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Shell Tanker HOROMYA

5K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Peke 
#1 ·
Horomya
First registered 1956
Tonnage 12,183 (gross)
Length 555ft
Beam 69ft
Machinery 2 x Steam turbines with a single screw
Speed 15 Knots

I signed on to this vessel as a J.O.S. on the 5th September 1958 in Thames Haven and did the following voyage

Sailed 5 Sept. Arrived Rotterdam 7 Sept.
" 11 Sept. " Port Said 20 Sept.
" 21 Sept. " Mena Al Ahmadi 29 Sept.
" 1 Oct. " Port Said 10 Oct.
" 11 Oct. " Malta 14 Oct.
" 15 Oct. " Old Kilpatrick 22 Oct.
" 24 Oct. " Stanlow 25 Oct.
" 27 Oct. " Rotterdam 30 Oct.
" 31 Nov. " Thames Haven 1 Oct.
Signed Off.
I had what was at the time the luxury of a single cabin but several things put me off of doing a second trip namely: Shovelling rust and debris from the bilges when the tanks were empty ( Although we only did 20 minutes stints in there and we got a tot of rum at the end of the day ) I just never got used to that awfull smell of the fumes in the tanks. Can you imagine what health and safety would say today about doing this job without proper breathing apperatus.
Obviously as it was a tanker, at most ports of call we would have to dock at the back end of beyond with no chance of going ashore and even if you could get ashore the type of places that tankers usually visit did`nt exactly inspire the imagination!!

I remember that sometime during this trip there was somebody on board who was caught trying to drop lighted matches down one of the tank sounding pipes. I`m not sure if he suceeded but I was told not to worry because as we were fully loaded at the time there was no chance of an explosion! this may be true and i`m still not sure if it is, but being just 17 years old and very nieve at the time I believed it, " stupid boy!! "

When this ship was fully laden it had a very low freeboard and in very rough weather she shipped a lot of water over the deck. I remember towards the end of this voyage whilst sailing through the Irish sea in a severe storm I had to go to the fo`csle with an A.B. to do some splicing. There were ropes rigged between the centre island and the fo`csle I was really scared and I hung on for grim death all of the way, I got soaked and the A.B. called me a whimp and laughed like a donkey. I`m sure that without the ropes to hang on to we would certainly have been washed overboard. At this time I had been in the M.N. for a year and this was my third trip. I had been badly sea sick on my first trip but I thought that I had found my sea legs as I had not suffered since. However after being in the fo`csle for around 15 minutes with my stomach being violently thrown up to the deckhead one minute and then down into my sea boots the next by the sudden rise of the bow of the ship by around 30 or 40 feet I was sick as a dog. Needless to say we did`nt get much splicing done as the A.B. had to help me to get back aft.

I did 4 more trips after this one and encountered plenty of bad weather especially in the north atlantic during winter but I never suffered with sea sickness again.
 
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#2 ·
ron deegan

(Jester)hi !!old shipmate !!I was second cook and baker on that voyage...dont remember much of it though !I dont remember you and I dont expect you to remember me ! I was a tall skinny scouser in those far off days ... I do have an aerial photo of the horomya leaving malta lying about somewhere...according to my discharge book I signed on 5sept 1958 in tilbury and signed off on 22 oct 1958 in glasgow and then signed on again the next day (23 oct 1958) and finally signed off on the 1 nov 1958....and I do remember some nut case cought with matches on deck ...anyway I hope you enjoyed my bread and tabnabs!!!!!! good health and regards ron.
 
#4 ·
Sailed as deck apprentice nov59 dec 60. Not exactly sure about pay off date. We had an Estonian pump man ex Esso who didn't know his way round but luckily (or unluckily) I had been on the Hadra previously and knew the pump room. Went to Sydney, Hong Kong, Balikpapen, Fao, Mena, Basra, Hamburg, Albourg, paid off in Rouen.
Hard working ships this class of tanker but they certainly got around.
 
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