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## Robert M Hughes (Oct 16, 2010)

The old 'Sovac'was a routine runner in the Med - the Captain kept his own ship's bond - when reordering his cigarettes instead of 100,000 he added a nought and got 1 million **** in round tins Players/Woodbines 50's. He was quite upset and asked everyone to smoke heavily the supply was everywhere - paint locker included. I kid u not!

3 Days later last watch at night up comes GKA with an msg - 'Proceed immediately to Yokohama the vessel is to be scrapped on arrival' - the Old Man was in his bunk I can still hear his groan now. 

He did manage to get rid of some to an OZ ship in Singapore !

Cheers,

Bob


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## Tai Pan (Mar 24, 2006)

Best Order was when Nasser took over canal, we were bound for Indonesia then 12 month trip to USA ( had not told wife), diverted via Cape then Indonesia and loaded back to UK, normal trip time. That was Ulysses, never did tell the wife. Gof bless Nasser.


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## Baulkham Hills (Jul 11, 2008)

I was on a general cargo ship on a run from U.S. Gulf to Eastern Med.
Leaving Alexandria and sailing to Houston at 10 knots the Captain found very tedious. He made up a telegram with the orders that the ship would load 500 tons of wine in casks at Madiera for the U.S. the first I heard about this was when we were having a buffet and the Captain passed this cable to the C/O. Immediately the mate started thinking about where to place this cargo. I spoke to the old man afterwards and he reminded me that I was obliged to remain silent. Over the next few days the central american crew got very excited about going there, the second mate worked out the courses etc. 
The C/O and the Captain did not get along, these buffets could be very tense. The C/O must have smelt a rat because this cargo was outside of the conference, anyway, at the next buffet he said to the old man, that when the ship got to Houston he was going to phone the head office and find out if there were any orders ever issued for this cargo. The next day the old man made up a telegram cancelling the cargo. He told me afterwards that he did not expect me to keep the secret and was quite surprised.

I later heard that on the Captain's previous ship, on a voyage from U.S. to Singapore, he onto the bridge and gave instructions to call into a tiny port in the Philippines instead of proceeding to Singapore because " I want to go on vacation". When the C/O heard about this he confined the old man to his cabin and the C/O took over the masters responsibilities and the ship proceeded to Singapore where the old man paid off sick (with all the money missing from the ship's safe).
So he had a few mental problems which we were not aware of. But on the other hand it certainly was not a boring voyage.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Bet that would have relieved the boredom of a long ocean passage!


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## Baulkham Hills (Jul 11, 2008)

In about 1970 I was on a ship called the Glendalough on passage to discharge coke and pig iron from Poland in Karachi. The orders came through that we would be going on a 12 months Pakistan government charter from Karachi to Chittagong in then East Pakistan. The Pakistani army was desperately trying to defeat a separatist insurgency during this time. 
After about a month discharging cargo in Karachi, possibly because of the length of the discharge the orders were changed to proceed Mauritius to load bagged sugar for Bombay. 
Eventually the Indian army invaded East Pakistan and defeated the Pakistan army and the Indian navy disposed of the Pakistan navy in the Bay of Bengal. I consider myself pretty lucky to miss out on that excitement.


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## R396040 (Sep 30, 2008)

*Lands End for orders.*

I used to hate the few times I was on tankers when the Sparks received the long awaited message. LANDS END FOR ORDERS.... You were never sure if it was going tp be a pay off port in UK or back out for another few months/weeks if it was continental discharge port.


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## paisleymerchant (Mar 15, 2007)

Had happily spent 3 and a half months on a Gas Carrier running from the States to Trinidad when the orders were changed and we ended up in Russia ! (that was cold !)


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## Klaatu83 (Jan 22, 2009)

Vital Sparks said:


> The problem with tankers is that you almost never get to go anywhere nice..


In thirty years of going to sea I only ever sailed on on tanker, and the above statement pretty much sums up the experience! Sailing from one oil terminal to another, consisting of little more than a chiksan in the middle of nowhere, is nobody's idea of a good time!


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## Basil (Feb 4, 2006)

> nobody's idea of a good time!


OTOH, does keep one out of trouble (Read)


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## Mike S (Dec 27, 2005)

Signed on for a MANZ line double header..........extended to triple and then ready to sail to USA loaded we were asked in Sydney to do a fourth leg. Load apples in Hobart and back to UK.
Tax man was not amused but we were............
21 months and 3 days!


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## Klaatu83 (Jan 22, 2009)

The worst voyage I ever did was during the Gulf War in 1990-91. I signed on the SS Rover in Sunny Point, North Carolina, as a "one trip relief". We sailed to the Persian Gulf under charter to Military Sealift Command Atlantic and, on the way home, were diverted for a brief stop in Diego Garcia. Just before arrival at "Fantasy Island" out ship was "shanghaied" by Military Sealift Command Far East, who put us on the Far East - Persian Gulf run. I finally finished my "one trip relief" job in Guam, after 180 days at sea!


