# Doxford Song - Merged Threads



## Alwyn

Of special nostalgic significance to any who have sailed with the old Doxford engines.


THE DOXFORD SONG
Sung to the tune of
'MacNamara's Band'
Instructions 
In the chorus, place two clenched fists in front of the face, vertically one above the other, and at the words Chuff! Chuff! puff them apart to imitate an opposed piston action.

At a 'ships party' six females (or anyone) would be numbered 1 to 6 and during the chorus, with hands on heads with elbows sticking out (to immitate the Doxford piston's transverse beam), the "conductor" would get them to bob up and down in the firing order that he called, to replicate the action of the engine! 
1. Oh my name is William Doxford and I come from Sunder-land 
They say my diesel engine is the finest in the land 
The pistons bang, the cranks go clang and the camshaft grinds away 
And it's the bestest engine you could hear about today 
Chorus 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah dah dah dah. 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah Dah Dah - Dah
With action and reaction we'll go sailing on our way. 
2. To see our engines functionals we open up a door 
We find more cranks and crossheads than we've ever seen before 
And then we pull the pistons out to calibrate the bore 
And here for us to work on there are piston rings galore 
Chorus
Dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! etc.

3. We calculate the horsepower by scientific means 
With bits of string and paper wound on little round machines 
We measure round the diagrams the power it should tell 
The outcome's automatic but the engine's aw' ta hell 
Chorus 
Dah dah dah etc.

(When the song has finished the ladies, exhausted, fall giggling to the floor - and then it's every man for himself!)

(Supplied by George Ball)


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## PAULD

*Doxford Song*

anybody got a vocal copy of the doxford song. if so any chance of you sending me a copy or letting me know where i can get a copy from
(Jester) (Jester) (Jester)


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## Geoff Garrett

Round and round goes the bl##dy big wheel
Up and down goes the pr*ck of steel

y'mean that one?


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## John Briggs

THE DOXFORD SONG
Sung to the tune of
'MacNamara's Band'

Instructions 
In the chorus, place two clenched fists in front of the face, vertically one above the other, and at the words Chuff! Chuff! puff them apart to imitate an opposed piston action. 
At a 'ships party' six females (or anyone) would be numbered 1 to 6 and during the chorus, with hands on heads with elbows sticking out (to immitate the Doxford piston's transverse beam), the "conductor" would get them to bob up and down in the firing order that he called, to replicate the action of the engine! 

1. Oh my name is William Doxford and I come from Sunder-land 
They say my diesel engine is the finest in the land 
The pistons bang, the cranks go clang and the camshaft grinds away 
And it's the bestest engine you could hear about today 

Chorus 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah dah dah dah. 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah Dah Dah - Dah
With action and reaction we'll go sailing on our way. 


2. To see our engines functionals we open up a door 
We find more cranks and crossheads than we've ever seen before 
And then we pull the pistons out to calibrate the bore 
And here for us to work on there are piston rings galore 

Chorus
Dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! etc. 

3. We calculate the horsepower by scientific means 
With bits of string and paper wound on little round machines 
We measure round the diagrams the power it should tell 
The outcome's automatic but the engine's aw' ta hell 

Chorus 
Dah dah dah etc. 

(When the song has finished the ladies, exhausted, fall giggling to the floor - and then it's every man for himself!)


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## benjidog

No Geoff - you are thinking of "The Engineer's song" - one of my personal favourites.

I like the Doxford song John - sounds like it would be fun after a few pints!

Brian


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## John Cassels

Don't know about the Doxford song , but there was a Sulzer song sung on
Denholm ships ( usually on the night before a crowd of engineers paid off;

Goodby ( name of ship),
Goodby chieffy too,
Ever since we've been on here,
We've been f***ed around by you,
Your generators are a failure,
Your compressors are a farce,
And as far as you're Sulzer engine goes,
You can stick it up you're a**.

Can't remember the name of the tune it was sung too.

JC


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## PAULD

yeah they are what i'm looking for, but would like them as sound files for computewr use. So has anybody got them actualy being sung


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## Atkinson

PAULD said:


> anybody got a vocal copy of the doxford song. if so any chance of you sending me a copy or letting me know where i can get a copy from
> (Jester) (Jester) (Jester)


Join the Friends of Doxford Association! - find it on Google!

