# M.v. Halia



## Ian

The Shell tanker HALIA is seen above in the Mersey soon after leaving the entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal at Eastham. The two black cylindrical objects on the port side are rubber fenders used during 'lightening' work when cargo was transferred from larger tankers in Lyme Bay.


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## Fairfield

*Halia*

:lol: A favourite at Ardrossan where she used to come regularly.Fond memories of her.Have some shots and must dig them out and post them.


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## Ian

*The Halia*



Fairfield said:


> :lol: A favourite at Ardrossan where she used to come regularly.Fond memories of her.Have some shots and must dig them out and post them.


Boy, when I was a kid in Glasgow Ardrossan was one of the holiday resorts. I guess everybody goes to Spain these days and all these great ol' Scottish resorts must be pretty depressed. Used to have good time at Ardrossan, Wemyss Bay, Largs, Ayr, Dunoon, Helensburgh etc. etc. Only problem was the weather, of course!!! Many times walking along the sea front in pouring rain and trying to play 'pitch put'!!!
Ian (Admin).


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## Fairfield

Well,well.Nice to hear a kent voice so to speak.The Clyde is a changed place nowadays,nearly all the yards gone and given over to residential development.
If you ever want to keep up to date have a look at 
www.clydeshipping.co.uk :frog:


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## nickb

Halia, a happy ship, in relative terms. I did my first trip as a senior engineer officer on her in the mid 70's. As a point of clarification she was an SS not a MV! (Thumb)


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## fred henderson

*Halia*

I was an apprentice at Hawthorn Leslie, Hebburn when the Halia was built and deliverd in 1958. She remained in the Shell fleet until she was scrapped in 1985. The last survivor of the 30 "H" Class. Amazingly her final commander was Captain Fred Coxon, who had been one of her crew members when she was delivered to Shell 27 years earlier. 

Fred


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## oldbosun

*Halia*

Was "Hyalina" her sister?


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## fred henderson

*Hyalina*

To Oldbosun

No. The 18,000 dwt Helicina (1946) and Hyalina (1948) were a pair of experimental 16 knot turbo-electric powered tankers built by Swan Hunter at the time when Shell was absorbing its 19 American T2s. Halia was one of the 30 strong H class delivered by Cammell Laird (5), Smiths Dock (5), Hawthorn Leslie (4), Swan Hunter (4), Lithgows (4), Vickers (3), Harland & Wolff (3), J L Thompson (1) and Odense (1) from 1953 to 1957. Other units were built in Holland for Royal Dutch as their K Class. Although the H class were also 18,000 dwt, they had a different hull form to Helicina and all bar 2 were steam turbine, with a speed of about 14.5 knots. 

Regards

Fred


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## R58484956

9 shipbuilders mentioned, it would be interesting to find out which shipbuilder built the most reliable and trouble free vessel.


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## Sparks

Amazing what pops up here. Quite a regular with Portpatrick Radio on her way to and from the Clyde.


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## oldbosun

*Hyalina*

Thanks for the info re Hyalina Fred. I sailed AB in her early 50s

We knew she was a 'fast' ship. (For a tanker, for the day) We knew "Helecina" was her sister, but never heard of all those other "H" class ships.
We also thought she was quite big too. Then when I was in Curacao on Shell's "Patella" (Asphalt to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, back and forth to Curacao) Along came Shell's "Velutina" 28,000 tons. We thought she was an absolute monster, not realizing that here was the writing on the wall. 
I guess us simple seamen didn't realise it then. We didn't look ahead for change. Our perfect world was never going to end was it. But it did come crashing down. Half a million ton tankers and container ships.....Ugh! (Cloud)


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## alanengineer

Second trip 5th Eng S.S. Holospira Inchgreen drydock Greenock Sept 67 - Teesport March 68.
Extra 5th S.S.Hyala Ardrossan May 68 - Curacao June68.
3rd Eng S.S.Hemisinus ( The Saigon Flyer ) Singapore Oct 71 - Singapore March 72


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## istabraq

I have very fond memories of my time on HALIA in the summer of 1970. Lots of great runs ashore in Falmouth and Liverpool and of course Ardrossan.


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## ruud

Ahoy,
The Halia ©Helderline



Name*Halia (1)* 
Ex. name(s)
Imo number5140817
Year of construction1958
Discarded in1985
StatusScrapped
ClassH
Tonnage19.480
YardHawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd.
Construction number730
CargoCrude and white oil products
FlagGreat Britain
CallsignMXKN 
OwnerShell Tankers U.K.
Relations
Haustellum 
Haustrum (1) 
Horomya

PS. by clicking on the blue written letters, you will enter the site of Kees Helder[Helderline] and you've got all the details/photos.


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## calvin

*halia memories*

[i was on the halia in mid seventies and she was a happy ship and we did a lot of lightening operations i was saloon steward and harry brough the engineers steward what memories
(Hippy)


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## raymondwilliams

my first ship as a deck apprentice in 1965. joined in Stanlow, coastal and northern europe, one trip to Curacao and back, drydock in Cardiff, then mediterranean, round to the Gulf,Abadan to Singapore.we did a couple of trips to Saigon and paid off after six and a half months. hard up, happy days!


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## Frank P

When I was on the "Mary Else Tholstrup" and we were loading gas at Pulau Bukum, Singapore 1969/70, there was usually a Shell "H" class ship there and I used to go onboard and swap reading books.

Frank


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## rickzek

so that was you Frank, SS.Hinea was running between Singapore and the pacific islands.
rickzek.


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## Ron Stringer

*Halia*

Went aboard the Halia a couple of times in the early 1960s when she was in port with the San Florentino. Whenever people came back aboard the San Florentino from the Halia (or other Shell 'H' boats) they always commented on how much better our accommodation was than theirs. Clearly people thought that Eagle Oil's quality and interpretation of an 18,000 dwt tanker was far ahead of Shell's. Perhaps that is why Shell Tankers survived and Eagle Oil was swallowed up.

Ron Stringer


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## Frank P

Yes Rick it was me, Occasionaly some of the Shell crew would come aboard the "Mary Else Tholstrup" for a look around and a beer, they were amazed at how small she was (approx 500 tns).

Frank


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## mikefoster

*Halia*

Just another tuppence worth on the Halia. She visited New Zealand on her maiden voyage in 1959 with a cargo that included product for Wellington. She got a rapturous write-up in the local papers. One item I recall was that she was launched by the wife of John Berkin, who was then a Shell Group managing director.

Mike


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