# Seaforth Maritime Ltd



## DCMARINE

Joined Seaforth Conqueror as Mate in February 1979 - Jake Kerr (Dundee) as Master. Big difference from Oil Exploer - 2 workwires and the deck wasn't awash just steaming. Also on Seaforth Jarl (twice), Commander, Laird and Highlander. Took Seaforth Jarl to St. Johns with Mike Smith as Master - he was relieved by Willie MacLeod on arrival but the 2nd Engineer and I had to remain on board for about 10 days to hand over to the Canadian crew.
Other Masters I sailed with - Mike Reed, Peter Bloomer, John de Barr, Derek Storey, Carl Terry, Ken Maxwell, Mike Elder and John Leask.
Donald Campbell


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## RayJordandpo

I sailed with John de Barr on the tugs with UTC. A real gentleman as I recall.


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## gdynia

sailed with Peter Bloomer in Toisa


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## John Campbell

DCMARINE said:


> Joined Seaforth Conqueror as Mate in February 1979 - Jake Kerr (Dundee) as Master. Big difference from Oil Exploer - 2 workwires and the deck wasn't awash just steaming. Also on Seaforth Jarl (twice), Commander, Laird and Highlander. Took Seaforth Jarl to St. Johns with Mike Smith as Master - he was relieved by Willie MacLeod on arrival but the 2nd Engineer and I had to remain on board for about 10 days to hand over to the Canadian crew.
> Other Masters I sailed with - Mike Reed, Peter Bloomer, John de Barr, Derek Storey, Carl Terry, Ken Maxwell, Mike Elder and John Leask.
> Donald Campbell


Whatever happpened to Willie McLeod ?


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## DCMARINE

*Falkland Islands Patrol Vessels*

Seaforth Champion, built 1975, commissioned as HMS Guardian, and sister-ship Seaforth Saga, as HMS Protector, for Falkland Islands Patrol in 1983.
Seaforth Warrior, built 1975 as Edda Sun, commisioned as HMS Sentinel in 1984.
Donald Campbell


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## Ray Mac

Sailed with Peter Blooner in Sealion, had a beer wth Jake when he was on Sun Wrestler.


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## peter3807

Any one remember skipper of Seaforth Cape, I think his name was Davie Dunnet ?
Deamon at scrabble.

Peter


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## Billyly

peter3807 said:


> Any one remember skipper of Seaforth Cape, I think his name was Davie Dunnet ?
> Deamon at scrabble.
> 
> Peter


I was 2nd Mate and Mate on the Seaforth Cape in 1978 with Davie Dunnet.


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## DenisM

Seaforth Prince was my first supply vessel - 2nd Mate - 1976 - working out of Dundee


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## Nick Balls

Anyone remember Bert Johnson ? I never worked for Seaforth but Star Offshore and Bert came over from Seaforth to work with us. Brilliant engineer and first class bloke !!!! I last saw him just before he retired around 2004? maybe a bit earlier..... by that time we had been first taken over by Stirlings which then got swallowed by Seacor.......


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## THE CAPE CRUSADER

*Saeforth Maritime*

I spent 78 -79 with Seaforth Maritime, mostly on the Laird and the Conqueror. Good guys to work for.


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## trevor8869

Nick Balls said:


> Anyone remember Bert Johnson ? I never worked for Seaforth but Star Offshore and Bert came over from Seaforth to work with us. Brilliant engineer and first class bloke !!!! I last saw him just before he retired around 2004? maybe a bit earlier..... by that time we had been first taken over by Stirlings which then got swallowed by Seacor.......




Hi Nick, Bert was chief with me on the Stirling Aquarius , I still keep in contact with him, I,mm sure it will be the correct Bert he lives in Hartlepool.


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## Nick Balls

Yep Trevor that's our Bert..... from Aberdeen re engineered to monkey hanging country. I loved nick names and to me Bert was always "Uncle Bert"
Well if your are speaking to him send my regards!!!