Best wishes


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## Pat Thompson

Greetings,

But what was the firing order.

A plaintiff question from a deck ape

Aye

Pat Thompson


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## billyboy

Firing order? last in first out like british leyland i heard ... LOL


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## Keithbyatt

*Firing Order*

well on Chakla, engine no 107, it was 1,4,2,6,3,5 according to my notes made at the time.

Good old Doxfords !!

Keith


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## william dillon

Keithbyatt said:


> well on Chakla, engine no 107, it was 1,4,2,6,3,5 according to my notes made at the time.
> 
> Good old Doxfords !!
> 
> Keith


Keith,
What was the "Back Firing" order !!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Thumb)


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## steviej

I have found this version of the song.

You must have heard of Charlie Parsons and Dr Sulzer too?

You all know of the M.A.N and the B. & W.

But the best marine propulsion, I’m sure you will agree,

Comes from a place called Sunderland,

Where it’s made by William D.

My name is William Doxford, I come from Sunderland,

They say I make the finest engines built in all the land,

The top ends clang, the bottom ends prang, the engine chugs away,

You’ve only got to stop this engine every other day,

Now the Chiefs and Seconds and Thirds and Fourths who take my ships to sea,

They all are very happy, they all are proud of me,

They all declare that William Doxford’s engine stands alone,

They all work 24 hours a day to keep the pistons going,

The Captain stands upon his bridge, his mind is quite at rest,

He knows that with his Doxford engine he has the very best,

He turns to Sparks and says to him, “Let’s send an E.T.A.”

The only things they can’t put on it are the date and day,

We’re drifting across the Pacific (stopped!) as happy as happy can be,

With everyone singing the praises of Sunderland’s William D.

But, I think we’ll get to Liverpool, in fact I know we shall,

We’ve crossed the broad Pacific and the Panama Canal,

The Engineers have sweated tears from Bluff to Curacao

But we have got two Doxfords, which didn’t want to go!

We were nine days in Curacao, while the Engineers pushed the white metal back up into the bearings,

Now, we’re rolling across the Atlantic, at a comfortable 10 and a half(instead of 16 and a half)

The old man is going quite frantic, while the passengers try not to laugh,

(As far as they are concerned, the longer the trip, the cheaper the fare)

A quarter century has passed, it’s time for her to die,

She’s going to Masan at last and home from there we will fly,

They’ll make her into razor blades and stereophonic gear,

While evermore this phantom song will haunt them in Korea!


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## averheijden

*Tunes for the DOXFORD SONGS*

Tune from"MacNamara's Band"

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/stpats/macnam.mid


"This song was sung on the twin six cylinder Doxford Engine ship Adelaide Star on her final voyages 1975 from New Zealand to the UK"


http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/memoryn...erson=Sandy Kinghorn&m=643&t=Music and Poetry

Regards
A.Verheijden


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## Govanbill

With a mouthfull of water spat out at the right moment you could imitate a water leak on one or all of the cylinders


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## John Gurton

Does anybody recall the words of "Puff the Magic Doxford"??, an old favourite sung on old Ellerman ships


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## Chouan

I can remember the song being sung, but not the song.


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## MikeK

Never heard the song before - very catchy -I can remember sitting in cabins various, usually clutching a can and being given so & so cylinder - then doing the standing up/down lark in the correct firing order, which usually ended in chaos when the 'conductor' threw us astern !

