# Coastal Cargoes



## Peter4447 (Jan 26, 2006)

Please excuse my ignorance in these matters but back in my much younger days during the 1950' and 1960's it seemed that coasters carried just about everything. Dry cargo vessels carried coal, coke, cement (bagged and bulk), clay, grain, scrap metal, potatoes, timber and other vegetables, machinery and manufactured goods to name just a few whilst tankers handled everything from oil, petrol, aviation fuel, molasses and edible oils. 

Watching those little ships quietly sailing 'on their lawful occasions' and before all the Health and Safety legislation came in that exists today, has often made me wonder about those cargoes and the dangers involved in carrying them. 

To watch, for example, a coaster loading a cargo of coal it seemed almost a case of "filling her up and away you go" and I would certainly be very interested to learn a little of the precautions that had to be put in place, particularly in regard to bulk cargoes that had to be made to ensure safe passages.

Whilst I appreciate many of the safeguards apply today, I am particularly thinking of the smaller coasters of the 50's and 60's, many of which were only around 500 gross ton.

Peter4447(Thumb)


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Peter
A cargo surveyor once told me Ignorance is a Bliss if you dont know what it is dont worry as someone else will


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Hi Nev & Peter,
We went from Dagenham to Cork in the sixtys, car components down below, and tractors on deck, ( Fordson Majors) turning at Lands End we lost a couple of tractors over the side, we were told to go forward and secure some that were hanging over the side, our words in reply were F--- ---, Mr Mate, L.O.L. thats why we are still here today, think it was Dorset Coast. All the best Bill(Thumb)


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## Bearsie (Nov 11, 2006)

Hi Peter4447, thanks for your interest



> *Watching those little ships quietly sailing 'on their lawful occasions' and before all the Health and Safety legislation came in that exists today, has often made me wonder about those cargoes and the dangers involved in carrying them.*


I don't think that there was less safety and regulation back then, just different. As Technology has changed so have regulations.
Some bulk cargo's required shift boards, which on coasters, were usually erected by the crew. Coal and grain especially, when light enough these also had to be trimmed under the deck. Other bulk cargo's set still by themselves.

It wasn't quite a case of fill'er up and away 

There is the occassional discussion about this in the coaster corner of this site.
I worked on coasters with 500, 750 and 2000 tons, all single deckers and one shelterdecker of 850 tons. While the shelterdecker might look safer from a distance ( even to many on this site, which surprises me...), it may have drier decks, but is a lot more work when hauling bulk cargo's.
Man tends to focus on the negative and sensational ( see discussion about timber loads in another forum),.
Fact is that thousands of loads were moved every year in a safe manner without ANY incident.
We might take a load of timber from Finland to the UK (properly lashed and covered) Then perhaps a load of Brassbar, sheet metal, Licorice candy and tractors on deck back to Scandinavia. Never lost a deck load while I was at sea. Load and unload times were much longer back then. 
Up to a week for timber on each end.
All coasters back then had their own cargo gear usually driven by Diesel winches and a fair amount of cargo was handled by these.
Many coasters used the old down town harbors, a way of life which like a few other things has sadly passed.


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## lakercapt (Jul 19, 2005)

When I sailed on coasters(which was a misnomer as we went on voyages of 14 days) we were our our safety management as after all it was our lives at stake.
Grain and coal filled the hold so we never rigged shifting boards.
General cargo the usual good seamanship practices prevailed.
Once with general going to Lisbon we had steel railroad rails on deck. That was fun as we had only a magnetic compass and the errors were something else. All was fine until we lost the Decca Navigator coverage crossing the Bay of Biscay and we were surprised we made a landfall it was a place we recognised. Kept close to the coast till we got there.
A trip to Ancona in Italy from north Norway way not fun as it was 14+ days and with only two mates to keep watch you were very tired when you got there.


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## Peter4447 (Jan 26, 2006)

Thanks Bill, Bearsie and Laker Captain for your posts.

In the 50's and 60's I used to watch what seemed an endless conveyor belt of auxiliary barges together with small British and Dutch coasters making their way up and down the Orwell. To visit any small port at that time you would usually find more of the same working cargo.

Timber usually seemed to be swung ashore using a single strop and coal could quite literally be dumped into a hold from a great height through the end doors of a railway coal truck. High viz jackets and hard hats were all in the future and the loading and unloading seemed pretty well in the hands of the crew.

It is, of course, a way of life that seemed timeless and yet has now gone for ever. In starting this thread, I am looking for stories, such as you gentlemen have kindly provided, as to how things were done back in those days and the problems that were encountered and dealt with.