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## trevor8869

Hi Nick , yea thats Bert he retired as you say about 2004 , and went chief on a dredger on the Tees ,then left there and last time i spoke to him he was chief job man at a Hospice ,i will be talking to him so i will mention this forum to him ," Uncle Bert", thats it hardly ever went ashore very good engineer and a pleasure to sail with

cheers Nick


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## Conrad

Worked on deck with Seaforth Maritime form 16-5-79 until 4-12-1985. 

Ships sailed on and their skippers in no particular order.

Seaforth Highlander with Ron Duncan many trips, also Jimmy Johnstone and John D Burr as skipper on her. Seaforth Victor with Barry Hesketh, Seaforth Cape with Peter Bloomer, Seaforth Warrior with Peter Coull (daddy as he was affectionally known), Seaforth Laird with Brian Smith and Mike Elder as skippers, Seaforth Viscount with Jake Kerr, Seaforth Minara with Mike Elder, Seaforth Crusader with Ron Duncan and Brian Smith, Seaforth Prince with Rushbrook (forget his first name), Seaforth Centurion, Seaforth Conqueror with Jake Kerr and Peter Coull many trips. 

Best trip had to be Flying to Pusan in South Korea and taking the newly built Crusader back to Aberdeen, great times.

Left Seaforth and joined BUE shipping in Leith, big mistake.

Best Regards
Conrad


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## Ray Mac

gdynia said:


> sailed with Peter Bloomer in Toisa


Sailed with Peter when he first joined Toisa Conqueror as extra Master.


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## chadburn

I am still looking for info on a vessel that was working in the early day's of North Sea Oil when the initial surveying was being carried out. Since my last posting on this vessel I have found out she was an Ex- American Navy Sub Chaser (PC? 175 ft x 23ft) , any idea's?


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## AJC

Whatever happened to Jake Kerr??? sailed with him on the "Sun Wrestler", the mate was Derek Swadling,he was back to back with Big Pete!!! great ship pity about the Chief Engineers and mogadon man!!!!


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## timo

I think Jake Kerr ended up with Swires in the North sea until he retired.


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## AJC

Cheers Timo, Jake was a great guy, pleasure to sail with!!!


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## Eltel

Jake did go to Swires. He was on the Pacific Frontier until it went back to Australia. It would be about 2001 that he finally retired properly.


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## O.M.Bugge

chadburn said:


> I am still looking for info on a vessel that was working in the early day's of North Sea Oil when the initial surveying was being carried out. Since my last posting on this vessel I have found out she was an Ex- American Navy Sub Chaser (PC? 175 ft x 23ft) , any idea's?


I believe the vessel you are looking for may be the Compass Rose 3, which was built as USS YMS 167 at Datchet Carter Shipb., Benton Harbour, Canada in 1944 and converted as Norwegian car ferry Valdal in 1949. She was again converted as a survey / dive support vessel owned by C.R.Lines, SA, Panama in 1972, but sunk off Scotland in 1975.

Some info and pictures as Valdal can be found here: http://www.fjordfaehren.de/no_f2/valldal1948.htm


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## John Cassels

Was this the same Peter Bloomer ex Denholms ?. 
If so , sailed with him on the GTV's , he as 3rd.mate and me as ch.mate .


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## Ray Mac

John Cassels said:


> Was this the same Peter Bloomer ex Denholms ?.
> If so , sailed with him on the GTV's , he as 3rd.mate and me as ch.mate .


Peter was with Denhoms.Then Offshore with Seaforth - Farstad - Sealion.


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## John Cassels

Burned Toast said:


> Peter was with Denhoms.Then Offshore with Seaforth - Farstad - Sealion.


I'm surprised !.


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## Ray Mac

Why?, Peter was a excellent shipmate and a very professional ships master and one of the better ship handlers in the North Sea, so they say.

Ray


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## DCMARINE

Burned Toast said:


> Peter was with Denhoms.Then Offshore with Seaforth - Farstad - Sealion.


