2007 Voyage on 'Gazellebank"

Richard Woodman, a friend of sorts, actually he's a chap I sailed with as a Midshipman, is an author who writes fiction and non-fiction books about the sea. Anyway - I told him I was going away on a trip on a Bank boat last year and he said I should write him a piece about it that he could maybe put in his latest book ( A history of the Merchant Navy). This is what I wrote for him on my return.

In 1972 I left the sea having sailed as second mate on Ocean Fleets cargo liners. So I thought it would be interesting to see how things are in 2007. Sadly Ocean Fleets no longer exist but Andrew Weir & Co. have been running the famous Bank Line since the year dot and have tramped the world very successfully. They now, using 4 ships, run a more or less monthly round the world service beginning in Europe and sailing via Panama across the Pacific to Tahiti and Auckland then up through the Coral Islands to Papua New Guinea, Singapore and back via Suez.

I joined the MV Gazellebank in Auckland in May 2007. Built in Finland in 1982 as an ice-breaker for Russian Fleet operations in the Arctic, she was originally named Tiksi, bought by Andrew Weir and modified by Cammell Laird in 1995 with bulbous bow as a Ro-Ro general cargo carrier and renamed Foylebank. In 2005 to celebrate 100 years of Andrew Weir in the South Pacific the name was changed to Gazellebank after a cape in Papua New Guinea.

She sails under the Red Ensign although registered in Douglas, Isle of Man. At nearly 174 metres length and 25 metres breadth she has a gross tonnage of 18,663 tons and is powered by 2 Wartsila Sulzer engines driving a single screw with 22,000 bhp. She is fitted throughout for container carriage with approximately 685 T.E.U capacity, equipped with cranes at each hatch, and has over 7,000 cubic metres of tank space for carriage of vegetable oils. There is accommodation for 12 passengers with lounge/bar facilities, a gym, sauna, and a small inside swimming pool.

There are 31 crew members including 4 cadets. Captain John Gunson (ex Ocean Fleets) and the 2nd mate and purser are British, the rest of the crew which includes three stewardesses and a lady Chief and 2nd cook are Russian.

The ship is fully chartered by Swires and she has Swire funnel colours. The cargo being carried on this part of the voyage was mainly heavy machinery, army trucks and earth moving equipment, drums of steel cables etc. The rest of the space taken up with containers of varying sizes including Reefer. On deck there was a large luxury yacht and one container had been ingeniously converted for the carriage of 4 horses from Auckland to Noumea. 2 grooms accompanied us on this leg. Cargoes loaded through the islands included bagged cocoa beans, coconut oil, palm oil and 4,000 tons of bulk copra, which in turn was offloaded on arrival in the Philippines and Pasir Gudang. That space in turn being filled by timber in Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu.

The ship, said to be into its last 4 years of life has been hard used and running repairs were aided by having an AB and a fitter both of whom doubled as qualified welders.

Navigation has, of course, improved out of all recognition with Global Positioning by Satellite (G.P.S.) giving a continuously updated Lat & Long, course and speed over ground and ETAs to next waypoint and final destination. The Radar now gives the name of each ship target and its course and speed and point of nearest approach at the touch of a button. I wonder what happened to the old Blue Flue plotting boards and Chinagraph pencils!

At the end of June we arrived in Singapore after a fascinating 7 week leg of the voyage - via New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Sabah. 14 ports in 48 days. (I should have stayed at sea!!)

HOWARD SIMMONDS - My Old Mate!

I went for a trip in May and June last year. Melbourne, Wellington and Auckland then 7 weeks on a Bank Boat through the South Seas to Singapore - More about that bit at a later date.

Anyway I stayed in Melbourne with Howard and his wife Barbara. Howard, whose father was at sea as a Captain in Blue Funnel way back when, went to sea exactly a year before me in March 1958. I sailed with him the first time on M.V.Diomed when he was a senior middy and I was a junior middy - the ship was our Cadet ship (no deck crew - all those spaces filled by Midshipmen : 11 Seniors and 11 Juniors and we all did 2 voyages, the 2nd voyage as Senior!) Then I again sailed with Howard for a couple of voyages on S.S.Jason when he was 2nd Mate and I was 3rd Mate. We were trading to Australia, it was in the '60s and we had a fantastic time. H met Barbara while he was on Jason - she was a Brisbane girl, I think working in the Agent's office.

Howard, I'm afraid was dying of Cancer while I was there but very glad to see me and to chew the fat about Alfred Holt's and I took the opportunity of documenting his sea career from his Midshipman's Log Book and from his Discharge Books.

Midshipman 1958 - 1961

Menestheus, Glenorchy, Autolycus, Rhexenor, Cardiganshire, Diomed (twice), Melampus, Hector.

