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Donaldson Shipping Line

26K views 68 replies 38 participants last post by  Trevor Clements 
#1 ·
Thank you for the warm welcome. I sailed out of Glasgow in the sixties
on the north Atlantic run. We would go from Princess Dock to Greenock
(to pick up mail) then go over to Newfoundland, up the St. Lawrence to
Montreal. During the winter we would go to St. John and Halifax where it was bitterly cold. Once when waiting out in the Bay of Fundy I had to repair a deck winch, a tarpaulin was placed around the winch and a heater placed inside that area. During this time it was blowing wind, sleet, and snow at various times. Our ship was a former Victory ship converted to passenger cargo, not the best, however it was our ship as as everyone knows one gets very attached to a ship.

Perhaps there is someone out there who remembers the Donaldson Line?

Bill Gibson
 
#2 ·
Donaldson Line

Bill a warm welcome to you. Thank you for joining the community; I am sure there will be plenty who remember the Donaldson Line and can stir the memory; in the meantime do enjoy the site and all it has to offer, and we very much look forward to your postings in due course. Bon Voyage
 
#11 ·
donalson line

Hello one and all,
I sailed on the Lismoria as QM during the 55_60s under Mcqueen (master) & Johnston 1st Officer.. I enjoyed my voyages aboard her . Also the memories of Montreal, Joe Beefs (the first snd last) Not so pleasant the cold lookout duty on the wing of the bridge
 
#14 ·
I was R/O on Santona GCDU in 1961 and 1962. I seem to remember that John Limpitlaw was R/O on Lismoria. Donaldson Line were a great company to be associated with and even on the little Santona the food was very good. I tell people that I was the only Englishman on the ship but the Bosun Dick Cracknell was from Hull. My Captain was Andy Dougall, he was gruff but very kind. We had Mr Hall as Mate for the first year, then Harry Keenan for a while, and the late Peter Telford was 2nd Mate, he was followed by Gilbert Angus. Ian Cleaver was 3rd Mate for a while followed by Frank Nicol.
I am still in touch with some former Santona crew whom you might know.
 
#17 ·
I'm glad you liked her too McG. Santona was beautifully built, and such a happy ship too. Young Mr Donaldson, or Mr Black came aboard in Montreal once a year and thence up as far as Sarnia with us. They would turf the cadets out of their cabin and put them in the hospital.

We used to do a six week round voyage Glasgow, Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Humberstone Windsor, Sarnia then back down the St Laurence, on occasions stopping at Rimouski or Newcastle NB, then across to the Bristol Channel. Where on one trip we rammed and sank a grain elevator in Avonmouth. Two winters I was on her she was either on charter to Cunard, or tramping in the Med. She only had 3 hatches in those days, and it was a kind of last throw of the dice for the Donaldsons to lengthen her and the Colina, but I was long gone by then.

One of my most cherished posessions is a letter of reference from Captain Dougall. She was very small for regular North Atlantic crossings, and Andy used to stand over my shoulder when I was taking the weather forecast every night. They were two of the happiest years of my life, and despite being English I was made so welcome by everyone aboard her.

Thanks for the info on the Maldives stamps. Eventually she ran aground on a shoal and was sold to Gdani beach for scrap.

Happy days in happy company. Trevor.
 
#18 ·
Hi Trevor, I remember you. I was 2nd R/O in the Lismoria with John Limpitlaw for four trips from 2nd March 62 till 12 July 62 and you were onboard on at least one occasion in Glasgow. After Lismoria I did 3 months in BI's Devonia, then joined Santona as first trip single R/O in December 62 for a winter trip down the Med. In November 1966 did a Lakes trip in Colina (she had been lengthened by that time). I think we were one of the last out of the Lakes that winter. As you say Santona and Colina were nice little ships but could be very uncomfortable in Heavy weather.

Jim
 
#19 ·
Jim
You must have joined Santona GCDU just after I left. You had cargo shifted on the way to Italy, I know because Dan Kerr the apprentice used to write to me. I wondered who took over from me, I hope I didn't leave a mess for you. What about Andy Dougall? I really liked him, and he wrote me a very nice reference.