Peter was Senior Apprentice on Crinan when I was there in 1964. He was with I.O.S. prior to Seaforth as were a few other guys in Seaforth's early days.
Still in touch with him.
Donald Campbell


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## captkenn

DCMARINE said:


> Peter was Senior Apprentice on Crinan when I was there in 1964. He was with I.O.S. prior to Seaforth as were a few other guys in Seaforth's early days.
> Still in touch with him.
> Donald Campbell


I haven't seen Peter for a long time though he lives near me.

I too joined Seaforth from I.O.S.


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## jd9628

DCMARINE said:


> Joined Seaforth Conqueror as Mate in February 1979 - Jake Kerr (Dundee) as Master. Big difference from Oil Exploer - 2 workwires and the deck wasn't awash just steaming. Also on Seaforth Jarl (twice), Commander, Laird and Highlander. Took Seaforth Jarl to St. Johns with Mike Smith as Master - he was relieved by Willie MacLeod on arrival but the 2nd Engineer and I had to remain on board for about 10 days to hand over to the Canadian crew.
> Other Masters I sailed with - Mike Reed, Peter Bloomer, John de Barr, Derek Storey, Carl Terry, Ken Maxwell, Mike Elder and John Leask.
> Donald Campbell


Sailed with a number of the guys mentioned, with P.Bloomer (as mate) Toisa Conqueror , Donald Cambel, Karl Terry, I was mate of the Conqueror when she was sold to Boa from Toisa and transferred across with her.


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## Ray Mac

jd9628 said:


> Sailed with a number of the guys mentioned, with P.Bloomer (as mate) Toisa Conqueror , Donald Cambel, Karl Terry, I was mate of the Conqueror when she was sold to Boa from Toisa and transferred across with her.


Sailed with Peter when he fist joined Toisa from Farstad, another skipper was also called Peter, he later died of a heart attack.

Ray


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## steamship

*steamship*



Conrad said:


> Worked on deck with Seaforth Maritime form 16-5-79 until 4-12-1985.
> 
> Ships sailed on and their skippers in no particular order.
> 
> Seaforth Highlander with Ron Duncan many trips, also Jimmy Johnstone and John D Burr as skipper on her. Seaforth Victor with Barry Hesketh, Seaforth Cape with Peter Bloomer, Seaforth Warrior with Peter Coull (daddy as he was affectionally known), Seaforth Laird with Brian Smith and Mike Elder as skippers, Seaforth Viscount with Jake Kerr, Seaforth Minara with Mike Elder, Seaforth Crusader with Ron Duncan and Brian Smith, Seaforth Prince with Rushbrook (forget his first name), Seaforth Centurion, Seaforth Conqueror with Jake Kerr and Peter Coull many trips.
> 
> Best trip had to be Flying to Pusan in South Korea and taking the newly built Crusader back to Aberdeen, great times.
> 
> Left Seaforth and joined BUE shipping in Leith, big mistake.
> 
> Best Regards
> Conrad


Peter Coull bought my house with his wife Anne and turned it into a pub/resturant when I got married and came to live in the states. Peter and his brothers were all good guys. We called him the Admiral
and that's what they called the pub. The flasher John Templeton Knight was big Buddies with "Crazy" John Bogie Knight. Does anyone
know what happened to them? Bogie aways imagined himself as a tough guy and I twice offered him out on the jetty in Aberdeen but he refused and I started calling him "Chicken Bogie".


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## RayJordandpo

I was mate with a John"Bogie"Knight on a supply boat in the Middle East. In fact I got his job as skipper when he got fired after some altercation with the office and clients. He told me he was skipper on an Offshore Marine vessel when it pulled a crane off a platform in the North Sea. He said the mate was on the bridge at the time whilst he was searching his cabin for a 'Lloyds Open Form' as they were about to proceed for a salvage job. We kept in touch for a while and I believe he bought a 'Bed and Breakfast' somewhere on the South Coast. He was certainly a character that's for sure, this would be around 1980.