Mike


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## Govanbill

what about the engineers picnic

To the tune of the Teddy Bears picnic

If yo go down to the engine room
you,re in for a big surprise
If you go down to the engine room
you,ll hardly believe your eyes
The chief is there the second is to
between them both they havn,t a clue
the engine has stopped the genies have to
and we,re sinking

Smoko time for engineers
oh all the engineers are havinga lovely time

I can,t remember any more


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## manolito_1

*Doxford Song*

Sung to Peter.Paul Mary 'Puff the magic Dragon'

Puff the Magic Doxford lives on the sea
and frolics in the oily mist,blows fire at you and me.
Chiefy engineers love that rascal puff and used to bring him thistle-bond and other fancy stuff.
Together they did travel, passed ships with billowed sails,and Chiefy got a case up each time Puff began to fail.
4th's and 3rd's and 2nds would flee from whence they came and Jnr's would 
s--t themselves when Puff roared out his name.
Now Doxfords live for ever but not so engineer's.
Piston rings and all those things give way to gin and beers
So one grey night it happened the bridge came to the phone'And Puff the Mighty Doxford was down there on his own.
His crankshaft bent with sorrow his elbows leaked like rain,
and Puff the Mighty Doxford knew he would never go again,
Without his lifelong friends Puff could not be brave,
So Puff the Mighty Doxford slowly slipped beneath the waves.

If anybody know's any more verse's to this one please let me know.
regards Malcolm


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## Gulpers

I've merged three existing *Doxford Song* Threads(Thumb)


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## Beartracks

Doxford Song
Hugh Donald Curran to MEBA-Retirees
show details 10:09 AM (16 minutes ago)

Reply

I was introduced to Doxfords on Sun Oil Tankers. The Sun Shipyard in Delaware had the franchise to build William Doxford's engine in the USA. Since Sun Oil owned the Ship Yard Sun-Doxfords went into Sun Oil Tankers. Sun Oil's Engineering Superintendent was a recipient of the Navy Cross. His name if I can remember correctly was Earl Tussario. He had taken a "boarding party" from USS Guadalcanal , an escort CV of which CDR Taussario was CHENG to board and capture a German U Boat ( Type Vll which is still on display at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry) This was the first and only time the order "STAND BY TO EMBARK BOARDING PARTY" had been piped in the US Navy since 1837.. Leo Kenny who was Chief Engineer of US Lines' American Alabama was one of Mr. Taussario's guys as was yours truly. Leo and I were both oilers in Pennsylvania Sun together. Most of the engineering types who worked with Sun-Doxfords had low foreheads and tiny beady eyes. There were hardly any who weren't missing a digit or two and carbon dust was ingrained beneath their skin. Their only interests were Doxford Engines and one would be regaled with tales of errant Cross Head Gibbs crashing through crankcase doors during our coffee breaks. In those days I so desperately wanted to belong that I was considering corrective surgery at the Marine Hospital to have a couple of fingers remove from each hand in order to fit in better................. Fraternally Hugh
Alwyn 
Member

Join Date: Apr 2004
My location
Posts: 13
Doxford Song - Merged Threads
Of special nostalgic significance to any who have sailed with the old Doxford engines.


THE DOXFORD SONG
Sung to the tune of
'MacNamara's Band'
Instructions 
In the chorus, place two clenched fists in front of the face, vertically one above the other, and at the words Chuff! Chuff! puff them apart to imitate an opposed piston action.

At a 'ships party' six females (or anyone) would be numbered 1 to 6 and during the chorus, with hands on heads with elbows sticking out (to immitate the Doxford piston's transverse beam), the "conductor" would get them to bob up and down in the firing order that he called, to replicate the action of the engine! 
1. Oh my name is William Doxford and I come from Sunder-land 
They say my diesel engine is the finest in the land 
The pistons bang, the cranks go clang and the camshaft grinds away 
And it's the bestest engine you could hear about today 
Chorus 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah dah dah dah. 
Dah dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! Dah Dah Dah - Dah
With action and reaction we'll go sailing on our way. 
2. To see our engines functionals we open up a door 
We find more cranks and crossheads than we've ever seen before 
And then we pull the pistons out to calibrate the bore 
And here for us to work on there are piston rings galore 
Chorus
Dah dah dah Chuff! Chuff! etc.

3. We calculate the horsepower by scientific means 
With bits of string and paper wound on little round machines 
We measure round the diagrams the power it should tell 
The outcome's automatic but the engine's aw' ta hell 
Chorus 
Dah dah dah etc.

(When the song has finished the ladies, exhausted, fall giggling to the floor - and then it's every man for himself!)

(Supplied by George Ball)
Attached Files
THE DOXFORD S


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