John Limpitlaw was a character too. Do you remember a second purser on Lismoria, Len (?) who came on Santona to the Med the previous winter, he and I were great friends for a while but we lost touch. I am still exchanging Xmas cards with Danny Kerr and Gilbert Angus, and I was in contact with Peter Telford, but sadly he died last year. Andy Dougall died while Master of Letitia when she was in Denholms, I spoke to his wife back in 1998 when I was in Glasgow last.

We must stay in touch Jim, loads of stories! Thanks for answering,
Trevor.
 
#20 ·
Trevor,
Yes the cargo from Glasgow to La Spezia was scrap redundant tram lines, we had a very unpleasant time in the Med from Gib to Italy, short steep seas which the Santona did not handle well.

I remember Dan Kerr, we had a few eventful runs ashore, give him my regards.

Andy Dougall was a nice guy, if a bit gruff as you say. He used to entertain us with his mandolin. I did hear he had died at sea on the Letitia.

John Limpitlaw was certainly a character, I think he had first gone to sea with Noah on his Ark. After ten or more years on Lismoria he went to the Lairdsloch on the Glasgow - Derry run.

I vaguely remember Len on Lismoria, but very few others on either her or Santona.

Jim
 
#22 ·
Binnacle'
A lovely old ship, Letitia (Empire Brent, Captain Cook) and fondly remembered by many Donalsonians I am sure. She went to the breakers in April 1960, after lay up in the Fal; I heard quite a few tales about her, but she had gone by the time I was at Donaldsons.

Their last new build 1962 was called Letitia, Captain Downey I seem to remember.

Trevor.
 
#23 ·
Jim,
You were obviously also on Lismoria in May 1962 when Len Corbett fell off Lismoria's radar scanner in Glasgow. A very sad business, he was a really nice guy. We had a long running fault with the magslip cables on the Quo Vadis at the time which I, Len, and loads of other Marconi people had failed to find. In the end Andy thereatened Marconis that he would have the Quo Vadis taken off, and a Kelvin Hughes radar fitted if they didn't fix it. It took us three days to find the fault Cardiff and Avonmouth and then it was luck that the insulation of the damaged coax was hanging down in our faces in the forward mast house, after they had been running the fans.

I secretly wished that they had put a KH aboard, the Quo Vadis was a rubbish radar, and nothing but trouble.

Trevor.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Trevor,
Yes I was on Lismoria when Len Corbett had his fatal accident. Fortunately for me I was not on board at the time.
That Quo Vadis radar was a real pain. By the time I sailed in Colina in 1966 the Quo Vadis had been replaced by a Ramarc. I still had a problem with the scanner being on the foremast, the wavegiude filled with seawater in heavy weather on the Grand Banks, with the odd iceberg in the vicinity. The old man Bill Joyce, climbed up the foremast with me and we managed to clear the problem - a bit of a hairy time!

Jim
 
#25 ·
That Quo Vadis and the foremast scanner.

Not much fun up that foremast in any sort of sea. On my second trip on the Santona, the scanner stopped 3 days out of Glasgow, and I had to climb it on my own. I am amazed now that I did it, and so many times as the weather got worse. Good of Bill Joyce to go up there with you, not many Skippers would do that.

What was even more amazing to my naive reasoning was that the scanner was driven by a flimsy vee belt which had broken. We had no spare, and when the engine room came up with a belt which was in layers and adjustable I also didn't have a clue how I was going to fit it. However the Second Engineer climbed up there and did it for me, and I was very grateful. I think it was 'Willie' Green who was 2nd Eng at the time.

On that trip Canadian Marconi sent a guy aboard because the 2nd Mate wanted the range ring adjusted, and the guy's first words were "Lets change a few tubes". I learned how to do the range rings and taught him at the same time.

Moody the R/O on the Calgaria fetched two buckets of ice out of the Calgaria's scanner housing

Yes radar was fun!!

Trevor.
 
#26 ·
Quo Vadis

I was always told that the 'Quo Vadis' was a 'gap-filler' in the Marconi radar range - a low-cost, low-perfomance radar with limited facilities that met the needs of fishing vessels and the smaller, short-trade cargo ships. As they say, 'You gets what you pays for!'

By the way (apart from a brief interlude with the 'Consort' leisure/fishing vessel radar) the 'Quo Vadis' was Marconi's only 'cheapo' radar until they introduced the (wait for it...) Raymarc!

Don't know whether that says something about Donaldsons or not.[=P]
 
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