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## steamship

*steamship*



RayJordandpo said:


> I was mate with a John"Bogie"Knight on a supply boat in the Middle East. In fact I got his job as skipper when he got fired after some altercation with the office and clients. He told me he was skipper on an Offshore Marine vessel when it pulled a crane off a platform in the North Sea. He said the mate was on the bridge at the time whilst he was searching his cabin for a 'Lloyds Open Form' as they were about to proceed for a salvage job. We kept in touch for a while and I believe he bought a 'Bed and Breakfast' somewhere on the South Coast. He was certainly a character that's for sure, this would be around 1980.


The Mercia Shore I believe was the one that pulled down the crane.
That would have been a Fawlty Towers situation if Bogie had to run a
[email protected] That he got fired again doesn't surprise me. What company did
you for in the middle east? I spent a lot of time in Sharjah and Dubai.


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## Derek Roger

steamship said:


> Peter Coull bought my house with his wife Anne and turned it into a pub/resturant when I got married and came to live in the states. Peter and his brothers were all good guys. We called him the Admiral
> and that's what they called the pub. The flasher John Templeton Knight was big Buddies with "Crazy" John Bogie Knight. Does anyone
> know what happened to them? Bogie aways imagined himself as a tough guy and I twice offered him out on the jetty in Aberdeen but he refused and I started calling him "Chicken Bogie".


Must have been in the Argo Lounge then or Peep Peeps or was it the Fiddich Bar ??? To name but a few .


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## Ray Mac

I was also on Crusader, when Seaforth took over the management, Peter Marshall was master, Allan Steel marine super and Bill Hopkins? manager I think that's his name.

Ray


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## RayJordandpo

steamship said:


> The Mercia Shore I believe was the one that pulled down the crane.
> That would have been a Fawlty Towers situation if Bogie had to run a
> [email protected] That he got fired again doesn't surprise me. What company did
> you for in the middle east? I spent a lot of time in Sharjah and Dubai.


The company was QNNTC (Qatar). There were quite a few Brits working for them at that time. The chief was ex OM Jimmy Macdonald from Glasgow and his back to back Billy Morgan from Great Yarmouth area.


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## steamship

*steamship*



RayJordandpo said:


> The company was QNNTC (Qatar). There were quite a few Brits working for them at that time. The chief was ex OM Jimmy Macdonald from Glasgow and his back to back Billy Morgan from Great Yarmouth area.


To Ray @ Derek, 
I can't for the life of me remember the pub but the boats were parked
across the street. The second time it happened he came onboard the Arctic Shore late at night and was making a lot of noise. I worked for Diamond Services in Sharjah in the Cementco Building. I remember
loading a rolling crane with about 40 wheels onto a barge and towing it to Doha. That was in 78. The manager was a nasty little man called Peter Hedges ex OM. I'm sure I remember Jimmy MacDonald too.


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## steamship

does anyone know what happened to peter coull? I got in touch with a lady who still lives in the same little village but she doesn't know where he's at now.
steamship.


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## steamship

Hi there all,
Thanks for all the replies I got on Peter Coull. Wow I like the guy but didn't know he was so popular. BUT, Why do so many people not want their names up?


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## Xristi

I was on the Seaforth Warrior as a supernumerary on the first trip to St Johns to work offshore Labrador. My dad was Peter Gibson, one of the directors of Seaforth, who thought a trip was a way to start a maritime career. Awesome experience for a clueless young lad. The first master was Tim Shone, followed by Ray McCrohon. the Chief Engineer was David Smith.


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## BillH

Can anyone tell me with certainty who the partners were that established Seaforth Maritime.

I know Lyles had some involvement, perhaps later


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## Ray Mac

BillH said:


> Can anyone tell me with certainty who the partners were that established Seaforth Maritime.
> 
> I know Lyles had some involvement, perhaps later


Twinning Tea.


