As regards Ropners, I dont know if anyones out there sailed for ropners. Ropners invested money for ex- employees. My father Taffy Clode from Barry used to get a cheque every xmas, the stipulation was you must have sailed with Ropners. because of the decline in shipping & personnel they have relaxed their criteria. When my father died my mother got it, As she sailed with him. I get a cheque each xmas £300. So if you sailed for them it could be worth looking into. Good Luck
I too did two years on the Aussie coast 1953/55 on Firby.
Dont think Ropners exists any more but for that alone we should be entitled to a big gold clock!!!!
i joined on the sedgepool i think that was her name at hull in 1953 but she was renamed the bobara before we sailed to the usa calling at most of the gulf ports for cargo bound for liverpool and manchester. i was in the galley as a cabin boy on my first trip.
Took the Rushpool on her maiden voyage from Sunderland as 2nd cook and baker bound to the States Newport News for coal for the continent.Great ship good crew even if i say so myself good food.Joe Bell chief cook he was really good served his time as a baker and confectioner.Best job i ever had at sea including years with Port Line who had too much BULL as they carried twelve passengers.
Was R/O on Willowpool 1960/1961.
Joined in Hull to take ship to London and finished up change of orders, Immingham to bunker then lightship to States.
As I remember we arrived on Xmas eve and sailed on New Years eve for Hamburg then UK, think Dagenham
My name is Anthony Harrison ( Tony ) and sailed on the MV Romanby as an engineer. It was the first ship I had sailed on with Doxford engines. It would be nice to see if anyone on the forum also sailed on the above ship round about 1967 to 1970.
Tha captains name was Rodam ( not sure if I spelt his name correctly).
Had a very senior moment when I put dates of working for Ropners of Darlington should have been 1967/1970.
Any particular reason why you decided it was your last trip with Ropners.( I know it was called ropey Ropners ) (*))(*)) but I did not know that until I joined.
At 18 years of age, my late Uncle sailed on S.S. HAXBY, having joined her at Glasgow at the end of March 1940. They sailed from the Tail o' the Bank on 8th April 1940 and separated from the convoy about the 16th April 1940 and on 24th April they were attacked and sunk by the German Commerce Raider ORION. He was taken POW on board the Raider and later another victim of ORION, the Norwegian TROPIC SEA, that was being sent back as a prize to Occupied France, and along with other POWs he was transferred to the prize ship. She was stopped within 24 hours of her destination by the British submarine HMS/S TRUANT and the prisoners were duly liberated. Eventually he made his way home from Gibraltar - some 163 days after the sinking of his ship.
At 20 years of age, my late Father sailed on S.S. DANBY, having joined her in Glasgow on 19th December 1939 and signed off at Swansea on 25th May 1940, a month and a day after his younger brother was taken POW and lying on board the Raider ORION badly injured with shrapnel, some of which he carried until his dying day.
hi my name is josephine dawson and my dad sailed on ropners ships. Before he died he gave me 2 films to look after , 1 is in a little orange and white box and the othe is in a film case, the one in the box has the following wrote on it
R Swan 2nd Cook MV Romamby
C/O empire street,
shipping Corp, Vancouver
BC Canada
the only information on the other 1 is Cassandra wrote on the case.
today i managed to get them put onto DVD, quality is poor and some parts cannot be watched but there is also alot that is good
if anybody knew my dad, please contact me, i know he was a cook aboard the ships
They stopped being ship owners in 1997 and Jacobs Holdings took them over....they were then incorporated into Bidcorp Shipping....then 'rebranded' as Dartline at Dartford....this was in 2005 and the following year ceased to trade as ship managers...
Geoff Thanks for that. Brought out the "Somersby" from H& W Belfastin 1964. Ropners had 2 fine Superintendents there Capt Thompson and Engr. Ed. Cherry. Often thought of them. David.
my father, james (butch) hardy, sailed for ropners between 1928 and 1948 in the catering department, his discharge books have disappeared, but some of his ships were: lackenby, domby, swainby (torpedoed 1940) anderby, empire clarion (cedarpool) his brother (Thomas) was killed on the fishpool in 1943 at Syracuse, and I believe his other 2 brothers, Edward and William also sailed for ropners, as hartlepool men, it is most likely.
Sailed 3rd mate on the Rushpool,1969-1970,about seventeen month voyage.Deck crew,and engineroom hands were all Somali's,and Muslims.A poor lot,but remained sober.A number jumped ship,one in Shanghai of all places.Not a happy ship. A friend of mine joined the Romanby about the same time,also as 3rd mate.Kevin Elliot.Someone on this site sailed on the Romanby at about the same period,and may remember him.His wife was on one voyage to South America.both him and me left the sea in 1971.He joined the police force in Hartlepool,but I have not heard from him since 1975.
I sailed as a junior engineer on Romanby. Joined on new years eve 1960 in Hull and paid off in Feb 1962 . It was supposed to be a short trip States and back but they forgot to tell us it was via China Canada Aus and several other places. Not a happy ship as I recall
In 1959-61 I was a eng cadet BP) at Constantine Middles brough, with a fellow cadet who was then a Ropners Cadet-Peter Hopkins from somewhere near Rosberry Topping. Pete did his two years, and then I think went to do his sea time OLd convential system- While waiting for phase 3 Pete left for UNi to do an HND In electrical Engineering with the company on the Tyne [Rollings??? I am not sure of the same].
All I wish to say is Ropeners appeared to have a broad view of what they expected their eng cadets to attain? They were not just for the fleet, but the betterment of the Marine Industry
When did the Daleby become a Cadetship??? Ropners during my tenure only had apprentices. They must have used the passenger quarters. Changed their outlook about them too as apprentices were cheap overworked labour when I was there. The Daleby was the last trip I did as apprentice and the only time we ate in the officers dining room.15th May 1956 until 12th July 1996
Extracted from the Ropner section of my book, Shipping Company Losses of the Second World War.
HAXBY (Captain C. Rundell). Bound for Corpus Christi in Texas, sailed from the Clyde on 8 April, 1940 and joined Convoy OG.25 which formed at sea on the 10th. Dispersed from the Convoy and sailing independently when intercepted and sunk by the German raider Orion (KrvKpt. Kurt Weyher) on the 24th, in position 31º30´N 51º30´W. Seventeen died and 24 taken on board the Orion, but, together with other prisoners, transferred to the Norwegian ship Tropic Sea (Captain Henrik Nicolaysen) after she was captured on 18 June. Under a prize crew and heading for Bordeaux, the Tropic Sea was intercepted and scuttled by the submarine HMS Truant (Lt.Cdr. H.A.V. Haggard) on 3 September, in the Bay of Biscay. The Truant carried 25 of the released prisoners to Gibraltar while a Sunderland Flying Boat of Coastal Command rescued some Norwegians. Twenty-one others landed from a lifeboat at Corunna in neutral Spain on the 7th. The prize crew also landed in Spain from where they were repatriated to Germany.
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