[Hague]

Anyone out there on the British Patience around 83????

[mofnotmuff]

only people on patience in 83 would have been korean labour from breakers yard - she was scrapped november 82

[Broady]

I was served my redundancy notice on the Patience,paid off in Dubia if my memory is right.

[Billy1963]

My Dad, Dave McGee was Bosun on her 14/8/82, joined Khor Fakken. Paid off 30/10/82 at Ulsan, Korea.

[mark theobald]

Originally Posted by Billy1963

My Dad, Dave McGee was Bosun on her 14/8/82, joined Khor Fakken. Paid off 30/10/82 at Ulsan, Korea.

i am sure i sailed with your dad on the respect in 1980 it was my first voyage was your dad a chief petty officer wife called ann? lived in the stockton area or middlesbough

[nigeloliver]

Hi I sailed on the patience from jan 81 and paid off europort april 81 we were sent out to Kharg island during the gulf war as I recall it we were paid 100% war bonus an experience that will stay with me for life.Anyone on her at the same time drop me a line be good to chat Nigel.

[Dean2230]

I was on the Patience but just cannot remember the dates

I think it was December 1979 time it was Gulf Europort return run I think I joined in RAK

[1982books]

Hey guys,

I was leafing through an obscure old book I've had since I was a kid. In it there is a picture of a huge tanker with the writeup "The giant oil tankers that ferry crude oil from the Middle East to the West are the largest man-made structures on Earth, apart from a few skyscrapers. Many of them are more then 1,150ft (350m) long, and can weigh nearly 500,000 tons. The latest tankers being built, however, are going against this trend, and are a little smaller then these Leviathans."

The tanker's name is BRITISH PATIENCE, so I decided to google "tanker british patience", and this page came up! Amazing! It just made me wonder if there was any info on the net on who served on it/when, and if it got its named changed or was scrapped.

Anyway, this is on page 26 of the book "Transport" by Mick Hamer, from Aladdin Books Ltd, 1982. Watts Publishing.

Your library might have a copy. Sorry, the page with the ISBN# is gone.

[Dickyboy]

I was on the British Patience from 11.04.76 to 01.09.76.
I joined her in Ras Al Khaimah and paid off off of Taranto.
As I recall "Gabby" King did the trip from the Gulf to Taranto with us.
110662.91 NRT & 32,000 SHP according to the rubber stamp in my Discharge Book.
A big bugger, but there were bigger tankers than her. I don't think she was ever the largest in the world.

[John_F]

Originally Posted by Dickyboy

I was on the British Patience from 11.04.76 to 01.09.76.
I joined her in Ras Al Khaimah and paid off off of Taranto.
As I recall "Gabby" King did the trip from the Gulf to Taranto with us.
110662.91 NRT & 32,000 SHP according to the rubber stamp in my Discharge Book.
A big bugger, but there were bigger tankers than her. I don't think she was ever the largest in the world.

She also had one of the shortest lives, being scrapped after only 8 years trading.
I also sailed briefly with Gabby King (incidentally, it was his wife who launched the Patience). I was a very junior apprentice on the Birch (12,000dwt) when he was a Marine Superintendant who came aboard to check out that new fangled Decca Navigator (1960).
I met up again with him again at BP's 90th Anniversary bash at Greenwich Naval College in 2005.
Kind regards,
John.

[Dickyboy]

Originally Posted by John_F

She also had one of the shortest lives, being scrapped after only 8 years trading.
I also sailed briefly with Gabby King (incidentally, it was his wife who launched the Patience). I was a very junior apprentice on the Birch (12,000dwt) when he was a Marine Superintendant who came aboard to check out that new fangled Decca Navigator (1960).
I met up again with him again at BP's 90th Anniversary bash at Greenwich Naval College in 2005.
Kind regards,
John.

I never knew about her short trading life. I wonder why it was so short? She was a steam Ship as I recall, perhaps that was the reason?
I wonder if Gabby Kings "Tanker Practice" is still the essential literature for Tanker Men.
I'm trying to remember if his wife came with him on the Patience, I have a feeling that she did, and as she launched her then I would imagine that it is quite likely that she did.

[John_F]

Originally Posted by Dickyboy

I never knew about her short trading life. I wonder why it was so short? She was a steam Ship as I recall, perhaps that was the reason?
I wonder if Gabby Kings "Tanker Practice" is still the essential literature for Tanker Men.
I'm trying to remember if his wife came with him on the Patience, I have a feeling that she did, and as she launched her then I would imagine that it is quite likely that she did.

Dickyboy,
Apparently, according to Middlemiss, (The British Tankers) the 5 P class (Patience, Promise, Progress, Purpose & Pride) suffered constant gearing problems on their turbines & none of them lasted long with the Company.
I think Tanker Practice was updated several times but I don't know whether it is a tanker man's bible today.
In Gabby's book (A Love of Ships) he states that they tried to visit her every year, if possible. He actually mentions the Taranto voyage.
Kind regards,
John.