Peter(Thumb)


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## Bearsie (Nov 11, 2006)

Well, as lakercapt pointed out, not much crew.
On the Egerland (500 tdw) We had Captain and Mate, a cook and 4 sailors, it was a 2 watch system, 6 on 6 off. All hand steering, Water had to be pumped by hand into a pressure tank (30 psi-2bar) so if you wanted to take a shower you found a volunteer to stand by at the pump ...
Day tank had to be filled by hand also, and the engine, a 6 cylinder MAK with open rocker arms had to be lubed every 3 hours. 
I was paid a few Dollars (Marks actually) extra since I volunteered for engine room duties. Which included also small repairs under the captains guidance, he had a restricted chiefs certificate ( as did many captains on small coasters) and yes he got dirty too  
Winches were fun to get started in the winter time, usually would carry hot water to warm them up and use those paper glow plugs ( or a lit cigarette butt) and the canvass on the hatches was a bit of a pain in cold and icy weather.
On the benefits side we wave a bucket at fishermen and trade booze and ciggies for fresh fish. Since many of our ports were small and we practically "parked" down town was always within walking distance to the pubs. One time our bow was practically on Main Street.
Usually Dockers would handle the cargo, but once in a while we got stuck running the winches or trimming.
Worst was a load of grain after coal, because it meant spending the better part of the nite sweeping and washing the hold, then hope in the morning that the inspector was happy with it.
The absolute best cargo (besides beer) was cut timber west and metals and machinery back east.
Timber always took days to load and about as long to unload and was of course as long a trip as could be had, From Finland to Ireland.


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## Peter4447 (Jan 26, 2006)

Fascinating stuff Bearsie Many thanks
Peter


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## kottemann (Feb 3, 2007)

Good post Bearsie just about describes the working life of a deck hand on a coaster all though I just missed out on hand pumping the tanks and water. We did however have to hand pump the lube on board from barrels which was fun in the winter. Trimming was the worst job followed closely by cleaning the bilges after grain especially if it hadnt been done for a few trips the smell was overwhelming. 

We sailed with the same number on the Vaterland which was 1100 tdw. Trimming was extra so the cook would even get dirty sometimes or he would help us cover up if we needed to get the boards on in a hurry unlike the so called big ships everybody did jobs outside of their own duties.

We werent afforded the luxuries of having 4th and 5th engineers oilers greasers etc and most of us had two tickets. There were no stewards bakers or carpenters evrybody chipped in and it made for a good family atmosphere on most coasters and you learned a lot of skills and learned them quickly.

Cleaning on a saturday and finish at noon after lunch we would help the cook do the dishes and clean the galley and mess rooms then we could relax and play mau mau or mensch ärgere dich nicht!.


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## PollY Anna (Sep 4, 2006)

Talking of coasters Fred Everard always springs to mind where ever you went in the UK you would see his ships. Arriving back from deep sea running up the Thames or any other of this Country's great rivers there was Fred plying his trade you name the cargo Fred was carrying it. I personally never had the pleasure but did do 2 of London & Rochester's ships one was only 200 tons picked her up at the highest wharf on the Thames just below Tedding Lock loaded with scrap iron for Middleburg. Coming down the river was a real trick anchoring waiting for the ebbing tide to get under some of the London Bridges. Finally got ourselves under Tower Bridge and the skipper tied up on a buoy I thought now what, he told me to run up a bucket on the mast, I thought whats this all about I did ask, and he said we need water I thought my god what have I let myself in for. We don't do things like this on big ships. The trip was ok discharged the cargo ran through the canals to Rotterdam loaded for Strood with bags of powder (White) god knows what it was. Down the river to the Hook dropped the pilot then bounced around for 6/7 hours trying to make headway in a gale. This was the one and only time that yours truly was sea sick, I think the skipper was getting fed up taking the wheel while I found the lee side. We were still level with the Pilot Boat so we were not making any headway so that may have something to do with the Skipper calling them up and going back up the river to wait for better weather. I paid off when we got back didn't like the sea sick business.

Ron


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## Eggo (Dec 3, 2006)

lakercapt said:


> When I sailed on coasters(which was a misnomer as we went on voyages of 14 days) we were our our safety management as after all it was our lives at stake.
> Grain and coal filled the hold so we never rigged shifting boards.
> General cargo the usual good seamanship practices prevailed.
> Once with general going to Lisbon we had steel railroad rails on deck. That was fun as we had only a magnetic compass and the errors were something else. All was fine until we lost the Decca Navigator coverage crossing the Bay of Biscay and we were surprised we made a landfall it was a place we recognised. Kept close to the coast till we got there.
> A trip to Ancona in Italy from north Norway way not fun as it was 14+ days and with only two mates to keep watch you were very tired when you got there.


 You were lucky if the stowage factor of the grain allowed you to fill up and dispense with shifting boards. The normal way to secure a partialy filled hold of grain was with bags filled in the hold and stepped over the free surface, even with a full hold it had to be trimmed up into the wings though some loading instalations have special heads on the loading pipe that can direct the grain into awkward corners. One of the Weston ships capsized in the Seine early 70,s due to grain shifting . When it comes to stowage of cargoes ,the same rules apply in law and in fact 'usually' to small vessels as to large ones. When loading grain in French ports & Northern Spain a form detailing the vessels stability complete with calculations concerning heeling moments, GM etc plus method of securing partially filled holds has to be delivered to the port captain before clearance is issued. Had similar experience with magnetic compasses ,usually when loaded with scrap but any mate who didn't complete the compass observation book at least once a watch would have been down the gangway pretty fast whether he was HT or FG . Les


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