Deck Officer 1962 - 1977 

Patroclus, Glenogle, Elpenor, Demodocus, Clytoneus, Flintshire, Peleus, Menestheus, Jason (4 times), Glenearn, Jason (again 2 times), Glengyle, Pembrokeshire, Kumba (Elder Dempster) Centaur, Autolycus, Kumba, Patroclus, Menestheus, Autolycus, Maron, Stentor, Anchises, Agamemnon (Ore Carrier), Rhexenor (Round the world 1 year - 1st Mate until the Captain died when he was promoted to Master (Captain))

Howard told me that when the Captain on Rhexenor didn't appear or answer his phone he went down to the Captain's cabin and found him dead in his bunk with a copy of Playboy open at the centrefold on his chest!

Sadly, Barbara emailed me while I was on Gazellebank on my trip about five weeks later to say that Howard had died.  God Bless him - he was a really lovely man and will be sorely missed by an enormous number of people. 

BLUE FUNNEL: GETTING STARTED CONTINUED

Thought I should say a little more about that first Blue Funnel Voyage - I was the junior of 4 middys. The Captain was a wonderful man called H.S.Clarke - supposedly the most highly decorated of all our captains in the 2nd World War. I didn't see him until we got to Port Said when I was surprised to see him fall down the Bridge ladder after which I don't think I saw him until we reached Singapore! I sailed with him again several years later when I was 3rd Mate on S.S.Jason sailing down to Australia - still a lovely man. I also sailed with his son Kenny on M.V.Diomed which was the company's Cadet ship. (I'll talk more about that ship some other time) 

Anyway that first voyage was amazing - Blueys usually loaded outward cargo in Birkenhead so that is where we joined Laomedon. When we returned to UK nearly 4 months later we discharged cargo in Liverpool the other side of the Mersey. So the joke went that Blueys sailed from Birkenhead to Liverpool via the Far East! Boo Boom! 

Ports visited - Rotterdam, Singapore, Bangkok, Djakarta, Semerang, Surabaya, Balik Papan, Port Swettenham, Singapore, Penang, Trincomalee, Aden, Port Sudan, Suez, Port Said, and Glasgow. Quite an eye-opener for a 17 year old! 

There's a couple of reasons why I particularly remember this first time in Bangkok : Firstly I was detailed to hoist the Thai Ensign as a Courtesy Flag so I went to the Bridge flag lockers and pulled out the flag that said Thailand, unfortunately someone had replaced it with the International Code signal flag C. I hoisted it quite happily and it was half way through the morning that somebody ashore noticed the error - was I embarrassed?! The Thai Ensign has horizontal bars which run from the top - red, white, blue, white, red - whereas the C flag runs blue, white, red, white, blue! : Secondly I lost my cherry to a Bangkok fairy !! Very nice.

Singapore was always a delight and there were lots of Blue Funnel and Glen Line ships, every time I visited, all lined up in Keppel Harbour. The Anson Bar in Anson Road quite close to the Dock entrance became a regular watering hole - I also remember a lovely Chinese bar girl called Jenny with whom I became very enamoured over a period of time. Regular visitors were the little Gorgon and Charon and the old Orestes - the first two on the Singapore Australia run carrying sheep as well as passengers I think - maybe it was passengers and general cargo? Also there was usually one of the P class and probably a couple of other A boats and a Glen boat or two.

As employees of Alfred Holt & Co. we didn't just sail on Blue Funnel ships but on the red funnelled Glen & Shire Line as well - the only difference being that Blueys were named after Greek mythological characters and the Glens had red funnels and were named after Scottish Glens and Welsh Shires. Anyway, more about them later as well.

BLUE FUNNEL: LET'S GET STARTED

I went to sea as a Midshipman in the Blue Funnel Line of Alfred Holt & Co. in 1959. In fact, looking at my Apprentice's Indenture, apparently I signed up on April 14th so I guess that was probably more or less the date I sailed on my first trip. So if I was born November 1941 - I must have been 17 and nearly a half years old. Anyway I loved it - every minute! Looking further at my Indentures I see that I was paid £60 for the first 6 months, £168 for the first year after that and in my third and last year of Indentures the vast sum of £228! Riches indeed - can't complain tho' because that was all-in with full board and lodging whilst at sea - including fantastic 3 star hotel food!  Just turned the Indentures over (they are printed on canvas!) and typed on the back are the voyages I did as a Midshipman and my first voyage was on M.V. Laomedon starting 24th April, so now I know!

We had various names for the company - Alfies, Blueys, Blue Flue, 'the China Boats', sometimes even 'the Welsh Navy'!  -- Anyway Blue Flue were the only company in the Merchant Navy who called their apprentices Midshipmen - other companies had Cadets or Apprentices - we were special!  

Talking of 'special', There used to be a saying somewhere that you had 'The Gentlemen of the P&O, The Officers of the Blue Funnel Line, and the Men of the Merchant Navy!!' We were proud to be Officers!

Anyway - I have to get to the Sailing Club now to chew some fat with 'the lads'.