[Dickyboy]

Originally Posted by John_F

Dickyboy,
Apparently, according to Middlemiss, (The British Tankers) the 5 P class (Patience, Promise, Progress, Purpose & Pride) suffered constant gearing problems on their turbines & none of them lasted long with the Company.
I think Tanker Practice was updated several times but I don't know whether it is a tanker man's bible today.
In Gabby's book (A Love of Ships) he states that they tried to visit her every year, if possible. He actually mentions the Taranto voyage.
Kind regards,
John.

That's a shame about the "P" class. I think they were the biggest tankers in the fleet in their day. I know that most VLCCs in the fleet were converted to motor ships, perhaps they considered that the Ps wern't worth the cost.
I have, or did have, a photo of the Patience, taken when we left the ship in Taranto, and I think that Gabby King was in it. I've searched high and low for it, but can't dig it out.
I remember reading "Tanker Practice" and thinking how out of date it was. Pictures of Birdy type boats as I recall, and I was on what then was ultra modern all aft jobs. Mind you, I suppose the theory and the practice bas much the same.

[Steve Hodges]

Originally Posted by John_F

Dickyboy,
Apparently, according to Middlemiss, (The British Tankers) the 5 P class (Patience, Promise, Progress, Purpose & Pride) suffered constant gearing problems on their turbines & none of them lasted long with the Company.
I think Tanker Practice was updated several times but I don't know whether it is a tanker man's bible today.
In Gabby's book (A Love of Ships) he states that they tried to visit her every year, if possible. He actually mentions the Taranto voyage.
Kind regards,
John.

I may be wrong, but I don't think the Pride was a sister-ship of the other four, although she may have had the same General Electric turbines. Can anyone confirm?
The gearing was indeed the fatal weakness of the class, the gear teeth pitted under stress where they meshed together and they were never run at full power/speed. I can remember taking casts of the pitting on the Patience with slabs of Devcon to be sent back to Head Office and hence the manufacturers, so that they could monitor if it was getting worse.John Parry was C/E ( if I remember correctly) He had seen the whole class through building then taken the Patience, the last one, as his own ship - nice bloke and very knowledgable.
Ref Gabby King - the officer's bar on the Patience was called "The King George" in his honour ( but most of us thought it was a bit sycophantic, to be honest)

[Billieboy]

Originally Posted by John_F

Dickyboy,
Apparently, according to Middlemiss, (The British Tankers) the 5 P class (Patience, Promise, Progress, Purpose & Pride) suffered constant gearing problems on their turbines & none of them lasted long with the Company.
I think Tanker Practice was updated several times but I don't know whether it is a tanker man's bible today.
In Gabby's book (A Love of Ships) he states that they tried to visit her every year, if possible. He actually mentions the Taranto voyage.
Kind regards,
John.

The Gearing problems were due to slow steaming around the Cape from the Gulf. Had occasion to check the gearing on Al Rekkah one afternoon in Rotterdam, took resin comparison castings, of tooth flank damage on main wheel. The studies on the BP, "P", class became a major paper at the Institute of Marine Engineers. can't remember the name of the guy who read the paper, but I did have to study it, for some weeks, in connection with the Al Rekkah job.

p.s. There I go again, hadn't read to the last post, before putting up this one!

[DaveO]

I sailed on the Patience and when there was a following sea the gearbox used to start rumbling quite alarmingly. Very disturbing if you were standing next to it. We stopped in the Bay of Biscay to inspect the teeth on the main wheel. The sea looked calm but there was quite a swell and we suddenly we listed alarmingly so set off again. Major damage to crockery etc.
I learned later that the cause of the problem was that the main wheel in the gearbox, which was about 30 ft in dia was fabricated and not stiff enough. In a following sea the wheel used to flex excessively. For this reason the revs were restricted to 80 rpm by Lloyds.
I remember John Parry was Chief and a good guy. Other Chief was Ralph Burns. 2nd's where Ivor Holman, Tom Bell and "Steady" Eddie Whitely. All good guys. Good trip albeit 6 1/2 months and only one trip ashore.
Dave

[Andrew147]

Originally Posted by Steve Hodges

I may be wrong, but I don't think the Pride was a sister-ship of the other four, although she may have had the same General Electric turbines. Can anyone confirm?
The gearing was indeed the fatal weakness of the class, the gear teeth pitted under stress where they meshed together and they were never run at full power/speed. I can remember taking casts of the pitting on the Patience with slabs of Devcon to be sent back to Head Office and hence the manufacturers, so that they could monitor if it was getting worse.John Parry was C/E ( if I remember correctly) He had seen the whole class through building then taken the Patience, the last one, as his own ship - nice bloke and very knowledgable.
Ref Gabby King - the officer's bar on the Patience was called "The King George" in his honour ( but most of us thought it was a bit sycophantic, to be honest)

