# British General



## Peggy747 (Jul 24, 2005)

Hello all, 
Does anyone have a picture of "British General" BTC sailing in the fifties? My eldest brother was an engineer in her (June 1952), as a matter of interest , I was In "Elstree Grange" in Red Sea homeward bound and we passed the British General about 1/4 mile to port (outward bound to Abadan) I knew he was on that ship but he didnt know i was on Elstree Grange, frantic efforts by our chief officer failed to attract their attention by aldis, perhaps because we were a clapped out "Sam" boat on our last leg of an around the world trip and not looking the in the best of shape! they chose to look the other way! 
Kind Regards Peter (Thumb)


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## John_F (May 12, 2005)

*mv British General*



Peggy747 said:


> Hello all,
> Does anyone have a picture of "British General" BTC sailing in the fifties? My eldest brother was an engineer in her (June 1952), as a matter of interest , I was In "Elstree Grange" in Red Sea homeward bound and we passed the British General about 1/4 mile to port (outward bound to Abadan) I knew he was on that ship but he didnt know i was on Elstree Grange, frantic efforts by our chief officer failed to attract their attention by aldis, perhaps because we were a clapped out "Sam" boat on our last leg of an around the world trip and not looking the in the best of shape! they chose to look the other way!
> Kind Regards Peter (Thumb)


Peter,
What a soul destroying story, so near & yet so far. Personally, I welcomed other ships calling me up by Aldis - anything to relieve the boredom, even if it was just "What ship?" Mind you, Aldis lights could be difficult to see in daylight sometimes, especially when the battery was running out!
I have a photo of the General which I will have to scan first & resize which I will do tomorrow morning - I'm going to bed in a minute - & add it as a thumbnail to this thread.
Kind regards,
John.


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## Peggy747 (Jul 24, 2005)

*Re British General*

Thank You John,
I look foreward to your pictures arrival.
Not wishing to bore you but further to my story, we went to Belfast to discharge our cargo on that trip 9000 tons bagged barley, my brother lived at Newcastle co Down and his wife had their first child while I was there so I saw the baby before he did, he arrived at our house in liverpool 2 weeks later (The worse for Wear) having come on train from Isle of Grain and he had missed the Belfast boat and had to wait another day, he was so very excitedand was asking me all about the baby etc, that poor child died six months later and he was in Abadan, Thats Life
Thanks for going to the trouble of scanning the picture 
Cheers Peter. (Thumb)


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## John_F (May 12, 2005)

*mv British General*

Peter,
As promised, a photo of British General attached.
Details:She was built by Furness Shipbuilding, Haverton Hill on Tees & completed in May 1950. She spent her entire life with BP before being demolished at Inverkeithing in June 1964.
Photo & details from BP Tankers: A Group Fleet History (Harvey & Solly).
Tragic tale about your brother but yes - that's life.
Kind regards,
John


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## Peggy747 (Jul 24, 2005)

John,
Many thanks for the Picture. I am trying to compile a picture history of his life deep sea and this a start.
 Thank You
Peter


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## heglig john (Nov 18, 2005)

heglig john sailed on the british general for 14 month trip ,,mostly aussie coast in 1962,, as 4th engineer ,,


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## Bob Hofton (May 24, 2007)

Hello - Just read about the Br.General. I was a Junior Eng on the General when we took her to scrap at Inverkiething (in the shadow of the Forth railway bridge). I had the dubious honour of keeping her last watch. (4-8) and we had shut one boiler down and the other fed the steam Genny (Bellis & Morcome?), exhausting to atmos. We all handed over to the yard and trooped off to local Inverk. station. A short time later we viewed her for the last time (from the train on the bridge) - still belting a plume of exhausting steam out of the funnel - we reckoned she would black out in another hour !


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## non descript (Nov 18, 2005)

*An F not an R ....*

Bob,


Welcome to the site and thank you for joining.

To be frank, when I saw your user name, my failing eyesight caused me to read the "f" as an "r" .... that was quite scarry (Jester)


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## John_F (May 12, 2005)

Tonga said:


> Bob,
> 
> 
> Welcome to the site and thank you for joining.
> ...


Mark,
I thought exactly the same. If BP were paying my pension I would be out on the street by now.....
Kind regards,
John.


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

Greetings Chief Bob and and a warm welcome to the site. Thanks for signing on and enjoy the site. Bon voyage.


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