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## Tony Crompton (Jul 26, 2005)

R396040 said:


> I used to hate the few times I was on tankers when the Sparks received the long awaited message. LANDS END FOR ORDERS.... You were never sure if it was going tp be a pay off port in UK or back out for another few months/weeks if it was continental discharge port.


In Esso we used to load LEFO as above but sometimes it was LEFSO "Lands End for Special Orders" which meant Fawley or Milford Haven.

Tony


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## Vital Sparks (Sep 19, 2007)

I'd forgotten about "LEFO", would it be an offshore mooring or maybe somewhere you could actually get ashore.


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

One that puzzled me the first time I saw it in a telegram I received was SOTON. The Chief R/O was much amused and took some time before he enlightened me and told me it was a commonly-used abbreviation for SOuthampTON.

Later, at a ship's party, when I asked a young lady if she would like to go somewhere a little more private, she replied "NOTON" and walked off. I wondered if she was heading for Northampton but she just went back to her mates near the bar. [=P]


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## Baulkham Hills (Jul 11, 2008)

This concerns an order not a change of orders but a court order.
I was on a Cypriot ship call Mariana1. We were loading bagged sugar in Dunkirk for Bandar Abbas in Iran, this was in the seventies with the Shah in control. The Greeks onboard has been on this run before and had made heaps of money selling whisky in Iran. The officers' cabins was piled high with cartons of whisky. All in anticipation of hefty profits. I was encouraged to join in this trade but I was not really comfortable getting involved. 
Everything was going great until the ship was arrested on foot of a court order by the Chase Manhatten Bank. A total of seven ships from the same company in various different ports worldwide. We were almost fully loaded with sugar and the bank's plans were to discharge the ship in Dunkirk and pull it off the berth and fight a court case about it, how long would this take was just a guess. 
In the meantime the ship suppliers, ships agent, doctor all arrested the ship.
I was the only member of the union and so I contacted the ITF who put me in touch with the French dockers and they banned discharging the ship. We as the crew also arrested the ship as well for outstanding pay.
It was obvious that the ship was not going anywhere, this left our traders with a major problem of the whisky. They tried to sell back to the Greek chandler who they had bought it from. He offered to buy it at a 50% discount
which upset them no end. They started to sell small quantities to cafe's and nightclubs ashore. The ship started to run out of diesel and the Mission supplied some to the ship. It was all bad, and things became pretty routine after a few weeks with nothing going on I went on vacation for a few weeks. 
Eventually after about 6 weeks things got sorted out and the Greeks sold all their whisky. The crew got all their money plus 1 months wages. On the pay off day the Greek port captain said to me call me after you have a vacation and I will fix you up with another ship, I said I thought the company was finished. He thought this was very funny and said
we will just change the name of the company and continue on. I never took him up on the offer, but it was an experience.


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## Ray Mac (Sep 22, 2007)

Vital Sparks said:


> I'd forgotten about "LEFO", would it be an offshore mooring or maybe somewhere you could actually get ashore.


No just lands End for Orders:sweat: not very nice when you had been away for ten months.

Ray


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

Ahhh, Banbar Abbas, there's a place I'll never forget, got arrested there at gunpoint !! 
At the company I worked for the R/O was tasked with arranging the exchange of the Walport movie boxes. With no Walport depot, and having scanned around the harbour for likely target ships I set off with a young first trip cadet (those boxes were heavy after all) to see if we could do a swap. To cut a long story short we got lost and decided to head back and try again the next day, however unfortunately we'd somehow managed to get the wrong side of passport control, with no do***ents on us. I hadn't even finished trying to explain when I got a revolver pointed right at my face and we where locked in a room while they found somebody to interview us. I'm convinced that what saved us was the fact that my assistant was by now bawling his eyes out, and within a couple of hours while they verified we were who we said we were, we were both transported back to the ship on the back of a Honda 50 (which was the most terrifying part of the whole ordeal), missing fork lift trucks by millimeters, no crash helmets, and with my by now placated assistant sitting on the tail light hanging on to me for dear life !!

= Adrian +


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## vix (Jan 2, 2006)

When I joined the Cape York...November 1959...we were told we were off to Hamberg for a cargo of boxed VW cars going to Oz around Cape of Good Hope [6 weeks at sea Las Palmas - Melbourne.] from there we were supposed to go on the Nauru Island - Japan fertiliser run for an indefinite period. As things turned out, we had a change of orders when we reached Melbourne...we cam to NZ then over to Dunkirk and UK [how happy we all were to get off that miserable ship!]


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## John Timmins (Nov 24, 2010)

So you're on 1 year articles and end up loading clean products (jet fuel and Navy spec diesel) in Greece and Sicily and discharging in Spain, France, England, and Germany back and forth then get orders for Suez. Do underway discharges to another tanker on station in the Arabian Sea. The problem is that the receiving ships are almost full when they get along side, so it's 4 discharges from us over a two week period. Proceed to load in Bahrain and return to your station to do more unreps. This can last for months.
Those familiar with this get off the ship FAST before Suez and join the suitcase parade.


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