Steve, You are right, the Pride was, I think French. I was on the Patience, new, one of the first J/E's, the others being Mike Hall and Eric Ferguson. Great fun in the builders for a month. The problem with the gearing was the gearing main wheel (bull wheel) was not stiff enough, the pinions becoming misaligned at anything like full power.
Highlight of the trip was loosing the steering in storm weather waiting to go into Angle Bay at the end of the maiden voyage. Oil pressure lost due to the wrong joint rings being fitted in the yard, the rams got scored leading to high oil usage as I found out later as a 3/E the rams not having been turned or machined. Whilst there as 3/E I had to fit the paper recorders for Lloyds when they were investigating prop shaft / gearing vibration.
Two ships were built in NDSM Amsterdam and were slightly smaller to fit the North Sea locks with two being built in Verolmes Rotterdam of which one, the last, was the Patience. Note:- the electrician was George Patience.

[ruslan]

Originally Posted by Steve Hodges

I may be wrong, but I don't think the Pride was a sister-ship of the other four, although she may have had the same General Electric turbines. Can anyone confirm?
The gearing was indeed the fatal weakness of the class, the gear teeth pitted under stress where they meshed together and they were never run at full power/speed. I can remember taking casts of the pitting on the Patience with slabs of Devcon to be sent back to Head Office and hence the manufacturers, so that they could monitor if it was getting worse.John Parry was C/E ( if I remember correctly) He had seen the whole class through building then taken the Patience, the last one, as his own ship - nice bloke and very knowledgable.
Ref Gabby King - the officer's bar on the Patience was called "The King George" in his honour ( but most of us thought it was a bit sycophantic, to be honest)

I think I remember the Pride and visited her while sailing on the Renown. She was French which was very evident from the fact that there was a Gyroscopic wine rack on board at one time.

[mpkk]

Joined the Progress in Angle Bay where we discharged and tank cleaned for Drydock in Brest.
Bearing in mind I'm no Engineer, the main wheel was replaced amongst, I presume,other things to do with the gearbox. We left Drydock and proceeded at full speed to the Gulf, via Las Palmas for bunkers, to load for Durban and then returned to the Gulf to load for Genoa.
During these full speed passages we stopped on regular occasions to allow for inspections, I believe to check the gearbox for pitting. Eventually pitting was found when we were a few days south of the Canaries and we were then ordered to reduce to slow steaming for the remainder of the passage to Genoa - payoff port.

[Steve Hodges]

Originally Posted by Andrew147

Steve, You are right, the Pride was, I think French. I was on the Patience, new, one of the first J/E's, the others being Mike Hall and Eric Ferguson. Great fun in the builders for a month. The problem with the gearing was the gearing main wheel (bull wheel) was not stiff enough, the pinions becoming misaligned at anything like full power.
Highlight of the trip was loosing the steering in storm weather waiting to go into Angle Bay at the end of the maiden voyage. Oil pressure lost due to the wrong joint rings being fitted in the yard, the rams got scored leading to high oil usage as I found out later as a 3/E the rams not having been turned or machined. Whilst there as 3/E I had to fit the paper recorders for Lloyds when they were investigating prop shaft / gearing vibration.
Two ships were built in NDSM Amsterdam and were slightly smaller to fit the North Sea locks with two being built in Verolmes Rotterdam of which one, the last, was the Patience. Note:- the electrician was George Patience.

Ah yes, I remember big George! Luckily he was aptly named - I remember a fault developing in the alarm annuciator system which took him and John Parry about two days to trace. Watching him struggle for hours with reams and reams of circuit diagrams I remember thinking " Glad I'm not a lecky..." We had to man the ECR with someone constantly scanning all the instruments visually till it was fixed. I can recall wondering how we had managed all those years on old steamships with no ECRs, no centralised control and instrumentation, and no alarm systems except the panic button....

[Graham Wallace]

Originally Posted by Steve Hodges

Ah yes, I remember big George! Luckily he was aptly named - I remember a fault developing in the alarm annuciator system which took him and John Parry about two days to trace. Watching him struggle for hours with reams and reams of circuit diagrams I remember thinking " Glad I'm not a lecky..." We had to man the ECR with someone constantly scanning all the instruments visually till it was fixed. I can recall wondering how we had managed all those years on old steamships with no ECRs, no centralised control and instrumentation, and no alarm systems except the panic button....

A little out of context, but did you two realise you were both 1968 E/C intake, Birkenhead/Poplar

Graham