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## Bill Morrison

BillH said:


> Can anyone tell me with certainty who the partners were that established Seaforth Maritime.
> 
> I know Lyles had some involvement, perhaps later


Hi BillH. Possibly one of the best companies I had been employed by. This from an article written in 1982. 
The moving spirit behind the formation of Seaforth Maritime was Ian Noble it's chairman for the first five years. He was part of Noble Grossat, bankers in Edinburgh. In 1971 new licences were being issued for North Sea Exploration and he though Scottish companies should involved, after talks with the manager of a large exploration company he was advised to concentrate on the supply ship side as there would a large demand for them.
Ian Noble and his colleagues went off to consult Herbert Wilkinshaw of Lyle Shipping, who was all for it and that was the start of Seaforth Maritime.
Bill


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## funnelstays

I was on the Seaforth Commander from November 81 AS C/E untill June 83 when l went to Balder Offshore.Skippers in that time were Jimmy(Jump) Johnstone,Willy MacLeod,TimAtkinson,Noah Shephard.
l took over from Dave Smith and Neil Gardner in Mulgrave NS.Bill Petigrew was running things at the time.
I was on her the night the Ocean Ranger was lost and heard the last messages before the end.We were operating off Sable Isld standing by the Bow Drill 1at the time.
It was an eventful trip and the day l joined sailed strait away to salvage the Euro Princess that ran into the Eastern Bar off Sable.


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## saltybobuk

I was involved in the build of Hero, Challenger, Chieftain ( I think) early 70s at Drypool Engineering the md. of which was md. of Seaforth, possibility a Curtis or Triggs ?.
Bob


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## BillH

Bill Morrison said:


> Hi BillH. Possibly one of the best companies I had been employed by. This from an article written in 1982.
> The moving spirit behind the formation of Seaforth Maritime was Ian Noble it's chairman for the first five years. He was part of Noble Grossat, bankers in Edinburgh. In 1971 new licences were being issued for North Sea Exploration and he though Scottish companies should involved, after talks with the manager of a large exploration company he was advised to concentrate on the supply ship side as there would a large demand for them.
> Ian Noble and his colleagues went off to consult Herbert Wilkinshaw of Lyle Shipping, who was all for it and that was the start of Seaforth Maritime.
> Bill


Many thanks Bill, a sensible answer and very much appreciated


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## Davie M

Hogarth were also involved, with Lyle they had become Scottish Ship Management and subsequently in 1972 they formed Seaforth Maritime Ltd Aberdeen.
This is taken from a small book titled Hogarth, a short history, By A.A. McAlister printed by the World Ship Society.
Davie


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## BillH

Davie M said:


> Hogarth were also involved, with Lyle they had become Scottish Ship Management and subsequently in 1972 they formed Seaforth Maritime Ltd Aberdeen.
> This is taken from a small book titled Hogarth, a short history, By A.A. McAlister printed by the World Ship Society.
> Davie


Thanks Davie


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## Bill Morrison

saltybobuk said:


> I was involved in the build of Hero, Challenger, Chieftain ( I think) early 70s at Drypool Engineering the md. of which was md. of Seaforth, possibility a Curtis or Triggs ?.
> Bob


The only person I can recall was an Albert Whittles who came to Seaforth when the shipyard closed!


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## Bill Morrison

#s 47,48. On the internet a history of Scottish Ship Management "Traid" with reference to Seaforth Maritime. This one I found but there are others. Page #8 

https://scottishshipmanagement.org/files/triad024.pdf


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## Davie M

Bill Morrison said:


> #s 47,48. On the internet a history of Scottish Ship Management "Traid" with reference to Seaforth Maritime. This one I found but there are others. Page #8
> 
> https://scottishshipmanagement.org/files/triad024.pdf


Thanks Bill for ref to the SSM magazine particularly the section beyond Balloch where I spent my youth.
Davie


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## haggertyk65

RayJordandpo said:


> I sailed with John de Barr on the tugs with UTC. A real gentleman as I recall.


I have an office picture of her leaving Aberdeen yr unknown,she's off to a job as she's got a few lifts,herheres the picture hope you enjoy


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