# My First Tanker



## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

My first experience of tankers was on a very small coaster owned by National Benzole. She was called the Ben Read. We had a crew of ten; Master, Mate, Second Mate, two Engineers, Chief and Second, A Donkeyman, three AB's and a cook steward. It was just after WW2 and rationing was still operation, The Cook/Steward worked in a tiny galley and cooked only for the saloon. We three AB's and the Donkeyman had to do our own shopping and share the galley and it's equipment with the Cook/Steward. This was no joke because the galley and it's stove were minute.
Most of our trips were very short; the shortest being the run from either Shell Haven or Thames Haven in the Thames estuary to Ipswich; a six hour run and occasionally to Lowestoft; nine hours. In the six months that I served on her we once did the long trip to Middlesbrough.
To load our cargo of petrol we tied up to a high wharf and a large flexible pipe was lowered towards a fixed pipe just forward of the bridge on the starboard side. We had to unbolt the blank plate and attach the flexible pipe to the flange of the fixed pipe using a couple of big G-clamps. So far so good. 
When we finished loading it was just a simple matter of releasing the clamps and replacing the blank while the shore people retrieved the flexible pipe. The first time that it was my job to undo the connection I didn’t realised that the flexible pipe was still full of petrol because we were a long way below the surface of the wharf. I blithely started to undo the top clamp. The clamp fell away and I was almost drowned in an enormous flood of petrol. It was in my eyes, nose, mouth and everywhere else.
It was a lesson learned. I always released the bottom clamp first thereafter


----------



## ROBERT HENDERSON (Apr 11, 2008)

I served on the Ben Hebden, similar crewing as Arthur has described, except I cannot remember a donkeyman, I was OS at the time. This would have been in the late 40s. The master stopped about a £1 per week out of our wages for feeding so the cook/steward cooked for the whole crew.
I cannot remember the Masters name, the mates surname was O'Neil both were from the Isle of Barra.The run we were on was similar to Arthur except I remember going to a gasworks somewhere to load Benzine to blend with petrol.

Regards Robert.


----------



## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

*National Benzol*

Robert
You say the master and the mate on your ship were both from Barra. It would not surprise me if they were the same ones that were on the Ben Read because they were both from Scotland. The captain was a very big man and in my eyes he resembled an enormous schoolboy. On his watch he would lean on cill of the wheel house window and sometimes fall asleep. Once he fell asleep while I was on the wheel (hand steering) and we must have strayed from our channel in the Thames Estuary because a small naval vessel off our starboard bow started signalling us. My morse being inadequate to read the signal I said to the captain, "that ship is signalling us". No response, so I shouted. He woke with a start and roared at me, "hard-a-port". That was impossible until he switched into steam steering. It was then that I realised that the navy ship was a minesweeper and there were two others with it. They were actually sweeping. If we had hit a mine we would have gone skyhigh because we were light ship and full of petrol vapour. As soon as we regained our channel the old bugger switched back to manual steering.
He and the mate used to go ashore and collect some kind of weed to mix with their tobacco.


----------



## ROBERT HENDERSON (Apr 11, 2008)

Hi Arthur
Unfortunately I have lost my first discharge book which had an S prefix and was I think about 12 discharges so I cannot give more accurate information as to some of the ships I served on in my early seagoing career.
I have tried to re-activate my memory box and believe the Master on the Ben Hebden was Capt McKay. He could be a miserable old so and so at times, but was always helpful to me, sometimes to the point of embarrassment. He always wore uniform which was unusual for coastal masters.
I mentioned to the mate one day regarding the attention I was getting from the Master, he explained that the Master was ex Ben line, in what rank I am not sure, his only son followed in his fathers footsteps and joined Ben line as a cadet, he lost his life by falling down a ships hold, the Master of the Ben Hebden apparently took an interest in younger members of the crew as kind of replacement for his son, whose untimely death he never got over.

I notice that on another thread you name one of the ships on which you served was RFA Robert Middleton, I was also on that ship as SOS about the same time, but do not have a record of the exact dates. I did post a photo of the Robert Middleton in the RFA gallery, I will post some of crew members when I get time.

Regards Robert.


----------



## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

I was only on the Robert Middleton for three weeks in March 1949. I didn't like it. Most of the crew were ex RN. and I didn't seem to fit in. One of the AB's was an ex RN signaller and they used to call him out at all hours. He didn't mind and didn't claim overtime
I would like to see the photos though. I might recognise someone
regards
Arthur


----------



## davehowden (Apr 8, 2007)

I was on the BEN BATES as Mate in 1966, running from Thameshaven to the power station at Portslade (Brighton).

Only there for a few weeks as I was getting my sea time in before going for my Second Mates ticket. Having just come from Shell Tankers (Eagle Oil) it was a shock to the system, no charts, no radar, ashore every night .......

Oh happy days


----------



## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

My first tanker was a T 2 the CHANCELLORSVILLE. The Chancellorsville was operated by the Keystone Shipping Company. The trip started out badly when I reported to the Chief Engineer belittling me for taking the Medical Relief job and not having any tanker experience. I told the Chief just sign the back of the clearance card that I was not acceptable and I'll go back to the hall. I was told to sign on and go to the Third's Engineer room and changed. When I got back to the Chief's office he took me down below for a tour of the engine room. After looking around with the Chief I remarked how nice the engine room was and added it was a nice toy. I had just got off a one month trip on a SL 7 which was 120,000 SHP steam plant for the 6,000 SHP T 2 was small. I found out later that this was the only ship that he had sailed on. He was a cadet on the ship during WW2 and did all of his time onboard it. 

We left the dock on my watch with the Chief Engineer in-attendance I was told to take the bells for a while and watch him maneuver. The school I went to had a T 2 switchboard and maneuvering controls so I was already familiar with it. After taking departure we got a full ahead bell which I answered pushing the handle to increase the steam pressure to the main generator turbine. While I was waiting for the fuel pressure to start coming down the Chief Engineer wanted to know they the fuel pressure was so high. When I answered that static friction was more than dynamic fiction. I was told that I was wrong it took more energy to get the ship up to speed than to maintain the speed. After setting up the plant for sea operation starting the Evaporator the Chief Engineer told me that I could not start the Sharples Purifier since it was a high speed machine. Which I thought was odd since I have been cleaning and operating larger Purifiers for more than a year. 

The next day while on watch I was looking at the Lube Oil Chart to find out what oil I needed to add to the Butterworth Pump when the phone rang when I answered the phone it was the Chief Engineer who told me there was no reading on watch. I asked the Chief if that included the Lube Oil Chart and the Log Book. It was the longest ten days of my life.


----------



## Jim Sutton (Jul 28, 2007)

My one and only T-2 ride was the BORDEAUX- ex SAN ANTONIO ,a jumboized T-2 with the house moved aft. I was a starving Group 2 out of the Port Arthur hall and a 180 day relief(it was 1984) came up and I got it. Supposes to take jet fuel to Spain and head for the breakers. MSC inspectors came down, shook their heads and said "you're not carrying jet fuel in THOSE tanks". So there went the charter. COI was coming up and nothing was happening. I muttered that we were headed for Brownsville. The 1 A/E who was a wonderfully grizzled guy said "kid you might be right". And that is exactly what happened, we headed up to Brownsville and at the request from the C/E and all of the other homesteaders on there (8x12 3rd was the newbie at 9 years) I was on the sticks when we put her up on the beach!




  








BORDEAUX




__
Jim Sutton


__
Nov 17, 2012


__
2



The BORDEAUX ex-SAN [email protected] Port Neches,Texas in 1984 The first job on my license and also the...


----------

