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Patroclus

14K views 41 replies 27 participants last post by  Hugh Ferguson 
#1 ·
I was on the Petroculus in 71 as R/O, went with Cunard then. Didn't like doing the Pursers job and letting the Leckie do Radars.

Anyone know Bill Rutter from the Wirral area married to Betty as I recall he was the Chief R/O at that time.
 
#9 ·
John,
Apologies not needed! We need the mods to change the title perhaps and prune the posts! How rude of me - Welcome aboard! My first vessel was Phrontis, alas it was also her last voyage for BF, sold in Singapore Roads! There are plenty of good photos and BF people here, I hope that you enjoy!
Regards,
Dave R.
 
#12 ·
Hello!
I've just joined Ships Nostalgia and saw the name Patroclus - I did 5 round the world trips on her as 4th Engineer back in late 69/early 71. Yes i do remember Bill Rutter as R/O. I'm a member of the BFA but have yet to get up to Liverpool to one of the monthly meetings. I'm taking early retirement at the end of this month so I might(?!) have some spare time on my hands soon. After Patroclus was sent to Keil for 6 months for final commissioning of Kowloon Bay - I did 2 trips on her then left the sea to get back to real life(???)
Hope to hear from some old shipmates at some time
Cheers
Edward
 
#14 ·
Patroclus Clock

An obvious nautical flavour sets off this splendid marquetry wall panel clock taken from the Blue Funnel liner Patroclus. The style is typical of the period made popular by the Festival of Britain in 1951. The marquetry design using exotic woods set into satinwood was still popular, though a remnant of pre-war tastes. It was soon to be replaced in ships' public areas by formica laminates, plastics, mosaics and other cheap, modern, easy-to-clean surfaces.
Even removing the pointers of this lovely face could not stop the advance of time.
Succour.
 

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#21 ·
Hi Colin,
I remember you well, 4/E! 3E was Jeff, 2E Ken. I was a little disappointed that the trip was so short but a good learning experience for a first trip eng/cadet. The other cadet was John Banks from Croxteth. My first experience of Bay of Biscay - I forget who told me on board but have never forgotten the two phases of seasickness! (Manhandling/repairing winch motors with the Lecky, T/C casing, Sulzer RD exhaust valves, collapsed evap, lots of auxy overhauls, flooded shaft tunnel and those bloody valve chests with the rotten diaphragms etc.)

Saludos from Mexico,
Rgds.
Dave R
 
#22 · (Edited)
[Instead of panning for gold in ancient times another method was to lay the fleece of a sheep in the river bed and leave it for a lengthy period of time.
Flecks of gold washed by the current were caught up in the wool.
The fleece was then dried, burned in a fire and the melted gold collected from the ashes.[/QUOTE]

That was very interesting, once wondered about the golden fleece...If I remember right AH used to print the origin of the ships name on all menu's.....Al
 
#24 ·
I see no posts since june 2009. I was an apprentice at Barclay Curles
drydock in scotstoun and we used to hide when we saw Blue flue boats coming in! They maintained their boats very well and as soon as the steam pressure was down we were on top of the boilers doing
all the small valves. I might be wrong but I seem to remember the Patroclus being a B&W top piston job. They always seemed to have a lot of Chinese crew too.
 
#28 ·
But the ship which is the subject of this thread is the 1950 built Patroclus, one of the four steam turbine 'P' class. The others were Peleus, Pyrrhus and Perseus.

regards,
Pat(Thumb)

Photo courtesy of World Ship Photo Library
 

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#30 ·
I am sure that makko appreciates that Hugh.
Its amazing the number of people who misspell and mispronounce the name of this ship.
I sailed in Peleus and Pyrrhus and worked on all four when in the shoregang, and I believe they were Blue Funnel's finest ships.
regards,
Pat(Thumb)
 
#35 ·
I sailed on the Patroclus on her last voyage with blue flue sailed Amsterdam 3 Sept 1982 sold Singapore 3 Jan 1983 to a ssaudi owner.I have the engine room bell with Glenalmond on as she was Glen line when launched. I was 1st mate on her my last trip with them as I was made redundant after my leave
Bev Summerill
 
#36 · (Edited)
Ah, Patroclus... Bill Rutter... Names I haven't heard in many a long year. Just joined SN and found this thread. I sailed on the good ship Patroclus as a J/Engr with Bill as RO from late 1971 until we took her to the breakers in Kaohsiung in Feb 1973. She was the last of the Blu Flu steamers to go, we went full astern up the beach shuddering to a halt next to the bow section of her sister ship, the Perseus, that had arrived 3 weeks earlier. Sad day. I now live and work on Anglesey but still have connections with the Wirral so will have to look him up in the phone book.

Incidentally, she went to the breakers as Philoctetes as the 'Kremlin' (India Buildings - HQ) wanted to rename the Glen Line Super P 'Glenalmond' and bring her onto Blu Flu's books as Patroclus. We all felt a bit cheated taking her there as Philoctetes. She may have looked a bit scruffy externally but down below, we found loads of Brasso left in the stores and that engine room positively shone to perfection as we rang that final FWE. I've still got the pictures I took on my last watch...
 
#39 ·
Hello SuperClive,
As I did 5 trips(7/E to 4/E) on the Patroclus just before she was scrapped I have fond memories of her. Am putting together a colection of photos of the ships I sailed/worked on. Would it be possible to obtain a copy of what you have for my records??? Quite willing to pay postage etc. etc. or is it possible to e-mail them?
Thank you in advance
Edward Parry
 
#41 ·
Always amused me how, when piloting Blue Funnel P's & H's, the master never failed to warn you that the astern movement was very quick and very powerful; it sure was, half astern was always sufficient for normal manouvering even when fully loaded as they always were outward and homeward.
 
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