[saxonia]

Ive just come off the cruise ship Ocean Village and as we sailed from Piraeus on Wed 15.8.07 I saw in the distance the unmistakeable silloutte of a Blue Star reefer anchored. Ive just had a look at Piraeus ais on the web to find she is now called EW JACKSON. I took a photo but as the sun was behind she only has a black outline !

Mike

[Tony Breach]

Mike,

Thanks for the info - I have been able to update my file on this lady. She was always the odd-one-out of the 6 BSL Supercores having been built in Norway with Norwegian finance & leaving BSL at an early age.
1975 AVILA STAR
1979 HIDLEFJORD
1988 SWAN LAKE
1992 HORNSTREAM
1992 SUN SWAN
1993 REEFER SUN
LSI for 18.09.06 still had her listed as REEFER SUN so has changed within the past year. But another of this class also had the name AVILA STAR for a while.

AFRIC STAR scrapped 2001
ANDALUCIA STAR converted to Juice Tanker 1986 renamed ORANGE STAR extant 18.09.06.
AVELONA STAR extant 18.09.06 as BALTIC WIND.
ALMEDA STAR extant 18.09.06 as BALTIC WAVE.
ALMERIA STAR extant 18.09.06 as ICE BELL. NB this ship was renamed as AVILA STAR 1990-1996 but was completed in 1976.

Tony

[saxonia]

Hi Tony

I new it would help someone ! Thanks for the update on the others , certainly is my favourite class of reefer !

Enclosed is the view on saw as I stood on Piraeus breakwater and you will see how instantly recognisable she is

Also if you look at http://www.aisgreece.com/liveshipdata/piraeus.htm

click on "satellite" for a better view .. then zoom out a few miles or so and approx 6 miles SE of Piraeus harbour you will see a "live" view of the EW JACKSON that you can keep your eye on. You will also see when you hover your mouse over her that she has been there for just over a month

Regards

Mike

[stan mayes]

25th August 1942...65 years ago today,my ship VIKING STAR was sunk in South Atlantic by three torpedoes from U 130..Homeward bound from Buenos Aires with 6,000 tons of meat..
Captain Mills and seven crew were killed... R.I.P.

[jimbo1954]

Happy days! I sailed on the Avila Star, as she was then, in 1977, my first trip as fiver. An excellent ship! My first time to New York, and I took the watch as we approached Baltimore....couldn't understand the reason the exhaust temperatures were screaming up....called down the second, a great guy called Dick Verity, who "gently" explained the facts of "bottom drag"....I'd never driven an engine in shallow water for any length of time, so never experienced it before

[chrisw789]

I'm chris whitehead , I sailed on the Avila Star in 77 aswell,and remember well the mystery that is bottom drag , as we sailed up towards Baltimore a kind of tidal bore built up just astern of us I was told the reason for the phenominon
it was a memorable sight anyway. By the way I was the Saloon Steward on that trip and the Captain was called Johnson he flew the RNR duster and wore a beret on the bridge .....